How to digitise paper approval forms: a step-by-step guide

Paper approval forms survive because they are familiar, not because they work. They get lost between desks, arrive incomplete, cannot be tracked, and must be re-keyed into other systems. This guide walks through how to replace them — one form at a time — with online forms and automated approvals.

Step 1: Inventory your forms

List every form in use: its name, owner, monthly volume, approvers and what happens after approval. Most organisations are surprised by how many there are. Rank them by volume × pain: the forms that are used most and complained about most come first.

Step 2: Simplify each form

Before rebuilding a form, challenge every field:

• Is this information used by anyone? If not, remove it.
• Can it be looked up instead of typed? (Employee number → name, department, manager.)
• Can it be calculated? (Line items → total.)
• Is it captured somewhere else already? Then link, don’t duplicate.

A good digital form is usually shorter than the paper one it replaces.

Step 3: Rebuild it as an online form

Use a form designer to create the digital version:

• Validation — required fields, formats and ranges stop incomplete submissions.
• Lookups — dropdowns for cost centres, suppliers or projects come from master data.
• Conditional fields — show the “overseas travel” section only when relevant.
• Attachments — receipts, quotations and supporting documents attach to the request.
• Languages — labels in English and Chinese for every user.

Step 4: Route approvals by rules, not by names

Paper forms rely on the requester knowing who signs next. A workflow decides automatically:

• by reporting line (the requester’s manager),
• by position (the department head, the finance controller),
• by conditions (amount above a threshold, a specific category),
• in sequence or in parallel (finance and legal at the same time).

Add reminders and escalation so requests never wait silently.

Step 5: Replace wet signatures

Most internal approvals do not need a handwritten signature — an authenticated electronic approval with an audit trail is stronger evidence of who approved what, and when. For documents that need a signature, such as contracts or external agreements, use e-signature that produces a sealed PDF and an audit certificate.

Step 6: Approve anywhere

Approvers are the bottleneck in most paper processes. Give them a task inbox on desktop, a mobile app, and — for teams in Greater China — WeChat. Batch approval for routine items saves even more time.

Step 7: Archive and report automatically

When a request completes, the final record and attachments should file themselves into a document repository with the right permissions and retention. Dashboards then show volumes, cycle times and bottlenecks — information paper could never give you.

A rollout plan that works

1. Pilot one form with one department for two to four weeks.
2. Measure cycle time and completeness before and after.
3. Fix what users stumble on, then withdraw the paper version on a fixed date.
4. Repeat with the next form on your ranked list — the second is always faster.

Common pitfalls

• Copying the paper form exactly. Use the move as a chance to simplify.
• Routing to named people. Use roles and reporting lines so the workflow survives staff changes.
• Forgetting mobile. If approvers must be at a desk, the bottleneck remains.
• Running paper and digital in parallel for too long. Set a cut-over date.

Doing this with FlexApp

FlexApp provides the form designer, workflow engine, mobile and WeChat approval, e-signature and document management on one platform, with labels in English, Traditional and Simplified Chinese. Many customers digitise their first form in days. Talk to us about the first form you want to replace.