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User-Friendly Forms
Sunday 22nd January 2006
This guide aims to increase the useability and effectiveness of forms1 provided by Australian Government agencies to individuals, to support service delivery and to satisfy other government objectives. Australian Government agencies issue and receive back millions of paper forms each year. Well-designed forms make it easier for members of the public to access government services, and support administrative efficiency. This is why effective forms are a crucial element in the efficient and effective delivery of services to customers.
Common principles of useability and accessibility apply to all forms regardless of the channels (such as in person, by telephone, online and by post) through which they are received and lodged. This guide is intended as a reference document for people responsible for the design and testing of Australian Government forms. Its guidance on sound practice was developed in the course of the Australian National Audit Office’s (ANAO’s) audit, Forms for Individual Service Delivery (Audit Report No. 26 2005-06).
The guidance reflects principles of management observed in some of the agencies covered in that audit, as well as the fundamentals of good practice identified by experts in various aspects of form design and accessibility.