Background
The Government of Bangladesh as part of its initiative to introduce e-governance wanted to make its frequently used forms available to its citizens through the website www.forms.gov.bd and on CD ROM. During the first phase of this citizen service the forms will be accessible through the website and at a later stage the option of submitting the forms online will be added. The Prime Minister’s Office undertook to digitally publish the government forms both in Bangla and English and make them available to the citizen at no cost.Issue
Successful completion of the project will immensely benefit the people of Bangladesh. Any citizen should be able to download or print the forms off from the website or print out from the CD ROM, which will be distributed to all relevant Government departments throughout the country. The Web application will be upgraded at a later stage to include all government forms and as mentioned above the option of online submission will be included. United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Bangladesh funded the e-Government initiative with the Prime Ministers Office. Their research showed that Dohatec had the resources to implement this program. However when the assignment was given, Dohatec was particularly cautious because it feared delays in the Government delivering the forms, which would have seriously affected the length of time it would have taken Dohatec to complete the program. This concerned Dohatec as the budget was way below what such a project would actually cost Dohatec to create. However, Dohatec undertook the assignment given the impact and publicity Dohatec would receive.
Solution
The CD ROM developed on Dohatec’s Acrobook©, does not require any installation and runs directly from the current location without being installed in the client’s machine. The CD-ROM can seamlessly open any document in Acrobat PDF and MS Word. The CD ROM provides the government forms that the user can select, view and fill out electronically. Instant switching between English and Bangla Forms are also provided. A comprehensive feature to search the entire text or search by keywords is provided as well as Save, Export and Print functions. The website ensures government forms can be selected, viewed, downloaded or filled electronically and printed for submission. If desired non-electronic forms are available and can be printed and manually completed for submission to respective office/agency. Forms are available in blank format and in fill able format in both Acrobat PDF and MS Word.Fifty frequently used forms were selected by the government to be included in the application. The objective was to make the forms easily available to citizens and to do away with the difficulties and costs that they incur in collecting the forms. Passport forms are a good example - passport forms would be available in the six divisional offices and people from different districts would have to travel to any one of the towns just to collect the form. Any deposit made to the government treasury is through a prescribed form, which would have to be collected from the offices of the Central Bank or government revenue office. This is a time and man costly endeavor. Dohatec has provided the government with a cost effective means of form acquisition and submission. Government Forms Highlights:

• All 50 most frequently selected forms are now available in both Bangla and English in both Acrobat PDF or MS Word on the website and the CD ROM
• The auto run CD seamlessly opens in any document in PDF and MS word
• The interface is both in Bangla and English with interactive features.
• User friendly interface
• Search facility to locate required forms - user can select by Category, Ministry or all forms may be viewed.
• The Forms have been standardized and made available on A4 paper size.
• All contents are to be fully indexed and cross-referenced for easy searching across the volumes in the archives.
Dohatec Challenge
The government took an inordinate amount of time to select and hand over fifty forms. Even after the forms were completed and handed over, Ministries came up with amendment requests, which actually meant redoing the forms. The application finally turned out to be a flawless product. It is unique as a product and is used widely by citizens throughout Bangladesh. Dohatec correctly assessed the proficiency level of their potential Bangladesh user and as a result designed a successful user-friendly interface.
Dohatec Opportunity
A high profile Project - Bangladesh Government Forms - finally turned out to be a flawless product. It was unique and is used widely by citizens throughout Bangladesh. There were limitation with the Bangla font and there were many firsts for Bangladesh in the solution that Dohatec provided. The Digitized Government Form both the CD-ROM and the Web Application (www.forms.gov.bd) were launched by the Prime Minister in November 2005. In future, the Government plans to enhance the web application to digitally publish, standardize all Government Forms and provide the option of online submission.