What You Need to Know About OSHA Compliance

What You Need to Know About OSHA Compliance

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Worker safety has long been a priority among employers, workers, unions, and other stakeholders. However, the coronavirus pandemic has brought mainstream attention to this issue and shed light on a largely obscure agency known as OSHA. OSHA stands for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and is an agency in the U.S. Department of Labor responsible for ensuring workplace safety. Established in 1971 as a provision of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act (the OSH Act) a year earlier, OSHA sets workforce safety standards for private employers and the federal government and conducts training to help employers ensure OSHA compliance.

Despite its half-century history, OSHA’s standards and compliance requirements remain unfamiliar to many employers and even many human resources professionals. Yet noncompliance can not only result in stiff penalties, but compromise worker safety, damage corporate reputations, and elicit expensive litigation.

Broadly, the OSH Act requires certain employers to provide a safe workplace to workers under the parameters of the law and OSHA standards and regulations. Section 5 of the act includes a “general duty clause,” which holds that covered employers must not only provide a safe workplace but must keep abreast with the best safety practices for their industry and establishment. Further, employers must provide personal protective equipment when workers are expected to work in unsafe conditions.

OSHA may act under the general duty clause when covered employers know that a correctable hazard exists of which an employer is aware (or should be aware) and which could cause serious harm or death. To ensure employers are aware of what conditions may constitute a correctable and dangerous hazard, OSHA has established many general and industry-specific safety rules and regulations by which employers must abide.

Covered employers must remediate workplace safety deficiencies while continuously working to mitigate new and emerging workplace risks. As per the OSHA website, employers must:

  • “Develop and implement a written hazard communication program and train employees on the hazards they are exposed to and proper precautions.”
  • “Provide safety training in a language, and vocabulary workers can understand.”
  • “Use color codes, posters, labels or signs to warn employees of potential hazards.”
  • “Post, at a prominent location within the workplace, the OSHA poster informing employees of their rights and responsibilities.”
  • “Establish or update operating procedures and communicate them so that employees follow safety and health requirements.”

Section 8 grants OSHA the authority to perform health and safety inspections at any covered employer’s worksite. If a worksite is found to violate OSHA’s health and safety standards, the employer must remediate the violation and may be subject to penalties. Furthermore, the employer must post any OSHA citations where the violation occurred until it has been remediated, or for three working days, whichever is longer.

Section 8 of the OSH Act further establishes a covered employer’s legal reporting responsibilities, mandating employers to keep illness and injury records stemming from incidents that have occurred on-site or as a result of work performed on-site. Employers are further obligated to provide access to employee medical records and injury logs open request. They must also report workplace fatalities or worksite incidents that result in three or more hospitalizations to OSHA within eight hours.

OSHA inspections may be programmed or unprogrammed. Programmed inspections involve randomly selecting several employers to audit within an industry to ensure that their worksites are in compliance. Unprogrammed inspections are typically initiated through employee outreach to the agency. Workers whose employers are covered by the OSH Act may seek an OSHA inspection themselves and participate in any subsequent investigation. (Employers may not retaliate against any worker for exercising these rights as per Section 11(c) of the OSH Act).

OSHA inspectors (or compliance officers) typically perform a good deal of due diligence before coming on site. They usually do not provide advance notice of their inspections, with certain limited exceptions. But when an OSHA inspector does arrive, they will first share with the employer the reason for their arrival during a pre-inspection opening conference.

The inspector will conduct a physical walk-through of the premises, allowing one employer representative to accompany them. The inspector will also review all employee safety notices and training materials, as well as illness and injury records. After these reviews, the OSHA inspector will meet with the employer’s representatives to discuss the inspector’s findings and any necessary corrective measures that must be taken.

If a worksite is found to be out of compliance with OSHA standards, the agency will issue citations and fines. An OSHA citation must be made within six months of the violation’s observed occurrence and will include:

  • The nature of the violation
  • The severity of the violation
  • Penalties for the violation
  • A deadline for corrective action

However, if an inspection has resulted in proposed citations and fines, employers do have the opportunity to meet with the OSHA Area Director for their region. The agency leverages penalties to ensure OSHA compliance more so than for punitive reasons. So if employers without extensive histories of violations are making good faith efforts to remediate safety issues, some leeway concerning penalties and remediation timeframes may be found during such a meeting.

Employers may also appeal any penalties within 15 days of receipt of the violations. Appeals are reviewed by the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission for a final judgment.

OSHA encourages all employers, covered or not, to develop their own workplace safety and health plan that minimally complies with OSHA standards and any relevant state or local-level workplace safety laws or ordinances. Doing so can help covered employers keep workers safe and avoid OSHA violations, penalties, and expensive remediation costs.

Through its national network of OSHA Training Institute Education Centers, the agency also conducts training on various workplace safety issues so that employers can learn how to comply with new OSHA regulations, address emerging hazards, and strengthen their internal programs. Employers can and should take advantage of these training opportunities, as well as participate in OSHA’s On-Site Consultation Program. This program provides small and midsize businesses with free strategic safety advice from OSHA representatives, which can help them avoid accidents, high mediation costs, and OSHA violations at inspection.

An additional advantage of participating in the On-Site Consultation Program is that if an employer is found to have established an exemplary health and safety program, they may be eligible for SHARP certification. SHARP, which stands for Safety & Health Achievement Recognition Program, is a recognition that not only distinguishes an employer from their industry peers. SHARP-certified employers are exempt from being randomly inspected for a programmed inspection for two years.

However, it is important to note that SHARP-certified employers must remain in compliance with all applicable safety standards during their certification period. Employers may still face unprogrammed inspections if an employee reports one or more hazards and reaches out to the agency to request an OSHA inspection.

Employers and employees often believe that OSHA provides additional certification. It does not. However, workers who complete basic worker safety training in specific industries provided by OSHA-authorized trainers may receive an OSHA card certifying completion. These trainings include:

  • Construction (10 or 30 hours)
  • General Industry (10 or 30 hours)
  • Maritime (10 or 30 hours)
  • Disaster Site (15 hours)

Employers who provide their employees access to this training may benefit from a workforce more dedicated to safe practices, identifying and remediating hazards, and lower injury and illness rates.

OSHA’S website also offers training materials covering everything from best practices to training. There’s even a “Safety Pays” program online that can help employers assess the cost savings they will realize by implementing best practices in worker safety at their facilities.

Employers and HR staff should thoroughly review these materials, especially the recordkeeping and reporting requirements, as failing to keep complete records is a frequent source of OSHA violations. The website features the required forms and instructions available for download. However, employers who use these printed forms risk misplacement, illegible entries, or other similar issues garnering them an OSHA citation.

Rather than risking OSHA citations and fines by using paper forms, employers should rely on digitized versions of these forms that can be updated and stored electronically. GoCanvas specializes in creating these forms in use by various employers across industries. Our GoCanvas Safety package provides you with the safety forms and customization options you need to manage your reporting and compliance requirements in the field. Employees can securely record necessary safety information on mobile devices that you can access in real-time, as well as sort, share, and analyze.

With a graphics-rich dashboard, you’ll be able to easily identify potential hazards before they result in an injury, illness, or OSHA citation. And with robust customization options, you can tailor pre-built safety forms to your specific reporting needs or workflows. Or you can design your own entirely. By improving their reporting tools and processes, GoCanvas customers have reduced their risk by 18 percent. Don’t wait until an OSHA inspector shows up in your parking lot to strengthen your recordkeeping and reporting requirements. 

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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Getting Started with Land Survey Apps

Getting Started with Land Survey Apps

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Land surveyors are tasked on job sites with making precise measurements to determine the physical property boundaries. They provide all of the relevant data needed to understand the shape and contour of the Earth’s surface for engineering, mapmaking, and construction projects, according to the Department of Labor.

While much of a land surveyor’s work is recorded using specific instruments designed for the job, there are also mobile apps that can be used for land surveying. These apps are designed to help with collecting and consolidating information in the field during the land survey and used for reporting purposes. Mobile apps available on iPhone, Android, and other mobile devices in the field can be used to capture data and automatically generate the report to save time for land surveyors.

Using a mobile app for land surveys is designed to eliminate the use of paper sheets for recording information in the field. Instead of paper sheets, data is recording into a mobile app specifically for the land survey process and stored securely in the cloud. Digitizing information is beneficial for businesses in several ways:

  • Ensure Accuracy.Using a mobile app for land surveys ensures that the data collected on site is recorded in real-time, for the most accurate recollection of details on site.
  • Create Standardization. Companies also benefit from having standadized templates and required fields on mobile forms help to ensure that all of the required information is collected properly.
  • Increase Efficiency. Instead of spending hours manually creating a report after the site survey, mobile apps are designed to automatically generate a formatted report to save time and effort for employees.
  • Scale Operations. For complex organizations with large field operations, software and mobile apps can help scale processes and ensure consistency across different sites and teams.
  • Avoid Risk. While paper sheets can be misplaced or destroyed by mistake, digital records that are automatically backed up in the cloud will ensure that documentation is always available when it’s needed.

There are several key things to look for when implementing mobile forms and apps used by land surveyors. 

At a very basic level, land survey apps will be designed for field data capture and report generation. This allows the land surveyor to capture information in the field and record it on the mobile device, so that a PDF report can be generated when all of the data is collected. Once a report has been generated, mobile apps can be designed to send a report via email to the appropriate parties.

Most mobile app providers will give companies the ability to start from a template for a land survey and other similar jobs on site. Templates are often used as a starting point and companies will customize the templates based on the specific type of survey.

For example, a mine surveyor would have a different template than a construction site surveyor, with different fields being captured based on the specific use case. 

When selecting a mobile app for land surveying, ease-of-use for non-technical users is an important feature to look for. No-code or low-code platforms allow you to deploy apps for field workers, without any help from IT or advanced technical knowledge. This allows any business type to implement the technology and use a drag-and-drop editor for mobile app development.

 

When comparing apps for land surveys, there are a number of features that would be useful for capturing data in the field. This includes things like:

  • Signature Capture. Allows individuals to sign off and officially sign documents directly from the field and sent to any other required parties.
  • Image Capture. Using native functionality of mobile devices allows users to collect images to be included in the land survey.
  • Offline Capabilities. With remote job sites that do not have access to internet, mobile apps can allow you to digitally collect data and then have it be saved offline and synced to the cloud when an internet connection is available again.
  • Reference Data. Integrate other data sources into the mobile app to streamline the forms with any relevant information that can be pre-populated to simplify data collection.
  • Dispatch. Manage the process online to schedule and dispatch the right worker to perform the land survey.
  • GPS Monitoring. Leverage GPS functionality of a mobile device to have a digital record of the physical location of the job site where work was performed.
  • Integrations and APIs. Sync any information seamlessly between the apps in the field and other cloud-based platforms your business uses.

Get started for free with GoCanvas using our land survey app available on iPhone and Android mobile devices. This template can be used for many different types of land surveys and gives businesses the flexibility to customize the app to fit their specific need. Construction firms and land surveyors find that by using GoCanvas for field data collection and reporting, they’re able to save time and money by digitizing these processes in a mobile app platform.

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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3 Reasons to Invest in Field Service Management Software

3 Reasons to Invest in Field Service Management Software

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Field service management software and apps are transforming how businesses operate. The term field service refers to any company that relies on a field team that works directly with the customer to fix a maintenance request or perform another task on site. 

The typical workflow starts with a customer call into a support agent that handles the request and creates the work order. A dispatcher is then responsible for sending out the appropriate field team member who will work directly with the customer. Once the work is completed, an invoice and field report is created to summarize the work performed.

It’s challenging to manage all of the moving parts when you have a decentralized organizational structure and many workers out in many different locations. 

A common way for companies to manage their operations is on paper sheets. These can be used in field service for many important tasks, like work orders, service reports, estimates, and other forms of documentation.  

Beyond the direct costs of paper usage, there are also many hidden costs and challenges that come with paper-based processes. For example:

  • Lost or missing data that costs businesses time and money
  • Decrease in worker productivity stemming from large amounts of manual work
  • Unhappy customers and employees that deal with inefficient processes
  • Lack of data insights to understand key business trends

Field service companies need to modernize in order to stay competitive in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Embracing digital technologies that streamline how your business operates will create a competitive advantage, increase productivity, and maximize profitability.

Mobile apps are an important part of the technology suite that field operations teams need to manage a distributed workforce. All of the paper forms can be re-created as mobile forms and apps to simplify field data collection. 

There are several key features to look for when you are evaluating field service management software and apps. Mobile apps should be:

  • Simple to build – Low-code or no-code mobile app platforms are designed to enable non-technical users to build apps. This gives organizations of all sizes the ability to create simple, yet powerful apps without any help from IT.
  • Simple to customize – No two businesses operate exactly the same. The ability to customize the apps to fit your needs is going to be an important feature when selecting a mobile app platform.
  • Simple to integrate – The mobile app platform needs to be connected with the rest of the digital ecosystem you have in place. The ability to integrate with systems you already use today is an important feature when selecting any technology.
  • Simple to automate – The main reason to leverage technology is to enable your teams to work smarter. Your mobile app platform should enable the automation of workflows and tasks, saving your business time and money.

This list highlights the importance of having a robust platform that is simple to use. This will lead to greater adoption and a fast time to value for your organization.

Paper forms are a drain on productivity for field workers and management. The top reason organizations invest in mobile apps for field service is to make their workers more productive using modern technology.

Going mobile dramatically reduces the issues of manual data collection and redundant work. All information is immediately available in the cloud and is integrated into other software programs and databases. This allows you to automate other processes to reduce the time spent on manual tasks.

The most common apps used to increase efficiency in field service include things like work orders, time sheets, dispatch, scheduling, inspections, and more.

To put this into perspective, organizations that use GoCanvas for field service management have found that they are able to complete more work 25% more work on average.

This in turn leads to a better working environment for staff when they are more productive. No one enjoys spending time on manual and redundant tasks, so eliminating this from their daily routine can lead to greater employee retention and satisfaction.

Productivity increases with mobile apps

People have become very used to an easy customer service experience. Customers expect your field service teams to operate efficiently and make the process seamless. Mobile apps to enable field workers can help improve customer satisfaction and create a competitive advantage for your business.

The most common apps to improve the customer experience include things like digital invoices, electronic signatures, payment processing, preventative maintenance, and more.

To put this into perspective, organizations that use GoCanvas for field service management have found that their customer satisfaction has increased by 8%.

Customer satisfaction increases

Data and analytics are becoming one of the greatest assets for businesses today. Instead of having that information stored offline on paper or in one-off spreadsheets, organizations are focusing on standardizing their data collection practices. Mobile apps allow businesses to collect consistent data from the field that is rolled up for analytics and reports to spot important trends that can influence decisions.

When you have inconsistent data, it also creates more work for your teams. For example, customers have shared that using the GoCanvas mobile app platform has saved them 50+ hours per week that was spent on creating critical reports for analytics.

Time saved on building reports

An investment in software and apps for field service management will benefit your entire organization. More productive workers, greater efficiencies with back-end processes, and a streamlined experience for customers. All of this leads to competitive advantage, cost savings, and increased revenue for your business. 

Visit our website to request a demo and learn more about the GoCanvas mobile app platform for field service management.

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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Pre-Trip Inspection Forms – Examples and Templates

Pre-Trip Inspection Forms – Examples and Templates

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Pre-trip inspections are required for companies that operate and manage a fleet of vehicles used for commercial purposes. The basic goal of a pre-trip inspection is to identify and document any potential problems with a vehicle before a driver is on the road. 

According to regulations set by DOT, vehicle operators must perform daily post-trip inspections after a vehicle is operated. If any defects or problems are found in the post-trip inspection, it must be included in the post-trip inspection report. The vehicle is allowed to be sent out for use again once all problems have been addressed.

The Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) pre-trip inspection is designed to certify that the problems have been addressed and that the vehicle is ready to be safely operated on the road. While there are many different types of vehicles on the road today, the DOT provides a basic list or items to check when performing vehicle inspections: 

  • Service brakes, including trailer brake connections
  • Parking (hand) brake
  • Steering mechanism
  • Lighting devices and reflectors
  • Tires
  • Horn
  • Windshield wipers
  • Rear-vision mirrors
  • Coupling devices
  • Wheels and rims
  • Emergency equipment

(Source: FMCFA)

Inspection checklists are designed to improve the inspection process by providing staff with an easy-to-use template on the best practices to follow for that inspection. 

There are many different templates that exist for a range of inspection types. For example, a class A pre-trip inspection template would look slightly different than what is required for a class B inspection template. 

The most basic checklist can be completed on a sheet of paper, but more companies are turning to mobile apps and forms to streamline their processes for performing pre-trip inspections. Digitizing this information is highly beneficial for fleet management and transportation companies that need to document and report on their vehicle inspections.

Paper forms are simple to use, but missing or lost paper work can become a problem later on. To minimize risk and to modernize business operations, transportation companies rely on simple apps to digitize the information rather than using paper forms.

Beyond the basic benefits of digitizing the information, mobile apps also provide a number of advanced features that are helpful when performing inspections. For example, driver dispatch is an easy way to organize drivers and delivery schedules based on the most efficient configurations possible. Other features such as barcode scanning, signature capture, and GPS capture can help you keep track of your deliveries and maintain records for your business. 

Mobile apps can be built using no-code or low-code solutions that do not require advanced technical knowledge. Using a simple interface, anyone can start building apps for their pre-trip inspection checklists to replace paper forms. 

For businesses that want to modernize their processes using mobile apps, an important feature is going to be the ability to customize the mobile app to meet specific needs and requirements. Most mobile apps will provide templates to use as a starting point and then customizations can be made to require certain information. 

With the GoCanvas app builder, businesses can create pre-trip inspection forms and checklists that are then deployed to workers to complete via the mobile app. All of this is suited for workers in different locations and standardized processes around how businesses collect and store their inspection reports. 

Key outcomes include an increase in worker productivity, efficiency, and improved data collection for operations teams. Here are some of the common commercial vehicle inspection templates and examples:

Class A description

Class A vehicles are defined as “any combination of vehicles which has a gross combination weight rating or gross combination weight of 11,794 kilograms or more (26,001 pounds or more) whichever is greater, inclusive of a towed unit(s) with a gross vehicle weight rating or gross vehicle weight of more than 4,536 kilograms (10,000 pounds) whichever is greater.”

This would include tractor-trailers, combinations of truck and trailer, livestock carriers, tank vehicles, or flatbeds. 

GoCanvas example and template:  

Class B Description

Class B vehicles are defined as “any single vehicle which has a gross vehicle weight rating or gross vehicle weight of 11,794 or more kilograms (26,001 pounds or more), or any such vehicle towing a vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating or gross vehicle weight that does not exceed 4,536 kilograms (10,000 pounds).”

This would include straight trucks, large passenger buses, segmented buses, box trucks, dump trucks with small trailers, and tractor-trailers. 

GoCanvas examples and template:  

Class C Description

Class C Vehicles are defined as “Any single vehicle, or combination of vehicles, that does not meet the definition of Class A or Class B, but is either designed to transport 16 or more passengers, including the driver, or is transporting material that has been designated as hazardous under 49 U.S.C. 5103 and is required to be placarded under subpart F of 49 CFR Part 172 or is transporting any quantity of a material listed as a select agent or toxin in 42 CFR Part 73.”

This would include small HazMat vehicles, passenger vans, combination vehicles not covered by Classes A or B.

Sources:

Many companies in the transportation industry start using mobile apps to solve a single paperwork challenge, like pre-trip inspections. But there are many areas of business operations that deal with paperwork that can create slow and manual processes for staff. This includes things like delivery confirmations, mileage tracking, safety inspections, bill of lading, and any other paper-based processes for drivers and management. If you are looking for additional transportation apps for business, be sure to search in the GoCanvas app store where you can get started for free.

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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4 Reasons Your Business Needs Time Card Apps

4 Reasons Your Business Needs Time Card Apps

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Time card apps present an opportunity for you to increase your team’s efficiency and streamline time-tracking workflows for your business operations.

These types of applications are widely used to help hourly workers or contractors track their time digitally so they can be paid based on hours worked.

So when does it make sense to switch from manual time cards and punch clocks to digital apps? Continue reading this article for a look at some of the top reasons for using time card apps and how to know when it makes sense for your business to switch.

Using paper sheets to track employees’ time can be inefficient and error-prone. Paper sheets tend to get lost over time, manual work is required to process the paperwork, and mistakes are often made by employees or required information can be missing from the document.

Time card apps, time clock apps, and time tracking apps provide flexibility in how your business can track time and work hours for employees, contractors, freelancers, and more. When you think about the time spent on mobile devices today, it makes sense that workers should be able to use an app on their iOS devices such as iPhones, iPads, or Android mobile devices.

The data collected in apps are then available for office administrators or workers to access on a desktop, as needed. Here are 4 business reasons to switch to time card apps instead of paper or spreadsheets:

Paper time cards are error-prone and subject to being lost by employees or HR departments before being submitted for payroll or invoicing. 

But with time card apps, work is tracked in real-time and the data is automatically stored securely in the cloud or locally to the device. This reliability makes mobile time tracking apps and time clock apps ideal for small businesses and enterprise-level companies to ensure that accurate records are kept. 

Time card apps are more secure than traditional paper timesheets or even online timesheets, giving your workers the ability to manage the entire process from their mobile devices. 

If security and reliability are top priorities for your business and you can’t afford to lose data, then it definitely makes sense to have your time card processes moved over to a secure cloud application that can provide peace of mind.

Time card apps also allow you to introduce simple automation rules that can change the way your teams operate. For example, using time tracking software or time management software in conjunction with a time card app, companies can automatically submit employee hours to payroll platforms such as ADP, QuickBooks, Xero, Workday, Paychex, and other payroll services. This streamlines processes for your teams and makes the entire process seamless, freeing up valuable time that can be spent elsewhere.

If productivity is a challenge and you need to free up time for your staff, consider using apps that can modernize your process and automate tasks that would otherwise be manual and time-consuming.

If your business needs to verify that work has been performed on-site, the GPS functionality of a mobile app can provide a way to verify the exact location. For this use case, businesses are using time card apps on mobile devices that tap into GPS location features to identify when workers enter a job site and when they leave a job site in real-time. 

This practice is often referred to as “geofencing,” where companies draw a digital boundary around a specific area. As users’ devices enter or exit that area, a time tracker can kick in to track billable hours.

If your business relies on a distributed or field workforce, then there is a strong business case for implementing mobile apps that are designed to simplify field operations management.

If you have a complex business with different categories of workers, it can be beneficial to use time card apps and timesheet apps to manage this process. The apps can handle the hours submitted by full-time employees, part-time employees, freelancers, and contractors differently. 

Some of these workers may have different pricing levels. Others may require the withholding of taxes, and others may require payment through various hiring platforms. All of these differentiators are trackable with proper time management tools.

When you are getting to this level of complexity with managing time, there’s definitely a clear advantage to time card apps and the amount of time saved through simplified processes.

Every business is unique, with different people, processes, and technologies in place. Two important considerations when selecting a time management solution are ease of use and level of customization.

Given all of the nuances of your business, you need the ability to customize an app to fit your requirements. But at the same time, it shouldn’t require an advanced level of technical expertise or a big budget to achieve that customization.

Organizations have found that GoCanvas provides the ideal balance between customization and ease of use. Using our drag-and-drop app builder requires no coding to publish custom apps for your specific business needs.

The simplicity of the product and the extensive library of templates gives you the ability to very quickly build advanced apps, for time cards and many other common business cases.   

Navigate to the GoCanvas app store to view all of the time card apps that we have pre-built as templates. Make sure to use the search feature to find other examples and templates specific to your industry or use case.

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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9 Ways Companies are Utilizing Reference Data

9 Ways Companies are Utilizing Reference Data

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The apps built using GoCanvas have access to a powerful tool that allows businesses to pull information from dynamic and static data sources to populate fields and information in apps automatically – this tool is called Reference Data. App developers can include reference data in apps by uploading a CSV file into GoCanvas and referencing it from within an app or through web-based integrations. An app can reference multiple sources of reference data, and multiple apps can use a single source of reference data.

There are many reasons why users may want to use reference data, but the two most popular ones include populating a drop-down list and auto-populating fields. Developers can implement drop-down lists with reference data to allow users to pick from a pre-built table (CSV file) while pulling information mapped to additional columns in that file.  

Manufacturers can benefit from the use of reference data in various ways. A major use case for manufacturers is related to inspections and quality control. Properly inspecting items and ensuring the quality of products coming off the production line is critical for manufacturers to operate effectively and maintain a good reputation. Developers can also use reference data to improve safety checks by customizing evaluations of production lines and process controls.

GoCanvas has plenty of apps that users can use to perform inspections in manufacturing facilities. These apps help ensure that technicians can inspect equipment used in manufacturing and inspect the end-product. The use of reference data can significantly improve the performance and value of these inspections. For example, a manufacturer can use GoCanvas at various points on its production line. Apps can map reference data on a production line so that as a specific object or component passes in front of an inspector or user, that object or element can be selected from a drop-down list or identified with a barcode scanner. Additional columns of reference data in a CSV file can provide users with inspection criteria required to perform an inspection accurately. 

Similarly, quality control processes can ensure that final outputs on a production line meet various criteria and pass quality control measures. Quality control professionals can select items from a drop-down list or use a barcode scanner to pull the correct information to allow them to perform a detailed check of the item. Reference data can standardize the options that users can select when performing quality control. For example, one product may have various electronics and batteries requiring a different set of quality control details than a manually operated item. Reference data can map the multiple components that need to be checked depending on the item type selected. 

One of the most prolific uses for Reference Data is inventory management. Inventory management is a critical step of the supply chain process. The process for companies with inventory to catalog what they have available can be daunting, and there is a high potential for incorrectly handled inventory management to cause problems.  

With reference data, app developers can directly map product lists to various fields of GoCanvas apps. This use of reference data helps to standardize product names and also to pull in other information about a product into the app, such as its pricing, a description of the product, its location in a warehouse or storage area, barcode or SKU numbers, and the expected quantity available, among other information.

Integrating barcode functions with inventory management apps allows barcode scanning with either the native functionality of a mobile device’s camera or the use of external, dedicated barcode scanners.

Users who need to perform physical inventory audits can use GoCanvas and reference data to track the items in the inventory more effectively. Individuals who perform inventory checks can scan the barcode on an item or select the item’s name from a list populated by reference data. If scanning a barcode, the Reference Data can populate the item name and description into the app. Conversely, if an item’s name is selected, the app can display the SKU number, or users can use a barcode scanner to validate the item type. Users can check the number of items counted during an inventory audit and compare them with the number of items available in an ERP or inventory management system. The app can provide additional information to the user, such as the item’s location, the manufacturer of the item, the type or category of the item, and more.

Field service companies are regularly deploying workers into the field to perform a range of different tasks.  

A service worker can select a specific service from the reference data list, and it can populate the app with the correct screens to document that service. Additionally, depending on the service, the app can use reference data to identify different tools or equipment required to perform that service, the service’s pricing, and other important information. This information can ensure the accurate and consistent performance of services every time.

If you have been using GoCanvas for your field service company, you have likely been using the Dispatch feature. The Dispatch Feature integrates with GoCanvas apps that have Dispatch Enabled. Dispatchers can send a push notification and pre-populated app to a Service Technician’s device. Dispatchers can use reference data to generate multiple dispatches with multiple data sets from existing reference data files. This process helps quickly create multiple dispatch instances with various information that the dispatcher can map to the Reference Data fields.

A very straightforward use case for Reference Data is for generating accurate invoices and estimates. A business with a list of the products or services it sells and provides can use Reference Data to ensure the inclusion of up-to-date pricing and consistently name items in generating invoices and estimates. Given a source of Reference Data such as the following table, a user can create an invoice by selecting the Product Name and drop-down field that maps to Product_name. The invoice can include the SKU number by mapping to the Product_sku field, and the pricing automatically populates by mapping to the Product_pricing column. Using this Reference Data keeps Product Names consistent as a user is only able to select “Item A,” “Item B,” or “Item C,” rather than typing the item name which users could write as “Item A,” “A,” “12345A,” or “Item A – 12345A”. This consistent naming schema helps control records’ accuracy while also avoiding issues with entering prices incorrectly or requiring users to refer to outside resources to check an item or service’s pricing.

Product_nameProduct_skuProduct_pricing
Item A12345A9.99
Item B12345B15.99
Item C12345C12.99

Many businesses and buildings are concerned with controlling the visitors that enter buildings and maintaining buildings’ security. Additionally, events regularly limit individuals’ attendance based on whether they have signed up, registered, or purchased tickets. Reference Data in GoCanvas can pull information from a list of attendees, and the app can map different details related to their registration status to their names.  

Buildings with high-security requirements can have a list of potential visitors that identifies the areas they are authorized to visit, notification protocols for when they visit, and specific restrictions on the dates/times they can be on the property. When checking in, a visitor can provide their name. The app can then pull reference data mapped to other information. Security guards can escort individuals who check in to the building areas they are authorized to visit, notify appropriate individuals of their arrival, or deny them access to the building.

For events such as conferences, expos, or other exhibits, event producers generally limit attendance based on whether individuals have tickets, if they are with a specific company, or register at the door. Event managers could use reference data to allow a GoCanvas app to associate a name with identifying if that individual has a ticket or has registered for the event. For unregistered users, a user could allow them to register directly in the GoCanvas app when checking in.

To learn more about using reference data in GoCanvas, check out our GoCanvas Help Center’s Reference Data section. 

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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A Beginner’s Guide to Checklist Apps

A Beginner’s Guide to Checklist Apps

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Checklists are essential for keeping your team or yourself organized. They are most often used for task management, project management, or workflow optimization.

If jobs at your workplace rely on checklists for the completion of tasks, investing in checklist apps can be a game-changer for increasing your productivity. At a very high level, this means that your staff is leveraging mobile devices (iOS/Apple or Android devices) that have customizable checklists for specific business purposes.

Most apps allow you to start from checklist templates and customize them to fit your needs. You can input due dates, create subtasks, collaborate with co-workers, automate tasks, and take advantage of the other types of advanced features that are included. In a business scenario, there are many benefits to using a mobile application rather than relying on a simple piece of paper.

Continue reading this article for an introduction to checklist best practices, key benefits of using an app for checklists, industry examples, and some free templates to get you started. 

To create a well-crafted checklist app, it all starts with making a good checklist. Any time you are collecting data, it’s important to give careful thought to how things are organized and to give specific direction on what’s required. Here are some of the best practices to consider when creating an effective checklist:

Clearly defining your intent is helpful for framing the checklist to reflect your specific needs. For example, the checklist may be used as a to-do list, an inspection checklist, a step-by-step guide, a task manager, or a tool to provide you with reminders.

It’s helpful to use broad categories when putting together your checklist or task list since there can be a variety of items that need to be included. Within each of those broad categories, checklist items can focus on basic tasks, subtasks, and other items that advance the checklist’s purpose.

While broad items are an excellent way to start, getting granular in a checklist ensures that people address the specific items or steps when they go to complete the checklist. This level of granularity will help to avoid missing items and making mistakes.

You should always keep checklists as simple as possible to ensure that your checklists are easy to use for anyone that needs to fill them out. Some use cases will require technical knowledge, but it’s important to remember that the purpose of a checklist is to make it easy for staff to complete. 

Consider extra space for note-taking

Sometimes it makes sense to have extra space on a checklist to add optional notes. This is helpful when people need to provide additional context to a checklist item. For example, people may need to explain why they couldn’t complete an item on the list, they may need to flag something for follow-up, or they may need to flag that a new task item needs to be added in the future. 

It’s sometimes tempting to include related lists together. But you should consider keeping separate lists for different purposes, so teams are always using the correct checklist for the right scenario.

Now that you have a framework for creating an effective and user-friendly checklist, it’s helpful to understand why a checklist app may be a better option for your business, rather than a regular paper checklist.

Checklist apps and platforms have various functionalities that improve the way teams work. Here are some of the top benefits of using checklist apps for business: 

With the rise in popularity of mobile devices, everyone is familiar with how to use apps on their phone, and this makes them incredibly convenient for people to access from anywhere.

Checklist apps today are available as mobile apps on both iOS and Android operating systems and through desktop software or web-based platforms. All of the data is securely stored in the cloud, giving teams the ability to work from any device that’s preferred.

Non-technical staff can easily build and customize their checklist apps, leveraging a familiar drag and drop functionality that doesn’t require help from IT or programmers. You can quickly build checklists and use the drag and drop feature to reorganize the layout based on your preferences. For businesses that want to embrace digital technologies but have limited technical resources, mobile apps are accessible and seriously easy to build for organizations and teams of all sizes.

Another benefit to apps is that they allow you to incorporate many exciting and advanced features to boost your productivity. This includes things like adding different types of fields into checklists such as calendars, time stamps, required text fields, signature capture, image capture, and much more.

More advanced checklist apps and systems also allow for automating workflows. For example, if a checklist notes a malfunction or problem during that inspection, an organization can send an automated dispatch request to the proper team member. You can see how checklist apps are great for businesses that need to work more efficiently and really streamline their processes.

Not everyone wants to build a checklist from scratch. That’s why checklist apps come with pre-built templates that are put together for specific use cases and they are designed to be customized to fit your unique needs. Some providers of checklist apps will also work with you during onboarding to build the app to your needs, giving you the exact templates your business needs to get started.

Another benefit is the ability to leverage integrations to other applications you already use today. This is done by using a pre-built integration, a custom integration using an API, or a connection to a platform like Zapier that allows you to connect with thousands of other cloud apps. This can truly change the way your business operates and checklist items can trigger various automated actions to occur in other platforms.

Many checklist platforms also integrate with commonly used work productivity tools such as Google Workspaces (e.g., Google Keep, Google Tasks, Google Sheets, Google Calendar, and Gmail), Microsoft Exchange, Trello, Slack, Asana, and more.

Many businesses need to use checklists that are filled out collaboratively by different team members. Apps allow co-workers to collaborate and share their checklist app submissions in real-time so everyone can be on the same page. This type of syncing capability helps workers and businesses be more productive and spend less time on manual processes.

Checklist apps are used by many companies across a number of different industries. Here are some of the top use cases by industry:

  • Construction, Repair, and Improvement companies use checklist apps as components of building inspections, safety inspections, punch lists, maintenance checks, site inspections, compliance checks, and more. 
  • Transportation & Warehousing companies use checklist apps to improve the safety of drivers and vehicles on the road, with apps like the pre-trip driver checklist.  Inspection checklist apps are also used to ensure the longevity of machinery and equipment. 
  • Field Service Providers use checklist apps for contractors and employees that are performing work in the field and they need to ensure consistency with services being provided. These companies also have field service projects that use checklists to perform routine safety checks on jobsites.
  • Manufacturing industry operators use checklist apps to significantly improve workflows, efficiency, and manufacturing outputs. They’re also used to help improve worker safety and the safety of end-users of products. For example, food manufacturers use checklist apps that are geared towards food safety.

Creating a checklist on paper forms often leads to incomplete, inaccurate, or inconsistent data that’s hard for businesses to manage. A better way to manage checklists for your business is to use a mobile app that guides your staff on how to fill in all of the required information correctly. 

GoCanvas is an easy-to-use and powerful platform that enables businesses to create new checklist apps from scratch or take existing checklist templates in the GoCanvas store and tailor them to meet specific use cases. GoCanvas apps can integrate easily with a wide range of third-party providers and tools to increase your workflow efficiency and create opportunities to automate your business processes. The world of technology is easier than its ever been for businesses of all types to leverage these types of cloud applications to work smarter and be more productive at work.

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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Incident Report Examples & Templates

Incident Report Examples & Templates

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Knowing how to effectively file incident reports is a critical component for companies that want to cultivate their culture of safety at work. Incident reports are designed to document the important details surrounding an accident, incident, or near miss that happens in the workplace. 

These reports are incredibly useful for informing companies on the real gaps that exist in their safety protocols, ultimately allowing them to address these issues by implementing new policies and protocols to prevent future incidents from occurring. 

In this article, we cover three of the most common incident report types and the corresponding report templates that you can use. Continue reading for examples and templates to use when these types of incidents happen at your workplace:

  • Basic Incident Report
  • Field Incident Report
  • Construction Accident Investigation Report

If you need a basic template to get started, make sure to check out our basic incident report template that’s free to get started with using the GoCanvas app store. Our template includes the most common information to include in a basic incident report and it can be fully customized to meet your company’s specific requirements.

Picture of an incident report template

Basic incident reports work for a variety of types of incidents, giving you a flexible template that can be used for different types of accidents, near misses, or injuries. A basic incident report template should include all the essential details that you and the investigative teams will need to fill out following the incident. 

Wondering how often basic incidents occur? If you look at the most recent findings from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, it shows that the rate of recordable incidents in the private industry was at 2.8 percent among full-time workers. The data shows that nearly 900,000 incidents resulted in lost time when looking across all of the reported incidents in a given year.

A basic incident report needs to include all the details the investigative team will need to evaluate during their review, including: 

  • Location, date, and time of the incident
  • Witnesses and their contact information 
  • Witness testimonies 
  • Those involved in the incident
  • Actions that were taken post-incident 
  • Injuries incurred
  • Medical treatment administered 

When an incident happens in the field a report must be filled out and sent to the proper authorities. Get started for free on the GoCanvas app store, using our field incident report template that allows your field teams to use a mobile device or tablet when submitting their reports.

Picture of a field incident template

You will need to use a field incident report for any work-related injuries that occur offsite or outside of company property. Field incident claims are typically more complicated than claims filed for an on-site incident. With that in mind, you should make sure to be thorough when collecting the details of a field incident to ensure that claims are efficiently processed.

In addition to all the information included on a basic incident report, field incident reports should also include the location of the accident and the address of the workplace.

The perfect tool for any construction company is available through the GoCanvas app store using our construction accident investigation template. Use this resource so that your construction company is prepared when a workplace accident occurs.

Picture of a construction accident template

You know that the construction industry presents a wide range of hazards and dangers. Construction accident investigation reports are crucial to identifying weak points in safety protocols and they can actually help your business establish better safety practices. These reports can help your company and they can also help inform the entire construction industry on how to better minimize injuries on job sites. 

If you look at data provided by OSHA, you will see that construction accidents are the most common type of reportable incident and about 20 percent of fatalities in private industry are in construction. The most commonly violated OSHA standard is fall protection, which falls under the construction sector. 

In addition to all the information required on a basic incident report form, a construction accident investigation report should also include the name of the contractor, the name of site foreman, and any violations that were issued. 

Documenting incidents and injuries is crucial for promoting a culture of safety in the workplace. With incident report templates on hand, you’ll be able to document any accidents when they happen, and your team can work to improve its protocols for a safer workplace. 

If you’re looking for additional incident report templates that we didn’t cover in this article, be sure to check out more examples of incident reports in our app store. We have hundreds of pre-built forms to help you get started and our product has a variety of features that will fit all your business needs.

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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Form Builders and Templates – What You Need to Know

Form Builders and Templates – What You Need to Know

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Forms can be complex and many times they can be more nuanced than you might expect. But with properly designed layouts, you can improve workflows, facilitate automation, and enable your business to customize and enhance its data collection practices. Continue reading this blog post for:

  • Information about forms
  • A summary of different types of forms on the market today
  • Examples of industry use cases for forms

A form is a tool that has fields where individuals can write text or select from various options. The end use of forms can vary significantly, but most often they function to register for something, fill out a statement, create a request, or submit an order.

Forms may also be multi-purpose by design, and they can even lead end-users to different outcomes based on how they respond to the form fields.  While most forms are provided blank, some form designers may also leverage placeholder content in digital forms that can prompt users to provide certain types of data.

Forms can also have advanced features like dynamically populating content using data that is being referenced from a database, often referred to as reference data. Reference data can help pre-populate form fields, simplifying the process for people filling out the form by leveraging data that is already known.

The benefit of using forms to collect data is that they help to make data consistent and uniform for storing, processing, and analyzing the data. One common example of using forms is when businesses need to collect data from their customers to store inside a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system.

Integrating the form with the CRM database allows a business to dynamically populate the form fields based on the data they already have from the customer. It then allows them to collect a standard set of data fields from customers, ensuring that they are bringing in consistent and standard data that can be used when creating reports and performing analysis.

There are different types of form builders available to the market today. Some of these form-building tools have more niche-specific uses, while others have a broad set of use cases. Here’s a quick overview of some of the different form builders on the market today:

Mobile app forms are specialized forms that function as mobile apps. GoCanvas is a leading firm in developing mobile app forms for data collection and sharing. Users can access the form builder to create custom apps that can be used on tablets and smartphones or through a desktop app available on Windows and Apple computers. 

The data from these forms is stored in the cloud and it can help businesses reduce their paper usage. The functional capabilities of GoCanvas apps include GPS location capture, photos, custom form fields, signature capture, and reference data, among others. Users can share form submissions through a .csv file or a PDF report. 

GoCanvas also integrates with a wide range of platforms, including Quickbooks, Salesforce, Dropbox, Google Drive, PulseM, Netsuite, Zendesk, and much more. Through Zapier, GoCanvas can integrate with over 3,000 apps to automate workflows and increase workplace productivity.

There are countless WordPress plugins available that form writers can use to develop and deploy forms accessible from websites. Some of the most popular ones include Gravity Forms, Formidable Forms, WPForms, Jetpack Forms, and others. These form builders are drag-and-drop plugins that are dynamic in their applications. It is relatively easy to embed these forms directly into websites designed on the WordPress CMS. 

Most often, people use these types of forms as a contact form, registration form, or marketing form to collect information for email marketing campaigns. These forms can also function as a submission tool for file uploads or a payment authorization tool that can integrate with PayPal or Stripe systems.

Form data collected through these plugins are typically accessible in various formats, including an online dashboard or exportable format through .csv or XML format. Users can customize these forms by using more advanced CSS or HTML code to define specific looks and functionality.

Most email marketing campaigns will use lead capture systems and CRMs for marketing and sales purposes. Some of the most well-known email marketing providers include Hubspot, Mailchimp, and Constant Contact – all of which have forms that can integrate with various types of websites, mobile apps, or through stand-alone systems.

In general, these forms are somewhat limited in their capabilities, although it is possible to automate workflows based on inputs and conditional logic. Most commonly, these types of forms are meant to collect basic information that can inform marketing and sales teams about interested customers or prospective customers.

Google Forms and SurveyMonkey are two popular tools for sending out free or low-cost surveys.  These types of forms can be built with conditional logic, automation, and other capabilities to collect data from groups of all sizes.

Reporting dashboards are also available in these platforms so that users can generate actionable and insightful data from results. Google Forms integrates directly with Google Sheets so that these forms can quickly aggregate data into a cloud-based Google Sheet.

Given the various types of form builders available to the market, it may be helpful to compare the different uses for each form builders we’ve covered in this article. Here’s a quick summary:

  • Mobile App Forms are helpful tools for businesses that require checklists, reports, data collection tools, evaluations, guidelines, and other tools for recording, reporting, or sharing information.
  • WordPress Plugins can be used in various use cases but are often deployed for contact capture purposes, as registration forms, contact forms, and other somewhat simplistic use cases. 
  • Email Marketing Forms are niche purpose forms, mostly related to capturing contact information for users. 
  • Survey tools are great for collecting responses from respondents and aggregating data into easy-to-understand insights such as charts and graphics. 

Nearly every industry today uses forms to improve its business processes and outcomes. Here are some of the innovative ways that companies are using mobile forms to streamline their operations:

  • Work orders for companies in the construction, repair, and improvement industry may be generated through a form builder to integrate with systems such as Quickbooks so that accounting departments can approve expenditures or authorize work quickly. 
  • Building inspection forms can utilize conditional logic and automation to rapidly dispatch the correct maintenance personnel depending on the nature of an issue during the inspection.
  • Estimate sheets can be used to help businesses to bid effectively on projects, using calculations that can be performed automatically through the form.
  • Time tracking can be automated for staff when companies may leverage GPS capabilities integrated into forms to ensure that inspectors are at the correct job site at the right time
  • Field service reports can streamline communications between workers and their offices, ultimately minimizing miscommunications and improving service outcomes. Field service technicians can use technical service orders to automatically request specialized service types while including pertinent details such as images of problem areas, GPS coordinates of where a problem is, and much more.
  • Forms for Human Resources departments to effectively track employees’ time, ensure proper training sessions are attended, or even authorize vacation and time-off requests with ease.
  • Compliance and safety management for organizations that need to comply with OSHA requirements. These companies use forms for inspection checklists to maintain employee health and safety by ensuring that facilities are in compliance and that proper safety inspections are occurring regularly.

Mobile apps and forms can make an impact on businesses of all types and sizes. If you are looking for other types of forms to use for your business, GoCanvas has done the work for you already – we have over 20,000 mobile app forms that are pre-built for many different industries and use cases to help you get started for free.

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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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.

Forte Supply Chain Solutions Partner Video

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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How Timesheet Apps Benefit Your Business

How Timesheet Apps Benefit Your Business

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Timesheet apps represent the newest iteration in how businesses and contractors track their time. So what do these apps do? What makes a good timesheet app? How do these work with financial systems? What ways are different industries using these apps? Continue reading this article for answers to these questions and a high-level overview of how timesheet apps can benefit your business.

Hourly employees, contractors, or other workers who are paid on an hourly basis typically use timesheets to track time worked for payroll calculations or for invoicing billable hours to a client.

Businesses and contractors can also use timesheets to gather data to ensure accurate pricing for services or products. This allows them to optimize their processes by understanding how long it takes to perform specific tasks. Other examples include freelancers or consultants that are required to submit time entries to their clients for billing purposes.

Timesheets can vary in how they look or function. Here are some common examples:

  • Punch cards or time cards use either a time clock that may physically punch a card or a digital clock-in/clock-out system that creates the timesheet.
  • Point-of-service (POS) systems are used by businesses for employees to log in and log out for timesheet purposes.
  • A physical piece of paper is a basic way for employees to write down the hours worked
  • Excel spreadsheet or .csv files are basic time tracking tools that can either be processed manually or imported into time management or payroll systems.
  • Mobile apps are a way to use smartphones or other devices for employees to complete their timesheets digitally.

As smartphones have grown in popularity, more companies are moving away from traditional forms of time cards, and they are moving toward mobile apps that are more convenient for collecting timesheet data from employees.

Using the native functionality in Android and iPhone mobile devices, employers can engage in real-time tracking of team members’ time. This can also enable their organization to automate additional functions like payroll or paying contract consultants/employees. Mobile apps also open up an opportunity to use new technologies, like the ability to use GPS locations or geofencing that can monitor and track the employee hours spent at a physical job site.

Technology is empowering businesses to become more efficient and many companies are starting to realize productivity gains by moving toward mobile apps for their time tracking.

There are several timesheet apps and time tracking software platforms on the market, but not all of them are created equal. When evaluating your options, here are some of the top features you will want to have in your timesheet app:

  1. Having multiple employee types is an important feature that lets you differentiate between employee time tracking and contractor time tracking to ensure detailed and accurate billing.
  2. GPS integration and geofencing capabilities allow your business to automate the time tracking of workers at job sites.
  3. Security features that are native to iOS and Android, like facial recognition, can be used in timesheet apps to ensure the correct individual is logging time.
  4. Integrations with your core systems (like payroll or accounting platforms) can help to minimize the effort of processing payroll and paying invoices.
  5. Flexibility to track time both in real-time and through manual entry (and differentiating between those tracking methods).
  6. Accessibility on different devices is incredibly important for employees to be able to use both Apple/iOS and Android phones/tablets, as well as web browsers or desktop applications.

When selecting a timesheet app, your business should carefully determine what requirements need to be met for tracking people’s time and select a timesheet solution that is easy and secure for collecting and managing your data.

Timesheet software and time tracker apps are most effective when integrated directly with payroll and accounting systems such as ADP, Quickbook, Xero, and others.

By leveraging these integrations, companies ranging from small businesses to enterprise-level clients can automate time tracking processes.

Consider an integration with your payroll and accounting system if your business needs to improve business operations and cut out manual processes. Integrations can significantly help your business save time, effort, and money, while also increasing payroll accuracy.

Moving to a digital strategy for tracking time provides many benefits to a business. Here are three of the top benefits of timesheet apps for business:

1. Streamline project management

From a project management perspective, understanding the allocation of resources is critical to managing businesses’ workflows. If a worker takes more time on a task than expected, it can cause missed deadlines, cost overruns, and other problems. Understanding task timing is critical for keeping projects on time and it gives you the ability to forecast budgets and project estimates more accurately in the future. Timesheet apps will streamline your business processes and improve project management.

2. Avoid losing track of time

Employees and contractors are not always perfect and missed time happens. Timesheet apps can help your business avoid losing track of time. This can be done by automating time tracking with systems that help to ensure that all the billable hours are captured. Advanced capabilities like geofencing or the ability to retroactively validate time can help employees capture all their time worked.

3. Simplify the process for staff

Timesheet apps and digital time tracking platforms make managing multiple employee timesheets or project timesheets a breeze. The insights from having multiple employees or projects aggregated in one location can help to ensure that everyone is billing accurately. For example, if one employee in a group does not have time logged while the others do, there may be missed time. Tracking timesheets for multiple employees and projects at once also streamlines the effort required to process timesheets.

Now that we’ve covered how you can save time and money with digital time cards, you can start to check out some of the time tracking app examples available today. GoCanvas timesheet apps are accessible right from your mobile device and help businesses to:

  • Eliminate data entry and re-entry errors, missing timesheets, and fraud with mobile time-tracking
  • Provide visibility into who’s working, who was late, and how many hours have been clocked
  • Access time cards anywhere with instant access to digital time tracking apps

With the option to get started for free, you can see how GoCanvas fits your business and consider how it can help you streamline your processes for time tracking and business operations.

Timesheets are used by many different industries. Below are some common examples of how different industries use timesheet apps:

Companies providing construction services use a combination of employees, contractors, and subcontractors on job sites. These individuals are often generating billable events by merely being at a specific job site. By using time tracking apps with geofencing capabilities, construction services can accurately track workers’ timing and hours in an automated fashion.

Construction Timesheet App Template

The Construction Timesheet mobile app helps contractors, sub contractors, trade specialists and others fill out construction timesheets to track when they start work each day, which project they are working on, their lunch break and the ending time. This employee timesheet app is designed for companies that focus on a certain type of work and don’t need to break it down by job phase or category. Additionally, this app calculates the employee’s time automatically (i.e. an in-app time clock), and has the ability to enter and track multiple employees as well.

Like construction companies, field service companies often use a combination of employees and contractors to provide services. Time tracking apps can help these workers bill for services more accurately as different types of installation, repairs, maintenance services, or even specific clients can have special pricing or service rates.

Field Service Timesheet App Template

This Field Services Timesheet App makes it easy for workers to access an employees time clock from anywhere in the field. Instead of using complicated time clock software or standard time tracking machines, this easy to use app is accessible using a smartphone or tablet. Perfect for small business owners and others who manage employee time and attendance, this easy to use time tracking app will simplify your payroll processes each month.

For businesses that provide transportation services, coupling time tracking with travel distance can help provide accurate billing. Using these apps also helps ensure that drivers who may be subject to transportation regulations and restrictions are not driving more hours per day than is legally allowed.

Transportation and Logistics Timesheet App Template

This Transportation Timesheet App is the easiest way for truck drivers, trucking services and vehicle transportation companies to track all the most important details of short haul long haul trucking jobs. With the truck driver time card app, you don’t have to worry about losing any of the important daily log details. This app covers a record of the work completed, including dates and times, load details, and road conditions. The truck driver daily log also includes a safety list to ensure that all trucking industry professionals have the right gear on board before hitting the road. 

transportation timesheet app example

Providers of professional services, such as lawyers, accountants, and consultants, live by the billable hour. Making time tracking as easy as possible to reference different projects or clients can significantly improve billing accuracy and maximize revenue.

Professional Services Timesheet App Example

This professional services timesheet app allows you to track every detail necessary, including company details, consultant information, hourly rate, hours worked, and authorized signatures. This consultant timesheet template documents billable hours through tracking time each day. This time tracker app is an ideal component of effective project management, where this info can be pulled for invoices and weekly timesheets.

professional services timesheet app example

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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