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5 Mobile Forms Every QA/QC Inspector Should Be Using

Posted on by April Jones

5 Mobile Forms Every QA/QC Inspector Should Be Using

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Increasing the Efficiency of QA/QC Inspectors

The act of performing inspections is almost always a tedious task, especially when paper forms are involved.

For Quality Assurance and Quality Control inspectors in various industries, but especially in construction, the process of completing their project reports can be a daunting task. This multi-form, multi-step process can quickly become disorganized and unmanageable if the proper processes are not in place. The negative effects of not properly completing these reports include delays in project development and major decreases in worker productivity.

So how can these issues be avoided? By using a single platform for the collection, sharing, and reporting of all QA/QC forms. This is what GoCanvas provides.

The Benefits of Using a Mobile Platform

A typical QA/QC engineer or inspector will typically have to carry and fill out 5 to 10 different types of paper forms for a typical project. This doesn’t include all the additional documents like drawings and photos that the inspector will need to print out and attach separately. Add this to the pain of having to carry around these paper reports and transporting them all the way back to the office for reporting, this can add up to 100’s of hours being wasted every month due to paperwork inefficiencies.

With a platform like GoCanvas, these inefficiencies are entirely eliminated. All the forms an inspector needs can be found directly on their mobile device, and are accessible whether offline or online. These mobile forms can be customized to include easy to use drop-down menus and check boxes, as well as more specialized fields like GPS, Image Capture, Sketching, Time Stamps, Signature Capture, and more! You can also easily organize your forms on your mobile device into convenient folders for easy retrieval based on project and/or location.

But the best part is that as soon a report is completed, the data is synced to the cloud and available for the office staff to begin reviewing in real-time. This can instantly save hours that were previously lost to manual data re-entry and lost paperwork.

Now it’s time to see which mobile forms could begin saving your business hundreds of hours in lost efficiency!

5 Mobile Forms Every QA/QC Inspector Should Download Today

GoCanvas doesn’t just give you a code-free form builder to create and customize your very own mobile forms and documents, but it also provides you with over 20,000 pre-built mobile form templates to choose from and download in seconds.

Below are 5 mobile form templates that every Quality Assurance/Quality Control inspector and engineer should download and customize to fit their particular needs. Click on any of the templates below to get started!

RFI mobile form
Material Order Form Mobile App
Engineer inspection request mobile form
Daily construction project report mobile form
Subcontractor agreement
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About GoCanvas

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

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The New GoCanvas is Here!

GoCanvas
Posted on by April Jones

The New GoCanvas is Here!

The Law of Three

The popular saying is that good things comes in threes. The American Constitution promises: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. Even the planet we live on is the third from the Sun!

If last week is any measure, three events made it an awesome seven days for us.

First, we took a bold move to rebrand from Canvas to GoCanvas. While it may seem like a small change, it actually has a big impact. Most of our customers already know us best from our web site, which from beginning has been GoCanvas.com. So it makes good sense to harmonize the brand name and make us even easier to find.

Being empathetic to the challenges our subscribers face to run and grow their business, GoCanvas is also a great description of their journey with us. We help our customers Go somewhere that is new and different, with the confidence that Canvas is a destination where you can do something great for your company.

This week also saw the 9th major update of our platform. Improving the way our customers engage with GoCanvas is always a cause for celebration. But when we completely refresh our look and feel, it really stands out. GoCanvas 9 has now gone live, delivering a more fluid and intuitive customer experience on the web site. So, whether creating a digital version of a simple document or rewriting the way work is dispatched to field teams, it’s now even easier to collect important business information and automate your business processes.

Now to the third great thing that happened last week.

Hearing from our customers is how our inspiration begins. We firmly believe that shared knowledge is what sparks innovation. What was originally planned as a round table with 5 or so customers giving us feedback on new features, had to be rapidly rethought.. over 100 wanted to attend!

We decided to hold our first user conference: Transform.

It was exciting to hear people sharing how GoCanvas is the solution to their everyday operational headaches. Our thanks go out to Ed from Post Brands and Fran from Apex – each took the stage to give awesome presentations, showing the practical and impactful ways that GoCanvas helps them run and grow their business. It was real team effort at our HQ in Reston to bring everything together and heartening to receive the great feedback from the customers who attended. We look forward to holding Transform 2018 and will definitely need a bigger venue!

The brand name may have changed and the web site refreshed, but not our passion for innovating and creating impact for our customers. We are continually finding new ways not just to automate paperwork but go much farther, delivering moments that surprise, delight and help drive better results. We have some amazing things planned for 2018.

Welcome to the new GoCanvas!

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About GoCanvas

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

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We’ll help you put together the right solution for your needs.

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Keeping Hotel Labor Costs in Check:  How Mobile Inspection Apps Can Help

Posted on by April Jones

Keeping Hotel Labor Costs in Check:  How Mobile Inspection Apps Can Help

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Creating a Better Way to Inspect Hotels

When guests visit a hotel, they expect a clean room, of course, but beyond that, they expect service. They assume a concierge will greet them at the front desk, a cleaning crew will tidy their room each day, and a whole host of staff members will be on call to meet their every need.

Service is an essential part of the hotel experience — so essential, in fact, that labor is one of the largest costs for hotels, accounting for 45 percent of total expenses.

And it will likely only get more expensive. As the unemployment rate in the U.S. drops, hotels must increasingly compete for talent by offering higher pay. And in some states, such as California and Washington, there’s been pressure to increase the minimum wage and pay hotel staff more.
To keep guests happy, hotels can’t skimp on service. They must continue to hire quality staff who can meet the needs of customers. But they also can’t succeed if profit margins get too thin. So as labor costs rise, hotels need to figure out how to increase staff efficiency to stay profitable and keep guests happy.

Here are a few ways hotels can improve employee efficiency:

Expedite room cleaning

To keep labor costs low, your cleaning staff must be efficient; the more rooms your employees can clean in less time, the higher your profit margins. At the same time, you can’t sacrifice quality for the sake of efficiency. If your cleaning staff rushes through the cleaning process and misses important tasks, your guests will probably notice — and those issues will likely end up in a negative online review that could hurt your business.

Mobile inspection apps can help speed up the cleaning process while keeping quality high. For example, staff members can document each room they clean with photos within the app rather than by writing lengthy explanations. And by using an app, the information for each room is immediately available to supervisors, eliminating the need to collect papers and return to the back office. Plus, staff members can quickly reference a checklist for the tasks they need to complete, so they don’t miss any critical steps in the cleaning process.

Address issues proactively

Maintenance costs can get out of hand if you have to keep addressing the same issues over and over again. Maybe the same toilet overflows every couple of days so you have to send an employee to fix it. Or maybe your staff has a habit of forgetting to empty the trash under the bathroom sinks, which means a team member has to routinely double back empty it, slowing down the cleaning process (and inviting guest complaints).

Having an efficient way to spot and track patterns is key to managing labor costs. If your staff is documenting tasks and inspections on paper (or not at all), it’s impossible to get a big picture of where recurring problems appear or which employees seem to be involved in high numbers of them. Mobile inspection apps allow you to identify areas of weakness, address challenges proactively, and be more efficient overall. You also get real-time access to your data, and the ability to easily create summaries that can show trends for future planning.

Train new employees faster

When you have new employees at your hotel, you probably require them to shadow a more senior staff member for a few weeks until they’re capable of performing their responsibilities without supervision. While that can make for effective training, it can also significantly slow down your cleaning teams until the new employees are up to speed. And when you consider the high turnover rate in the hospitality industry — 72.9 percent in 2016 — that less-than-efficient training time can add up.

Finding ways to train your new employees faster is key to keeping your labor costs down. For example, you can use mobile inspection apps to give your employees easy-to-follow checklists that are accessible on their own mobile devices. Employees are quick to train, more compliant, and have an easier time completing necessary forms using mobile inspection apps since they can choose from drop-down menus and common fields can be pre-populated.

Maximizing your team’s efficiency can help keep your labor costs low — but that’s only part of running a successful hotel. Get more tips for keeping your rooms full and guests satisfied in our interactive eBook, “Fresh and Clean: How Mobile Inspections Save Hospitality Industry Reputations.”

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About GoCanvas

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.

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Release Notes: iOS 11 and other updates to our mobile app software

Posted on by April Jones

Release Notes: iOS 11 and other updates to our mobile app software

This release is all about improving our mobile app software for Android, iOS and our Windows Desktop App. For iOS we are excited to release functionality that leverages Apple’s latest operating system. We hope this helps our mobile users have a better and more productive experience when filling out forms with GoCanvas.

iOS Features

Apple has released their latest version of iOS and here at GoCanvas our mobile developers have been exploring the new software and beta testing it for a few months now.  We have added a couple of features to leverage new functionality offered by Apple.

Photo “Keyboard”

This feature is available when capturing photos with GoCanvas. Your photo gallery and a capture screen appear where your keyboard normally appears. The screen within the Canvas form you are filling out remains in place. We hope this saves mobile users a few seconds per photo by reducing the number of clicks it takes to capture photos with GoCanvas. If you pull photos from your gallery regularly, this will save you a lot of time.

Multi-Tasking – Enhanced with iOS 11

The multi-tasking capability that Apple launched in a previous release was enhanced with iOS 11. We now allow you to multi-task with GoCanvas.  This allows you to run two apps side by side on your iPad Air 2 or iPad Pro. So you can have your Photos app open on one side of your screen and Canvas on the other. You can quickly find the images you need to include with your GoCanvas submissions. Or if there are other apps you use for your job you can run that one along with Canvas. Our hope is that our mobile users gain some productivity benefits here saving valuable time while on the job.

Drag and Drop Photos – iOS 11

Thanks to iOS 11 we are now able to allow you to drag and drop photos into GoCanvas. Using the photo “keyboard” you can now drag photos from your gallery right into GoCanvas. Or if you are using our new multi-tasking feature you can drag photos from your Photos app right into Canvas. This only works on an iPad Air 2 or iPad Pro. Apple only supports it on those devices.

Pinch to Zoom on Photos

Customers have asked for this and we are happy to deliver it with this release. When you are previewing images you have captured with GoCanvas you are now able to pinch and zoom in on them. This will help you confirm if the picture you have taken captures what you were hoping to capture. Or if you are using Workflow and send a submission to another user that person can zoom in to get a better look at the image.

Android

Pinch to Zoom on Photos

As with iOS, we have released this feature for Android, too!

Canvas Windows Desktop App

 

Automatic App Restart

When we released our completely re-built Windows Desktop App there were some features we didn’t make available initially.  This was one of them.  This feature allows you to restart a Canvas form after a user hits the “Submit” button. So if you are using Canvas in a retail or kiosk environment (waivers, entering customer information, etc.) where your customers are filling out a Canvas form you can just have the form restart after the previous user hits the “Submit” button. This way you don’t have to have your customers tap on the name of the form to fill it out.

Feedback

Let us know what you think! We love feedback. You can send it to feedback@gocanvas.com.  Thank you!

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About GoCanvas

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

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Join our Partner Program and gain instant access to our global network of thought leaders and industry experts enjoying shared collaboration and collective success.

Learn more
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Explore how Forte Supply Chain Solutions partnered with GoCanvas, combining in-house industry expertise with our white-label mobile forms to revolutionize their processes.

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Integrate with over 1,000 software applications. Enhance your GoCanvas experience by syncing real-time data to one or all of your business tools.

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Connect with an Expert Today.

We’ll help you put together the right solution for your needs.

Let’s Build A Plan Together

4 Innovative Ways to Better Train and Engage Hospitality Staff

Posted on by April Jones

4 Innovative Ways to Better Train and Engage Hospitality Staff

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In the hospitality industry, things don’t stay the same for long. Restaurant menus change, hotel room rates fluctuate, and perhaps most noticeably — at least for an establishment’s owners and managers — employees come and go.

The industry is well known for a high turnover rate. In 2016, it reached 72.9 percent overall, although some restaurants (quick service and fast casual, in particular) experience a turnover rate closer to 150-400 percent.

That revolving door of employment spells real challenges for restaurants and hotels. The higher the turnover, the more people to train — and subpar training can put your establishment’s reputation on the line. If a new hire provides bad service, doesn’t cook food to standards, or fails to clean every surface in a hotel room, there’s a high probability it will end up in a negative online review. And even one bad review can harm your business.

To keep your establishment’s reputation sparkling clean, try these innovative methods for training your staff members and keeping them engaged.

1. Use mobile devices to your advantage

The hospitality industry tends to attract young workers. The average hospitality employee is 34 years old — the youngest average age of any reported industry in a recent study. But depending on the establishment, staff can trend even younger. In quick service and fast casual restaurants, the median age is 21.

With such a young group of workers, it can benefit hotel and restaurant management to meet their employees where they’re at — which, typically, is behind the screen of a mobile device. The average millennial spends more than three hours on a mobile device every day (25 percent spend more than five hours and check their phone more than 100 times a day — on average, every 15 minutes over a 24-hour period). And that’s clearly not limited to time off the clock. Most U.S. workers (66 percent) admit to using their smartphones several times a day while at work.

Considering that heavy smartphone use, young employees may find it easier and more natural if they can perform parts of their jobs using their mobile devices. Employees can complete mobile checklists, for example, to make sure they’re following correct cleaning and safety procedures every time. Performing parts of their job on a device they’re already familiar with (and likely already have in their hands) can help them get up to speed faster — and keep them engaged.

2. Bring your training into the 21st Century

On average, companies spend more than 50 hours and $800 training each employee. In a high-turnover industry, those costs add up quickly. The faster you can get an employee up to speed — and with fewer resources — the better.

Restaurants and hotels can speed up the training process by using mobile checklist, guideline, and inspection apps. Rather than having to remember extensive cleaning procedures or safety measures, new hires can simply access the checklist anytime, on their own mobile device. In the end, companies can speed up the onboarding process, which can help make sure customers don’t notice a lag in service or cleanliness.

3. Use data to address training issues — as soon as they happen 

Providing feedback to your staff is essential to improving their performance and keeping them engaged. Millennials in particular need and prefer feedback on a daily or weekly basis, rather than at an annual review. And they’re not only talking about positive reinforcement. In a recent survey, 92 percent of respondents agreed that negative feedback, when delivered appropriately, is effective at improving performance.

But in a busy industry like hospitality, it’s not easy to constantly monitor all your employees for feedback opportunities. By the time a guest or patron complains about poor service or a dirty room, the responsible employee may be gone for the day — and may not work another shift until the next week. Will you remember to provide that feedback the next time he or she clocks in?

If your staff uses mobile inspection, guideline, and checklist apps to document cleaning or safety procedures, it’s easier to keep tabs on who’s up to speed on your establishment’s procedures, who could use a refresher, and who is (or is not) following process daily. With mobile apps, all this information is available to you at your fingertips, eliminating the need to personally check on employees to ensure they are following proper procedures. You can even require employees to snap photos of their workstation or cleaning handiwork, which can help you spot issues and provide feedback immediately. That gives you the opportunity to objectively and quickly correct problems, which can help keep guest satisfaction and employee engagement high.

4. Reward good behavior

Of course, not all feedback should be negative — and employees benefit just as much from recognition for a job well done. Seventy-two percent of employees say they would work harder if they felt their efforts were better recognized. But the most effective way to provide that praise isn’t necessarily an employee of the month award, or a shout-out at the next all-company meeting. Most millennial employees — 80 percent — prefer on-the-spot (and frequent!) recognition.

But again — are you going to wait until a rave review for your establishment pops up on TripAdvisor to recognize your staff?

To provide timely praise to your employees, it’s important that you know that they’re doing a good job as they perform their daily responsibilities. When employees use mobile inspection apps, the data is immediately accessible in the cloud ­— which means you can see who’s doing a good job and acknowledge their hard work before their shift is over.

Training and engaging your employees can help you combat high turnover and associated training costs. But beyond that, it can help you provide the consistent, quality service that your customers expect — no matter how long your staff has been employed.

Want to learn more about how mobile inspection apps can help you keep your rooms and tables full? Check out our new interactive eBook, “Fresh and Clean: How Mobile Inspections Save Hospitality Industry Reputations.”

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About GoCanvas

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

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We’ll help you put together the right solution for your needs.

Let’s Build A Plan Together

Hotel vs. Airbnb: How Hotels Can Come Out on Top

Posted on by April Jones

Hotel vs. Airbnb: How Hotels Can Come Out on Top

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In the battle of hotels vs. Airbnb, hotels can gain a competitive advantage by using mobile inspection apps to deliver 3 benefits that rentals often lack.

For some travelers, Airbnb and other short-term rentals provide benefits that hotels can’t always offer — like lower rates, eclectic accommodations, and amenities like full kitchens and living rooms.

When you look at the data, Airbnb rentals seem to be steadily gaining ground. Airbnb revenue increased 89 percent in July 2016 compared to the same month in 2015, while hotels only saw an average of 19 percent growth in the same timeframe. And this “sharing economy” model seems to especially appeal to the millennial generation, with almost half of Airbnb patrons between the ages of 18 and 34, while only 28 percent of guests who booked through Marriott.com fell in that category.

With more and more guests booking rental properties, what can hotels do to come out ahead of Airbnb? The key is successfully delivering some of the benefits that Airbnb rentals often lack — including service, consistency, and safety. Here’s how.

Service

When travelers arrive at a hotel, they know they can expect a certain level of service: Someone will be at the front desk to check them in and hand them a room key. If they forgot their toothbrush, want more pillows, or start craving a cheeseburger, all they have to do is pick up the phone, and the hotel staff will bring them whatever they need. And travelers can be sure that every day, housekeeping will stop by and leave the room — and bathroom — sparkling clean.

Individual rental properties can’t guarantee any standard level of service — and it tends to vary widely depending on the host. Guests can message or call their host, but they’re not guaranteed a response — or that the response will helpful, let alone friendly. If they find the sheets missing (or dirty!), there is no guarantee that anyone will come to their aid at 11 p.m. While there are many positive reviews about Airbnb stays, there are plenty of stories online about uncommunicative or completely unavailable hosts.

Hotels have the opportunity to come out ahead of rental properties by offering friendly, consistent service that puts guests first. By using mobile inspection apps, hotel management can collect real-time data about maintenance and guest issues — which means you can address those concerns immediately, rather than keeping guests waiting. And that kind of service can make your hotel stand out from less service-oriented accommodations.

Consistency

In general, guests know what to expect when they walk into a hotel room. They know there will be someone at reception, a clean bathroom stocked with travel-size toiletries, a neatly made bed, TV, phone, closet with hangers, and maybe a couple of extras — like a microwave or mini fridge.

Airbnb rentals are anything but consistent. Sure, some offer extras like toiletries or an in-room coffee maker. But sometimes they don’t — or sometimes, it’s unclear. Since Airbnb hosts often rent out their own homes, they may have half-empty toiletries and no hand soap in the bathrooms, or food in the fridge that may or may not be meant for guests’ use.

And cleanliness isn’t guaranteed. Even if a home rental site offers pictures of properties, the images may be deceiving. One guest reported booking an apartment that looked clean and bright in the photos — only to arrive to space that was cluttered, dark, stuffy, and had a distinct aroma of mildew.

Hotels that prioritize consistency offer guests peace of mind — so they know exactly what to expect when they walk into the room. Mobile inspection apps provide staff with easy-to-follow checklists that can be used in every room, every day to help keep your facilities consistently clean and guest satisfaction high. And with the data you collect, you can understand where the recurring problem areas are and decide how to address them.

Safety

Every Airbnb is different — which can be appealing to some travelers. But the lack of safety standards has led to traumatic guest experiences. For example, one traveler recalls discovering an infestation of bed bugs in his Airbnb. He eventually rebooked his stay at a nearby hotel, but first had to seek medical attention and sanitize all his clothes and personal belongings. Another traveler discovered the condo he booked through Airbnb was one of only a handful of units that were still occupied — the rest of the complex was completely abandoned and overgrown with weeds.

Hotels have much more control over these situations and, with regular inspections, can help ensure guest safety. Mobile inspection apps make it easier for hotel staff to inspect rooms for hazards including bed bugs, damaged furniture, burned-out light bulbs, etc., and can guide staff members through checklists to ensure the rooms are all free from dangers that could put guests at risk.

For any travel accommodations, guest perceptions are key. One bad online review can significantly impact future business. Learn more about using mobile inspection apps to keep your guests coming back in our eBook, “Fresh and Clean: How Mobile Inspections Save Hospitality Industry Reputations.”

Free Mobile Form Templates - Room Inspections
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About GoCanvas

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

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Whether you have two or 200 employees, your business’ success depends on their hard work. Passionate, motivated team players are the difference between…

Read the Blog
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Field service management software has shown to increase productivity both for employees in the field and operations teams in the office. You may be wondering how field service…

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Person in safety vest smiling.

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Mobility and field service: the talk has been happening forever. The idea that real-time information improves customer service and boosts technician productivity is changing…

Read the eBook

Connect with an Expert Today.

We’ll help you put together the right solution for your needs.

Let’s Build A Plan Together

Reduce Data Entry & Billing Errors with Automated Calculations from GoCanvas

Posted on by April Jones

Reduce Data Entry & Billing Errors with Automated Calculations from GoCanvas

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Automate More With Mobile Forms

Math is hard. Yes, I’ve finally said it. I still use the calculator on my phone to even conduct the simplest of calculations because I’m afraid of making the slightest error (and I simply write content all day)! Imagine the pressure that field users deal with when they are trying to put together estimates or invoices for materials that cost more than I could ever imagine.

Having to look up material or service costs from a catalog, transport that information to a paper form, and then manual calculate it all up is a process that is extremely open to error. 

This is why GoCanvas has the Calculation field!

This “quick-calc” field essentially allows your field users to input any sets of numbers into their mobile form and have those values run through the formula you have pre-created, which then results in an accurate final total. There is no need for calculators or doing math in your head, GoCanvas does the work for you instantly!

And if you’re using the Reference Data feature of GoCanvas, you can have all of your company’s materials and price lists be pre-populated into your mobile form as well! This means no more catalogs and no more manual calculations!

Eliminate Manual Errors with Quick Calculations

The best part about using the Calculation field in GoCanvas is that it’s incredibly flexible to use within many different processes. The Calculation field allows you to create formulas using any combination of Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, and Division.

Canvas App Builder

With these different mathematical rules, you are able to create calculations using a variety of different form fields including Number, Time, and Date. 

This means you have the option to create simple or complex calculation formulas for determining everything including:

  • Quantity
  • Cost
  • Time
  • Days

The Biggest Benefits of Automated Calculations

If you are going down the path of using mobile forms, then you should definitely be using Calculation fields.

You will immediately realize the time (and reduced headache) benefits that come from taking the calculator out of your field users’ hands and letting the smart device do what it was meant to do.

Some of the additional benefits that you will realize include:

  • 25% Less time spent reviewing reports
  • 25% Increase in data collection speed
  • 50% Increase in data accuracy
  • 100% Less time honing your math skills

Also, remember that if you are using an inspection-type form that you can create built-in scoring using Reference Data and the Calculation field! This essentially means that you can have each question on your mobile form have an assigned point value based on each individual response. Once the mobile form has been filled out, each question’s point value can then be automatically calculated to give the report a final score! This is an amazing way to give you, your users, and even your customers instant insight into their performance! You can click here to learn more about setting up scoring!

About GoCanvas

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

business people discussing project

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.

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Partner Snapshot: Forte Supply Chain Solutions

Explore how Forte Supply Chain Solutions partnered with GoCanvas, combining in-house industry expertise with our white-label mobile forms to revolutionize their processes.

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GoCanvas Integrations: Streamline your Workflow

Integrate with over 1,000 software applications. Enhance your GoCanvas experience by syncing real-time data to one or all of your business tools.

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3 Easy Steps to Create & Deploy Mobile Toolbox Talks

Posted on by April Jones

3 Easy Steps to Create & Deploy Mobile Toolbox Talks

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Workers using mobile forms

Staying Safe Onsite with Mobile Toolbox Talks

Over the course of a labor intensive 8 to 12-hour shift on a construction jobsite site, safety procedures commonly go by the wayside. The reason for this lapse in safe judgment is more times than none caused by the lack of proper routine safety training. Luckily this is an issue that can be easily solved and is why more safety supervisors across many different industries require Toolbox Talks to be conducted on every job site.

Toolbox Talks are an amazing way for safety managers to re-engage with field workers who may not always be performing their daily duties in the safest possible manner. Toolbox Talks are an easy way to get everyone together on the project site to discuss a relevant job topic like ladder or harness safety, answer any questions they may have about the particular subject or task, and also have each employee sign-off/acknowledge that they were present for the meeting. This documentation process is not only important for possible liability in the case of a worker injury, but it also gives you a clear record of when and where these critical safety sessions are being conducted.

The Advantages of Paper-free Toolbox Talks

Today, many companies conduct Toolbox Talks very informally with a packet of paper and a pen. The issue is that it’s really easy to forget, misplace, or damage this important packet of paperwork since it’s being transported constantly between multiple job sites and the main office.

These issues often lead to inconsistencies in proper safety procedures and documentation. Paper-based Toolbox Talks are extremely hard to verify for completion on a daily basis unless you are physically there to witness the collection of signatures. With mobile Toolbox Talks, you’re able to instantly eliminate the need for manual data verification, transportation, and reporting.

Conducting Toolbox Talks with a platform like GoCanvas allows you to conveniently store all your daily, weekly, and monthly OHSA related safety curriculum right on your smart device. This means that no matter where you are, you have the power to conduct a thorough safety lesson to your field employees. You can also conveniently collect signatures of your crew members in attendance, along with digital time, date, and location stamps for further data validation. This makes not only collecting the information a breeze, but back-office reporting is now made effortless since all the data is now automatically stored in the cloud for real-time analysis and/or data export.

Canvas Mobile Toolbox Talks
Canvas Mobile Toolbox Talks
Canvas Mobile Toolbox Talks
Canvas Mobile Toolbox Talks

Going Paperless in 3 Steps with Canvas

Transitioning your process from paper to a mobile platform like GoCanvas is not as difficult as it seems. All it truly takes is a spreadsheet, a laptop, and a smart device!

The first step is to organize the weekly or monthly content of your Toolbox Talks into a .CSV file (Excel).  Your spreadsheet can be as simple as two columns named “Topic” and “Description”. This file will be used as Reference Data and connected to your GoCanvas account and mobile form. This file should contain the content that you wish to populate within your mobile Toolbox Talks form. You can source Toolbox Talks content from a variety of sources as well, including www.oshatraining.com that contains content for every month of the year!

The second step, after you have created and uploaded the Reference Data file, is to begin the creation of your own Toolbox Talks mobile form. The creation of this mobile form can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be by customizing it with the GoCanvas App Builder. We suggest including Signature, Time, Date, and GPS fields to assist with data reporting. But if you’d prefer to not create a mobile Toolbox Talks form from scratch, download pre-built templates from our template library and customize the fields to fit your company’s needs!

Once you’re finally happy with the layout of your mobile form, the final step is to make sure you connect your Reference Data file to it. This will ensure that the specific safety topic that you select to discuss with your crew populates within the mobile form automatically. And if you need any assistance in connecting your Reference Data file to your mobile form.

Now you are well on your way to a safer work site with GoCanvas!

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About GoCanvas

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.

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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…

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Constructions Digital Transformation

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…

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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…

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Keep Your Trucks on the Road: How Complete Inspection Records Lead to More Revenue

Posted on by April Jones

Keep Your Trucks on the Road: How Complete Inspection Records Lead to More Revenue

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For a driver, carrier, or fleet owner, driving time means more revenue. Every minute your vehicles aren’t on the move, you’re losing money.

What’s the secret to minimizing time off the road? Often, it comes down to thorough documentation. Keeping complete and up-to-date records of your inspections can help you reduce downtime — whether due to repairs, out-of-service (OOS) violations, accidents, or otherwise — and keep your trucks generating revenue.

Of course, the method you use to maintain your records can affect the value and utility of that documentation. If you and your drivers are constantly scrambling to find paper forms (which may or may not be up to date), your documentation probably won’t be very effective in keeping your fleet moving. But by capturing data digitally with mobile inspection apps, you’ll be able to access updated information on demand, from anywhere — and that can have a significant impact on driving time. Here’s how.

Immediately identify preventive maintenance needs


The key to high-performing vehicles is preventive maintenance. Keeping the components and systems on your trucks properly maintained can keep them running safety and reliably. However, that can be a challenge for companies that rely solely on paper documentation, as it can be difficult to track and communicate back to the office which vehicles need which services, and when.

Mobile inspection forms can help you better track data for each of your trucks, such as mileage and completed repairs. Equipped with those records, you can more accurately time preventive maintenance and communicate when necessary services, like repair orders, need to be performed before minor issues turn into breakdowns or violations during roadside inspections.

Maintain quick-to-complete and accurate pre-trip inspections


During a recent blitz of roadside inspections performed by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, over 62,000 vehicles were inspected — and more than 20 percent (one in five) were immediately placed out of service. Some experts think drivers could avoid many of those violations if they kept better records.

Consider this: Jeff Langloss, the federal program manager for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), recently examined the violation records of 10 randomly selected companies in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, area. He found that of the 4,296 total violations, 3,309 — 76.3 percent — could have been avoided with a pre-trip inspection. While that’s only a small sampling of the country, it’s clear that pre-trip inspections can be a helpful tool in avoiding common inspection violations.

Mobile pre- and post-trip inspection forms help drivers quickly and accurately assess the major systems and features of their vehicle, and determine if it’s safe to drive. Mobile pre-trip inspection forms cover:

  • Tires (inflation, tread, condition of spare)
  • Leaks (oil, fuel tanks)
  • Gauges
  • Dashboard warning lights
  • Lighting system (headlights, brake lights, turn signals, hazard lights, reflectors)
  • Safety equipment (fire extinguisher, reflective triangles/flares, spare bulbs, emergency contact info)
  • Trailers (brake connections, coupling chains/king pin, doors, landing gear, tires/wheels)
  • Other (windshield wipers, fans/defroster, brake system, mirrors, horn, exhaust system, seatbelts)

Collecting that data prior to each trip can help drivers and carriers pinpoint issues before they result in roadside inspection violations.

Increase safety to avoid damaging (or even fatal) accidents


Keeping accurate documentation can even help prevent crashes that are all too common in the trucking industry.

For example, an Ohio-based commercial driver was recently involved in a fatal accident. Following the crash and investigation, the driver’s family learned that the vehicle had been equipped with a badly worn tire and front axle. A crash reconstructionist who looked into the accident determined that the truck had so many maintenance issues that it shouldn’t have been on the road in the first place.

While not all crashes can be prevented, thorough documentation of truck maintenance and pre-trip inspections can help catch issues before they cause damaging or even fatal accidents that can affect your drivers and other motorists.

Minimize litigation by having accurate documentation


Accidents can also bring legal issues for carriers and other businesses that have trucks on the road.

For example, in another accident, a commercial vehicle that was hauling bales of hay lost 10 bales as its driver tried to keep the load from shifting in a curve, killing a driver and passenger in a nearby vehicle.

Ultimately, the truck’s owner and driver faced charges for failing to secure the load — a violation that should have been caught in a pre-trip inspection and certainly would have been caught during a roadside inspection. But federal records showed that the vehicle hadn’t undergone a check in about 15 years. Had the owner maintained regular inspections and records, he could have used that documentation during the litigation — and moreover, he likely could have prevented the accident altogether.

Mobile inspection forms aren’t just more convenient for your drivers; they’re more effective in keeping your documentation up to date and readily accessible — which can be key to keeping your trucks on the road. Learn more about how mobile inspection apps can benefit your business in the interactive eBook, “4 Ways Mobile Inspection Forms Can Keep Your Trucks on the Road.”

Then get started by trying out GoCanvas free (no credit card or contract required). We’ll help you create your first app, whether it’s for regular inspections, maintenance logs, or managing documentation.

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About GoCanvas

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

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How TE3CO Leverages Data Analytics to Unlock Business Potential

TE3CO provides mission-critical pressure relief technology and services to customers across the oil and gas industry. They employ a highly trained and capable workforce of field technicians and engineers. Before working with GoCanvas, TE3CO relied on spreadsheets and emails to manage their ticketing process but found the system time-consuming and difficult to track.

Read their story
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VIP Lighting Gains Business Efficiencies with GoCanvas

VIP Lighting is a retail lighting and electrical maintenance company that services retail chains across Australia and New Zealand. The business has been operating for 25 years and now services 10,000 retail sites across both countries. Prior to joining GoCanvas in 2018, the business had multiple systems running different aspects of their technician and contractor network.

Read their story
Man in a hard hat inspecting HVAC vents.

Three HVAC Maintenance Checklists that will Reduce Errors and Grow Your Bottom Line

For HVAC technicians, so many errors within their daily tasks come from using outdated paper forms while completing a job. Using these HVAC inspection checklists will prevent issues before they happen, so your technicians can collect comprehensive and consistent data at every job.

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3 Mobile Features that Every Field Service Company Needs to Succeed

Posted on by April Jones

3 Mobile Features that Every Field Service Company Needs to Succeed

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Tool box and mobile apps

Finding Efficiency in Field Service

There are many factors that go into making a field service company successful. But one of the biggest contributors in determining the success of a business, field service or not, is the quality of the company’s daily data collection process. If a company is not adequately able to collect, share and analyze the data from their jobs in a timely manner, it’s very likely that they’re not able to make data-informed decisions versus a company who has real-time information available. This inability to make informed, real-time decisions can negatively affect a company’s bottom line and become a huge anchor to a Field Service company’s potential productivity and overall efficiency.

Why Mobile Matters

One reason more small and medium-sized businesses are moving away from paper-based data collecting is because the cost of implementing technology has become so low. Smart phones and tablets can now be easily purchased for under $100, and software like GoCanvas can turn these devices into mobile platforms capable of doing more than just simple data collection.

GoCanvas appBy deploying smart devices with a mobile platform like GoCanvas, you are instantly transforming your data collection process into something that is fluid and dynamic. Forms can now be completed accurately and in less time with the assistance of integrated customer, parts, and material lists. Documentation like photos, GPS, and Time Stamps can now be captured without the need to carry around expensive pieces of equipment. And all this information is now able to be centrally captured from your mobile device, compiled into a custom PDF report, and shared instantly with the client and office.

The GoCanvas platform is the foundation for increasing efficiency within your business, but below are the ways that Field Service companies can significantly benefit.

3 Essential Features for Field Service Mobile Forms

While going paperless is a great first step in improving your daily data collection processes, there are specific features that can help your business gain maximum efficiency. Take a look below at how you can customize your GoCanvas mobile forms to increase productivity within your Field Service business.

Credit card and smart device

#1 – Mobile Payments: A majority of Field Service companies want or have the need to collect on-site payments from the clients they are servicing. By doing this, you’re ensuring on-time payment and avoiding the anguish of having to track down clients who never pay. With GoCanvas and its partnership with Square, you can easily setup and capture payments with your mobile forms with a few simple clicks and a swipe. No more having to worry about lost, missing, or late payments! Say goodbye to waiting weeks for payment! With Square and GoCanvas, collecting payments is as easy as a swipe of a credit card.

#2 – Reference Data: What can speed up, as well as increase the accuracy, of filling out Field Service forms? Integrated data lists! With Reference Data, you are able to take the data that resides in the spreadsheets on your computers and import them directly into your GoCanvas mobile forms. Now instead of technicians having to call into the office for a part number or carry around a heavy paper catalog of materials, all this data is now accessible via the dynamic drop-down lists inside the GoCanvas mobile forms.

But the best part is that if a technician selects “Part A” from a drop-down list in a mobile form, the corresponding details including “Part #”, “Price”, and “Description” will automatically be pre-populated within the mobile form. No more guessing or having to manually type in information. This feature instantly eliminates manual data entry mistakes and can increase data collection time by at least 25%!

GoCanvas dispatch calendar

#3 – Dispatch Calendar: The last key part of improving efficiency within your Field Service business is to ensure that tasks are able to be organized and properly tracked without the need for significant manual data input.

The GoCanvas Dispatch Calendar enables your office staff to create, assign and track the completion of service tasks from an all-in-one calendar view. There is no need to install or purchase a separate scheduling software. With GoCanvas Dispatch Calendar, all the tasks created can be automatically synced with your technicians’ personal or business calendar so that they never miss another appointment again! The Dispatch Calendar can eliminate the need for redundant text messages, emails, or calls related to the jobs. This can help your staff recover 100’s of hours is lost productivity every month!

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About GoCanvas

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

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Improving Your Operations with Field Service Management Software

Whether you have two or 200 employees, your business’ success depends on their hard work. Passionate, motivated team players are the difference between…

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Should You Connect Field Service Management Software with QuickBooks?

Field service management software has shown to increase productivity both for employees in the field and operations teams in the office. You may be wondering how field service…

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How the Best Field Services Businesses Use Mobile Apps

Mobility and field service: the talk has been happening forever. The idea that real-time information improves customer service and boosts technician productivity is changing…

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