Ottawa, Canada-based JetForm Corp has launched the first of a three-phased initiative to free offices of paper forms once and for all and enable form filling, transmission and data integration via the World Wide Web. The company, which has been providing electronic form software since 1983, has launched JetForm Filler 4.1, which can be embedded in most Web clients. It enables organizations to download forms from public or private Web servers, fill them in on screen and print, fax or send them internally via electronic mail. Phase two, which the company says in now beta testing and due in a couple of months, will enable captured data to be returned to a server, for updating a database, printing or faxing. This phase will enable forms to be sent to servers external to the company, but still requires JetForm filler to be resident on the client computer. The third phase, scheduled for the middle of the year, will enable the Formfiller viewer to be downloaded from a Web site by any Internet or Intranet user. The form can then be filled in on screen and transmitted back to a server. JetForm says this will enable Internet commerce, and is ideal for banks, insurance companies, airlines, wherever a company needs customers to fill in and return information. The bank or airline customer would download a form as required, and the organization would pay JetForm on a per form basis. With the forms stored on a central server, storage of pre-printed stationary is eliminated, and forms can be constantly updated. JetForm claims that its software offers many features unavailable with standard HyperText Mark-up Language forms, such as data validation, multi-field arithmetic, calculation of totals and sales taxes and multiple page control.
Moore Corp
Data from business application databases can be merged in with the electronic forms, and forms can be merged with other forms, so that multiple forms can be produced from one data source. Pre- printed forms company Moore Corp Ltd is apparently so convinced that the world is moving to electronic forms that it bought 20% of JetForm Corp last year. JetForm claims an annual turnover of $40m and employs around 250 staff worldwide. Its products include JetForm Design, JetForm Filler, JetForm Server and JetForm BizForms and are available through resellers. JetForm products are also included in major OEM software such as IBM Corp’s Commercial Transaction software, Unisys Corp Navigator, and ICL Plc TeamWare. Single user JetForm Filler costs $135, JetForm Design is $625 and a small server license is $2,355.
