When Karmøy Municipality was asked to be the first to design digital forms in the new Interact+ solution, they jumped at the chance to get hands-on.

But why did the municipality want to build their own forms?

We asked Sævar Solheim, Head of Digitalization and the Document Center in Karmøy Municipality.

Sævar’s answer – and the secret behind a successful implementation project – is that you get much further when you take control yourself!

From outsourcing to building forms in-house

A thorough evaluation of the municipality’s forms opened Sævar and his colleagues’ eyes: 

– We need to think completely differently, they concluded.

Until then, the routine had been to order all forms from an external supplier. It felt safe, but far from flexible or efficient.

The municipality contacted ACOS, who at the same time was preparing to launch the new Interact+ solution.

Karmøy, with Sævar leading the way, had an exciting choice to make:

And the choice wasn’t as difficult as one might think. At least not for Sævar:

You need a little excitement in everyday life, and it wasn’t nearly as exciting to go into an old solution when something completely new had just entered the market. So, we took a chance and started with an entirely new solution.

4 benefits of building digital forms yourself

The beautiful island municipality in Rogaland, home to 43,000 residents, has a large need for forms. Transitioning to Interact+ therefore delivered clear results right away.

1. It saves you time

An immediate benefit is that we can quickly create simple and secure forms with login – completely without help!

No longer did the municipality need to turn to an external supplier every time a new form was needed.

One concrete example: when the municipal council decided to support e-bikes. The decision created an immediate need for a form that allowed both login and submission of necessary information with electronic ID.

Political decisions often need to be implemented quickly. In this case, we were able to set up a simple form with all the required information almost immediately.

2. Greater flexibility

The e-bike example also illustrates just how flexible in-house form building can be.

Sævar himself highlights flexibility as one of the biggest advantages of the new solution:

The flexibility to design forms ourselves is absolutely an advantage. Interact+ is always available, we work directly in the browser, and we create good forms without coding.

3. A better experience for citizens

The enthusiasm isn’t limited to the municipal office – residents are also pleased with the user-friendly forms now being rolled out.

Before transitioning to Interact+, the municipality took the opportunity to clean up and improve the quality of each form:

We simplified the forms, rewrote the text, and removed unnecessary fields and information. Now it’s easier for citizens to complete a form thanks to better usability and clearer language. Over time, this will also reduce the need for them to contact us directly.

4. Digitalization and automation

Digitalization is a major priority for Karmøy. Building their own forms became a natural part of the municipality’s digitalization process.

With Interact+, the threshold for digitalizing forms is lower. We now have fewer paper forms and more digital ones.

Sævar explains that digital forms can be sent directly into the correct case in the archive – without manual handling.

– This automation is worth its weight in gold in a busy workday, he adds with a smile.

To make things even simpler, the municipality has also started integrating forms directly into website articles.

A form is never “just a form”

When Karmøy Municipality procured the form solution, they had one clear advantage: they were already an ACOS customer. This provided major synergies:

We achieve synergies by gathering both archive, CMS, and form solutions with one provider like ACOS. It makes our work processes much smoother and simpler.

Because in Karmøy, a form is never “just a form.” It’s part of an overall process.

By choosing several products from ACOS, they achieve benefits both for employees, services, and citizens:

It’s about making things as simple as possible for citizens, and at the same time giving us greater opportunity to gather more products with ACOS.

The key to a successful implementation

According to Sævar, there’s no doubt: good dialogue is the key to success!

As the first Interact+ customer, close collaboration with ACOS was especially important throughout the implementation project:

We had a Teams channel that worked really well, something that was very valuable for us. We didn’t need to log support tickets whenever questions came up. We truly appreciated the direct contact with ACOS, which was absolutely crucial to succeeding with the project.

Sævar also highlights the good customer relationship they’ve had with ACOS:

We are very satisfied with the implementation. We received good information and guidance ahead of the project, and very close follow-up throughout the process.

We’ll be following closely!

And there are definite advantages to being the first to jump in and test a new product:

As the first customer on Interact+, we were able to help shape the product’s development. We think that’s exciting! And we feel we’ve contributed as well.

That’s something ACOS can confirm!

We applaud Karmøy’s engagement and look forward to continued great collaboration with the municipality’s skilled form builders!