The Ministry of Justice of Catalonia streamlined its forms processes using Adobe LiveCycle and PDF solutions. It automated three common forms - for charges, annual accounts for foundations, and government bodies. Citizens can complete the forms electronically or print them, and the data is captured automatically on return. This has reduced processing time and costs while improving accuracy. Over 300 of an estimated 2,000 foundations now submit annual accounts digitally, a 200% increase, helping the Ministry and citizens.

1. Success Story
Ministry of Justice of the Generalitat de Catalunya
Ministry of the Catalan Government adopts Adobe® LiveCycle™ solutions to streamline
completing, submitting, and processing forms from citizens across the community
Ministry of Justice of the With approximately 12,000 employees in multiple offices throughout Catalonia, the Ministry of
Generalitat de Catalunya Justice is one of the largest ministries in the Generalitat de Catalunya. The wide range of activities
www.gencat.net/justicia supported by the Ministry of Justice results in a high volume of documents that are expensive to
manage. This prompted those in charge of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
section of the Ministry to look for a solution.
In Partnership with
The ICT section consists of five consultants and one coordinator from the Center for Telecom-
Seidor
munications and Information Technology. The group is strongly committed to new innovations to
www.seidor.es
improve business processes. “There is a major focus on innovation in the ICT section of the Ministry
Industry of Justice,” says Manel Nieto, a consultant at ICT. “Any product on the market that seems useful is
Government tested and if it meets our needs we incorporate it.”
Challenges Automating popular forms
• Improve administrative services for To simplify managing the large volume of paper received by the Ministry of Justice, ICT managers
more than 2,000 foundations and
20,000 associations
decided to automate several forms processes using Adobe Acrobat® Professional software and
• Implement electronic processes
Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). Three forms were developed for the Law and Legal
that map to paper-based processes Entities Directorate General (DGDEJ), a body that registers non-profit associations, foundations,
• Integrate automated forms processes and other entities. The DGDEJ played a participative role in defining the functional requirements
with existing legacy systems of the forms.
Solution The first form, called ‘charges’, is an intelligent Adobe PDF form that links a standard charge to a
• Forms transformation specific type of entity or certain procedural matter (e.g. establishing a new non-profit). After
• Government online completing this form, an association representative can immediately generate a receipt that is
The Ministry of Justice of the automatically sent to the appropriate government financial agency for processing.
Generalitat de Catalunya is using
Adobe LiveCycle solutions to Another form, called the ‘annual accounts for foundations’ form, is a financial reporting form
automate processing of thousands
that makes it easier for foundations to submit income accounts, balance sheet data, financial
of forms annually from organizations
needing to register activities with reports, and other financial documents. Each year, the Ministry of Justice receives approximately
the government. 2,000 forms containing financial information. Typically, these documents have been processed
manually, resulting in high administrative costs and the increased likelihood of errors.
Results
• Reduce the time and costs associated To improve processing of the ‘annual accounts’ form, the Ministry is using forms in Adobe PDF
with processing forms in combination with Adobe LiveCycle Reader Extensions and Adobe LiveCycle Barcoded Forms.
• Improve the accuracy of data Citizens with free Adobe Reader® software can complete the form offline, automatically captur-
submitted on forms
ing data into a built-in barcode. As data is entered into the Adobe PDF form fields, the barcode
• Dramatically reduce errors
previously associated with data instantly captures it. Citizens can print, sign, and return the completed forms to the Ministry,
entry by Ministry staff where staff can instantly capture form data by scanning the barcode, eliminating the need to
• Improve citizen services rekey information into systems.
Systems At A Glance A third form, called the ‘government bodies’ form, will perform a similar function but is directed
• Adobe Acrobat Professional at the bodies that govern more than 20,000 associations in Catalonia. This form enables associations
• Adobe LiveCycle Reader Extensions
• Adobe LiveCycle Barcoded Forms

2. Using Adobe LiveCycle solutions to
generate and deliver government forms
in Adobe PDF, the Catalonian Ministry of
Justice is streamlining citizen and
business processes for completing and
submitting information.
“We adopted Adobe to easily submit details about board member changes to their organizations, which is a requirement
solutions based on their in Catalonia. Given the frequency of leadership changes in community-based associations, the
ability to link our electronic streamlined updating processes will benefit the government and citizens. Similar to the annual
accounts form, the government bodies form uses Adobe LiveCycle Reader Extensions software as
and paper-based processes.
well as Adobe LiveCycle Barcoded Forms to instantly capture user data on forms.
Adobe PDF allows us
to send forms via the Commitment to standards
Internet, and if a citizen Working with system integrator Seidor, the Ministry of Justice built its automated processes
wants to return a printed around the Adobe solutions. Adobe Acrobat Professional software includes tools for creating,
form, the format is the controlling, and delivering Adobe PDF documents safely. Adobe LiveCycle Reader Extensions
enables citizens and outside partners to save and complete forms offline or online using free Adobe
same. Consequently, our
Reader software. Finally, Adobe LiveCycle Barcoded Forms automates the capture of information
development costs are entered into the dynamic Adobe PDF files.
lower, and we maintain a
paper format identical to According to Mr. Nieto, the Ministry of Justice staff chose Adobe PDF because they believe it is
“the de facto standard for interchanging documents.” Moreover, Adobe Reader software is readily
the electronic format.”
available to citizens and business users. Another factor was the similarity of documents in Adobe
Manel Nieto,
PDF to the original documents on paper. “We adopted Adobe solutions based on their ability to
Consultant at the ICT section,
link our electronic and paper-based processes,” says Mr. Nieto. “Adobe PDF allows us to send
Ministry of Justice
forms via the Internet, and if a citizen wants to return a printed form, the format is the same.
Consequently, our development costs are lower, and we maintain a paper format identical to the
electronic format.”
For More Information Rapid acceptance and real returns
www.adobe.com/products/livecycle/ Ministry of Justice managers are confident that the system will be accepted quickly, considering the
excellent response received from the foundations. “We presented the solution to the foundations as a
group, and they were satisfied because they could finally fill in details in an Adobe PDF file, save
changes, and then import data from their accounting information systems,” explains Mr. Nieto.
The ICT group has advanced the electronic forms workflows by eliminating much of the work
required to manually enter account information into backend systems, a task that typically has a
high error rate. Presently, the automated system for account forms has experienced an increase
Better by Adobe.
™ in usage greater than 200%.
“We have seen significant growth. Already, more than 300 of the estimated 2,000 foundations that
have to present documents now do so using the Adobe PDF forms,” says Mr. Nieto. In the future,
the Ministry is looking to enable organization managers to digitally sign the forms to complete
processes—a capability that several foundations have requested.
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