How Digital Work Orders Impact Your Key Business Outcomes
Is your company still using paper sheets to manage work orders? The drawbacks of using paper forms are often hidden, making it difficult to understand the true impact of paper forms on a business…
Centurion is the largest heavy haulage provider in Australia. They deliver national supply chain solutions to the resources, energy, construction & retail sectors throughout Western Australia, Queensland & the Northern Territory…
Companies rely on collecting data in order to operate. In a fast-changing world, companies that focus on streamlining and improving their data collection processes will be able to do more. The good news is that it’s become easier than ever for businesses of all…
The American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) recently declared almost 56,000 bridges in the United States structurally deficient. Almost half of all states fall into the category of having 9% or more of their bridges structurally deficient. According to the ARTBA, “this means one or more of the key bridge elements, such as the deck, superstructure or substructure, is considered to be in “poor” or worse condition.”
More than 25% of all bridges (about 174,000) were reported as being at least 50 years old and never having major construction work.
This is pretty scary stuff. Officials tend to agree on the need to find new sources of funding for bridge and highway repair projects, as the current funding mechanisms haven’t kept pace with the cost of construction in recent years. However, this data also highlights the potential need for improved bridge inspection processes to ensure accurate data is collected, shared and analyzed quickly. Here are 5 reasons why bridge inspectors should be using mobile forms and apps for bridge inspections.
Mobile Bridge Inspections
Easily document bridge conditions and structures with photos
If inspections are currently being done on paper, it may not be easy to see visually the extent of damage and it may be easier for folks to put off improvements. If an inspector does happen to have a digital camera, time is probably wasted around getting the photos off the camera, printing them, attaching them to the inspection report and then storing them somewhere in a filing cabinet.
With mobile forms and devices, inspectors can complete bridge inspection forms and add photos to the reports at the same time, eliminating the need for an additional device and time wasted compiling the photos into a report later.
Prove an Inspection Happened
Ever wonder if an inspection really happened? Or if the form was filled out on-site instead of at another location? With mobile forms, a GPS and time stamp can be required as part of the process, so you can ensure inspectors are where they are supposed to be and doing the inspection on-site.
Standardize Inspection Processes
Ever have the problem where one person may fill the same form out differently than another? Maybe person A starts on page 3 and works backwards while person B starts on page 1. Or skips around. Or skips various fields. Or standard langauge to describe something isn’t being used so analysis becomes difficult.
With mobile forms, you can set them up so that various fields must be filled out, in a specific order, or the inspector cannot advance forward. This helps standardize inspection processes and ensure the right data is captured every time.
Get Data Back in Real-Time
With paper bridge inspection forms, someone fills them out and then has to get them back to the office. Many times, they’re just physically taken in, then scanned into a computer or worse, transcribed by hand into another system. All of this takes time and resources. And if there’s a crucial issue, it might not be seen until days later!
With mobile bridge inspections, the data is captured via mobile devices and stored in the cloud so it can be accessed instantly. No waiting around, no manual data re-entry or having to worry about expensive and annoying filing cabinets.
Digital Data = Easier Analysis
Can you imagine combing through paper inspection forms for thousands of bridges and trying to determine what the most common issues are with the deck or substructures? And trying to look for trends based on location, temperature, time of year, inspector, building material, etc? And you’re doing this with data that may not be structured optimally, having to read messy handwriting and account for missing fields and forms?
NIGHTMARE.
With digital inspection data, dashboards can easily be set up so you can see data at an aggregate level for a variety of fields and conditions. It is much easier to analyze digital data, look for trends and then prioritize issues so action can be taken!
As you can see, there are clear benefits to digitizing bridge inspections with mobile forms and apps. If you’d like to see how GoCanvas can help you improve these kinds of processes and save time while getting more accurate data, try us free today!
GoCanvas® is on a mission to simplify inspections and maximize compliance. Our intuitive platform takes care of the administrative tasks, freeing our customers to focus on what truly matters – safeguarding their people, protecting their equipment, and delivering exceptional quality to their customers.
Since 2008, thousands of companies have chosen GoCanvas as their go-to partner for seamless field operations.
Check out even more resources
The Ultimate Guide to Quality Control Inspections
Managing a construction project is a complex and stressful process. Among other things, you have to coordinate project team members, materials, and equipment and ensure that contractors are not afflicted by the potential risks and hazards present at the construction site. That said, quality means different things to different people which is why you should…
Your competition is finding faster ways to capture data and get critical insights from the field into their existing systems. In short, they’re not going bigger, they’re getting smarter. In this 15-minute broadcast on the construction industry’s digital transformation, find out why the trend is to modernize workflows – and how you can stay ahead of the curve…
See how VIP Lighting optimized efficiency with GoCanvas
VIP Lighting is a retail lighting and electrical maintenance business that services over 10,000 retail locations all over Australia and New Zealand. Before GoCanvas, VIP Lighting had two separate systems that were impossible to integrate, leading to inefficiencies. GoCanvas made it easy to integrate their systems into single, centralized platform…
Many companies, whether they have gone paperless or not, struggle when it comes to processes that require the review and signature of multiple people within the organization. Often this, the collection of signatures, can be the most frustrating and time-consuming part of any data collection process. You are often forced to wait around until someone shows up with the forms for you to sign, or you have to become a detective and attempt to track down the last known whereabouts of the paperwork you need in order to get something processed. It can take a real toll on productivity.
Workflow was created to eliminate the need for the manual transportation of data.
Typical examples of forms that are involved in this type of approval process include Change Orders, Time cards, Safety Inspections, Expense Reports and more.
Industries that paper-based workflow procedures are most commonly found in today include:
Essentially Workflow allows you to create a step by step procedure of how a form should be filled out, completed, and submitted using a mobile device.
The online “Workflow Manager” allows you to setup how each part of the mobile form should be filled out and who should receive each section of the form for review. This creation process ensures that when a form is being filled out on a project site that it will be reviewed and completed the proper way every single time.
It works as simple as a technician opening a GoCanvas mobile form on their smartphone and filling it out. Once the technician reaches the pre-determined end of that section, they will be notified that the data is being transferred to their supervisors’ device for review.
In real-time, the supervisor will get a push notification (similar to a text message) alerting them that they have a GoCanvas report to review. When they open it, they will be able to review all the past data and even add comments or reject it if they deem necessary. Once finished, the supervisor can submit the final report to the main office or transfer it to the next supervisor(depending on how the Workflow was created).
Why You Will Benefit
You will notice the impact on your business almost immediately. Instant benefits include:
Ability to review, sign, and submit reports in real-time
Recover 100’s of hours spent tracking down employees or reports
Eliminate the need for annoying texts, calls, or email reminders
Share photos, signatures, GPS coordinates and more directly from one device to another
Workflow gives your company a structured way to communicate data from the field to the proper supervisors in real-time. No more delays due to travel or human error. Get all the data that you need, when you need it.
GoCanvas® is on a mission to simplify inspections and maximize compliance. Our intuitive platform takes care of the administrative tasks, freeing our customers to focus on what truly matters – safeguarding their people, protecting their equipment, and delivering exceptional quality to their customers.
Since 2008, thousands of companies have chosen GoCanvas as their go-to partner for seamless field operations.
Check out even more resources
Gown Your Business with GoCanvas Partner Program
Join our Partner Program and gain instant access to our global network of thought leaders and industry experts enjoying shared collaboration and collective success.
Explore how Forte Supply Chain Solutions partnered with GoCanvas, combining in-house industry expertise with our white-label mobile forms to revolutionize their processes.
This week we spotlight Dispatch, the easiest way to communicate with your field personnel without picking up a telephone.
Dispatch allows companies, big and small, to eliminate the need for time-consuming task assignment and tracking. It gives the ability to create tasks, assign them to employees, and track their completion status in real-time right from the Dispatch Dashboard on the GoCanvas website.
Construction, HVAC, Retail, Energy & Utilities, Home Healthcare
How it Works
The best part about the Dispatch functionality is that it connects the office with the employees who work in the field.
Office employees, those of who typically interact with the GoCanvas website, would use the Dispatch Manager to create and organize their field employees’ daily tasks. They can choose any of the mobile forms that are currently published and begin pre-filling out details for the task before it gets assigned. The types of fields within the mobile form that can be pre-filled include Text Boxes, Checkboxes, Dates, Times, Dropdowns, and more. You can even dynamically add items into “Loop” or “List Screens”, which allows for tables to be pre-filled out before they arrive to field employees.
Keep in mind, the dispatched task does NOT have to be immediately sent for completion. The “Dispatch Type”, as seen below, can be toggled to “Schedule Dispatch” and be triggered to be sent at a future date and time. This is perfect for companies that have re-occurring inspections(3,6,12-month), have the need to schedule follow-ups, or book appointments days in advance.
The Benefits
When the office completes creating dispatches, any marked as “Immediate Dispatch” would instantly notify the assigned employee with a push notification. This immediately reduces the time it would normally take for the employee to come into the office, pick up their assignments for the day, and drive out to the first location.
Once the employee receives their Dispatch(s), they are able to scroll through the details and view the pre-filled info of each report. This can include addresses, dates, times, and more. When a Dispatch has begun being filled out, the employees in the office will view the status on the Dispatch Manager online change from “Assigned” to “Received”. And once the task is fully filled out and submitted to the online database, the status will once again change from “Received” to “Completed” in real-time. These status updates give management up-to-the-minute insight into how many tasks are being completed daily, if they are on-time, and which need to be re-assigned to other employees.
Is Dispatch For You?
If you are a company looking to increase efficiency by increasing the speed of data moving from A to B, then Dispatch is definitely a feature you should consider.
Dispatch will allow your company to cut out 100’s of hours a month when it comes to task management and scheduling, and will also increase the overall visibility of data across your entire organization. This will help in the communication of daily KPI’s like job completion, as well as assist with giving instant insight into reports as soon as they are submitted.
GoCanvas® is on a mission to simplify inspections and maximize compliance. Our intuitive platform takes care of the administrative tasks, freeing our customers to focus on what truly matters – safeguarding their people, protecting their equipment, and delivering exceptional quality to their customers.
Since 2008, thousands of companies have chosen GoCanvas as their go-to partner for seamless field operations.
Check out even more resources
Best Ways to Collect Data in Manufacturing
Data analysis is the heart of any well-functioning manufacturing company. Without accurate, real-time data, manufacturing plants are left in the dark about costs, areas that need improvements, quality assurance, employee production, and so many other valuable insights.
Have you ever wondered how manufacturing companies like Nvidia, SpaceX, Tesla, Intel, and Nike remain at the forefront of their industries? These companies obsess over optimizing their manufacturing process. To create and maintain a near-flawless workflow…
Wastewater Processing: 8 Tips to Make Your Manufacturing Site More Sustainable
When it comes to wastewater disposal, manufacturers can place a significant strain on municipal water systems. The lack of proper waste management leads to sanitary waste, particularly in metropolitan areas’ water supply.
