At Kinetic Data, we’re keenly aware of the federal government’s commitment to modernization and digitization, a mission we actively support through our work with various agencies. A key element of this digital transition involves the handling and converting of PDF documents, which frequently arise in our projects.
As experts in enhancing workflow automation, we bring a specialized perspective to developing solutions that tackle the challenge of PDF conversion and align with the broader goal of establishing a streamlined digital infrastructure for government operations.
In this blog post, we’ll explore our methodology for transforming web form responses into both existing and new PDFs, demonstrating how our efforts contribute to the overarching modernization objectives of the federal government.
The Ask:
- Convert webform answers into an existing PDF form.
- Convert webform answers into a new PDF.
Our Department of Defense partner approached us with an interesting challenge: creating a portal to simplify their detailed, form-based operations. Their process started with a comprehensive form aimed at gathering a wide range of information. This step meant their team had to spend a lot of time sorting through these forms, trying to organize them based on specific criteria.
With the sheer number of submissions and each one’s unique details, they often found it tough to keep track of everything, leading to confusion and delays. Our goal in this project was to make things easier by improving how each submission was tracked and managed, ultimately streamlining the process and reducing the chances of any details slipping through the cracks.
The Challenges:
- Utilizing modern libraries that work within the Kinetic framework.
- Analyzing the original PDF form to extract field names.
- Security permissions on existing PDF forms.
One of the biggest challenges in this process was finding open-source libraries that met our needs with Java and Ruby. Adobe has wonderful libraries compatible with the Kinetic back-end, but the ability to offer our partners and clients solutions free from licensing fees drove us toward finding an alternative solution. Another challenge presented itself while converting webform answers to pre-existing PDF forms.
Our DoD partner had a lengthy PDF form with very strict requirements. Converting user-submitted web form data into answers on the pre-existing form enabled our partner to build a portal to acquire these answers, removing the slow, paper-pushing process entirely. Also, analyzing the data fields on these PDFs can prove challenging without using the same libraries to extract the needed information.
The last challenge we encountered was that several PDFs, especially those used in the public sector, are managed under strict security policies. This can prevent you from matching extracted data to the blank fields on a PDF, leading to the lengthy, tedious process of manually mapping data fields.
The End Results:
- The ability to generate PDFs for clients using our webforms that utilize pre-existing PDFs or generate a whole new PDF using XML.
Our expertise in generating PDFs from data submitted via web forms has been crucial in delivering superior solutions to our partners and clients.
Specifically, automating this task for our Department of Defense partner has markedly increased the efficiency of processing up to 700 applications yearly, resulting in significant time savings per application. This has notably boosted their small team’s ability to manage and leverage responses from end-users’ web forms more effectively.
Future Uses:
- Our clients and partners utilize PDFs across their organizations and agencies.
- Converting webforms into existing and new PDFs is a highly desired process automation.
At Kinetic Data, we’re honored to play a role in the federal government’s journey toward modernization and digitization. We recognize the importance of our solutions in addressing current operational challenges and contributing to a future that is more streamlined, secure, and digitally adept in federal operations.
Our commitment to developing innovative and compliant data processing tools reflects our dedication to this goal. We’re constantly learning and adapting, striving to align our solutions with the government’s vision for a digitally advanced public sector.
In collaborating with the government, we see ourselves as part of a larger, ongoing transformation. It’s a process we approach with a sense of curiosity, eager to see the positive impacts our joint efforts can have on making federal operations more agile and attuned to the changing needs of the public and government alike.
Cassy Lueneburg