UMB Policy on Forms Management
VIII-1.40(A) | Financial Affairs | Approved
Responsible VP/AVP: Dawn M. Rhodes, DBA, MBA
Applies to: Staff
Policy Statement
Pursuant to State Government Article, Sections 10-604 through 10-608 of the Annotated Code of Maryland, the University of Maryland, Baltimore has established a Forms Management Program. The goal of the program is to have in use only those forms needed for efficient and effective operations of the schools and administrative units. The Office of Procurement Services is charged with the administration of the program. A centralized record of forms in use will be maintained by this office.
In addition, a Forms Management Committee, made up of representatives from the schools and administrative units and chaired by the Forms Manager from the Procurement Office, is to meet periodically for the purpose of administering the program. By continually reviewing the forms in use on the campus, the committee will eliminate unnecessary and/or outdated forms, consolidate similar-use forms between units, recommend revision to forms to increase efficiency, and monitor forms usage within their respective campus units.
The Forms Representative will keep his/her unit informed of the requirements and procedures of the Forms Management Program, encourage the school/unit to use the campus-wide forms developed by the committee, help to develop and/or revise forms for more efficient use, and aid his/her unit in achieving the most cost effective method of printing the forms in use.
Those forms to be included in the program are in accordance with the definition dated January 1983 (reprinted 1986) entitled Forms Management Procedure #1, Defining a Form provided to UMB by the State Forms Manager. Included in this definition are forms purchased from commercial suppliers, those reproduced internally on office duplicating machines, and those generated by word/data processing equipment regardless of quantity used. The University has chosen not to include those forms listed under Agency Prerogatives (Item IV-B).
All forms utilized on campus will be assigned a form number in accordance with a standard identification system. This number is to appear on all forms, whether it be offset printed or photocopied. Through the Forms Committee Representatives, new or revised forms will be submitted to the Forms Manager for a form number assignment.
A centralized data base concerning all forms within the Forms Management Program will be maintained by a Forms Management Coordinator. This data base will include information regarding the specifications of the form, i.e., number of parts, size, type of paper, annual usage, etc. In addition, a production data base will be maintained by the Forms Management Coordinator for compilation of the printing history of the forms. A copy of all purchase orders for printing offset forms will be given to the Coordinator who will enter into the data base information for each form regarding quantity ordered and price paid. As forms are photocopied within the various units, a report of the quantity produced will be given to that unit's Forms Representative. Each month, a compilation of these quantities will be reported to the Forms Coordinator by the Forms Representative. The production data base will be reviewed annually to monitor the printing costs.