What is a Returnable Form?

The phrase, "Returnable Form" describes a revolutionary new file format. This format (extension: ".rtn") is both document and database record, and it is made exclusively to address the challenges inherent in electronic form design, distribution, routing, and data transformation.

The phrase, "Returnable Forms" describes not only documents in the above format but also the system for making, distributing, and processing them. The Form Designer, Reader, Processor, and Workflow Engine are components of this system.

But why Returnable?

After filling out one of these forms, anyone can save it like a document and return it to its originator via email, FTP, or LAN copy. The leading downloadable brand, by contrast, requires its end users to pay hundreds of dollars per workstation for that privilege.

Step 1:

Design a Returnable Form. You can design it from scratch, scan it from paper, or import images made by non-returnable form viewers. You can design a Returnable Form 10 times faster than its HTML equivalent because --

• There is no coding -- not even when adding buttons to perform custom functions.
• Returnable Forms build and populate their own databases automatically, based on the fields in the form. No time is spent writing form-to-database code.
• Returnable Forms have total print integrity, so no time is spent adjusting web pages for printing. 
• In case of multi-page forms, such as employment applications, page transitions are automatic, and all page information is kept inside the client. 

  Click here to download a video showing a form being completely designed in eight minutes.

Step 2:

Distribute your form by either email or posting on a website. You can distribute your form with confidence because it uses a two-part encryption system. Encryption is password-based, and password protection can be set to commence after a document has been signed and saved. 

Step 3:

Users download the form and complete it with the Form Reader. If they need the Reader, they can download it FREE from the Working Solutions website. For future reference, users can save their common data in a special form on the viewer. From that point on, they can populate many fields in future forms simply by selecting the Populate Redundant Fields item on their menu bar. To finish the form, users “sign” it by recording a unique statement of intent, in their own voice, and the reader embeds it into the document. Users return the form by pressing the Return to Sender button, which sends a copy of it back to your FTP server. 

Step 4a:

Once the form is returned, the Form Processor on your server extracts the data and puts it directly into a Microsoft Access database. Click here to see how. If you don't have a Microsoft Access database, it will automatically make one or you, create the tables and add all of the fields necessary for the form.

OR  Step 4b:

If you are using the Returnable Forms Workflow Engine on your server, you can do a number of things with the form, such as putting the form’s data into an ODBC-compliant database, or sending to another user, or rendering the file in the XML format. The Workflow Engine is intelligent, meaning that it can be made to react to answer data from the forms. It is also easily programmable, so you can determine a document’s workflow path in minutes.