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Intelligent E-forms Simplify Real Estate Administration On-line Access Bypasses Time-consuming Manual Tasks
November, 2007
By Mark James
Standardized forms are the most common business document that real estate professionals use everyday. From property listing contracts to disclosure statements from sellers or building maintenance requests, real estate and property management professionals rely on many complex forms to complete transactions and projects and work with colleagues, partners and customers in disparate locations.
For example, a typical real estate transaction in Canada requires completing and processing a minimum of 10 to 12 standardized forms. Processing such a high volume of forms on paper is costly, prone to error and simply inefficient.
Increased economic pressure and competition are pressing real estate professionals and their companies to pursue and embrace smarter, more streamlined ways to capture information, collaborate and manage their day-to-day business processes. Intelligent electronic form technologies have eased the migration from a paper-based to an electronic workflow.
Intelligent forms are documents designed to offer users the same look and feel of a paper form that they are accustomed to. The difference is that business rules are built into the forms so that users will be guided to provide the required information accurately. The forms can also handle calculations and other tasks that minimize errors.
APPEAL OF ACCESSIBILITY
A well-designed electronic form has to be simple to use, require minimum training and tools, and should also be accessible to users in different computer environments. The universal document standard PDF (portable document format) is a preferred choice for many organizations as workers can easily and intuitively review the information using the free Adobe reader.
The British Columbia-based Fraser Valley Real Estate Board offers an example of what a company can do today to embrace an electronic workflow with intelligent forms. While this example illustrates what a realty board can accomplish, these changes can also be implemented easily by organizations in other lines of business within the property management sector.
Many real estate professionals across Canada are now accessing and completing forms for real estate transactions more easily than ever before thanks to the new on-line service put in place by the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board. It was first rolled out in British Columbia but its dramatic benefits prompted a national implementation to the more than 85,000 industry professionals across Canada. The dynamic web service delivers streamlined access to current PDF-based real estate forms that users can complete, save or submit electronically.
"Costs and ease of use are two major obstacles to adopting new ways of working but with these solutions, we've overcome these issues by offering users intelligent, intuitive PDF forms that can be completed using free Reader software," says Ernie Vance, IT Manager for the Fraser Valley Board.
BUILT-IN CLAUSES AND CALCULATIONS
Built-in intelligence and Web integration in PDF forms delivers further benefits by helping to ensure that users always enter valid and complete information in form fields. Equally helpful, the dynamic PDF forms are customized to include hundreds of pre-approved real estate clauses.
Even basic steps such as adding dollar signs and commas to figures, doing calculations, or spelling out numbers are done automatically. Previously, agents could spend hours finding and filling out the necessary documents. Using the new on-line service, the cumbersome process of completing forms manually is now often handled very easily in just 10 to 15 minutes.
The intelligent e-forms provide half the answer to streamlining many day-to-day business processes. Fraser Valley's service is further integrated, via password-protected intranet, with the Multiple Listing Service system that contains current details on property listings. The system automatically populates property details, such as agent name, property address, tax numbers, and other information accurately into the appropriate forms.
Adequate security is critical to the success of an electronic workflow. Users need to be assured that their clients' information is protected and the entire transaction process is transparent. As such, the Fraser Valley system offers mechanism to control access to information on a need-to-know basis to prevent unauthorized people from making changes to protected information on transaction documents.
This on-line service has been popular. In a typical month more than 30,000 people use the system to access and complete more than 450,000 interactive forms.
"The convenience factor is huge," explains Vance. "People are thrilled - they no longer have to carry around briefcases full of paper forms that might be expired. Instead they can access, complete, and save current PDF forms on demand, emailing them to eager clients instantly. With so many users and benefits, the solution is saving tens of thousands of dollars annually."
Mark James is business development manager of Adobe Systems in Canada. He can be reached at mjames@adobe.com.
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