Part 3: Forms

What can I do in Forms?
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Forms is a flexible entry-level data collection tool which combines the power of a Java-based mobile phone application with the ease of use and availability of text messaging. Imagine you're a health clinic and you have staff travelling in different parts of the country collecting data on illnesses, test results and the incident of certain types of disease. At the moment this information is likely being collected on paper forms, which are then sent back to your clinic at certain time intervals, or they simply come back when the member of staff periodically returns. This is obviously a slow and inefficient way of collecting data, and doesn't give the clinic 'real time', up-to-date information from the field as it happens.

The Forms module in FrontlineSMS allows you to create copies of very simple paper forms on your computer, which can then be sent to a Java-enabled mobile phone through a text message. This phone can then be handed to a member of hospital staff who can then take it to the field with them and enter the information they collect directly onto the phone (by following a trimmed-down version of the on-screen form you have created for them). Once the data input is complete, the information collected can be sent back to FrontlineSMS as a compressed text message, giving you up-to-date and real-time information. Other systems are available that provide data collection functionality, but many rely on data connectivity via the mobile phone network. FrontlineSMS does not, and only requires that you have a mobile signal. If the forms are completed in an area where there is no signal they will be held in the phone until a signal is detected, after which they can be safely sent.