We feel the need, the need for speed

Learn how to save seconds or minutes on each form

Speed is easily the number one driver for purchasers of our software. Number one, that is, when it's seamlessly coupled to accuracy and power and ease of use and flexibility and value and security. In two sentences, that explains why our software is so popular. But for the moment, let’s think about speed and how to get more of it.

Our professional goal at TFT is to constantly reduce the consumption of time. It’s a little like gas mileage: "the more miles to the gallon the better", translates into "how much gets done in a second." The more that gets done faster the better, the efficiency standard for document automation.

One way to dramatically increase a form’s efficiency is to recognize that not all commands are equal. A Field is fast, while Lists and Conditions eat up the clock in relatively huge bites when you’re measuring in milliseconds. Imagine a form or Set that requires five signature blocks repeated on four documents. When we realize that each item is going to require a separate computation and a full round trip, more likely many, while checking the Requirements of the List in the Form against the Contents of the List in the Questionnaire. The clock will win the race with productivity by a wide margin.

A huge improvement comes when we put the repeated List or Condition in a Derived Answer instead of scattered through the Form. First, everything will be close together in the Questionnaire so less time is wasted going back and forth. Second, the result is to convert the entire multi-component List into a single Field. The Document can then make calls for a Field rather than multiple calls for the Contents of X Fields in order to build multiple Lists. We’ve seen these expert steps shave full minutes off large, complex contracts and agreements that have dozens of them scattered about.

Speed Rule #LC-1: Minimize repetitive uses of Lists and Conditions in your forms.