What is DA Form 7799? It is the Department of the Army form titled REQUEST FOR APPROVAL OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT REQUIREMENT, and it exists so that you can request for approval of information management requirement. That single line covers most of what people arrive looking for. The rest of this page fills in the details.
Am I looking at the right edition? The copy here carries the date 02/01/2019 and the status ACTIVE. Forms in the DA series are identified by edition date rather than by revision number, so that date is what you compare against. One correction: a newer edition now exists. This one is superseded and remains available only for reference and for files already executed on it.
Do I fill this in myself? Usually yes, unless an administrative office keeps the record for you, in which case they enter what you supply. The form itself belongs to CIO and is prescribed by AR 25-98. It runs to 1 page(s) and about 118 fields.
What the form asks for
- ASSIGNEDRCS1
- Concur1
- Concur2
- ContentArea1
- DATEAPPROVED1
- DATEOFREQUEST
- DateOfficialSigned
- Email1
- Email2
- ExistingRCSNumber1
- Form1
- FormNumberNoTitle1
- FrequencyOfRequirement1
- GRADERANK1
- Justification1
- Line1
- Line2
- Line3
- Line4
- Line5
- Line6
- Line7
- Line8
- Line9
Download the form
What file types are offered? PDF. The page image is the same in every one of them; only the way you complete it changes from format to format.
Fillable or printable — which do I want? Fillable, if there is a keyboard involved: the boxes are interactive objects that store text. Printable, if there is a pen involved: the boxes are just lines on paper. Nothing else distinguishes them.
Do I need special software? Not for reading — a pdf opens in the browser you already have. For filling, install a full pdf reader rather than trusting the in-browser viewer, which sometimes displays fields it cannot save. Type into one field, save, reopen and confirm the text survived.
Is it free? Yes, entirely. No registration stands between you and the file, and what arrives is exactly what the publisher released.
Which entries come before the rest? The identifying ones at the head of the page: name, identification number, unit, date of preparation. Does it matter that they come first? Yes — everything downstream retrieves the record by those values, so they are worth getting right before you touch the substantive blocks.
How should you work through the entry fields? With the tab key. It follows the order the form was constructed in, which is usually the order the page reads, so nothing gets passed over. Do check boxes work the same way? They are clicked rather than tabbed into. In an exclusive group, a second click elsewhere clears your first choice, as intended.
Can a field hold a long answer? Not if it is sized for one line — there is no wrap, and the excess prints missing while remaining visible as you type. So where does the extra text belong? In the remarks area or a continuation sheet. Should you skip fields that are irrelevant to your case? No. Mark them accordingly, because an empty field reads as an oversight rather than an answer.
When do you sign? Last, after every other entry is settled. Until the signature is applied the document is a draft, however complete it looks. What if more than one signature is required? Reviewing official, approving authority and witness sign in the order the blocks print, and each dates the form on the day of signing rather than the day it was prepared. What goes wrong most often? Mandatory fields left empty, transposed digits in identification numbers, dates with day and month reversed, and old entries surviving in a working copy that was reused instead of a fresh blank form.
What does the Privacy Act notice tell you? The legal authority behind the collection, what the information is for, the routine uses it may be put to, and whether disclosure is compulsory. When is the right moment to read it? Before completing the personal entries, at the point the statement appears. What follows from it? Your finished copy contains personal data, so store and send it the way your office handles that category.
What happens after signing? The form is routed as the prescribing directive requires: to a named office, through the unit administrative channel, or into the personal file. Do you get the original back? No, so make a copy first. Who sets the retention period? The applicable records schedule, not the office holding the document.
Which other forms travel with this one? Those found by series and number: DA series documents sharing a proponent or a governing directive are frequently needed in combination, and a form referenced on the face of another generally accompanies it. Do you assemble them before or after sending? Before. Continuation sheets, cover sheets and transmittals are part of the same package.
When is an edition replaced? When the proponent revises the form and publishes a new edition date. What should you do with a copy kept on your own machine? Check its date against the edition in force before reusing it. Does the change reach backwards? It does not; work already completed on an earlier edition remains valid as filed.
Is this an official Department of the Army site? No. It is an independent site distributing reproductions of published Department of the Army documents for download, with no authority to issue forms. Does it guarantee acceptance of anything you submit? It does not, and nothing on the page is legal advice. Who should you ask instead? CIO or your servicing administrative office, whenever an entry, a requirement or your eligibility is in doubt.
Questions and answers
- What is DA Form 7799?
- REQUEST FOR APPROVAL OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT REQUIREMENT
- Which edition is current?
- 02/01/2019
- Who is responsible for this form?
- CIO
- In which formats can it be downloaded?
- PDF, PDF