It is largely because of the way you collect data!
Many business still use Word, Paper and Excel templates, When you collect data on paper or a Word template, it simply means you’ll spend more time compiling, analysing, monitoring for trends, and even making sense of it.
On the other hand, when you collect data using a digital format, you spend less time trying to analyse or clean that data, and your data starts with meaning thereby allowing you to work with it and generate reports and dashboards all because you collected data correctly.
While almost anyone can create a digital form, very few can create one that is meaningful - that is, the kind of form that collects data that is easy to use, understand and analyse.
More so, did you know that you can go from paper to digital in as little as an hour by simply using Google and Microsoft Forms? While most people use Google and Microsoft Forms for only surveys and feedback, these tools can be equally used to create forms that collect meaningful data, thereby saving you time and money.
Take your Word or Excel document and ask yourself “Why do I want to collect this information? Is it necessary? All the information I aim to collect, are they allowed/permitted under GDPR or whatever regulation guides data in your location? Scribble down your thoughts and detail the outcomes of each stage of building the form.
“What do I want to collect and what's the best way to do it?” Doing this will ensure you don't put the cart before the horse, and that you collect data in the correct format. This ensures you have less data cleaning to do.
Make certain aspects of the form rigid: For instance, while creating a digital form, input name, date, time, rather than using just text and allowing thoe information trickle in in different formats etc. Do not leave these sections as free text else people will enter information as they please and in different variations. It is best to have things like names, locations, department etc, pre-populated to enable people to select accordingly. Kindly note that it is hard to work with data that is too flexible, hence there must be some elements of rigidity to it.
Text data type can be deployed in situations where you require people to be a lot more descriptive, for instance, describing an accident in an accident report.
The use of Checklist and multiple-choice options makes it a lot easier to analyse the data, look at trends, and make sense of it. Using text where checklists or MCQs, while useful in many regards, would only lead you to spend time on the information and start categorising them for analysis which can cause significant loss of time.
This is use when you want a question or action to be completed based on an answer selected., For example, if yes to first aid provided, you may want to ask subsequent answers based on the fact that first aid was provided, you can pre-set some questions to come up. If no to first aid, then those questions or required actions stay hidden. Another example is getting an email sent automatically based on an answer. For example, if someone ends up in hospital as a result of an accident, you may want an email prompt to alert you immediately. These can be set into forms or by using Power Automate.
Use branching/conditional logic helps saves time and prevents people going through an entire form if they do not need to. It
The use of descriptions, help texts and tooltips provides the person filling the form with context or explanation of what the question is about and guides them into answering the questions. Without these help texts, you are bound to get a form response that is incorrect, incomplete and possibly meaningless. This is particularly useful in things like risk assessments, accident forms, audits etc,
Before you launch your digital form, you must test it and review the form design and that it is collecting data in the way you want and that the dat is useful. Do well to update it where necessary and test it again until you are satisfied. It is important to note that launching a form without proper testing will lead to at least these 3 outcomes: error-prone forms, forms nobody want ti complete or completes poorly, and data you cannot use.
Remember, never launch your digital form without testing or reviewing it until satisfied. If already launched and you would like to make major edits,it is netter to make a copy, archive teh old version, and roll out the new once tested and verified ok to launch. Archiving preserves your data especially if using Google or Microsoft forms
While there is no perfect form out there, you can save yourself a lot of pain and headache by designing them right.
Flocrunch is your go-to hub for digitising and automating Health and Safety processes. We utilise everyday digital tools and our software FloApps to provide custom solutions for organisations of all sizes.
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