Work

Use Case: Converting a 80+ fields paper form into a digital form

Context

Our company processes workers' compensation claims, which beings with a "First Report of Injury" form submission, submitted usually by employers, injured workers, or insurance representatives. For years, the first step in that process was a paper form with over 80 fields, filled out by hand, then mailed/faxed/uploaded, and finally manually parsed and re-entered into our internal systems by staff.

Problem

The paper workflow created several issues for both internal staff and form submitters:

Handwritten forms were often difficult to read
Missing or inconsistent information required follow-up
Internal staff had to manually re-enter data into internal systems
Processing delays slowed claim handling
Form submitter unable to attach additional documents

The goal was to make the form available through the customer portal while improving the reliability of submissions.

Approach

I worked closely with a business analyst to gather requirements, including asking questions, digging into edge cases, and making sure I understood the business needs before building. Without a dedicated QA role on the team, I owned testing end to end as well. Toward the end of development I demoed the form to business stakeholders, and the reception was great.

I designed and implemented a multi-page web form to replace the static paper document. Key design decisions included:

Multi-step form structure to break an 80+ field form into manageable sections
Conditional logic so certain fields only appear or become required depending on prior responses or the role of the submitter (employer, injured worker, or insurance agent)
Structured validation to reduce incomplete or invalid submissions
Document attachment support for supporting materials

Challenge

The form serves three distinct types of submitters: employers, injured workers, and insurance agents, each with different required fields. On top of that, a web of conditional logic determines what's required based on how earlier fields are answered. Getting that logic right meant thinking carefully about the user's experience at every step, not just the data structure underneath. Finally, the output PDF had to match the exact format of the original paper form, which required custom template design and development using ActiveReports.

Solution/Outcome

I designed and built a multi-page digital form from scratch, breaking 80+ fields into logical and digestible sections that guide the user through the process without overwhelming them. On submission, the form generates a PDF from a template I designed myself using ActiveReports, which is then sent to our document ingestion system, eliminating manual re-entry and triggering the internal claims workflow automatically. Additionally, logged-in policyholders can save their progress and return to complete the form later, which was a key request from our business stakeholders.

Impact

The digital form significantly improved the quality and speed of claim intake:

Submissions came in legible and complete
Internal staff no longer need to manually re-enter handwritten information
Internal Staff spent less time chasing down missing information
Claims can move into processing workflows more quickly upon submission

My Role

Designed the multi-step form structure and UX
Implemented the full frontend and backend form logic
Built the PDF template from scratch
Integrated submission with the internal document workflow
Collaborated with a business analyst to validate requirements and testing