Guidance: How to Create a Gold-Standard Redacted Form for Beam Notes

🌍 Please note: This feature is currently only available to customers in the UK and US.

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Beam Notes templates are only as good as the examples we receive. To build the best possible templates for your organisation, we need high-quality redacted forms — clear, complete, and usable. This guide shows you exactly how to create one (and what a “Gold Standard” version looks like).

What’s the purpose of a redacted form?

Redacted forms help us understand your form structure while removing personal or sensitive data. They’re the foundation of your bespoke Beam Notes template. Sending 2–3 high-quality redacted forms helps us:

• Accurately build your templates
• Avoid back-and-forth discovery calls
• Reduce turnaround time
   

What your redacted form must include

To be usable for template generation, every redacted form should follow these basic principles:

Requirement	What this means
Readable	The form must be clear and easy to read. Avoid over-redacting — we need to see the structure and intent.
All expected sections visible	Don’t remove or hide entire sections. We need to see what fields are included in your actual form.
Clear section headings	Use clear labels (e.g. “Section A: Referral Details”) and keep layout structure intact.
Field types indicated	Show if a field is a dropdown, tickbox, radio button, etc. For example: [Select: Yes / No]
Exclude what you don’t want	Cross out or label sections you don’t need in the template. (e.g. “Exclude this section”)
Keep structure intact	Leave irrelevant sections blank, rather than removing them entirely — unless the section doesn’t exist at all in your version.
Approved content only	Remember: your redacted form will shape your final Beam Note. Make sure it reflects what you want the final product to include.

Quick Steps to Redact Your Form

Here’s how to remove personal data and keep your form usable:

1. Find & Replace personal details
   Use Ctrl + F (or Cmd + F) to search for names like “Joe Bloggs” and replace them with [Name] or remove them completely. The same for things like dates of birth, replace them with [dd/mm/yyyy] or remove them completely.
    
2. Remove contact info
   Look for email addresses, phone numbers, or residential addresses — delete or replace with [Email], [Phone], etc.
    
3. Clean headers & footers
   These often contain names, job titles or organisation info. Double-click and remove anything identifiable.
    
4. Replace case references or IDs
   Replace case numbers or identifiers with placeholders like [Ref Number].
    
5. Final check: comments & track changes
   Accept all changes and delete any comments that might include personal information.

 Why is this so important?

• Better Data Protection: Helps you meet data standards before AI training begins
• Faster, Smoother Onboarding: Good redactions = fewer questions = faster build
  Fewer Calls, More Progress: With a clear redacted form, we can skip discovery calls and get straight to building