“We’ve been manually taking information from Word PDF and putting it in another PDF.”
— Jeremy Warner, OneCert
Company: OneCert
Industry: Organic Certification and Agricultural Compliance
Location: Nebraska, USA (primary office) with international branches
Use case: Automating USDA Organic System Plan (OSP) renewal forms and related certification documentation for agricultural clients
Executive Summary
OneCert, an organic certification company, offers a valued courtesy service by pre-filling updated annual renewal forms with clients’ previous year data. While this differentiated them in a competitive market, manual transcription of various formats (Word, PDF, Excel) into new form versions created an operational bottleneck. Instafill.ai’s AI automates data extraction and mapping to updated forms, handling 600+ fields with 97% accuracy and enabling reusable Profiles for repeat clients, transforming the process into a scalable workflow.
Results at a Glance
- Forms automated: OSP Crops (pilot) + 4-6 additional forms planned
- Form complexity: 626 fields across 20 pages
- Key innovation: Previous year’s submissions used as source data
- Accuracy achieved: 97% after field optimization
- Workflow: Previous submission → Instafill.ai → Pre-filled updated form → Client review
- Strategic impact: Courtesy service becomes sustainable competitive advantage
About OneCert
OneCert provides organic certification for agricultural operations. Their client-focused approach includes pre-filling updated renewal forms with prior year data – a value-added, labor-intensive service. The process involves receiving multi-format client data (PDF, Word, Excel) and manually re-entering it annually into updated forms, risking errors and delays.
Challenge: Courtesy Service Bottleneck
Each year, OneCert’s team managed 5-6 unique forms per client, manually transcribing and updating information from previous submissions across formats into typically PDF destination forms. Errors could delay time-critical certification renewals. The courtesy service was valuable yet unsustainable at scale amidst rising certification requirements post-March 2024 SOE rule implementation.
Solution: Profile-Based Automation for Annual Renewals
OneCert piloted automation with the complex OSP Crops form (600+ fields, 20 pages), converting it to fillable PDF. Initial AI form-filling faced challenges from repetitive fields but improved accuracy (97%) was achieved via field optimization and data testing. The workflow leverages Instafill.ai to upload previous year submissions (Word, PDF, Excel), extract and map data contextually to new form versions, with OneCert reviewing pre-filled forms before client verification.
For clients with stable information year-over-year, OneCert can optionally create reusable Profiles storing structured data like business details, contact information, and operation specifics. These Profiles eliminate the need to upload previous submissions each time, making the process even faster for repeat clients.
Data Source Flexibility
Instafill.ai accepts multiple data sources for form filling, giving OneCert maximum flexibility. They can upload previous year’s filled forms in any format – Word documents, flat PDFs, or Excel spreadsheets – and the AI extracts relevant information to populate updated forms. For frequently renewing clients, creating Profiles with standardized business information provides even faster processing, since the data is already structured and ready to apply. This dual approach means OneCert never has to standardize how clients submit information; the system adapts to whatever format is available.
Impact and Results
The courtesy service shifted from labor-intensive to scalable. OneCert eliminated manual field-by-field transcription, focusing instead on reviewing only the filled forms, rather than typing hundreds of fields.. The availability of Profiles further accelerates processing for consistent clients.