Over the past four decades, the presidential appointments process has become increasingly lengthy and difficult. Prospective appointees must complete extraordinary amounts of paperwork and devote considerable amounts of time, money, and energy to the process. To make the process easier, political scientist Terry Sullivan and a team of paperwork experts and software designers have created a software program called Nomination Forms Online, a simplified system in which nominees can consolidate the paperwork and complete it online.

Mr. Sullivan is associate director of the White House 2001 Project, which is a partner of the Transition to Governing Project. Mr. Sullivan held a demonstration of the software on January 25 at the American Enterprise Institute. He was joined by former secretary of health and human services Donna Shalala and former attorney general Richard Thornburgh, who discussed many of the problems with the appointments process and several ways in which it could be improved.