Paper Forms or Electronic Forms on PDAs?

Many companies that contact my sales teams are seeking to replace their paper and clipboard processes with electronic forms on PDAs. Let's take a few minutes to understand why this is most often a good idea, but not always.

What is the downside to using a paper form with a clipboard?
  1. Paper forms are often submitted with missing information. This lack of completeness wastes considerable time in the office as staff try to contact the original author and gather the missing data.
  2. Paper forms can often be left on the clipboard for days or weeks, so there is a delay in getting the information transferred from the paper form into a computer software application for processing.
  3. Handwriting on the paper forms is often hard to interpret. This allows for bad data entry into the computer system. Bad data in - bad data out.
  4. Paper forms can not validate the information entered on them. So invalid information can be written on the paper forms.
  5. Paper forms are easily misplaced, lost or damaged by environmental factors and irresponsibility.
  6. Paper forms can not effectively provide you with a list of all possible correct answers. Electronic forms can provide you with "pick lists" or "drop down" menus that limit your answers to only valid ones.
  7. Paper forms do not provide you with the ability to query all "products" in a catalog. Electronic forms that are tied to a database on your handheld PDA, can enable you to "look-up" lists and databases with product listings and product attributes that will automatically fill in the electronic form.
  8. Paper forms do not compute. Electronic forms can compute math, invoice totals, elasped time on a projects, milage, square feet, and much more.
  9. Paper forms can not link to many other applications that can provide GPS coordinates, RFID reading, bar code scanning, digital images, CAD drawings, etc.

The above list identifies some of the deficiencies of a paper form, however, there are times when either a paper form or a full sized laptop is simply more efficient. I find that when there are a great deal of notes to be taken, it is not efficient to attempt this on the limited screens that PDAs provide. If you have 3 pages of observations and notes to be entered, you need to either handwrite on paper, or use a full sized keyboard connected to a laptop or desktop. Another case is when you have large maps or CAD drawings to view. A PDA screen can be used for specific views, but PDAs are not practical for viewing large areas. In this case either a laptop, Tablet PC or paper version is more efficient and saves your eyes.

No comments:

Featured Post

Leadership Advice from a Futurist - A Reading

Leadership is hard.  So for all the leaders and want-to-be leaders out there, here is some advice that I hope you will find useful. ***...