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OpenForms Use Case: Online Payment Calculators

Pricing for government services can be complex and regularly leads to phone calls and queries to city staff. Forms with complex pricing tables lead to confusion and incorrect payments, creating more downstream work for staff in the way of refunds and adjustments.

OpenForms provides auto calculations based on customer responses, from the most basic (Option X = $Y) to complex estimates (Option A + C + E, pro-rata over 6 months = $X). Customers know fee or charge information instantly, instead of trying to decipher a confusing pricing table.

Be confident that your online forms reflect the most current pricing with OpenForms integration that pulls pricing changes from internal systems and automatically updates the calculator, with new fiscal year increases for example.

Success reimagining PDF’s with online calculator and payment forms

When the directive from the City’s General Manager to make all forms electronic was announced, the customer service team moved quickly to find a solution that wouldn’t just help them digitize their PDF forms, but digitize payment processes as well. Rather than re-creating their paper forms online, Cardinia Shire Council leveraged the OpenForms calculator functionality to automatically calculate pricing based on a customers choices and answers to questions, eliminating the need for complex pricing tables and potential customer errors.

By simplifying the payment processes, Cardinia Shire Council made it easier for more customers to self-serve online. They had their first submission within a few minutes of launching the online animal registration process. Across the 47 initial forms digitised, the City measured over 100 hours saved in phone calls in the first month alone. And within the first three weeks of launch, 50% of all payments made through the Cities Westpac account were coming from OpenForms.

The City measured over 100 hours saved in phone calls in the first month alone.


“Using OpenForms, Cardinia Shire Council was able to empower non-technical team members to convert PDFs into online forms at a rate of one every two hours”

Rob Petreski, Customer Service Manager, Cardinia Shire Council


Sophisticated calculators can solve more than just pricing

Challenged to help teams move quicker on decisions and actions, whilst adhering to the City’s stringent risk management framework, the City of West Torrens turned to OpenForms. Previously relying on a spreadsheet manually cross referenced with a risk matrix, the process proved time consuming and laborious process for staff. Using OpenForms, CoWT re-imagined the process as an easy, self-guided form that utilised smart logic and calculations to provide staff with real-time advice on the risk level of their project and decisions.

Risk assessment form example

Because the calculations are handled automatically, the assessment process is more rapid and more reliable, and provides staff with recommended next steps based on the risk level. Not only does the new process help staff, it also streamlines the City’s record keeping process. Using OpenForms integrations, each assessment is automatically saved in the City’s record management system.


Explore more ways to use OpenForms: