Adobe Success Story

With approximately 12,000 employees in multiple offices throughout Catalonia, the Ministry of Justice is one of the largest ministries in the Generalitat de Catalunya. The wide range of activities supported by the Ministry of Justice results in a high volume of documents that are expensive to manage. This prompted those in charge of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) section of the Ministry to look for a solution.

The ICT section consists of five consultants and one coordinator from the Center for Telecom­munications and Information Technology. The group is strongly committed to new innovations to improve business processes. "There is a major focus on innovation in the ICT section of the Ministry of Justice," says Manel Nieto, a consultant at ICT. "Any product on the market that seems useful is tested and if it meets our needs we incorporate it."

Automating popular forms
To simplify managing the large volume of paper received by the Ministry of Justice, ICT managers decided to automate several forms processes using Adobe Acrobat Professional software and Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). Three forms were developed for the Law and Legal Entities Directorate General (DGDEJ), a body that registers non-profit associations, foundations, and other entities. The DGDEJ played a participative role in defining the functional requirements of the forms.

The first form, called 'charges', is an intelligent Adobe PDF form that links a standard charge to a specific type of entity or certain procedural matter (e.g. establishing a new non-profit). After completing this form, an association representative can immediately generate a receipt that is automatically sent to the appropriate government financial agency for processing.

Another form, called the 'annual accounts for foundations' form, is a financial reporting form that makes it easier for foundations to submit income accounts, balance sheet data, financial reports, and other financial documents. Each year, the Ministry of Justice receives approximately 2,000 forms containing financial information. Typically, these documents have been processed manually, resulting in high administrative costs and the increased likelihood of errors.

To improve processing of the 'annual accounts' form, the Ministry is using forms in Adobe PDF in combination with Adobe LiveCycle Reader Extensions and Adobe LiveCycle Barcoded Forms. Citizens with free Adobe Reader software can complete the form offline, automatically captur­ing data into a built-in barcode. As data is entered into the Adobe PDF form fields, the barcode instantly captures it. Citizens can print, sign, and return the completed forms to the Ministry, where staff can instantly capture form data by scanning the barcode, eliminating the need to rekey information into systems.

A third form, called the 'government bodies' form, will perform a similar function but is directed at the bodies that govern more than 20,000 associations in Catalonia. This form enables associations to easily submit details about board member changes to their organizations, which is a requirement in Catalonia. Given the frequency of leadership changes in community-based associations, the streamlined updating processes will benefit the government and citizens. Similar to the annual accounts form, the government bodies form uses Adobe LiveCycle Reader Extensions software as well as Adobe LiveCycle Barcoded Forms to instantly capture user data on forms.

Benefits

• Reduce the time and costs associated with processing forms
• Improve the accuracy of data submitted on forms
• Dramatically reduce errors previously associated with data entry by Ministry staff
• Improve citizen services

Project Details

Commitment to standards
Working with system integrator Seidor, the Ministry of Justice built its automated processes around the Adobe solutions. Adobe Acrobat Professional software includes tools for creating, controlling, and delivering Adobe PDF documents safely. Adobe LiveCycle Reader Extensions enables citizens and outside partners to save and complete forms offline or online using free Adobe Reader software. Finally, Adobe LiveCycle Barcoded Forms automates the capture of information entered into the dynamic Adobe PDF files.

According to Mr. Nieto, the Ministry of Justice staff chose Adobe PDF because they believe it is "the de facto standard for interchanging documents." Moreover, Adobe Reader software is readily available to citizens and business users. Another factor was the similarity of documents in Adobe PDF to the original documents on paper. "We adopted Adobe solutions based on their ability to link our electronic and paper-based processes," says Mr. Nieto. "Adobe PDF allows us to send forms via the Internet, and if a citizen wants to return a printed form, the format is the same. Consequently, our development costs are lower, and we maintain a paper format identical to the electronic format."

Rapid acceptance and real returns
Ministry of Justice managers are confident that the system will be accepted quickly, considering the excellent response received from the foundations. "We presented the solution to the foundations as a group, and they were satisfied because they could finally fill in details in an Adobe PDF file, save changes, and then import data from their accounting information systems," explains Mr. Nieto.

The ICT group has advanced the electronic forms workflows by eliminating much of the work required to manually enter account information into backend systems, a task that typically has a high error rate. Presently, the automated system for account forms has experienced an increase in usage greater than 200%.

"We have seen significant growth. Already, more than 300 of the estimated 2,000 foundations that have to present documents now do so using the Adobe PDF forms," says Mr. Nieto. In the future, the Ministry is looking to enable organization managers to digitally sign the forms to complete processes—a capability that several foundations have requested.

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