Policy for Online Forms

While online forms make our lives easier in many ways, they are not a substitute for human contact. The users filling out forms expect some type of acknowledgement after submitting their information. If they are signing up for a class, they want confirmation stating that their information was received and is being processed by a real, live human. They would probably also like instructions as to how to find the classroom, possible supplies to bring, or they may have questions about the type of child care offered. They may want to know how to contact someone to cancel their reservation. When people fill out forms with comments and/or suggestions they want to know that there is someone out there in “cyberland” that is listening and making it worth their while to write these comments. Follow up is essential on forms with commentary.

If an activity is offered via email reservation and credentials are necessary to qualify, the facilities themselves are responsible for gathering such identification. For instance, if participants need to be over 18 years old to participate, the facility will need to ask for identification as there is no way to establish age via the internet. If participants must be military or DoD ID card holders, the facilities must have personnel check for these ID’s at the activity site. If children need to be accompanied by an adult, please make sure your facility personnel are seeing that this occurs. No online form can monitor human behavior.

The Webmaster will be continually checking forms, but individual services and facilities are responsible for making sure that their forms are working properly. Facility managers would be wise to go to their online forms at least once a month and fill out “test” forms to see if the forms are functioning properly. Please have form intake personnel call, email, or write each person submitting information to their facility or program. If the personnel who normally receive and process online form data leave their position, a new email contact must be sent to the Webmaster so that he or she can change that information in the form. Unanswered or unacknowledged correspondence from online forms reflects poorly on the web administrator. If forms are not being followed up, the Webmaster will be forced to remove the form from the website. It is better not to have an online form at all than to have one that is untended.

Please give the Webmaster 30 days to develop a new online form. We have received a lot of requests for forms and they will be created in the order that they are received. If you would like a form, but don’t know exactly how to create one, please contact the Webmaster or your marketing consultant who will be happy to work with you.