Eform report

Report: E-form & Workflow Application
Ecosystem
Technology Brief, Key Products & Competition
Landscape

STRATEGY DOCUMENT
E-Forms & Workflow Application

CONTENTS
Executive Summary..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 2
CHAPTER ONE: E-Form Evolution & Future...................................................................................................................................................... 3
CHAPTER TWO: E-Forms Application .................................................................................................................................................................. 4
CHAPTER THREE: E- Forms Automation ............................................................................................................................................................ 5
CHAPTER FOUR: Vertical / Sectors Implementation ................................................................................................................................... 6
Public Sector .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 6
Financial Services and Insurance................................................................................................................................................................... 6
Manufacturing .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6
Healthcare .................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 7
Life Sciences .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 7
CHAPTER FIVE: FORMS TECHNOLOGIES AND FORMATS ........................................................................................................................... 8
CHAPTER SIX: CUSTOMER MINDSET ON E-FORMS FEATURE .................................................................................................................. 9
CHAPTER SEVEN: E-FORMS VENDOR EVALUATION .................................................................................................................................. 11
Vendor Landscape Method ............................................................................................................................................................................ 11
Definition ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 11
Weighing Factor: Product Evaluation .................................................................................................................................................. 12
Weighing Factor: Vendor Evaluation ................................................................................................................................................... 12
E-Form Landscape ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 13
TABLE STAKE ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 14
Value Index Method ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 15
CHAPTER EIGHT: PRODUCT & VENDOR COMPARISON............................................................................................................................ 16
Adobe Livecycle .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 16
Microsoft InfoPath ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 17
MS InfoPath Form Services ............................................................................................................................................................................. 18
HP Autonomy Liquid Office ............................................................................................................................................................................. 19
IBM Forms ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 20
LincDoc ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 21
Formatta ................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 22
Perfect Forms ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 23

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
IT organizations are faced with shrinking budgets and increased end user demand for better collaboration
tools. As organizations create competitive positions centered on collective knowledge and resources of their
workers to build better products and create effective solutions, they need tools to make those assets more
efficient and effective. IT executives are continuously aiming to position IT as a business enabler rather than a
cost center. To maintain that balance, IT executives are looking into solutions that let IT do more with less while
remaining agile and continuing to innovate.
With the rapid proliferation of smartphones and tablets, the demand to deliver electronic forms to many people
across multiple devices, both online and offline, has grown multifold. Now electronic Forms integrated with
Workflow solution enables customers to automate forms based Workflow. The E-Forms with Workflow does
have a "built-in" workflow engine and design tool that enables users to create process flows through a point
and click GUI, assign forms to those processes, view, fill and route the forms to users and even monitor
workflow operations with valuable reports. Electronic forms and workflow now operate in one elegant package.
In 2006, Adobe and IBM were the clear market leaders in e-forms. In the past few years, activities in the market
have led to consolidation as well as transformation, as e-forms today are more aggressively integrated with
content management and business process solutions to support internal data capture and Web self-service.
The maturity of the technology over time and its future plans clearly indicates that it shall stay in the IT
ecosystem for long.
This document outlines the finer elements of the technology, future directions and product & Vendor
comparison. No interview has been taken from the organizations or its customer and is fully researched
product with varied inputs available in Public Domain.

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CHAPTER ONE: E-FORM EVOLUTION & FUTURE
As processes become more automated, organizations started thinking of forms as more than a user interface
to capture information from end users. When e-forms first emerged, the goal was to replicate a paper form on
a computer screen. While this requirement is still typical of e-forms projects, it‘s also possible to utilize e-forms
functionality in richer interactions with customers — creating a dynamic user experience that guides users
through the process of filling in information. Beyond the customer experience, e-forms bring efficiency and
automation to business processes. E forms are rarely used simply as a piece of content that is accessed a later
date — virtually all forms contain information that is part of a process (or processes) and must be routed
appropriately.

HOW IT GOT HERE?

WHERE IT IS GOING?



Stemmed from early electronic facsimiles of
standard business forms.





Initially forms could be downloaded, and then
routed to different steps.

Built-in Rich UI to optimize data input/output
improves user experience and decrease
abandonment.



The emergence of digital media, e.g. new
cameras and input methods, in personal devices
is creating an increasingly digitized world,
allowing more rich content to be built into forms.



Next, they could be completed entirely online but
were still tied to the look and feel of the paper
business form.



As electronic use and access increased, formsdriven business processes have evolved to
become electronic only and never hit paper.



Cloud-only vendors are appearing and allowing
form data to be stored entirely in the cloud,
without offering an on-premise solution at all.



With more external stakeholders gaining
electronic access, forms could exist entirely online
and no longer be tied to a physical counterpart.
As a result, e-forms are employing rich user
interfaces.



Mobile form use, previously only enabling simple
workflow participation (e.g. approvals) is
expanding to more complex forms and tasks, and
onto tablets for field operations, e.g. real estate,
insurance, field sales.

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CHAPTER TWO: E-FORMS APPLICATION
Using E F forms offers a variety of benefits by expanding participation, increasing efficiency, meeting regulatory
requirements, and reducing waste. E Forms technology also addresses the need to maintain forms processes
that support both paper-based and electronic versions.
Hybrid Forms Processes: Because of requirements for conventional pen-and-ink signatures, many business
processes must include both electronic and paper forms. This is especially common in business-to-consumer
and government-to-constituent scenarios where businesses and agencies cannot mandate technology usage
to its consumers or constituents. Even when downloading a form online and completing it on their computer,
consumers and constituents often still need to print it and sign it because ―wet‖ signature, made with a pen are
required. E forms are an ideal solution in such multichannel situations because they can be used online and
offline and can effectively transition between paper and electronic processes.
Imaging: Imaging a paper form to reinsert it into an automated process is often required. Optical and
intelligent character recognition can be employed to capture information added manually to a paper form and
2D barcodes can be applied to the form before it is physically printed to embed digital information for later
capture during imaging. E forms are especially adept at supporting such requirements, for example, processes
that require a wet signature can be reconnected to the data supplied in an electronic form.
Security and Electronic Signatures: Many business processes and regulations require signatures made with a
pen at many steps of a process. Physical signatures made with a pen can still be a part of an approval process,
as mentioned in the previous section; however, electronic signatures can also be used. E forms do not require
adopting special electronic signature technology, although the E forms standard does support industrystandard, electronic-signature technology, such as digital certificates for signing or certifying forms.
Mobility: Living in a connected world means that more business processes can be taken to participants as
opposed to making participants come to the process, such as going to a business or government office.
Submitting forms online can improve user satisfaction, reduce errors, and reduce processing time. It can also
increase participation rates, for example, when citizens participate in a government program from the privacy
of their own home rather than having to go to a public government office. In these scenarios, electronic forms
must support storing form information offline until a user has successfully completed the form before
submitting it. The standard supports storing form data both online and offline.
Reducing Waste: Electronic forms can help reduce the environmental impact of business activities and
generate derivative cost benefits in other areas where businesses are attempting to lower costs. Paper usage is
immediately reduced in workflows that implement only electronic forms, but hybrid workflows can benefit as
well, because electronic forms can be designed to enforce green best practices, such as mandating doublesided printing. Reducing document printing reduces printer duty cycles, supporting other important costreduction initiatives such as printer consolidation. This also leads to fewer ink and toner cartridges that must
otherwise be recycled or disposed of in landfills.

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CHAPTER THREE: E- FORMS AUTOMATION
Data-entry forms ensure that structured data is efficiently collected. The data can then be used in other
process contexts, which may be transparent to the user of the form. The user does not necessarily require
knowledge of the larger business process, beyond the requirement to enter data.
In contrast, business forms require some knowledge of the business process. These forms usually are rendered
to the physical paper dimensions of a standard business document and often must exist as paper forms as well
at some time in their lifecycle.
Hybrid forms contain both structured and unstructured content, so they can be used for both data collection
and data output.
Different business needs can be fulfilled by different levels of forms automation, from basic department routing
up to enabling mission-critical enterprise processes. As with many technology domains, the available tools
range from simple combinations of common desktop software (for example, spreadsheets and e-mail) all the
way up to large dedicated technology systems specifically designed to enable the creation, distribution, and
processing of large volumes of forms.
Ad Hoc Forms Automation: Most enterprises conduct a large amount of ad hoc forms automation. Ad hoc
forms are typically user-driven processes with very little process integration and few participants. Often, preexisting forms are reused, but there is no prescribed workflow routing procedures.
Departmental Business Forms Automation: At the department level, forms automation becomes more
formal, with preexisting workflows that use preexisting forms. Processes are usually owned by a single area of
the business, but participation can be enterprise-wide, such as human resources performance reviews and IT
move-add-change (MAC) processes. When formal processes are required, forms automation technologies
begin to add value. For example, form designer software adds value by creating professional business forms
for departmental and business support, even if workflow and electronic completion is not needed.
Enterprise, Mission-Critical Forms Automation: At the enterprise level, forms automation frequently
supports run-the-business, mission-critical processes, especially industry processes. Participation is usually
across the extended enterprise, including partners, employees, customers, suppliers, and providers.
Participants in these workflows are driven by the process as opposed to driving the process—which occurs in
most ad hoc workflows. Forms automation technologies at this level are often implemented as dedicated
systems, but are frequently components of enterprise application suites, such as customer relationship
management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems or even content management suites.
Industry examples at this level include:





Financial services and insurance—Mortgage application processes, insurance claims processing
Manufacturing—Request for quotations (RFQs), engineering change orders (ECOs)
Life sciences and pharmaceuticals—Electronic data capture for clinical trials and regulatory
submissions
Public sector—New business government licensing, social services benefits enrollment

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CHAPTER FOUR: VERTICAL / SECTORS IMPLEMENTATION
Specific industry and business requirements often dictate form design and utilization.

PUBLIC SECTOR
Public sector organizations depend on forms to interact with and provide services to a broad base of
constituents, including citizens, businesses, and other government agencies. Most organizations use hybrid
business and data forms.
The primary challenge that public sector organizations encounter with forms automation is that the broad
base of constituents that they serve have differing interaction capabilities. For example, some constituents can
use and prefer electronic forms, while others have to participate in paper-based processes, because of a lack
of digital connectivity or aptitude. Therefore, public sector organizations must frequently employ forms that
retain the same look and feel in both paper and electronic formats. These forms are also frequently required to
move back and forth from paper to electronic format during execution of government processes, from
initiation by constituents all the way to archiving. An additional challenge for public sector organizations is that
citizens often have to complete forms from multiple agencies to complete a single action. This lack of
collaboration among different governmental agencies results in public sector processes appearing as anything
but transparent to the constituent.

FINANCIAL SERVICES AND INSURANCE
Forms are at the core of the financial services and insurance industries. Without forms, applications for
accounts, loans, mortgages, or investments would not be successfully processed nor would insurance claims,
statements, or policies. Organizations in these industries require sophisticated forms automation so that review
and approval processes are completed in a timely and accurate manner, and regulatory compliance can be
assured and verified. Customer-facing forms are often the main point of interaction and have a major influence
on customer satisfaction. In the financial services and insurance industries, process standards, such as those
from ACORD or MISMO, often dictate business form structure and content. The consistent presentation of form
elements across processes and organizations is required to ensure compliance with standards. To satisfy the
needs of these industries, electronic forms must be able to store information inside the form itself as well as
integrate with databases.
Because E forms can output data captured from other forms, such as other PDF forms, rich internet
applications, and HTML forms, financial services and insurance industries can assemble information from a
variety of process capture points into industry-standard business forms. This allows the industry to create
branded and compelling customer interfaces for data capture, while complying with industry standards for
processing.

MANUFACTURING
Manufacturing organizations employ forms across the entire product lifecycle, from idea generation, to
engineering and design, to manufacturing, delivery, and servicing. The industry is also a heavy user of forms to
perform maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) activities. These forms often become the official archived
record, and are used to ensure and verify regulatory compliance for such industries as pharmaceuticals,
chemical manufacturing, and energy production. In manufacturing industries, the design of both structured
and unstructured information on a form is often driven by the equipment and instrumentation used in the
production process, so the presentation and data layers of a form must be able to accommodate these
requirements for interoperability and data capture. E forms can enable manual data capture from
manufacturing processes or automated capture from real-time data sensors or historical trend information
from operational data stores.

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HEALTHCARE
The healthcare industry is one of the largest generators of forms, from the documents required to admit
patients, to their medical records, and prescription and insurance information. Not only does patient health
information have to be tracked, but the interactions and professional development of healthcare professionals
must also be recorded. Communication among healthcare professionals, providers, and payers further
complicates the matter, and handwritten forms lead to errors and delays in providing appropriate patient care.
Privacy regulations are creating significant challenges for forms automation in the healthcare industry.
Regulations such as HIPAA stipulate which information can and cannot be shared, as well as stipulating when
patient permission is required before information can be shared. This creates an additional approval layer in
many processes and also requires protection of information so that only authorized personnel can access it.
Electronic forms must frequently support both electronic signatures and encryption when employed in the
healthcare industry.

LIFE SCIENCES
The life sciences industry relies on forms-based processes across the entire lifecycle of products such as drugs
and medical devices. International regulatory requirements, such as those from the U.S. Federal Drug
Administration, place stringent requirements on process controls and data integrity that require strong digital
signatures for electronic forms.
Examples of forms-based processes in life sciences include the capture and review of chemistry and biology
data in research and development, the enrolling of clinical investigators and subjects for clinical trials, the
capture of patient data and adverse events during clinical trials, and the submission of applications and
findings to regulators.

Note: Usage of e-forms & workflow applications in Oil & Gas Industry is dealt at a more detailed level in later part of the document.

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CHAPTER FIVE: FORMS TECHNOLOGIES AND FORMATS
Organizations have numerous technologies and formats to choose from when employing electronic forms.
Among these are office productivity formats, such as word processing documents or spreadsheets, HTML web
forms, XForms, and PDF forms. When choosing forms technologies, decision-makers must examine the entire
process lifecycle to support forms automation from creation to archiving because not all formats are suited for
all parts of a content lifecycle.
Standard Office Applications: Basic office productivity applications, such as word processors and
spreadsheet programs, can be sufficient for creating electronic forms in ad hoc processes. In this scenario,
participation is usually limited to users who have the native applications, and process integration is generally
low or nonexistent. However, as participation grows to include audiences who might not have the necessary
application and process and data integration increases, office productivity formats quickly fail as electronic
forms.
HTML: HTML is often used for data-entry forms, especially in web browsers. HTML forms are adept at creating
electronic forms for online–only usage and where the look and feel ―fidelity‖—of a form is not important to the
process or dictated by industry standards. However, forms do not need to be in HTML to be delivered via a web
browser. For example, PDF forms can be delivered and completed online or offline with a capable browser
plug-in.
XFORMS: XForms is an official World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommendation for processing XML data,
especially in web forms. While XForms can be beneficial in handling form data at the process-integration level,
especially data exchange, it lacks a robust presentation layer, so maintaining fidelity between paper and
electronic forms is difficult. XForms is not widely and consistently supported in readily available applications. To
provide much beyond very basic data capture, XForms must usually be extended through proprietary formats
and often requires desktop applications.
PDF Forms: PDF forms are a type of PDF file that contains form data, logic, and presentation information to
render high-fidelity business forms, especially forms that require the same look and feel on screen as well as on
paper.

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CHAPTER SIX: BEST PRACTISES ON E-FORMS FEATURE
Enterprises seeking to automate their forms-based business processes will want to
evaluate the possible Solutions according to performance and fit with the
organizations typical business requirements. Based on experience across the globe the
best practices were documented. The following table gives an overview of Do‘s & Don‘t
while developing the e-forms application.

Business
Requirement

Things Buyers look for

Things buyers avoid

Dynamic User
Experience





Data-driven wizards
Ability to personalize forms process
Secure access outside a firewall







Sectional signing capabilities
Multi-step workflows
Ability to lock down a document while
enabling additional workflow
Definition of role-based workflows



Workflow







Use of scripting to create limited
dynamic behavior
Limited dynamic capabilities
Forms that provide only documentlevel signing
Invisible fields in a workflow that can
be invalidated

Compliance




Use of declarative rules engine
Compatibility with signature standards
to ensure compliance



Use of JavaScript for dynamic forms
that can lead to breaks in document
integrity

Security



Ability to lock down signatures on any
combination of fields, sections, pages
or forms



Forms with no secure sectional
signing

Performance



Lightweight, compressible forms
based on XML that enable multiple
signatures with small file size
XML parsers with fast APIs to
access/pre-populate data directly



Large file sizes resulting from
replication of forms attached with
each signature
Requirement of numerous file formats
that require server translations

Open-standards connectivity to
leverage existing architecture




Integration

pg. 9





Proprietary infrastructures requiring
specific servers resulting in higher
total cost of ownership

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Speaking of the critical success factors for the success of the e-form strategy could be summarized as:
1.

Establish measurable business goals. It is critically important to define the specific business benefits you
expect your forms projects to deliver. This may sound obvious, but many projects fail because this
―obvious‖ success factor is not observed. Goals should be specific and measurable, with time frames
established.

2.

Align your business and your IT operations. While
electronic and Internet forms are driven by technology, they
are not about technology. The point of forms is to improve
work process functionality; technology is only a means to
achieving that end.

3.

Get executive support up front. Because enterprise
electronic forms implementations are strategic initiatives,
top management must actively support them. Without
executive endorsement, forms initiatives can be viewed as
tactical ―paper replacement‖ programming projects and end
up being way down IT‘s priority list.

4.

Let business goals drive functionality. Just as electronic
forms projects must be driven by business goals, so must
every form decision. If a form doesn‘t directly help your
company better serve customers and improve workflow, you
probably don‘t need to make it an electronic form.

5.

Minimize customization by leveraging out-of-the-box
functionality. Customization is often the most costly, time consuming and complex component of an
electronic form project. Keeping projects within a reasonable scope and leveraging the out of the box
functionality of your design program can reduce the need for customization and reduce the total cost of
ownership.

6.

Use trained experienced suppliers. Selection of your eForms software provider is one of the most
important decisions you will make. Be sure the provider not only provides a quality, functional product but
also provides training, technical support, consulting services, and responsive customer service.

7.

Actively involve end users in solution design. Unless you solicit and act on end user input, you run the risk
of implementing forms that only address one or two workflow issues while missing the larger picture.
Forms serve many functions. Effective forms consider the needs of workflow, container, data, and image.
Each user may have a different perspective.

8.

Invest in training to empower end users. Training should not merely focus on demonstrating how to use
the software‘s features and functionality. Whenever possible, it is important to retain the look and function
of the paper version of the form to reduce user anxiety and learning curve. Electronic forms contain many
features that provide help to the end user. Taking advantage of these features can significantly improve
acceptance of the overall program.

9.

Use a phased rollout schedule. Most successful electronic forms programs follow a phased deployment
schedule. Starting with ―Print-on-demand‖ forms, moving to ―Fill-and-print‖, and then to fully functional
―Enterprise-enabled‖ forms gives users an opportunity to become familiar with how to access and use
forms, while delivering a low-cost and immediate benefit to the company.

10. Measure, monitor and track. Once an enterprise electronic forms program goes live, the organization
must measure, monitor and track user acceptance, workflow improvements, and effectiveness with an eye
to continuously improving the program‘s effectiveness.

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CHAPTER SEVEN: E-FORMS VENDOR EVALUATION
VENDOR LANDSCAPE METHOD
From the domain experience of analysts available in the market and existing comparison, a vendor/product
shortlist is established. Product briefings are researched from each of these vendors portal, seeking information
from the World Wide Web about products, technology, customers, partners, sales models and pricing when
required.
GeoApps Consulting Group‘s Vendor Landscape market evaluations are a part of a larger product selection
solution set, referred to as a ‗Select Set.‘
Our analysts score each vendor and product across a variety of categories, on a scale of 0-20 points. The raw
scores for each vendor are then normalized to the other vendors‘ scores to provide a sufficient degree of
separation for a meaningful comparison. These scores are then weighted according to weighting factors that
our analysts believe represent the weight that an average client should apply to each criteria. The weighted
scores are then averaged for each of two high level categories: vendor score and product score. A plot of these
two resulting scores is generated to place vendors in one of four categories: Champion, Innovator, Market
Pillar, and Emerging Player.
For a more granular category by category comparison, analysts take the individual scores for each
vendor/product in each evaluation category before they are normalized with the other vendor scores and
convert those to a scale of zero to four whereby exceptional performance receives a score of four and poor
performance receives a score of zero. These scores are represented with ―Harvey Balls”, ranging from an open
circle for a score of zero to a filled in circle for a score of four. Harvey Ball scores are indicative of absolute
performance by category but are not an exact correlation to overall performance.
Vendor Landscapes change every 12 to 24 months depending upon the dynamics of each individual market.

Definition
Innovator

Champion

Innovators have demonstrated innovative product
strengths that act as their competitive advantage
in appealing to niche segments of the market.

Champions receive high scores for most evaluation
criteria and offer excellent value. They have a strong
market presence and are usually the trend setters for
the industry.

Emerging Players

Market Pillars

Emerging Players are newer vendors who are
starting to gain a foothold in the marketplace. They
balance product and vendor attributes, though
score lower relative to market Champions.

Market Pillars are established players with very
strong vendor credentials, but with more average
product scores.

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Weighing Factor: Product Evaluation
Features

The solution provides basic and advanced
feature/functionality.

25%

Usability

The solution‘s dashboard and reporting
tools are intuitive and easy to use.

20%

Affordability

Implementing and operating the solution is
affordable given the technology.

35%

Architecture

The delivery method of the solution aligns
with what is expected within the space.

20%

Weighing Factor: Vendor Evaluation
Viability

Vendor is profitable, knowledgeable, and will
be around for the long-term.

20%

Strategy

Vendor is committed to the space and has a
future product and portfolio roadmap.

60%

Reach

Vendor offers global coverage and is able to
sell and provide post-sales support.

10%

Channel

Vendor channel strategy is appropriate and
the channels themselves are strong.

10%

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E-Form Landscape

Champion

Innovator

 Perfect Forms

Emerging
Player

 Microsoft InfoPath & InfoPath
Forms Services
 Formatta
 LincDoc

Market Pillar

pg. 13

 Adobe Acrobat
 Adobe LiveCycle
 IBM Forms
 Cardiff Liquid Office

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TABLE STAKE
The products assessed in this Vendor evaluation meet, at the very least, the requirements outlined as Table
Stakes.
Digital Signatures

Product supports its own signature system, a public certificate standard, or
both.

Form Design

Product allows users to create and design their own eForms.

Data Integration
Population

&

Pre-

Form Fill

E-Forms can be pre-populated and integrate with data sources.
Product provides a client for eForms users to fill out forms.

NOTE:



If Table Stakes are all the customer need from the eForms solution, the only true differentiator for the
organization is price.
Otherwise, dig deeper to find the best price to value for your needs.

Many of the vendors go above and beyond the outlined Table Stakes; some even do so in multiple categories.
Some of the advance features which are assessed by the purchaser are mentioned herewith.
Feature

Feature Description

Self Service Design & Collect

EForms design and collection can be done with a rich UI and doesn‘t require
IT.

Archiving

Archive form submissions to PDF/A. Partial: Archive to an image archive
format (e.g. TIFF)

Sample Forms

Provide sample business process forms to be customized.

State Transformation

Image capture through OCR/ICR, barcode generation. Partial: Through third
party tool.

Share Point Integration

Formal library services integration with MS SharePoint.

Dynamic Assembly

Create forms on the fly based on existing form components.

Rich UI

EForms themselves can be designed with a rich UI for enhanced user
experience.

Industry Standard

Supports industry standards, e.g. ACORD, MISMO.

Workflow

Offers a rules and routing engine for eForms workflow.

Mobile

iOS, BlackBerry, and Android or Windows Phone 7. Partial: Any mobile client.

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VALUE INDEX METHOD
The Value Score indexes each vendor‘s product offering and business strength relative to their price point.
It does not indicate vendor ranking. Vendors that score high offer more bang-for-the-buck (e.g. features,
usability, stability, etc.) than the average vendor, while the inverse is true for those that score lower.
Price-conscious enterprises may wish to give the Value Score more consideration than those who are more
focused on specific vendor/product attributes. The Value Index is an indexed ranking of value per dollar as
determined by the raw scores given to each vendor by analysts. To perform the calculation, Affordability is
removed from the Product score and
the entire Product category is
reweighted to represent the same
proportions. The Product and Vendor
scores are then summed, and
multiplied by the Affordability raw
score to come up with Value Score.
Vendors are then indexed to the
highest performing vendor by dividing
their score into that of the highest
scorer, resulting in an indexed ranking
with a top score of 100 assigned to the
leading vendor.
On a relative basis, Adobe Acrobat
maintained the highest Info-Tech
Value Score of the vendor group.
Vendors were indexed against
Acrobat’s performance to provide a
complete, relative view of their
product offerings.

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CHAPTER EIGHT: PRODUCT & VENDOR COMPARISON
ADOBE LIVECYCLE

CHAMPION

OVERVIEW

Product

Live Cycle

Employees
Headquarters
Website
Founded
Presence

8,660
San Jose, CA
Adobe.com/LiveCycle
1982
FY09 Revenue: $2.95B



Adobe‘s enterprise eForms and business
process automation solution; a different
product than Acrobat Forms.



Contrary to popular belief, LiveCycle offers
full XML and HTML, not just PDF forms.

STRENGTHS


Comprehensive
eForms
management
solution with data integration at every level.



Dynamic assembly lets you use form parts
to build new forms on the fly and capture,
OCR and 1D/2D bar code support.



Security & DigiSig available in LiveCycle
portfolio as add-on.



Supports industry standards, e.g. ACORD,
MISMO, PISCES

CHALLENGES


Adobe and partners are building out a
library of vertical solutions, continuation of
which will be critical to continue to compete
with vertical ERP and ECM vendor forms
solutions.



While its product offering is far above the
standard offering in the landscape, so is its
price point; LiveCycle is definitely not priced
for enterprises with light eForms needs.

EXPERT RECOMMENDATION
If you need a comprehensive and dynamic enterprise
eForms solution for mission-critical form-based workflows,
then
Adobe
LiveCycle
is
Info-Tech’s
highest
recommendation.

pg. 16

CONFIDENTIAL

STRATEGY DOCUMENT

MICROSOFT INFOPATH

EMERGING PLAYER

OVERVIEW

Product

InfoPath



Employees
Headquarters
Website
Founded
Presence

89,000
Redmond, WA
Microsoft.com/Office/InfoPath
1975
MSFT. FY10 Revenue: $62.48B

Microsoft InfoPath is Microsoft‘s desktop
(client) eForms solution, without the serverbased component of InfoPath Forms
Services.



XML-based solution.

STRENGTHS


Very strong form design and authoring.



Member of MS Office family, meaning look &
feel will be familiar to Office users.



Strong support for XML standards and
arbitrary XML schemas.



Provides data analysis and survey
capabilities.

CHALLENGES


Microsoft‘s continued refusal to create free
InfoPath filler has evolved from being costly
to being downright annoying to customers.
This prevents it from seriously challenging
Adobe Acrobat for desktop eForms.



Future roadmap and Microsoft commitment
to eForms is uncertain.

While easy to use and great features, InfoPath remains an
eForms gadfly without a free form-filler client.

pg. 17

CONFIDENTIAL

STRATEGY DOCUMENT

MS INFOPATH FORM SERVICES
EMERGING PLAYER

OVERVIEW

Product

SharePoint 2010 Server
Enterprise Ed.

Employees
Headquarters
Website
Founded
Presence

89,000
Redmond, WA
Microsoft.com/Office/InfoPath
1975
MSFT. FY10 Revenue: $62.48B



Microsoft‘s comprehensive server-based
eForms and process automation solution
that works with InfoPath client.



Part of the SharePoint Enterprise Edition,
NOT Standard.



Works with other enterprise systems, not
just InfoPath.

STRENGTHS


Only fully SharePoint integrated forms
solution.



Functionality & architecture is stronger than
with Microsoft Info-Path only.



SharePoint-enabled workflow and dynamic
form assembly.



It is fully integrated with
SharePoint library services.



Employs
format.

InfoPath‘s

strong

Microsoft
XML-based

CHALLENGES


Form-fill client, InfoPath, isn‘t free, limiting
the scope of forms-based solutions,
preventing it from seriously challenging
Adobe LiveCycle.




For SharePoint Server Enterprise Ed. users, SharePoint
forms services offers strong integration and a robust
architecture. Uncertain product strategy and price of
InfoPath limit the value though.

Some advanced features are only available
through partners, e.g. state transformation,
support for industry standards.



Future roadmap and eForms commitment
is uncertain.

pg. 18

CONFIDENTIAL

STRATEGY DOCUMENT

HP AUTONOMY LIQUID OFFICE
Champion
Product

OVERVIEW
Cardiff LiquidOffice


Employees:
Headquarters:
Website:
Founded:
Presence

1,200 (Autonomy)
Cambridge, UK
Cardiff.com/LiquidOffice
1996
FY09 Revenue: $740M

Cardiff has historically focused on intelligent
document products, baking rules and
routing into content. Their eForm roots
began with TeleForms, a paper form
capture leader almost 2 decades ago,
before acquisition by Autonomy.

STRENGTHS


Strong dynamic assembly, workflow, and
BPM capabilities.



Supports capture through OCR, IRC,1D and
2D barcodes.



Part of a family of leading content-oriented
products from a strong vendor in the
information
management
market,
Autonomy.

CHALLENGES

For more advanced dynamic assembly and capture needs,
LiquidOffice eForms is a great choice. It can also handle
more basic scenarios, but won’t provide the best value
there.

pg. 19



Mobile client is for BlackBerry products only.



For smaller SMBs, Cardiff LiquidOffice may
be prohibitively expensive.

CONFIDENTIAL

STRATEGY DOCUMENT

IBM FORMS

Champion

OVERVIEW

Product Name

IBM Forms

Employees
Headquarters
Website
Founded
Presence

426,751
Armonk, NY
IBM.com/Lotus/Forms
1911
NYSE: IBM. FY10 Revenue:
$99.87B



IBM‘s best-of-breed strategic eForm
solution, originally acquired from PureEdge.



Wizard-driven interface.



Multi-million dollar product roadmap.

STRENGTHS


Very strong support for industry standards,
e.g. ACORD, MISMO.



Rich UI, can add documents, images, video,
maps.



Strong XML, BPM, Process Server, and
FileNet integration



iPad support.



Offers OCR/ICR capture capabilities.

CHALLENGES


For those in need of a robust solution and are okay with
forms remaining entirely in IBM’s XML technology, IBM
Forms is a very strong eForms product backed by a
committed and strong vendor

pg. 20

No standalone form instance outside IBM‘s
XML technology.
Integration is primarily with other IBM
products.



While positioning of IBM Forms vs. IBM
FileNet Forms has improved in the last two
years, the IBM portfolio still contains
overlaps between Forms, FileNet, Lotus
Notes/Domino, and Websphere, which can
confuse eForm buyers.

CONFIDENTIAL

STRATEGY DOCUMENT

LINCDOC

Emerging Player

OVERVIEW

Product

Lincdoc



Optional integration, digital signatures,
components include data lookups and
credit card processing.

Employees
Headquarters
Website
Founded
Presence

<50
East Rochester, NY
Lincware.com
2007
Private



More a multi-tenant architecture (cloud and
on-premise) in progress right now than a
fully-baked eForm solution.

STRENGTHS


LincDoc is LincWare‘s first and only product
to date.



Very strong tablet support (iPad and
Android).



Forward
thinking
team/company.



Competitive price point.



A vendor to watch

management

CHALLENGES



When it comes to forward thinking functionality like mobile
support and cloud ecosystems, LincDoc is a winner.
However, clunky form creation and weak workflow hold it
back.

pg. 21

MS Word/Adobe Acrobat-based form
design and creation process is more difficult
and unrefined than most form designers
evaluated.



Workflow and case management, while
available, is fairly light and not suitable for
more enterprises with more robust needs.



Potential acquisition target

CONFIDENTIAL

STRATEGY DOCUMENT

FORMATTA
Emerging Player

OVERVIEW

Product

Formatta

Employees:
Headquarters:
Website:
Founded:
Presence:

50
Sulphur Springs, TX
Formatta.com
1997
Private



Owned by Access, which holds a portfolio of
enterprise forms management products.

STRENGTHS


Strong digital signature features, including
X.509, remote signing, and LDAP.



Integration via XML, HTTP, SMTP, SQL and
SOA.



Strong industry support, especially
education and public sector.



Web client for Apple iPad

in

CHALLENGES



No
dynamic
transformation.



No survey functionality and Formatta states
that they are not a survey company.

Formatta lacks the functionality and architecture to be a
leader in the eForms space. That said, their parent
company, Access is worth watching and offers impressive
niche eForms solutions.

pg. 22

assembly

or

state

CONFIDENTIAL

STRATEGY DOCUMENT

PERFECT FORMS
Innovator
Product

OVERVIEW
Perfect Forms


Employees
Headquarters
Website
Founded
Presence

50
Carlsbad, CA
PerfectForms.com
2001
Private

Born as a survey and data analysis tool
before adding more standard eForms,
reporting capabilities, and workflow
modules.

STRENGTHS


Very strong data analysis and survey
functionality.



Can deploy through cloud, on-premise, or
hybrid with the same codebase – rich
browser-based UI.



Dynamic assembly for on-the-fly forms
creation.



Cloud origin enables rapid growth of
ecosystem of other cloud partners for
value-added services like e-approvals.

CHALLENGES


Despite being a vendor underdog compared to the big
market players, great usability, features and architecture
make Perfect Forms a cloud eForms innovator and a
product worth evaluating.

pg. 23

Cannot import forms, but can start with a
form image.



Sales reach and support are not as strong
as some of the bigger vendors in the
landscape

CONFIDENTIAL

STRATEGY DOCUMENT

pg. 24

CONFIDENTIAL

Eform report

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