The following factors should be taken into consideration in determining the form and when creating and designing new forms: 

• Control of the creation of forms. Ensure that the form is necessary and that the information is not being already gathered by another form.
• Elimination of obsolete forms. Obsolete forms are frequently retained and used after they have been replaced. Ensure that users of the form are notified of the new form and advised to destroy the previous form.
• Standardize form design. The order in which name, address, phone number and other personal identifiers are requested should be the same on each form. The Government’s visual identifiers should be present on each form.
• Standardise and streamline distribution. The number of copies of each form and their destination must be justified. Departments and individuals should not receive the same information from two or more forms.

In addition, a standardized form number should be assigned to all new or revised forms indicating the version, number and date of introduction of the form. These numbers can be obtained from the Chief Records Management Officer. One copy of all finalized new or revised forms should be submitted to the Chief Records Management Officer for enclosure on a ‘form’ case file. This procedure does not have to be followed for new forms within the use of a single organizational unit.