This suggestion was forwarded here in reference to this blog post.
Government Operations
Form Reform
OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) is charged with enforcing the Paperwork Reduction Act, including how agencies promulgate forms. Current agency practice permits and often encourages the use of paper-forms to gather and channel requests for information. This leads to re-keying of data, significant data quality issues, inadvertent disclosure of private information, and significant delays in public access to data. OMB should lead an effort to reform how the government uses forms.
Forms should be electronic and allow for the easy flow of data into databases. (This is consonant with OMB’s new data policy that directs that information should be collected electronically by default.) Information should be validated upon input and automatically checked for errors. To the maximum extent possible, unique entity identifiers should be employed, particularly those that are consistent across databases. Forced-choice mechanisms and limited data fields should be employed to restrict the kinds of information that can be input. Data should be automatically segregated as to what is and is not disclosable, so that no further review is necessary for data tagged as disclosable.
In addition, OMB should employ multiple techniques to improve the quality of information submitted. Extensive user testing (including A/B testing) should be performed and monitored on an ongoing basis to ensure forms are as easy to understand and complete as possible. Behavioral economics should be employed to maximize the effect of data collection, including through the development of model forms. Furthermore, to the extent possible, data should be pre-populated to reduce the amount of time required to enter information.
This suggestion was forwarded here in reference to this blog post.
Government Operations
Form Reform
OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) is charged with enforcing the Paperwork Reduction Act, including how agencies promulgate forms. Current agency practice permits and often encourages the use of paper-forms to gather and channel requests for information. This leads to re-keying of data, significant data quality issues, inadvertent disclosure of private information, and significant delays in public access to data. OMB should lead an effort to reform how the government uses forms.
Forms should be electronic and allow for the easy flow of data into databases. (This is consonant with OMB’s new data policy that directs that information should be collected electronically by default.) Information should be validated upon input and automatically checked for errors. To the maximum extent possible, unique entity identifiers should be employed, particularly those that are consistent across databases. Forced-choice mechanisms and limited data fields should be employed to restrict the kinds of information that can be input. Data should be automatically segregated as to what is and is not disclosable, so that no further review is necessary for data tagged as disclosable.
In addition, OMB should employ multiple techniques to improve the quality of information submitted. Extensive user testing (including A/B testing) should be performed and monitored on an ongoing basis to ensure forms are as easy to understand and complete as possible. Behavioral economics should be employed to maximize the effect of data collection, including through the development of model forms. Furthermore, to the extent possible, data should be pre-populated to reduce the amount of time required to enter information.