Adobe Experience Forms (Adaptive Forms)

Autowoven's partnership with Adobe has helped deliver award winning digital experiences

AEM Forms Background Information

Design and host modern forms that work well in both web and mobile devices

Whether you are at a doctor's office or purchasing a car, you may have come accross the ubiquitous "paperwork" involved. In the past, such paperwork was typically a printed form presented on a paper-pad. The paper-pads have almost disappeared at most places, but often replaced by fillable PDF forms, often presented on desktops and tablets. For several reasons, the pandemic included, organizations have sought to enhance this customer experience further with truly dynamic, digital forms.

A recent study has shown that 74% of companies use web forms for lead generation, with 49.7% stating their online forms are their highest converting lead generation tools. Traditional, fillable PDF forms are one step better than paper-based forms, but still do not meet modern customer expectations. Online, web-based, responsive forms that react to user responses dynamically are the modern way of interacting with customers. Thanks to Adobe Forms application creating such a dynamic Forms experience is no longer a complex endeavor for organizations to implement.

Adobe Forms, now called Adobe Experience Manager Forms allows organizations to create, manage, host and collect user data in user-friendly ways. Some of the features of AEM Forms include

Drag and drop fields
Adjust field lengths dynamically to meet screen widths
Connect with databases in real-time to save or fetch data
Reusable fields or groups of fields called Fragments
Generate Documents of Record (DOR) in PDF format
Customize look and feel to meet brand guidelines
Automated forms conversion process to convert PDF to Web Forms
Deploy a Form Portal that serves as a single personalized entry point for users to view all relevant forms
Customizable workflows to meet complex business process requirements

Adobe Form Designer

2002

Started out as a WYSIWYG, desktop application called JetForm Design which was acquired by Adobe in 2002 and rebranded as Adobe Form Designer
Livecycle Designer 7.x - 8.x

2004 - 2006

Bundled with Adobe Acrobat Professional versions
Adobe Livecycle Designer ES - ES4

2008 - 2013

Bundled with Acrobat Pro
AEM Adaptive Forms

2013 - 2021

Adobe has discontinued support for Adobe Livecycle Designer in 2013 and is now replaced by AEM Forms. Adaptive Forms are developed on the AEM platform.
Experience Forms

2021 - current

AEM Adaptive Forms has been rebranded to be Experience Forms. Experience Forms are now available as a Native Cloud Service - this was announced at the Adobe Summit 2021. With an Adobe Managed Services Cloud engagment, Adobe installs and manages the Forms on behalf of the customers. Customers have the capability to develop custom online forms along with the various integrations that the Experience Cloud Platform such as Sites, DAM and Analytics.

Our success with AEM Adaptive Forms

When a US Government agency approached Autowoven, they had several challenges with Adobe Forms. They had over 500 forms that were currently in PDF format and they were in the middle of a digital transfomation proccess that seems to have no end in sight. They were a couple of years into their Adobe/ AEM Adaptive Forms license agreement, but they were still not in production with even a single online form. Autowoven worked with their Communications department to gather their true Forms automation needs - which also involved business process optimization. We developed AEM Adaptive Forms that brought consistency to their Forms, developed re-usable form fragments with validation logic and database integrations. Due to Autowoven's existing strength in the Adobe Experience Manager CMS platform - that involves users andd roles management, OSGi development experience, and AEM repository expertise, we were able to bring complex features into their Forms Automation. Our workflows integrated forms with backend HR systems, automatically generated PDF based Documents of Record and enhanced security with Adobe Sign integration. This was a big win and the customer's only regret was that they did not involve Autowoven sooner!

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Adobe Certified Partner

Autowoven is an Adobe solution partner with multiple AEM project lifecycle experience. We participate in digital conferences, summits and digital conferences. This allows us to stay ahead of the curve with new product features and trending digital technologies

Over 10 years of Adobe consulting experience

Our history implementing Adobe Experience Cloud products from the very early stages has helped us develop best practices and methodologies. Partnering with Autowoven for implementing your Adobe based solution ensures you can hit the ground running and avoid expensive mistakes.

Rapid Form Portal deployment

With our experience in rolling out portals to host all your forms that includes Search, Tags and other features, you will be able to rollout your solution much faster with Autowoven than with other less experienced partners.

AEM Workflow Experience

Forms automation is one of the primary reasons organizations adopt Adaptive Forms. With our deep AEM Workflow experience you are assured of a successful solution that uses best practices.

AEM Forms OSGi development expertise

Migrate from your old Adobe Livecycle or AEM JEE forms implementation to AEM Forms OSGi platform with ease. Our proven methodologies enable a rapid migration to the latest AEM Adaptive Forms solution/p>

AEM Assets, AEM Sites and Adobe Sign Integration Experience

Over time, our on the field development team has developed Forms optimization tools. These tools allow for faster time to market while adhering to best practices.

Adobe Forms FAQs

1. What is Adobe Livecycle?

For organizations that want to automate form data capture and processing, Adobe® LiveCycle is a server based software that supports the use of a desktop based application called Forms Designer, a graphical design tool, to create forms that combine high-fidelity presentation with XML data handling. Simply stated, it allowed the creation of PDF forms. Adobe LiveCycle has been discontinued and is now replaced by Experience Manager Forms - which is based on the Adobe Experience Manager platform.

2. What is Adobe Forms Designer?

Forms Designer, also called LiveCycle Designer is a desktop application used to design and create PDF based, fillable formss. Using Adobe LiveCycle Designer, form authors can quickly create secure, intelligent electronic forms that can be deployed as Adobe PDF or HTML documents. Designer tool, while discontinued is often used to generate XDP file format forms. XDP forms can be used as a template within AEM Forms to generate PDF based Documents of Record from online forms

3. What is XDP file and how is it relevant to Adaptive Forms?

XML file created in the XML Data Package format, a file format developed by Adobe Systems for packaging PDF data into XML files; contains the entire PDF document contents including form and template data; may also include character-encoded sections for binary content.

The XDP format allows a PDF file to be transformed to XML and back to a PDF without losing information. It also enables any XML program to read the PDF data.

Adaptive Forms or Experience Manager Forms from Adobe can store and transmit online form data to multiple sources. Often times, a PDF document of record (DOR) is needed. You could use AEM's HTML/CSS based option to generate PDF DORs or more traditionally use XDP format files to generate PDF based DORs. The drawback of using XDP based DORs in AEM is that you will need an additional skill set of Adobe Designer tool.

4. What is the difference between Adobe Cloud and Adobe On-premise AEM Forms Solution?

With Adobe Cloud based AEM Forms solution - Adobe Managed Services (AMS) - a division of Adobe, manages your servers within a Azure or AWS cloud environment. This implies AMS manages your Forms servers, uptime and maintenance.

5. What is AEM Forms Portal

AEM Forms Portal is an add-on module to AEM, licensed along with Experience Forms. It provides out of box site templates and components that allow you to quickly build a portal website to host all your Experience Forms (AEM Adaptive Forms). This allows you to customize the look and feel of this portal, search your forms based on metadata, fill out forms and even store draft forms. It ties to other aspects of AEM such as email notifications and Workflows.

About

autowoven provides customized technology solutions to enterprise customers for increased digital engagement. As Adobe Solutions Partner, we provide cutting-edge marketing solutions using Adobe Marketing Cloud suite of products. Additionally, we develop solutions for OpenText TeamSite Web Content Management System.