Where do you work pdcta?
Padova ACC, Italy. We manage the north-eastern part of Italy... to understand: above the alps, Venice, Verona, Florence, Bologna! We share the borders with Vienna, Ljubljana, Zagreb, Zurich, Munich, Milano, Roma and Brindisi.
In Italy we use EFS since the mid 90s, I think. We still use paper strips in the TWRs, procedural APPs and Flight Information Centers. All other units (ACC and radar APP) are with EFS or totally stripless.
Anyway... we cannot write anything on our Electronic Strips. They just show us callsign, FL, fixes and estimates, coordinated exit FL and other info as 8.33, RVSM etc. We have a free text field but it can contains only 7 (or maybe 8) characters. So, useful just to take note about Mach/speed restrictions. Everything else can be done on some dedicated field on the EFS or hooking the blip on the radar and opening the relative options from a Menu on the radar screen.
Executive controller works with a "full radar" picture. Planner Controller works with a smaller radar picture with on the same screen the Electronic Strip Bay, inbound list, flight directory etc.
We only watch at the EFS when we receive any approval request and we still don't have the flight on the radar... so from the EFS we can highlight on the radar the flight trajectory, open the FPL etc. Once the flight appear on the screen we can do everithing on the label too.
In Milano, for example, they are full stripless. Also the planner controller works with a full radar picture on the screen using some additional "inbound estimates windows" instead of the EFS.
There are many places where verbal coordination is still required, and always will be because 2, 3 or more controllers have aircraft flying through the same piece of airspace, airspace that is the AOR of only one of those controllers. In order to give any instruction to the transiting aircraft, coordination needs to take place.
It is not unusual for a climb/descent etc to be subject to 2 or 3 (or more) conditions... these need to be written down. They need to be written down on the strip, not a scratch pad, because as we all know (I would hope), the strip is a legal document.
We have something similar too... but we do not write anything. Phones are recorded, as well frequecies, radar and all the inputs we give into the radar screen (cleared FLs, re-routings, revisions, dep clearance, inbound release, fpl change, requested FLs, holding orders, oldi messages, exit flight level coordinations, release, transfer of control etc).
Really, cannot imagine what we can need to write on a paper strip!
If the suggestion is that to introduce electronic strips, this coordination will no longer be able to take place (I think everyone realises and accepts that there will be a change in method of operation with the introduction of EFPS - that is inevitable), then the capacity/efficiency fo those sectors will reduce.
It is up to management and the airlines to decide if the reduction in capacity is acceptable...
We do not have flight data specialists or assistants anymore. After the EFS our sector capacietes incresed... a lot!!
We can modify everything with some click... how can you think to reduce the sector capacity when you reduce your "manual" work?!