Adobe Success Story

Driving innovation and growth
The Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research develops and implements a range of industry policies and business assistance programs that build on the Australian Government’s three key drivers of economic growth: innovation, investment, and international competitiveness. These policies and programs are designed to increase the international competitiveness of Australian manufacturing, resources, and service industries; develop Australia’s innovation and technology capabilities and infrastructure; and facilitate an increased level of foreign investment in Australia. The Department works in close partnership with industry—and with a range of other stakeholders—to achieve these goals.

To provide Australian business with simple, convenient access to all the government information, transactions, and services they need, the Department of Innovation initiated business.gov.au. This service provides essential information on planning, starting, and running a business, as well as a broad range of required and auxiliary information and services to assist business owners throughout the life of a business. These include services ranging from registering a business name to building and development applications.

Benefits

Improved business and government processes
Lowered administrative overheads
Eliminated rekeying of forms data
Created an electronic information delivery channel
Improved constituent services

Project Details

Giving business tools for faster, streamlined services
According to Mike Sibly, General Manager, Online eBusiness Services Branch, business.gov.au, the majority of Australian small and medium enterprise businesses (SMEs) use forms to interact with government agencies, many via the www.business.gov.au website. Each month the site receives more than 400,000 visitors as well as 7 to 9 million searches for Australian Business Number information. The site also hosts GovForms which provides businesses with access to more than 6,500 government forms, of which approximately 75% are already in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF).

“We conducted an extensive evaluation process to find a more efficient electronic forms platform to help with the development of GovForms,” says Mr Sibly. “The goal was to find solutions that would help reduce red tape, save Australian SME’s time and money, lower administrative overhead, and offer a consistent and easy-to-use solution.”

To help develop and enhance the GovForms services available on the business.gov.au web site, the Department of Innovation collaborated with an Australian-based Adobe integration partner to deploy several Adobe LiveCycle ES solutions, including LiveCycle Process Management ES, LiveCycle Forms ES, LiveCycle Reader Extensions ES, LiveCycle Digital Signatures ES, and LiveCycle Rights Management ES. The aim was to work closely with government partner agencies to continually increase the availability and uptake of dynamic Adobe PDF forms.

For the Department of Innovation, the Adobe LiveCycle ES solutions provide a secure and flexible way to extend the power and reach of enterprise applications inside and outside the department’s firewall. The solutions enable the department to create interactive forms integrated into everyday business processes. The result: the Department of Innovation can replace inefficient, manual, paper-based processes with streamlined, automated processes to better serve customers, partner agencies, and employees.

Services and information on-demand
“One of the reasons we are using Adobe LiveCycle ES solution is the ubiquitous nature of the free Adobe Reader. This means that every Australian SME can use the online PDF forms without any cost and can work with that form both online and offline anytime, anywhere,” Mr. Sibly says.

The business logic, client-side validation, and dynamic nature of Adobe PDF forms means they can be downloaded, completed offline, and then submitted later. The forms can hide and show information relevant for that individual user. Built-in help can also guide users through PDF forms, delivering a much richer, easier user experience. A copy of the PDF form and related data can be retained and saved for a user’s records. At the same time, the PDF forms can be securely pre-filled with common information about an individual or business.

“The Adobe solution allows an Australian SME to store a group of transactions as favourites, such as registering for an Australian Business Number,” says Mr. Sibly. “This will save them time and hassle in not having to repeatedly fill out the same information in subsequent forms.”

According to Mr.Sibly, the Adobe solution ultimately enables Australian businesses to interact with the government in a consistent way, electronically. “The Adobe solution provides a mechanism that transforms the flow of information and drastically improves the public’s interactions with government agencies,” he says. “By adopting Adobe LiveCycle ES, the department can save Australian businesses a considerable amount of time and money.”

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