Government

FormEasy Automates US Navy Forms

The U. S. Navy's Electronic Systems Engineering Center Vallejo, California, has worked with Graphics Development International (GDI) to create an office automation system for electronic processing of the forms an organization uses every day. Developed to meet the complex forms processing needs of the Navy's purchasing procedures, the system is adaptable to any business wanting to automate its forms printing and data base management.

GDI estimates that it is possible for one person to generate, print, and distribute forms which previously required three or more personnel. Electronic versions of the Navy's paper forms were developed by GDI's forms service bureau. These were then linked to the data files that track purchasing and accounting activity. Users fill the forms on the screen, simultaneously updating data files. GDI's forms routing facility means forms can be sent electronically to other sites for approvals and signatures. Printing is also fast because FormEasy sends a macro describing a form to the printer, then just downloads the variable data for each copy to be printed.

The Engineering Center has twenty networks, both 3-Com and Novell. Dozens of forms, including contracts, financial forms and travel expense forms, are easily available to each user, who selects them from a menu for onscreen display and filling. More menus guide the user through automatic filling of stored data (such as vendor name and address), printing, and data storage and update.

---

Send your comments and questions to GDI Webmaster