As a newbie to smart tags - I'm just starting to think of the
possibilities....can smart tags be used to replace Word document variables?

Currently, I am deriving information from users from a Word form and storing
it in document variables. I then use the document variables along with
autotext to construct a document (legislative bill). Later throughout
the legislative process, we utilize ADO to insert the information from the
document variables to a backend SQL database.

Am I seeing possibilities of using smart tags instead of document variables?
If so, what would be the advantages or disadvantages?

Where can I go to see some examples of something like this?

Thanks