Early last year, Bryon Campbell began using Microsoft's InfoPath 2003 software to automate paper-based workflows at his cancer research facility, Van Andel Institute. Campbell, who is CIO of the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based organization, had seen a demonstration of InfoPath's capabilities that made him realize the software could streamline a variety of activities inside the institute—everything from submitting and processing requests for new business cards, to the requests for laboratory services that researchers place to analyze diseased tissues. Until that demo, Campbell had all but ignored the application that came bundled with his Microsoft Office 2003 suite.

InfoPath is electronic form software. It provides developers with tools to design electronic forms and can convert the data on those forms into XML, says Craig Le Clair, a senior analyst with Forrester Research, who covers electronic form software. InfoPath can then move the XML data into a SQL database, for example, where it can be reported on or moved to other business systems.

In the 17 months that Campbell and his 15-person IT department have been using InfoPath, they've automated 22 workflows, and they continue to do more. Earlier this year they migrated to InfoPath 2007, which Campbell says offers more functionality "out of the box," including the ability to automatically input form structures from Microsoft Word and Excel, according to Le Clair.

"InfoPath is gaining ground in leaps and bounds at the institute because it incorporates workflow and digital signaturing," says Campbell. "We can look at a highly manual business process, map the process, decide if it's optimal and design an electronic form around it."

Forrester Research's Le Clair says thousands of business processes can benefit from electronic form software, which first became popular in the 2001-2002 timeframe, when companies were trying to get their customers to serve themselves on the web. Le Clair expects the weak economy will spur more companies to turn to electronic form software to automate business processes. "Declining budgets make you look harder at driving costs out of existing business processes, and that could lead to a boost in e-forms and process transformation in general," he says.

At Van Andel Institute, Campbell is less conscious of cost savings. He's more excited about the fact that InfoPath gives him a relatively quick and easy way to automate processes that are disconnected from enterprise systems. Read on to learn about the Institute's process for automating manual workflows, the benefits it is seeing from InfoPath and to learn whether InfoPath is the right electronic form software for you.

Business Process Improvements

When Campbell gets a request from one of the business areas to design an electronic form, his first step is to work with the business area to review its existing process. During that review, they document the current process, identify any bottlenecks, then they map out the new process that will use the electronic form.

Campbell says the process review accomplishes two goals: It forces the business areas to determine whether their existing processes are optimal, and it provides IT with clear requirements for development. "That saves everyone time and money on the development and implementation," he says. "You don't get the scope creep you'd get if the new process wasn't clear."

Once the process analysis is complete, a developer builds the new electronic form using InfoPath. Depending on the complexity of the workflow, the creation of the form could require additional coding, and the development of the form can take anywhere from an hour to six months.

One process that was ripe for InfoPath was accepting applications for graduate study admission from prospective students. (Van Andel Institute began conferring Master's and PhD degrees in cellular and molecular biology in the fall of 2007.)

In the past, when students applied for admission to the Institute's graduate school, they downloaded an application from Van Andel Institute's Web site, filled it out online, printed it out, attached documentation regarding their course work, lab experience and internships, and mailed it to the Institute. Once it arrived, an administrative assistant had to key in all the information from the student's application into the registrar's system. Campbell says the data entry could take administrative assistants 30 minutes to an hour for each application.