Business Connect release notes

Business Connect platform

NEW – Alcohol Excise Customs-controlled Area Application

This application is for manufacturers and businesses that store alcohol products but have not yet paid their excise duties.

NEW – Cosmetic products certificate

This service is for exporters to apply for a government certificate that confirms good manufacturing practices for the cosmetic products that they intend to export.

NEW – Reporting forms for Kānoa

A further four reporting forms published for recipients of the Regional Infrastructure Fund, Regional Strategic Partnership Fund and Provincial Growth Fund.

Accessibility enhancements

Customers who make use of assistive technology will now receive full information through fixes to allow screen readers to read all options in a dropdown and ensure they read the title of each page as the customer proceeds through the form.

These customers will also find it easier to orient themselves on a page through the differentiation between browse mode and focus mode to help avoid confusion due to unexpected switching.

Information banner about expired authority link

The addition of an information banner to proactively help customers understand that their verification of authority will expire and they may need to go through the process again.

Update to PDF formatting

If you make use of the PDF summary from our admin portal you will now see more hierarchy introduced through the removal of bold text for the customer supplied information. This will reduce cognitive load and make the pdf more usable.

FormBuilder.govt

This is the latest version of FormBuilder and there have been a lot of changes as a result of feedback, use testing and accessibility improvements. 

Multi-page form template

We’re pleased to launch this new template to help you if you need to build more complex forms requiring multiple sections. It is good for forms like licence applications, funding requests, or forms involving payments.

Features include dedicated upload and payment screens, logical division for capturing data across sections or topics and the use of consistent components to provide users with a seamless and predictable experience.

Removed ‘Drag and drop’ left hand navigation

You can now add a component to your form using a keyboard or mouse through the Add component pop up. This is a big step forward for becoming an accessible form builder.  

Rearrange fields and sections dialog 

You can now easily move or adjust the ordering of fields and sections. This removes the need to delete and remake fields and sections in new locations as you design and iterate your forms. 

Data pre-population (multi-page forms) 

You can now add prepopulating fields from the New Zealand Business Number to your forms with the click of a button. This makes form-filling faster for customers and gives government teams more accurate data. 

Calculations for payments 

You can now add number and currency components to your forms that create simple calculations based on selections in the form by customers. It’s all preset and ready to go. It enables you to provide a total to pay or a weighting system for the end of the form.

Jump to page

You can now quickly and easily navigate to specific pages in the form preview without having to go through the entire form. This saves time and frustration.

Payment option (multi page forms) 

You can now add a payment page to your form. This page has been preconfigured to display fees to the customer.

Flexible contact details section 

We have improved and expanded the ‘Applicant details/ contact information’ section. It remains a required section as part of our templates but now you can add or remove the preset fields like title, middle name or email address as per your requirements. 

Accessibility improvements

We continue to prioritise accessibility for government users and have made screen reader enhancements including special characters, labels and component names. There are improvements to keyboard navigation and colour contrast too.