Army turns to e-forms

An industry team led by Enterprise Information Management received a contract for an undisclosed amount to automate the Army's paper-based transactions.

Under the contract, the company will build an infrastructure for electronic forms. The team's members include IBM, PureEdge and Silanis, according to a Dec. 17 statement from IBM.

"The Forms Content Management Program revolutionizes the Army's form-based activities," Army officials said in the statement. "The advancement of the Army's e-forms system will enhance the readiness of our warfighters and personnel around the world."

To automate the processing of transactions across the Army, the team will use a solution that combines software for digital signatures, content management and e-forms based on Extensible Markup Language. In the past, Army officials converted paper forms into digital files that could be accessed from an official Web site. But users still had to print the forms, sign them, and carry or mail them to the appropriate location to complete the authorization process, according to the statement.

Army officials will make the new system available via the service's Army Knowledge Online Web portal. They hope it will help establish an enterprisewide infrastructure for automating all form-based processes, the statement said.