Forest Service Forms
Shana Informed Filler User Guide (1.4a)

For help with Shana installation and setup, go to the Shana Informed Filler Setup Guide.

Introduction

Shana Informed Filler will allow you to fill-in forms online, save the form on your local PC or LAN, e-mail the form, digitally sign an electronic signature, and route the form through several recipients. Many of the forms can do extensive calculations or have extensive edits, choice lists, remember previously used values, and other handy time-saving features. Later versions of a form may submit the data to a database.   Here are some hints:

Names of things

 Informed Filler is the program you open on your PC to work with Shana forms. For short, we generally refer to the forms as Shana forms. Shana was the company that created the software. However, in April 2003, Shana was bought by FileNet.

Launching Shana Informed Filler forms:

 There are a couple ways to start up a Shana form.
  • From the web. One way is to use the forms index and simply click on the hyperlink. Informed Filler will open with the form in it.

    Note: with Informed Filler version 2.7.1, when you launch a 2nd form from the web, you will get an error message. Close the form already open in Informed Filler first.
     
  • From within Informed Filler. The other, and perhaps more common way for regular users, is to open the form from within Informed Filler. First use Start, Programs, Informed, Informed Filler to open program and then do a File, New Document. Then select a form from the ones stored locally on your PC (note they will update automatically to current versions) or select Services and browse either the public or internal Shana forms libraries.
     
  • Like any other document. Lastly, if you ever double click on a saved Shana eform, Informed Filler will open, much the same as Word or Acrobat open for their respective file types.

Template version updates:

 When you open or start a new form, there is a check to see if there are any new versions of the template. If there is, the template can be updated automatically. Please click the "Update" button if you get prompted with a message like "A new revision of the template is available. Would you like to update your copy now...?".

Digital signatures:

For Ministry of Forests Staff

In February, 2007 a server used in Shana signatures was decommissioned.  All users of Shana signatures must make a minor change to their configuration.  This is described here.

For signatures, we in the ministry use the same userid/password and Exchange email server we use everyday.

To sign a form,

  • Double click on the signature field to sign.
  • If given a choice, choose I-Sign (IMAP). Note: you can use Edit, Preferences, Security and set your preference to this so it no longer prompts for a choice.
  • If this is your 1st time, 
    • Overtype the ???? portion of the default fsmaster/???? with your userid. 
    • Overtype the fsmaster portion with your domain (these days its most likely idir).
    • And make sure its a forward slash between them
    • For example, idir/fbeinhau  
    • It will remember this so you only have to do it once.
  • Enter your usual password and click OK.

If not ok (if it does not work)

  • Password correct? Make sure you entered your password correctly. Passwords are case sensitive, so enter the correct uppers and lowers as well.
  • Password contains special characters?  We have an intermittent problem where a user cannot sign in Informed Filler because their IDIR password includes special characters (i.e.: #, ?, $).  The solution is to change your password to something that only includes letters (upper and lower) and numbers (i.e.: Pumpkin34).  To change your password, select Control+Alt+Delete.  Next select Change Password.
  • Domain correct? If your domain is not fsmaster, overtype that with your correct domain, e.g.., idir/fbeinhau.
  • Forward slash? Like idir/fbeinhau
  • Is your alias different? if your email alias and userid are not the same, then you need to add your alias, i.e., enter domain/userid/alias. To find your Exchange alias, pretend you are sending an email to yourself, double-click on your email id to see the properties of your email account, then use the value you find there for Alias. As an example, idir/kblakem2/kblakemo.
  • IMAP host? Click Setup from the signature prompt and look at the IMAP host. It should be set to quiver.idir.bcgov.  If it isn't, you will have to change it (ministry staff click here for instructions).
  • Expired? Make sure you password hasn't

For Industry/External Users

Filling in fields:

 Move from field to field with tab key or place cursor with mouse. Fields may have a "pop-up" choice selection. One trick, you can type into a number field values like =5+2+3 and it will compute the total, i.e., 10.

Edits and calculations

 Many fields may have time saving features and already be set up as date fields, numeric fields, or check boxes. Other fields may provide you with choice lists to make completing a form easier.  Many fields may also be display only and calculated for you, for example, totals, taxes, and other calculations, so you no longer have to manually calculate these.

Remembering fields:

 To "remember" the contents of the form field for automatically filling the next time the form is opened, press "Control L" (or, from menu select Cell, Memorize).

Saving form data:
  • By default, form data is saved to a default location on your PC (c:\Informed\Data) however, you can save it anywhere, much like a Word document.
  • If you email a form, like any email attachment, it is saved with your sent items.
  • There is a find function (Data, Find) that can search for data in one or more forms in your opened file.
  • Annotation can be added with a "sticky note" under Edit/Place Note function

Exporting & importing data:

 You can export data from Shana forms to a coma or tab delimited text file (with version 3, also to XML/Xforms). This is useful if you want to use the data in another application such as Word, Excel, or Access. Conversely, you can import data from tab delimited text files, dbase, or XML/Xform (version 3) to get data into a Shana form from another application. For more info on this and an example MailMerge click here.

E-mail:

 You can send the form from within the Filler. Use File, Send. In many cases there are default "routes" you can choose. These create pre-formatted email messages for you, saving some time. The email is sent, received, and managed like any other email message. Form only, data only or both can be e-mailed with any number of attachments. The user has a choice of e-mail systems in a "pop-up" field.

Routing a form:

 Use File, Send to email a form. Some forms may have default routing you can choose. To edit your email preferences, choose Edit, Preferences, Mail to change your default email service. Or use same to add or amend suggested routes.

Form #s:

 Many of the Shana forms generate a unique instance number by calling the web server to get a number. In cases when you are not attached to the network this number will be blank. To fill it in later, one trick is, when network attached, to use Database Duplicate to generate a record with a number then delete the record that hasn't the number.

Creating an archive of forms:

 If you generate many of a particular form, you may find it useful to make one file (use a name of your choosing) and always use it. Then for new forms, you can use either Database Add or Database Duplicate (especially useful for re-using the data and saving re-keying). Or if you are on the receiving end, you may find it useful to create an archive all in one Shana file. To do this, save the first form with a filename of your choosing, and then for subsequent forms, open this and either (a) drag Shana forms from your email, to your desktop, then on top of Shana (doesn't drag directly), or, (b) use Import and import the Shana eform into your archive.

More Help Using Shana Forms

More help is available from within the Shana Informed Filler client installed on your PC. From the Informed Filler menu, select Help, Contents.

Also, many Shana forms will have help files linked from the forms index that will guide you in their use. Or the Shana form may have hyperlinks to procedures and other guides.

Signatures

Electronic Signatures using Informed Filler

When you sign a Shana eform, it adds your identification, a timestamp, then locks the fields you have entered and creates a "hash" or fingerprint that can be used later to determine that the data in the form is in fact original (it has not be altered).

Shana supports a number of signature choices. With Shana’s I-Sign, you can use your email userid and password as a signature. Also supported are Entrust certificates and CryptoAPI based certificates such as Verisign.

To sign, you double-click on a signature field then select the signature choice you wish to use. You then enter your password. If you have signed something within the last 5 minutes, you will not be prompted for your password.

Initial Setup for Electronic Signatures (for ministry or industry/external users)

Here is a summary on how to first set them up:

  • IMAP (I-Sign) – choose IMAP if you have a Microsoft Exchange email server (like we do in the ministry). Here is how to setup the IMAP option. Within Shana Informed Filler, select Edit, then Preferences, then scroll down to I-Sign (IMAP) and press Set Preferences. Set the userid and host respectively as follows:
    • domain/userid for example idir/jsmith (note: if your email alias and userid are not the same, then you need to enter domain/userid/alias, e.g., idir/jsmith/j2smith)
    • hostname.xxx.yyy (ministry staff click here for host names)
        
  • POP (I-Sign) – POP is the choice to use if you have a POP server for your email. It is recommended that ministry staff use IMAP, however, here is an example of how to setup the POP option. Within Shana Form Filler, select Edit, then Preferences, then scroll down to I-Sign (POP) and press Set Preferences. Set the userid and POP host respectively as follows:
    • domain\alias\userid for example fsmaster\jsmith\jsmith (note backslashes)
    • hostname.xxx.yyy
        
  • External Users -- Users outside the ministry may use either of the above choices. It depends on which mail service you use. Or, you can use either of the certificate based options as noted below if you have a digital certificate.

    You likely don't need a domain. As an external user, if you normally use just a userid to logon, then simply use the same here, without the domain preface. For example, a userid and POP host respectively might look like this:
    • jsmith
    • mail.islandnet.com

    However, if you need a domain prefix, it would typically follow the same patterns as noted above. 

  • Entrust – no setup required. This is done as part of the Entrust installation.
      
  • Verisign (or CryptoAPI) – no setup required. This is done as part of the Verisign installation.

More Info

For more information, contact the ministry Forms Office using this Feedback link.

Revised: February 28, 2007, js