Simplify Department of Transportation Required Forms with Automation

As a manufacturer or distributor, ensuring that your products get to the right place at the right time is a priority. While you can have the best technology to ensure that your supply chain is efficient, it’s also equally important to have a team that is going to work hard for your organization. By hiring efficient, competent drivers, you can ensure your brand is well-represented and your partners and customers are happy. When hiring your fleet, how do you ensure that the drivers are compliant with state-specific DOT regulations?

Completing the forms required to meet those regulations is time-consuming for both your new hires and your Human Resources team, and incomplete or incorrect forms have much larger consequences than other internal forms. The question is, how can you ensure these forms are completed in an efficient manner while still being compliant?

By implementing a smart web forms solution.

How do web forms integrate with your DOT onboarding?

The typical process when certifying drivers begins at the application stage. Basic background information is entered, along with 10 years of consecutive previous work history, 3 years of previous address history, accident history, and any additional qualifying qualifying questions. Often organizations require this process to be completed on paper, which is tedious and time-consuming, and also prone to errors. Given the detailed information that is required for this, applicants can spend a lot of time and energy gathering the information, and needing to enter it multiple times in multiple places only prolongs the process, and plain and simple can be annoying for the applicant to complete.

By implementing multiple dynamic forms, you simplify the driver application and can seamlessly feed the information into completing the required background checks.

How does the process work?

In a typical customer use case for these sorts of forms, the entire process is completed within our web forms solution.

First, to meet requirements, candidates complete the driver application form alongside a local HR manager. The human resources department can then push this data directly to their workforce management software using a custom integration. This means once the applicant enters their Social Security Number all the applicant’s data (e.g. DOB, address, previous work history, etc) can be automatically pulled and displayed. The applicant then completes the appropriate state forms based on the state and type of employment they are being hired for.

Once required forms such as the statement of on-duty hours, driving record review, safety performance history, and driver license compliance forms are completed by the candidate, the web form can then be easily sent to the background check company of your organization’s choice. With traditional completion methods, this can completely halt the hiring workflow for multiple days to print, fax, or mail the forms, but by submitting the completed forms electronically it speeds up the process.

After the background comes back clean and the HR manager wants to move the applicant to the next step, the candidate will reenter the hiring workflow and complete any state-specific DOT forms. Smart Web Forms can immediately discern the current state (based on the business address and employee’s address) and displays the appropriate forms dynamically, Human Resources doesn’t need to keep piles of these forms on hand if they have drivers at multiple locations in multiple states and there is no risk of the incorrect form being completed.

Once the HR manager decides they’d like the candidate to move forward, they complete the final Driver Consent form. Rather than copy and paste the data into PDFs and other documents, the software automatically overlays the webform data onto your existing onboarding PDFs.

Upon final completion, a digital checklist web form is launched and is placed under the candidate’s name in the HR manager’s task list. The checklist form will remain open while the driver has their driving skills assessed on the company course and completes any other post-on-boarding activities. Once these tasks are complete, the HR manager can simply check them off, ensuring that every required assessment is completed.

The web form then records the date of signature by the candidate and HR can add one year for notifications of expiration of DOT certification. Rather than this data being managed in mulitple places and risking expiration and fines, HR managers now have a running report of all expiring employee certifications to ensure compliance with state mandates.

Why web forms?

The aforementioned process, while still possible, would be a complete hassle to complete without web forms. The candidate would have to complete the forms on paper, manually writing in each step, or by PDF and having to manage manually formatting the document. Once each form is completed, the HR manager would have to type or re-type the information into their HRIS and background check program. This extends the time spent on the hire, and when your organization is in a period of hiring to fill a need, spending more time on each applicant means it takes longer for them to get on the road.

Without automated web forms, this process could easily take twice as long. Additionally, candidates may become fed up during the process and may not even complete it. Web forms are a better solution for both your employees and your potential candidates.  Mosaic has experience creating custom form solutions that integrate with your HRIS and ERP systems and can help your organization determine exactly the right workflows that going to work well for your business.

Schedule a demo with us, call 1-800-387-7859