It is very prevalent in the retail industry where stores electronically send purchase orders to a vendor. The vendor then electronically sends invoices. The store system is able to capture receiving reports and electronically match the documents and issue a check. EDI has great promise for eliminating the front end creation of paper. This rapidly expanding technology replaces paper based forms.
Users design a form on a PC which then has the look and feel of a paper form.
Electronic forms are playing a very important part in front-end data capture. Users are able to fill in the form, route the form to others through e-mail or workflow, have those users electronically sign the document if needed and then store the form at the end of the process. Since data is being captured on the front-end, the data can be moved into other applications in the organization. Internal forms are created electronically, document images are attached for paper that is generated from the outside world and scanned. Workflow software is used to route the forms for approval.