From paper form to finished dataset
The survey produced 8,000 paper responses – and around 80 hours of manual data entry. We kept the collection method and automated the rest.
Paper worked well
A waste company ran a user survey across more than ten recycling sites and collected 8,000 forms in total. Paper forms worked well: They were easy to hand out, worked outdoors and produced a strong response.
The problem came afterwards. Every answer had to be entered into Excel, tick by tick and comment by comment. At about one hour per 100 forms, all 8,000 amounted to roughly 80 hours of manual data entry.
The forms were read automatically
We built a program for the scanned forms. It locates the marked boxes, reads the handwritten comments and puts the responses into a structured Excel file.
80 hours were cut to under seven
The software could process 100 forms in about five minutes. Across all 8,000 forms, it cut the data-entry work from roughly 80 hours to under seven – a saving of more than 90%.
With the data ready, we analysed the responses and produced a report for each recycling site, using clear charts and a comparison with the previous survey.
From form to report
The images follow the work from the completed paper forms to the Excel file and final report.
