FAQs

General
Licensing Arrangements
business.gov.au
SmartForms Centre
Services
Technical

General

What are SmartForms?

SmartForms are intelligent PDF forms that allow users to perform the following functions using the free Adobe Reader application:

Fill in a form electronically in an online or offline mode
Save a form to their computer with entered information
Submit a form online
Add a digital signature
Pre-populate form fields using a pre-saved personal profile.

When a form is submitted agencies can:

Receive the whole PDF form as an email attachment
Receive only the data in XML format
Extract the form data directly into their backend systems.

Why are SmartForms important?

Consider the following:

85% of business processes start with a form (Gartner 2006)
40% of forms are submitted with missing information (Australian outsourcing company 2005)
Forms are critical to government business
SmartForms improve the accuracy of information captured on forms

What are the benefits over paper forms?

Save on administration costs
Reduce processing times
Efficient use of natural resources

What new skills will my team have to learn?

To develop SmartForms, agency staff may require training in Adobe LiveCycle Designer, JavaScript and XML, or you can engage specialist service providers
Your Administrators will be trained to use the online SmartForms management system, SmartForms Centre, to upload SmartForms, manage administrator accounts and run reports
Documentation, training and ongoing support is available from the GovForms team

How can users access SmartForms?

SmartForms for businesses are available via the search function in the GovForms website. They can also be accessed via agency websites by using a hyperlink pointing to the URL of the SmartForm.

How can agencies meet accessibility requirements for SmartForms?

Under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 agencies must ensure that people with disabilities have the same fundamental rights to access information as the rest of the community. The Australian Government Information Office (AGIMO) states that departments and agencies are required to comply with the Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C) accessibility guidelines. These requirements can be located in more detail at http://webpublishing.agimo.gov.au/Accessibility.

Designing for accessibility is a complex matter that requires significant attention. It is highly recommended agencies include accessibility requirements in their form design process as early as possible when developing forms.

Detailed information and instructions about the accessibility features provided in Adobe applications for users with disabilities can be found on the Design Requirements page.

For a summary of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0) and how to assess the conformance of your SmartForm see the Accessibility Readiness Guide (pdf).

What happens if SmartForms funding is removed?

The precursor to SmartForms, GovForms, has been in operation since 2002. GovForms helps businesses find, manage and complete government online forms without having to understand the structure of government or individual agencies. In 2011 over 1,200,000 SmartForms were downloaded and over 700,000 searches for business forms were conducted using the GovForms website.

There are a number of large Commonwealth agencies involved with business.gov.au initiatives and SmartForms was recently identified as an example of best practice in the Gershon review. Given the success of GovForms, it is highly unlikely the funding needed to run SmartForms will be removed.

In the event that funding was removed, agencies would be required to buy their own Adobe reader-extension licences and their forms may not be hosted.

Licensing arrangements

What is the Adobe LiveCycle Reader Extension licence?

Reader Extensions embed usage rights into PDF files to activate greater functionality in the free Adobe Reader. Innovation has acquired a number of Adobe LiveCycle Reader Extension licences for use in forms owned by government entities and hosted on Innovation servers.

Forms intended to transact with businesses will be published on business.gov.au and use the business licences.

Is there any cost?

There is no cost to participating agencies for reader-extension or designer licences as these have been funded by the Federal government as part of a range of initiatives aimed at improving service delivery. Agencies will need to design and develop the SmartForm(s) themselves or use a third party vendor.

Do I qualify for an Adobe LiveCycle licence under the business.gov.au SmartForms solution?

Business-related forms are forms intended for use by the Australian business community. If a form is used by a government agency to interact with business, it would qualify to use an Adobe Reader Extension licence under our agreement with Adobe.

The application of the Adobe LiveCycle Reader Extension Licence is restricted in three ways. All three criteria must be met:

They are forms owned by a Government entity (this expressly excludes non-Government commercial entities)
They are forms for the purpose of planning, starting and all aspects of running a business including the closure of a business where the definition of a business for this qualification instance is an entity that is Registered or Licensed to function as a business with the Government of that jurisdiction
They are forms hosted on business.gov.au.

Associations (that are non-Government), Community organisations, Non-profit organisations, and/or Voluntary organisations are not 'Government Entities' and as such, would not qualify to 'publish' Reader Extended forms on business.gov.au.

Do I need to acquire any software?

If you are intending to develop SmartForms in-house you will need to acquire the Adobe Designer software. Designer is available either as an individual piece of software or as part of the latest release version of Adobe Acrobat Professional.

As part of the initiative for providing advanced online forms to businesses, Innovation has acquired, maintains and distributes Adobe LiveCycle Designer ES licences to Australian government agencies without charge for the development of business.gov.au.

How do I access the Adobe LiveCycle Designer ES software?

Only registered participants, who must be users or intending users of SmartForms services are able to download the application by logging onto the SmartForms website and going to the Downloads page.

For more information please Contact us

business.gov.au

business.gov.au is an online government resource for the Australian business community. It provides a wide range of services and information about start-up, taxation, licensing and legislation, as well as significant transactions such as ABN Lookup, taxation compliance and licence applications. By using business.gov.au businesses are able to comply with government requirements more simply and conveniently.

business.gov.au is funded by the Australian Government and coordinated by the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science, Research and Tertiary Education (Innovation), with the support of state and territory governments. Innovation manages the business.gov.au website and also develops technical solutions to transform the way businesses interact with the whole of government.

GovForms is an online service for businesses to quickly and conveniently find, manage and complete the forms they require online with all levels of government. There are currently over 9000 business related forms available on GovForms.

SmartForms Centre

What is SmartForms Centre?

SmartForms Centre is a system which gives agencies the ability to host and manage online forms. The system adds functionality to SmartForms for:

Publishing and versioning
Portal and sign on integration
Form pre-population from agency data or profiles
Submission management
Receipting
Attachment management
Delivery to agencies

How do I access SmartForms Centre?

SmartForms Centre is a web-based system and is accessible by designated administrators from within an agency.

When an agency first wishes to use the SmartForms Centre, the agency's designated SmartForms users complete a SmartForms Centre User Access Form (pdf) and send to Innovation.

The Innovation System Administrator then creates the agency record in the SmartForms Centre and an account for the lead Agency Administrator. The lead Agency Administrator receives training from Innovation before gaining access to the SmartForms Centre. Following this training, the lead Agency Administrator is able to provide training to the other SmartForms Centre users within their agency.

How can I access user guides for SmartForms Centre?

All user guides and cheat sheets for the SmartForms Centre system are available for registered members of this SmartForms Website.

To create a login, go to the SmartForms registration page.

You will then be able to access a range of comprehensive guides for each of the user roles and cheat sheets to assist operation of the most common SmartForms Centre functions.

Services

What SmartForms services are offered by Innovation?

The SmartForms Catalogue defines all live services, default levels and options offered by the GovForms team. The services offered to government agencies include:

SmartForms Service Desk
SmartForms Hosting
SmartForms Submission
SmartForms Service Delivery
SmartForms Development Advice and Assistance
SmartForms Payment Interface

For more detailed information about each of these services, please download the Service Catalogue.

Technical

How do SmartForms compare to .NET or Java web forms?

The ability to input information and save SmartForms offline
Cross-platform support without the need to deal with browser version issues
High fidelity printing
Leverage existing whole-of-government services
Engaging user experiences without complex AJAX development

How do I convert my static PDF forms into SmartForms?

PDF forms are converted using either the Adobe LiveCycle Designer or Adobe Acrobat 9 Professional applications. Information and free evaluation copies of these applications is provided on the Adobe downloads page.

A tutorial for converting existing documents to SmartForms can be found in the How To page.

How do I get my SmartForms Reader-extended?

Agency form developers using the SmartForms Centre will check the 'Reader Extend' box when uploading a form into SmartForms Centre. This is possible since Innovation has an Adobe Reader Extension licence.

SmartForms Centre user guides are available to SmartForms Centre users here.

Agencies not yet using SmartForms Centre need to download and complete a Publish Request Form (pdf), attach their SmartForm to it and email it to SmartForms@innovation.gov.au . The GovForms team will reader-extend the form, upload it to the SmartForms server and provide the agency with a form URL for testing or production.

How do I publish a SmartForm?

To publish a SmartForm, the form must be configured in the SmartForms Centre. Configuration includes setting form properties, adding attachments, metadata and delivery details. Some information, such as branding, can be inherited from the agency. This is prepared by the agency's form developer.

Once a form is configured in the SmartForms Centre it is put through a testing cycle at the agency using the SmartForms Centre Promotion Log. It is then tested for quality assurance at Innovation before being released into the live system.

SmartForms Centre user guides are available to SmartForms Centre users here.

When testing is complete, agencies not yet using SmartForms Centre will need to download and complete a Publish Request Form (pdf), attach their SmartForm to it and email it to SmartForms@innovation.gov.au .

The GovForms team will reader-extend the form, upload it to the SmartForms server and provide the agency with a URL for production.

How will I know if SmartForms services will be unavailable due to scheduled maintenance?

Innovation will provide SmartForms services in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Service Level Agreement (SLA) signed between the Department and your agency. For further information, please contact the SmartForms Service Desk via email to SmartForms@innovation.gov.au.

In instances where we anticipate an interruption to SmartForms services outside these hours, we will notify all agency contacts by email as early as possible. We will also place a 'Notice of Interruption' on the homepage of the SmartForms website.

Any interruption to services will be kept to a minimum, and where possible will occur outside standard business hours.

How can I test if SmartForms services are working?

To test whether SmartForms services are working you can use the following test forms:

For the form render service use:

http://smartforms.business.gov.au/eForms03/getForm?formName=test.xdp&&save=false

A 'Simple Form' PDF will open if the service is working. In the case the service is not working, you will get a 'Form Not Found' HTML page.

For the form pre-population service use:

http://smartforms.business.gov.au/pForms01/start.html

Input http://smartforms.business.gov.au//pForms01/adaptor into the field. A 'Profile Demo' PDF will open if the service is working. In instances where the service is not working, you will get a 'Form Not Found' HTML page.

What do I do if SmartForms services appear to be unavailable?

In the rare event of an unforseen outage (where you have not received prior notification), we suggest you use the above tests to confirm the service is not working.

Once you have confirmed the SmartForms service is not available please Contact us immediately with information relating to the service interruption. We will make every effort to restore services as soon as practicable.

How do I import data into a form after it has been downloaded?

Pre-population of SmartForms is a service offered through the Adobe LiveCycle servers. Along with the request to render a SmartForm, data based on the form schema can be sent to our LiveCycle server as an XML stream which is then populated into the form and rendered to the user.

Once a SmartForm reaches a user's desktop, the form can be further populated through the use of web services. This can occur from any user event outlined in a SmartForm i.e. click events, validation events, or initialise events (when the form first opens). Web services allow the SmartForm to send and receive data. Consequently, the data populated into a form can be dependant on variables entered by users.

There are a number of design matters to consider when using web services within SmartForms. The SmartForms team would be happy to discuss this in further detail.

Please do not hesitate to Contact us.

Are SmartForms secure?

The SmartForms solution is certified by the Defence Signals Directorate (DSD)
Adobe Reader will display a valid certificate banner when a SmartForm is opened
Form data is transmitted over 128-bit SSL or FedLink
Data is encrypted using a symmetrical 128-bit AES algorithm for storage
Servers are monitored with host intrusion detection software
All files including attachments are virus scanned
Forms signed with digital signatures can be validated.

What is the SmartForms Integration Client?

The SmartForms Integration Client is designed to meet demanding security, privacy and integration requirements in a large federated whole of government solution. In doing so, the Integration Client assists in:

Supporting the secure delivery of user submissions and attachments to agencies
Supporting the secure storage of user submissions and attachments on agency servers, maintained inside the agency firewalls
Enabling citizen users to view their submission history, across multiple government agencies
Enabling citizens to view submissions, attachments and receipts, which could be maintained across various government agencies
Enabling government agencies to generate their own Receipt numbers
Ensuring compliance with security requirements (ACSI33)

To support these requirements, the SmartForms System uses the SmartForms Integration Client located behind agency firewalls. The integration client provides a local agency database to store form submission data securely. The SmartForms System server, together with the agency integration client nodes, provides a distributed database of user submission records. (Note: The implementation of the SmartForms System Integration Client inside agency firewalls will be dependent on agency capabilities and security policies allowing the implementation)

The SmartForms System server encrypts submitted form data which can then only be unencrypted by the agency which processes the form. The SmartForms Server maintains database submission header records. These header records contain details about the form submission, but not the actual submission data. The integration client nodes maintain a database of the actual submission data for an agency. By storing the submission data inside agency firewalls, privacy and security requirements are maintained.

What's the impact to my systems and processes?

SmartForms can be used with varying levels of system integration. Existing business processes can be reused or more advanced integration with backend systems can be implemented.

What new infrastructure will we need?

The SmartForms solution has a small footprint within your IT environment. The infrastructure required for hosting the solution, data storage, networking and business continuity planning is provided by the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science, Research and Tertiary Education
No new infrastructure is required to receive data in XML or PDF format
Implementing an HTTP service that generates an XML file from data stored in your systems enables pre-population into SmartForms
Hosting the lightweight SmartForms Integration Client in your environment enables straight-through processing into your existing systems