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Policies and Procedure Guidelines Page 1 of 14
Section 1.1: Forms Analysis and Design Effective date: March 6, 1997
Issued by Approved by:
1.1 FORMS ANALYSIS AND DESIGN
1.1.1 WHAT IS A FORM?
A form is basically a fixed arrangement of captioned spaces designed
for entering and
obtaining pre-described information. A form is considered
effective if it
is:
� easy to complete
� easy to use
� easy to store
� easy to retrieve information quickly
� easy to dispose
1.1.2 HOW IS IT IMPORTANT?
In a business, forms and design are greatly needed to allow the company
to better organize the way they want their business to operate
smoothly and efficiently. Although the presence of forms and
design in a company ensures that the company will run better, be
able to make better decisions and be able to coordinate activities
more easily, these forms and design programs must be covered in
the companies budget, in terms of costs.
The company will have to make sure that its forms and designs are a
unique standard throughout the company and not different in
separate sections of the companies total make-up. If, by chance
the presence of a universal form in a certain section of the
company is a disadvantage rather than an advantage, the forms and
policies of other companies may be looked at in order to correct the
problem. When creating a form, companies may use the same
standard techniques before making changes to make the form right
for its company.
Some basic techniques are making sure that the form is easy to fill in,
takes minimal time to fill-in, it has a functional layout and it
contains an attractive visual appearance.
After using the basic standards of form design, the forms
analysists’, spend countless hours making the design a unique
standard for their company, while considering every section of the
company, so that the form will be useful to every member of the
company.
Policies and Procedure Guidlines Page 2 of 14
Section 1.2: Tools and Aids For Forms and Design Effective date: March 6, 1997
Issued by: Approved by:
1.2 TOOLS AND AIDS FOR FORMS DESIGNING
Many companies use the same basic tools to design their forms. In the
past when forms were designed, many “traditional tools”
were used to design forms. Some of those tools include the
following:
� pencils, erasers
� rulers, triangles
� tracing paper
� lettering and symbol templates
� cutting tools
� masking tape and cellophane tape
� correction fluid
� rubber cement
Now, because of new technology and easier ways to design forms, most of
these tools are obsolete. New computer hardware and software have
provided many tools and accessories which have allowed companies
to train employees to design forms using these advanced tools.
Software packages such as Corel Draw, Microsoft Office, which
includes Word, Excel, Access and PowerPoint along with
WordPerfect, PowerBuilder, Visual Basic and many other software packages
have made tasks easier to complete. Their amazing accurate and
precise design tools provide “picture-perfect” quality.
1.2.1 Computer Hardware and Software
� Pentium Computers
Today most designers use computers especially
Pentium computers
because of their speed and performance.
Policies and Procedure Guidelines Page 3 of 14
Section 1.2: Tools and Aids For Forms and Design Effective date: March 6, 1997
Issued by: Approved by:
� Corel Draw
There are several different software packages
that can be used to design
the forms. Many
companies recommend Corel Draw. It is an excellent
choice to use for
designing the form as you would want it on paper. There
are excellent designing tools included in
the Corel Package which
allows you to draw lines of any size, color or shape. It also
allows you to
insert grids, graphics, graphs or images with different border styles and
sizes.
� Microsoft Word
After designing the physical appearance of the
form with style and
borders, Microsoft Word will be used to fill in the form’s information
because of the
various fonts that are available. Also, Microsoft Word’s
ability to change
font size, and either, bold, underline or italicize wording,
will be very useful in the creation of
the text that will appear in the form.
� Microsoft Excel
This section of Microsoft Office can be used by
the designers to design
grids and graphs
that might be needed to represent data in the form. Grids
and tables may be inserted into the form
to hold data that the
applicant may need to fill. Different types of graphs such as pie charts,
line graphs,
column graphs and combination graphs may be needed to
represent a
question in the form. For example, the applicant may need to
fill in what
percentage he/she belongs to as compared to the rest of the
field represented
by the graph.
� Microsoft Access
This section of Microsoft Office can be used to
design databases. The
designers may
want to include previously designed tables or create new
tables to insert
into forms. They may also want to only include portions of
tables in which they can create queries
so that the tables they insert
includes only the
information that they specified.
Policies and Procedure Guidelines Page 4 of 14
Section 1.2: Tools and Aids For Forms and Design Effective date: March 6, 1997
Issued by: Approved by:
� Printers
An Epson III Laser Jet Color Printer can be
used to print the forms. The
laser quality
will provide the crisp and clear texture of lines and text,
along with bright
colors to make the form more attractive and visually
appealing.
Although any laser printer, will provide excellent quality, the
color laser jets
printers makes the forms more attractive because of how
the different
colors distinguish between the different sections of the form.
� Saving Forms
All the forms will that are designed by the
company should be backed up
on the hard drive
of the computers. The forms will be saved whether they
were used or not,
in case of changes in the form’s design or in case the
company wants to
improve on a previously designed form. The forms will
also be saved on floppy disks, just in
case of viruses, malfunctions in the
computer or hard
drive upgrading and formatting.
Policies and Procedure Guidelines Page 5 of 14
Section 1.3: Designing Procedures Effective date: March 6, 1997
Issued by: Approved by:
1.3 DESIGNING PROCEDURES
The two major objectives of this process is:
1) collecting information, which is its reason for existence
2) facilitating a format for the form, which is standard.
1.3.1 Facilitative Area
The forms are a very important aspect of a
company because they provide
the information
of each employee that the employers wish to know. Since
most companies use a standardized format,
each company must contain its title and
identify the type of form that the applicant is filling out .
It is also useful to include the name of the
department, date, codes and
instructions that
may be necessary to complete the form.
� Identification
The title of the form will be placed at the top
center of the form and in any case where
the form contains more than one invoice, it should include
subtitles to
distinguish it from the rest of the forms. If the forms will be
filed, it will be
helpful to place the title in the “visible area” of the form,
which would be
the area visible on the form when it is in a filing cabinet
or some other
type of filing.
� Form Numbers
The forms will also include form numbers which
will be placed in either
of the lower
corners on each page of the form. This will prevent the form
numbers from
being covered by staples and it won’t interfere with the
working area of
the form. It will also serve as an aid in stocking the forms
in small quantities.
Policies and Procedure Guidelines Page 6 of 14
Section 1.3: Designing Procedures Effective date: March 6, 1997
Issued by: Approved by:
� Page Numbers
It is also very important to ensure that all
the pages of the form contain
page numbers for
various reasons. This will be helpful in identifying what
page of the form it is and help make it
easier to sort out forms, especially
if they contain
more than one page. The page numbers should be placed
in the upper
right hand corner of the page so that when the form is opened
the number of the
page will be easier to see when the pages are stapled in
the upper left
corner. (EX: Page 1 of **)
� Edition Date
The company should ensure that all the forms
contain edition dates which
show when the
form was made. The form should also show how long
they will be
valid before they need to be updated again. The edition dates
will be included
with form numbers.
� Supersession Notice
This is simply a method of notifying users and
workers in the supply room so that
they will know when a new form has been created has replaced the
older version of the form. It is also
used when a newer version of the
previous form has
been revised.
This notice is usually printed in the bottom
margin of the form. It should
let the
user know if the form has been replaced and what the number of
the new form is.
If more than one form is used to replace a single form,
then a separate
notice should would be more appropriate to inform
effective
personnel of the change.
� Expiration Dates and Approval of Forms
If a form is to be used for only a limited of
time, then it should contain
expiration dates
and limit dates. These will let the users no when and how
long the form will be valid and when they
should get another one.
Because many forms have to be approved by a
company first before they
are distributed
to users, they must allow room for the company to state its
approval number,
signature or symbol, along with the date that the form
was approved.
Policies and Procedure Guidelines Page 7 of 14
Section 1.3: Designing Procedures Effective date: March 6, 1997
Issued by: Approved by:
� Emblems and Symbols
After the forms are approved by the company,
the designers must insert
the
company’s emblem or logo on the form. This will validate the form as
property of that company and act sort of
like a patent so that it won’t be
used by any other
companies.
� Comments and Suggestions
In order to have room for improvement on the
forms, there should be
enough space for
any comments or suggestions that the authorizing
department wishes
to leave when approving the form. The form will have
to be approved by the
department before the companies logo or seal can
be placed on the
form. and it will have to contain the companies logo
before the form
will be valid.
Policies and Procedure Guidelines Page 8 of 14
Section 1.4: Instructions Effective date: March 6, 1997
Issued by: Approved by:
1.4 INSTRUCTIONS
1.4.1 General Instructions
To ensure that the forms are easy to fill out,
each form will contain
instructions for
completing the form and what to do with the forms after
completing them.
The instructions should be brief. The instructions that
are located under
the title of the form will be basic, general instructions
that tell the
applicant what to do with the form, why they are filling it out
and who they
should give it to when they are finished. This should be
read by the user
before completing the form.
1.4.2 Lengthy Instructions
In any case where the form is lengthy and
requires a lot of thought to fill it out,
an instruction booklet should be included with the form. These
instructions are
more lengthy but explain more about filling out the form.
They should try
to answer any questions that the applicant may have about
his/her choices while completing the
form. These instructions will
explain clearly
how to fill out the form, including what is mandatory to fill
in and what sections are optional.
These instructions should be sort of like a
written procedure that explains
the form in a
sort of summary. The font size of the wording should be
carefully
designed to make sure that the words are big enough and the
lines should be
double spaced to make sure that the instructions are clear
enough to read
and understand.
An acceptable reading font size is around 12pt
or 14 pt size. Times New
Roman, Arial or
Courier are standard true type fonts that are clear and
easy to read.
1.4.3 Section Instructions
There will also be instructions included in
each section. These
instructions will explain clearly how to fill out each the section of the
form. It will
contain information on whether or not the section needs to
be filled out in
order to determine full completion of the form.
Policies and Procedure Guidelines Page 9 of 14
Section 1.5: Addressing and Mailing Effective date: March 6, 1997
Issued by: Approved by:
1.5 ADDRESSING AND MAILING
1.5.1 Self-Routing
On the bottom of the last page of the form or
on the back of the last page,
there will be a
space for the address of the employer and a space for the
applicant to fill
in his/her address, along with extra space in case the form
has to be sent to
multiple routes. This will make it easier for the forms to
be transferred to
the employer and increase the capability of self -
routing mail.
When addressing to a certain employer, job
titles should be used instead
of names just in
case changes in departments should occur due to
promotions or lay-offs. This will change the positions held by certain
employees who are
in control of certain departments which means
different responsibilities for these people.
1.5.2 E-Mailing and Faxing
Companies that have email will be at an
advantage. They will be able to
email a copy of
the form to the user and have them fill out the appropriate
information and
then email the results back to the employer
For companies that don’t have email, fax
machines are also useful. They
can simply fax
the forms to the employees or applicants. The employees
can then fill it
out and then fax it or bring the form to the employer in
person.
1.5.3 Personal MailBoxes
In most companies, employers and employees have
their own personal
mailboxes. By
including both the address of the employee and the
employer, it is easier for employees or users to transfer forms to the
employer. In the
event that the employer may be out on a business trip,
the applicants
may simply drop the forms into the employers mailboxes to
meet deadlines.
Policies and Procedure Guidelines Page 10 of 14
Section 1.6: Form Layout Effective date: March 6, 1997
Issued by: Approved by:
1.6 FORM LAYOUT
� Sheet Size
The forms should be designed on 8 1/2” x
11” carbon paper with a carbon
sheet on the
back, so that the person filling out the form can keep a copy
for him/herself.
The sections of the forms should be placed on both sides
of the paper to
save paper. The information on the forms should not be
crammed so that
some important information could possibly left out or so
that it would
make it harder to read the questions due to poor spacing or
small lettering.
� Margins
The form should have half inch margins on all
sides so that the wording
won’t be too
close to the end of the page. This allows the user or reader to
hold the paper without covering any
wording on the form.
� Spacing
The amount of horizontal and vertical spacing
is determined by the
amount of
headings and sub-headings, size and style of text and the
amount of space
left for fill in answers.
� Box Format
The form will follow a box format which will
increase space because the
information will
go to each end of the page margin. It will have
exceptional horizontal and vertical spacing to enable easier reading.
� Borders and Bolding
The different sections of the form will be
divided by solid black lines.
The headings and
sub-headings will be bolded and larger than the question
text in order to improve the visual
appearance of each section of the
form.
Policies and Procedure Guidelines Page 11 of 14
Section 1.6: Form Layout Effective date: March 6, 1997
Issued by: Approved by:
� Shading
Shading will also be used in the sections where
no information is required
to make it easier
for the applicant to know what sections he/she needs to
fill in. This
would also be used to highlight sections that need to be filled
in, but not by
the applicant. For example, some forms have sections that
specify “for
office use only” meaning that they don’t have to fill out any
information in
that section.
� Answer Spaces
There will be spaces indicated on the right
side of the section that will be
lined aligned
with one another. They will be used for filling in
information that contain only numbers or a letter code. In the case that the
answers to the question requires several
lines in order to answer it, there
will be more than
enough space available to appropriately answer the
question.
Therefore the information must be clear and widely spaced so
that it is very
easy to fill out the forms.
Policies and Procedure Guidelines Page 12 of 14
Section 1.7: Breakdown of Form Arrangements Effective date: March 6, 1997
Issued by: Approved by:
1.7 BREAKDOWN OF FORM ARRANGEMENTS
The form should be set up in a way to make it easier for the applicants
to fill in. The sections of the forms will be organized so that
all the related parts of the form are placed one after the other
to avoid reading back through the form. The form will have
headings and sub-heading which define which section of the form
you are filling out and help you understand what kind of information you
should fill in.
1.7.1 Beginning
The personal information will be placed at the
first of the form.
This will contain things such as the applicants name, address,
phone number, and date of birth .
1.7.2 Body
This will contain the basic purpose of the
form. It will have the
questions that will be needed to complete the form, depending on
what kind of form it is. For example, if it was an application for
applying for a job, the beginning would include the items
mentioned above in the beginning section. The body, would contain,
previous
education, previous employment, the position you wish to apply
for and your
references.
1.7.3 Ending
This section of the form will have spaces to
fill in the address of the
person you wish
to send it to, along with your own address. It will have
several spaces in
case you wish to send it to more than one person.
Policies and Procedure Guidelines Page 13 of 14
Section 1.8: Revising an Existing Form Effective date: March 6, 1997
Issued by: Approved by:
1.8 REVISING AN EXISTING FORM
There are many things to consider when revising a form:
� Previous forms will be considered to be obsolete
� Previous editions of forms can be used until there are no more
left. Companies can use the older forms
until there are no more left before
presenting a new form.
� Existing stocks which include the form number and edition date
can be used. The now obsolete forms, will be replaced by new ones,
but the form numbers and editions dates will be transferred on to
the new forms.
Policies and Procedure Guidelines Page 14 of 14
Section 1.9: Replacing Existing Forms with Different Numbers Effective date: March 6, 1997
Issued by: Approved by:
1.9 REPLACING EXISTING FORMS WITH DIFFERENT NUMBERS
� You first have to replace the form numbers and edition dates
which are now considered to be obsolete.
� Instead of replacing the number and dates right away, you can
wait until there are no more forms left and then make the changes
to the new forms.
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