Business Operations

3 Challenges with Paper Timecards and How to Avoid Them

Posted on by GoCanvas Team

3 Challenges with Paper Timecards and How to Avoid Them

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Paper timecards are costly in the short and long run. If you want to influence your bottom line, ditching them for a better alternative should be inevitable. This article covers three of the top challenges with paper timecards and how to avoid them using timecard apps. 

Challenge #1: Buddy Punching 

What is buddy punching? 

Buddy punching is one form of time theft at work. Through this tactic, employees use their colleague buddies to clock in times not worked.

For example, if one is running late, they’ll most likely request their friends to clock them in without your knowledge. Another scenario is when one wants to check out unusually early. So, they ask their friends to clock them out at the checkout time. 

The worst scenario is when a team member fails to show up entirely but still uses a friend to clock them in and out.

How does it negatively affect businesses?

According to a study by Replicon, 75% of small-scale businesses in the United States see a significant drop in annual revenue because of buddy punching. Paying employees for hours not worked adds up to your payroll. It’s costly in the long run because you’re paying out of your pockets instead of what they produce. The American Payroll Association confirms that 50% of employers’ costs are on payroll management.

Why is it hard to manage when using paper sheets?

Managing time worked by employees can be a hassle, especially when using paper timecards. This is because there’s no way to hold them accountable. Often, this is due to the shortcomings of paper sheets like the inability to track team member activity. Also, there’s colleague loyalty. Without a reliable system to clock time, colleagues will always want to protect their buddies.

Solution to buddy punching: Digital timecard apps 

To minimize buddy punching, you can ditch paper timecards and use digital timecard apps instead. Digital apps have features to discourage buddy punching and make it much more difficult for employees. For example, timecard apps may have features such as GPS tracking, geofencing, unique passwords/logins, or even biometrics systems in advanced systems. Here’s how it works:

  • The GPS tracker helps track team members’ location, making it hard to lie about their check-in and check-out times.
  • The geofencing feature works more like the GPS tracker. The only difference is that it’s used to create a buffer around the workplace. Beyond this barrier, your employees can’t clock in time, helping to limit cheating.
  • Unique logins/passwords are a standard best practice for online systems and encourage workers to login from their own mobile phones when tracking their time, rather than a punch card system.
  • Some apps may even feature a unique system like biometrics for logging in. For example, the biometrics system uses fingerprints that can’t be manipulated.

Overall, timecard app technology pushes for accountability among employees because you can monitor their usage within the app, helping to discourage buddy punching.

Challenge #2: Human Error

The human error challenge is hard to avoid, especially when using analog systems to run a business. In particular, using paper timecards to clock in time increases the rate of human error in payroll systems. 

Potential errors from paper timecards include inflated work hours and wrong entries due to lack of accountability and illegible writing. This means that if you detect the problem on time, you’ll have to re-do the entries to correct the mistakes.

Unfortunately, not many business owners can detect these errors on time, costing their payroll eventually. As a business owner or manager, it’s difficult to have oversight into such minute details like hours, meaning this can go unchecked. 

The good news is: that shouldn’t be the end of your story if you’re a business owner. Yes, errors are prone to occur. However, with a timecard app, this shouldn’t cost your payroll anymore. Timecard apps are built to sync with accounting software, automatically enhancing the accuracy and efficiency of recording.

Timecard apps help to minimize human error and help you to save more that would otherwise go to payroll management. It’s not fair to pay extra wages because of wrongful recording or have to deal with payroll disputes. Have a timecard app will cut down on the errors that are common when dealing with paper timesheets.

Challenge #3: Manual Work

Tracking employees’ time using paper sheets can also be hectic and it can create manual workflows for your staff. Here are some of the common workflow challenges with paper timecards:

  • Tracking down missing or incomplete information
  • Correcting errors or mistakes
  • Manual data entry to submit timecards into accounting system
  • Travel time if employees in the field need to complete paper work in the office

Paper sheets create some frustrating manual work that can slow down your business growth and frustrate your employees. Because manual work is inefficient, it can also have the compounding effect of impacting your team’s morale and then their productivity when they are forced to spend so much time on “busy work.”

All of this can make it difficult for growing businesses to scale efficiently. Paper work can not be automated, so the faster you grow, the harder it becomes for your staff to keep up with the growing paper work from employees.

Switching to digital timecard apps because they help streamline business processes and automate how work gets done. Through timecard apps, data is submitted in real-time from employees in the field, eliminating time-consuming, manual workflows and data entry. Managers can also set up automatic notifications for employees to get alerted when a timecard is due, meaning they don’t have to send manual reminders or track people down. Finally, data can be integrated from timecard apps into accounting and payroll systems like QuickBooks or Sage for real-time data sync.

Final Verdict

If you’re still using paper time cards, you may have run into some of these hidden challenge that negatively impact your business. Going digital can help provide  a more reliable solution with timecard apps that help productivity and accuracy of data collected from employees. Contact the GoCanvas team any time to set up a quick demo of our timecard app solution or sign up for a free trial here to learn more.

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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 the Best Field Service Businesses Use Mobile Apps

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How the Best Field Service Businesses Use Mobile Apps

Discover the Trick to Faster and Better Service

What’s in this guide? This eBook will teach you:

  • What’s Really Slowing Your Sale Cycle
  • How to Improve Your Internal Visibility
  • The Switch that Saved One Field Service Company $175,000 in a Year
  • How the Best Field Service Companies Get Started with Mobile Apps

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Become an HVAC Industry Leader: 5 Steps to Heat Up Your Business

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While construction was hit hard during the recession, HVAC has continued to grow. Now that construction is booming again, the demand is only going to continue to rise.

Yet, there are struggles ahead: changing technology, increased expectations for customer service, and updating regulations. In this guide, we share how to become a leader in HVAC in five simple steps.

Learn the answers to questions like:

  • Where can you find the latest information on energy efficiency trends?
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3 Reasons to Digitize Your Construction Safety Programs

Posted on by GoCanvas Team

3 Reasons to Digitize Your Construction Safety Programs

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Construction safety is a top priority for all firms and contractors. That’s why more construction pros are moving to digitize their construction safety programs to create more visibility into their operations. 

The Data Dilemma 

A study from FMI research found that 96% of data goes unused in the construction industry. This highlights the challenge and opportunity that exists for companies to become more data-driven. 

The Challenge

With a distributed workforce that is on different job sites or has multiple subcontractors, it can be difficult to gather data in a consistent way. Traditional safety measures that rely on paper forms make it difficult to roll up that information for reporting and the data becomes lost on paper forms or siloed across the business. This high level of business complexity is a challenge for construction companies, but can be solved by focusing on improving its data processes and culture.

The Opportunity

Countless studies have shown the importance of using data to make business decisions. When data is accurate and available in near real-time, organizations are able to gain greater visibility into their operations and use that information to take appropriate next steps. The opportunity to take advantage of data starts with digitizing programs to improve the data that is captured, ultimately leading to better reporting and processes for construction safety. Key outcomes of digitization include lowered risk and liability, greater productivity, and higher employee satisfaction.

The data dilemma that construction firms and contractors face is the need to move away from paper forms and manual processes through digitization and automation that can streamline operations and provide greater insights. While this requires careful upfront planning and dedicated resources, the upside can be highly beneficial for achieving better construction safety outcomes in the long term.

3 Reasons to Digitize Your Construction Safety Programs

#1. Better Data Capture

Accurate reporting relies on having the best data possible. By improving the quality of the data you’re collecting, this allows you to make the best decisions for your business. 

This all starts with data capture. For field operations, the core component of capturing better data in the field relies on mobile technology. Digitizing your construction safety programs often starts with the data that is captured in the field. Traditionally on the paper forms and sheets, now is captured through mobile devices and tablets that sync the information in real-time to the cloud.

In terms of your safety management programs, this would include all types of data that needs to be captured. Examples include:

  • OSHA Forms
  • Inspections and Audits
  • Job Safety Analysis
  • Safety Meetings 
  • Incident Reports
  • Hazard Management
  • Safety Data Sheets

All of these paper forms are opportunities to digitize how data is captured, using simple mobile forms to capture better data from the field. 

Digital forms reduce errors and standardize how data is collected. While paper forms are error-prone and can become lost over time, digital forms can require information and can always be accessed securely through the cloud.

With better practices for data capture in the field, you’re able to take that information and use it for better analytics and reporting.

#2. Greater Data Visibility

Tracking the progress of your safety programs can be difficult on paper forms and manual processes. Just getting the information ready for reporting can become a heavy lift for your teams, making it less likely that you can do the analysis you want in the end. 

By eliminating paper and digitizing safety data, all of those key safety data points are available for reporting. Using safety management software, data is captured in real-time and available for you to run as reports, dashboards, or analytics. Are there job sites that are falling behind on compliance? Can you spot trends in your incident reporting over time? Have safety meetings been held and attended? 

Setting up your data capture around the KPIs and business questions you want to answer can help you with data analytics. Better processes for data capture, leads to more accurate and complete data. If you are looking for real-time data exploration and analysis, safety management software can help you to capture better data and serve it for instant insights to drive decision-making. 

#3. Improved Data Processes and Culture

Tools and technology for construction safety will help you with the data capture and reporting components. But it will also help you to improve processes and your culture over time.

Digitizing your construction safety programs provides a central solution for employees and managers. There is accountability and structure, so everyone knows where to go when they need to take an action. For example, employees may be looking for an SDS sheet, file an incident report, or attend a safety meeting. With a comprehensive safety management solution, all of these resources are clearly documented and available to access when they are needed. 

In the digital era that we live in today, employees prefer using their phones or mobile devices to access information. This has the benefit of simplifying data forms and eliminating manual work that is a drain on productivity and morale. 

A robust safety program that is managed digitally is a clear sign to employees that their well-being is a top concern, helping with retention and satisfaction on the job. Clear processes and a culture of safety can have a positive impact on the business, making it a clear return on investment for digitizing construction safety.

If you’re ready to go digital, reach out to the team at GoCanvas to learn more about our comprehensive and easy-to-use safety management solutions.

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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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Why Go Digital with Inspection Checklists?

Posted on by GoCanvas Team

Why Go Digital with Inspection Checklists?

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Inspection checklists are an essential task for many industries and workplaces. This could be a safety inspection to spot potential hazards, equipment inspections and preventative maintenance, property or residential inspections, and much more. For all types of inspections, the checklist is a useful tool because it provides a clear list for inspectors to follow and helps to ensure a thorough inspection takes place each time. 

Why Go Digital with Inspection Checklists?

With the rise of mobile apps and forms, completing inspections can be performed on a tablet or mobile device, quickly and easily on a job site. This article covers how digital inspection checklists help to simplify the process for inspectors and for management.

Digital checklists simplify the process for inspectors

A traditional paper checklist can take a long time for inspectors to complete and bring back the forms to the office before manually creating a report. Take for example Lumen, a US based IT services company that used paper forms for preventative maintenance inspections before switching to digital forms instead. Before going digital with inspections, their technicians on site had to complete paper inspection forms, return the forms to a central office, scan the form, and then attach the scanned reports to particular database entries. 

Seeing how much time was being spent on administrative work, Lumen made the switch to digital forms and realized a 35 to 40 percent reduction in admin work, with savings of up to $1 million in their first year of going digital.

Digital checklists and forms allow inspectors to spend less time on admin work and streamline the process for collecting data in the field. Digital forms also allow for more standardization, meaning that required fields and drop down lists ensure that accurate data is submitted the first time. While paper forms can be filled out illegible or incomplete, digital forms provide a greater level of control of the format of data that is submitted from the field.

Other benefits include the ability for managers to schedule out and assign inspection checklists to be completed on a regular cadence. This notifies employees when an inspection is due and allows them to work collaboratively using cloud-based tools to help with productivity. Instead of spending hours on manual work to create inspection reports, the process is done automatically from the inspection app and sent via email to the appropriate groups of people and saved to the cloud.

Rod Badley, Critical Infrastructure Manager at Lumen explained this in simple terms – “The more time we can spend doing actual work instead of doing administrative work means more money and more savings for us.”

Digital checklists simplify the process for management

The entire organization benefits when efficiencies are gained by reducing manual work. Beyond the cost savings from efficiencies, management teams and business owners also benefit in a number of ways by having their checklists managed digitally instead of on paper.

One benefit is the ability to manage all records digitally, in a cloud-based platform that is secure and accessible. For many businesses performing critical inspections, like a job site safety inspection or equipment inspection, it can be incredibly valuable to have a central place to manage all of these documents. In case of an accident or incident, you can understand if proper protocols were followed on site. In the case of an OSHA inspection or audit, having the proper documentation can mean compliance with OSHA regulations and avoidance of fines. Paper forms leave too much up to chance, running the risk of becoming destroyed or lost over time. Moving this important documentation from inspection checklists will help to lower your risk and liability, with infrastructure to help you better manage your records.

Another benefit for organizations is the ability to track compliance. Many businesses have complex operations, with teams in different locations performing inspection checklists. This organization structure can make it difficult to roll up information quickly to verify that inspections are taking place in different locations. With digital checklists and a mobile data platform, you can perform analysis and run reports to track compliance. This type of technology can enable your organization to use analytics to gain greater transparency into operations and ensure that the appropriate action can be taken if non-compliance is found. Switching from paper checklists can empower your organization with greater insights

Take for example US Inspect, a leader in residential inspections that switched their paper processes over to digital forms with GoCanvas and realized an annual cost savings of $720,000. 

“It sounds crazy but GoCanvas has given our company tremendous long-term competitive advantages. US Inspect is not your father’s inspection company – we have morphed into a wickedly excellent data collection enterprise which just happens to produce inspection reports,” explained JB Haller, President & CEO of US Inspect.

To learn more about how inspection checklists can benefit your field teams and your business, contact the GoCanvas team any time to set up a quick introductory conversation.

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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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How Inspection Software Saves Your Business Time and Money

Posted on by GoCanvas Team

How Inspection Software Saves Your Business Time and Money

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Looking to implement inspection software to increase your workforce productivity? There’s never been a better time to embrace technology for the construction job site and office.

As we have seen to date in 2021, there is no shortage of obstacles and challenges facing construction firms. Some of the top challenges include:

  • Labor. 81% of construction firms are having a hard time filling some or all positions (AGC)
  • Productivity. 1% productivity growth annually for the past two decades in construction (McKinsey)
  • Safety. 20% of deaths each year occur in construction even though it makes up only 5% of the workforce (OSHA)
  • Supply Chain. Issues in the supply chain are increasing material costs and resulting in longer lead times (Construction Dive) 
  • Regulations. 10.9% increase in regulatory costs over the past five years (Construction Dive)

With all of these challenges to manage, technology can make an impact on the organization by saving you time and money through productivity and efficiency gains. This article provides real-world examples to help explain how construction businesses can use technology to help reduce costs and create a competitive advantage. 

How Inspection Software Saves You Time and Money

Need to make the business case for inspection software? Here are the top reasons why construction companies go digital with inspections versus managing them with paper forms.

#1. Streamline Your Operations and Improve Workflow

Managing inspections on paper forms requires a great deal of manual effort and redundant work. Paper sheets used in the field must be returned to the office and then require manual data entry to copy the information into a computer. Inspection software eliminates the back and forth, by allowing field employees to leverage their mobile devices to collect and share information back to the office.

Inspection software also gives the office tools to dispatch and assign jobs, or hand off inspections to multiple employees at a time. All of this leads to greater productivity for workers when they are able to share information in real-time and automate manual processes.

Example:

True Homes, a building construction company, found that their business growth was causing paper forms to pile up. With inspection processes at each construction site, the amount of paper forms was slowing down their business and creating manual workflows for employees to deal with on a daily basis.

After implementing inspection software for building inspections, they were able to save 450 hours per month for their office staff and they were able to increase communication with clients by having information available in real-time from their inspections.

Overall they found that by eliminating manual processes and workflows, they were able to see an increase in customer satisfaction, employee productivity, and better processes for their data collection and reporting. 

Follow this link to read the full story from True Homes and to learn more about building inspection software designed for the construction industry.

#2. Standardize Data Collection

Paper forms can lead to some data collection challenges. For example, you may have someone skip over a question or you may have illegible handwriting that makes it difficult to interpret. Both of these require rework and going back to find the required information.

Inspection software is built with features that enable best practices for data collection. You can make certain fields required and ensure that the data submitted is in the proper format to keep your information consistent for reporting.

You can also leverage dynamic forms that reduce the number of fields based on certain criteria. For example, if you select “Condo” as the type of building in a home inspection, you will only see the relevant boxes and can cut out any of the fields that aren’t relevant for that type of inspection.

Companies have found that standardized data and digital processes enable them to move faster with inspections and avoid rework or manual workarounds to fix messy data.

Example:

Lincs, an Electrical Contractor in the UK, found it hard to scale their business with the growing amount of paperwork. They decided to implement software for inspections, saving their field staff 15 hours per technician on a weekly basis by eliminating manual processes.

Once they deployed software for safety inspections, they were able to collect, share, review, and submit reports all in real-time.

With their new digital inspection software, “Required Fields” helped to ensure that field technicians always complete their reports with the necessary information. 

Reports are now completed much faster than on paper, and they have standard practices to ensure that reports are generated quickly and accurately. Investing in better data practices with digital technology for inspections has helped their contracting business to realize significant cost savings and increase in overall productivity.

Follow this link to read the full case study from Lincs and to learn how construction management software can help digitize inspections.

#3 Effortless Reporting and Analysis

Paper forms make it difficult to have immediate visibility into the data being collected and require additional work to turn the information into reports. With inspection software, reports are generated automatically and sent via email to the appropriate parties. Sign off on documents digitally and have them stored in a central cloud location to reference any time you need the information.

This level of real-time information sharing is a key reason why companies invest in software for inspections. Instead of relying on paper forms that can be lost or damaged over time, inspection software brings a modern and digital experience for your business. Go one step further and use the information collected using inspection software for advanced analytics to spot trends and gain greater visibility into your field or job site operations.

Example:

US Inspect, a leader in residential inspections in the US, found that their paper-intensive processes hindered their efficiency. They implemented software for home inspections with the goal of saving their technicians time in the field and to create a competitive advantage for the business.

They found that inspection software helped their teams in the field save time and produce better reports. Forms that used to take them thirty minutes now only take them five minutes, with required fields helping to ensure data accuracy.

They also found that the home inspection software helped them streamline their reporting and allow them greater insight into their data. With better data visibility they are now able to more accurately understand how the business is doing and where there are opportunities to improve. 

Follow this link to read the full case study from US Inspect and how software can be used for residential and home 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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6 Things to Look for in a Time Card App

Posted on by GoCanvas Team

6 Things to Look for in a Time Card App

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Time card apps are growing in popularity to replace the traditional form of punching in and punching out. A digital time card allows employees to record their hours worked by using a mobile app on a phone, tablet, or computer.

Time card apps are helpful for a company’s payroll systems. By recording hours worked through the mobile app, it can sync to your accounting software to initiate payment for your employees. This process runs much more efficiently than paper time cards. Instead of logging hours on a paper form, spreadsheet, or Google Sheet, you can use simple time card apps to collect hours worked and have it synced in real-time for faster payments and less work for your operations staff. 

6 Things to Look for in a Time Card App

As a leading provider of mobile forms and apps, GoCanvas has helped thousands of companies to digitize their processes and work more efficiently using time card apps and more. If you’re thinking about going with digital time card apps, this article covers some of the top things to look for when selecting a platform for mobile apps and forms.

#1. Simplicity

Time cards should be simple for employees to fill out. The time card template should be easy to complete and time cards can be edited or modified, if needed. Some time card systems will allow you to pre-fill information based on data that is already known. For example, if you are a contractor and billing to a certain client, you may have a unique client ID that is referenced when completing the time card app with data from your CRM or other database. This saves time during the time card process and the goal is to make the process fast for your employees in the field or on a job site. 

#2. Mobility 

It goes without saying that your time card apps need to be accessible via mobile device and tablets, even when your employees do not have access to the internet. Time card apps can be completed offline and then synced back to the cloud when WiFi is available again. Mobile time card apps make it simple for anyone to complete their timesheet, and your business does not have to provide the hardware in most cases. Most employees can use their own mobile devices to complete simple time cards, making it easy for them to complete and easy for your business to process. 

Another native feature with a mobile device is GPS tracking. Time card apps can be enabled with the GPS tracking feature to confirm that work has taken place at a specific location. This can help ensure that your team is clocking in and out from the job location and you can have an accurate record of where work has been performed. This can be a hidden feature collected automatically from the mobile device or it can be part of the form submission fields in the digital timecard.

#3. Customization

Customization is another important aspect of time card apps. For example, your business may need to bring in specific fields in addition to the standard fields on a timesheet. It’s important that your time card app is highly customizable to account for these unique business needs that you will have. You may have different categories of workers that require different timesheet templates, or you may require timesheets to be filled out on different cadences (daily, weekly) depending on the type of project. Having a high level of customization gives you the flexibility to design your time sheet app templates to your exact requirements.

#4. Workflow

Beyond making it easy for employees to fill out their timesheets, apps also help your managers and operations staff with better workflows. Time cards can be automatically assigned to employees, saving your staff from having to manually remind employees to fill out their time cards or track down information. 

Time card apps can also be assigned to multiple people, so if you have a project with multiple contributors, you can have the timesheet roll up with hours worked from the entire team. Once the timesheets are completed, easily collect digital signatures within the app to get managers’ approval. Going digital removes much of the back and forth that is required when dealing with paper forms or spreadsheets. Simplifying workflows can reduce wasted efforts and free up your staff to focus on other work.

#5. Automatic Calculations

If you are dealing with paper sheets, Google sheets, or spreadsheets, there’s always the possibility of an unforeseen calculation error. It’s common for these types of mistakes to occur, but they can create additional rework to spot and resolve the calculation error.

Mobile time card apps have built-in calculations, to help your business eliminate manual errors that can occur during paper time card processes. This improves data accuracy and brings efficiency to your business by eliminating the time-consuming process of manually tallying the hours worked by each employee. 

#6. Integrations and Analytics

Another important consideration when selecting a time card app is your business needs for its data processes. You will want to decide if an integration between your time card apps and your payroll system like Quickbooks or Sage is necessary for your business. Most time card apps can integrate directly with these systems and other databases, to streamline your processes and sync data between systems in real-time. Instead of manual data re-entry, you can have your information flow from your time card directly into your accounting system for a seamless billing process. This level of automation can help your business operate more efficiently, saving you time and money. 

On the topic of data, another important feature for your business is analytics. Having the ability to run analytics reports on your time sheet data and form submissions will allow you greater visibility into projects and work that is being done. This can help to spot potential issues or inefficiencies across the business, giving you the opportunity to become more data-driven with decisions. 

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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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See How Centurion Got Amazing ROI from GoCanvas

Centurion is the largest heavy haulage provider in Australia. They deliver national supply chain solutions to the resources, energy, construction & retail sectors throughout Western Australia, Queensland & the Northern Territory…

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5 Tips to Improve How Your Business Collects Data

Companies rely on collecting data in order to operate. In a fast-changing world, companies that focus on streamlining and improving their data collection processes will be able to do more. The good news is that it’s become easier than ever for businesses of all… 

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What to Look for in a Mobile Form Builder

Posted on by GoCanvas Team

What to Look for in a Mobile Form Builder

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Finding the right form builder for your business is an important decision. Today’s form builders are offered as cloud-based solutions, where you can login to the platform online and start building forms to be deployed on a mobile app or web browser.

There are limitless ways companies can use forms for their business. 

Most often forms are used to collect information from different groups of employees in the field or on a job site. Common examples include things like work orders, inspections, timesheets, estimates, reports, invoices, and more. Forms can be used anytime you need to collect and share information between your field teams, office staff, management, customers, partners, and other key stakeholders for your business.

Top 3 Considerations When Selecting a Form Builder

So what should you look for when selecting a mobile form builder? The answer to that question will entirely depend on your business needs. This article will cover some of the top considerations when selecting a mobile form builder, so you can make an informed decision. 

#1. How Easy is the Form Builder to Use?

Ease-of-use is an important factor for growing businesses. You don’t want to invest in software and have a difficult experience making it successful or finding out later that the user experience makes it difficult to gain adoption.

So what makes a form builder easy to use?

No Code or Low Code. 

A no code or low code form builder essentially means that you do not need to dedicate development resources to deploy the forms. The form builder will use drag and drop functionality and you can develop forms and apps without any advanced technical knowledge required.

This feature is incredibly important for how businesses work today. Tools for the workforce should be designed with simplicity in mind, so that anyone can pick them up and start using them right away. While it may be helpful to involve IT in the process, you shouldn’t have to rely heavily on development resources in order to use a form builder. 

Simplicity in the Field.

While the no code form builder makes it easy for office staff and managers to build the forms, it also needs to be as simple as possible for field teams. When implementing a new technology, a common fear is that teams in the field will fail to adopt the technology. That’s why the mobile form technology needs to be simple, so it makes the job easier for anyone that needs to complete the forms.

Consider features like integrating the form builder into your CRM or databases, so that customer records or project information is automatically pulled in real time to the forms. This auto populates form fields with information that is already known like customer information, parts, cost codes, and anything else that your teams may need to reference to complete the form.

Your mobile form builder should be easier and faster for employees, saving them time from manual processes and workflows. Consider how your form builder solution prioritizes time savings and efficiencies for crews in the field, as this can lead to greater adoption of the tools.

Customization.

When thinking about ease of use, another important consideration is customization. Some form builders can be difficult to customize, or they are built for very specific use cases that make it limited in the scope of what you can do with the platform. A highly customizable form builder will ensure that you can easily customize the forms to fit a wide range of potential use cases that your business will need, both now and in the future. 

Best in class form builders will offer this level of customization, while maintaining the simplicity and ease of use that your business needs to fit into your existing workflows.

#2. How does the form builder promote a data culture within my organization?

Lack of data insights is one of the main reasons companies choose to eliminate paper forms and move to digital form builders. With paper forms, information is not available in real-time and data is collected in ways that are inconsistent and difficult to report on.

It’s important that your business finds a form builder that promotes best practices for data collection and reporting. These insights can lead to better outcomes, including opportunities to lower costs, increase revenue, and improve the customer experience.

So how can a form builder help your company improve its data processes?

Standardized forms.

When thinking about how your business collects data, the form builder should empower you to collect consistent and accurate data from the field in real-time. Things like required fields can help to ensure information is not left missing and things like drop down lists can help to ensure the right format is submitted for data. 

Analytics and Reporting.

With best practices in place for data capture, your business will have clean data that is available in real-time. Your form builder should also give you the ability to run and share reports automatically with anyone that needs to view the information. You should also have the option to run more advanced analytics to spot trends and patterns in the data that’s being collected. Taking this data-driven mindset can have a profound impact on your operations.

Data Integrations

As discussed earlier in the article, data integrations can be an important part of the form builder solution. Not just to enrich form submissions, but also to ensure that data is synced automatically between your different cloud-based platforms. It’s likely that the form field data collected can be useful for payroll and accounting purposes, or you need the information to sync with other databases that your team uses internally. 

 All of this is possible with a best-in-class form builder that sets your business up to collect, report on, and distribute data to help your organization become more data-driven.

#3. Time-to-value

When implementing any new technology for business, it’s always important to understand the time-to-value for your organization. When selecting a mobile form builder, you should seek to gain an understanding of the types of results companies similar to yours have seen with the form builder. 

Other factors that impact your value and adoption of the platform are things like customer success resources that can be made available to your organization, as well as support channels and training that is available to help your staff learn and answer questions. Best-in-class mobile form builders will have proven success stories and clearly defined processes for onboarding and implementation to guide your business to achieve its goals. 

With digital transformation projects like implementing a mobile form builder, it’s important to remember the change management component and the resources in place to help your team with successful adoption of the technology. This will ensure that you see a return on investment in a matter of months that justifies the business expense by lowering costs, increasing revenue, and creating a competitive advantage. It’s important to find both the technology and the people to support your move toward digitization.

About GoCanvas

GoCanvas’s passion is building mobile products that enable businesses to digitize information and be more responsive to their customers. The cloud-based, customizable app works on smartphones and tablets, empowering SMB customers to digitally collect data and realize its value in improving workflow, communications, and operational processes.

GoCanvas is trusted by thousands of businesses throughout 70 countries, automating millions of workplace activities, making it one of the fastest-growing mobile platforms in the world.

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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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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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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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Beginner’s Guide to Digital Inspection Form Builders

Posted on by GoCanvas Team

Beginner’s Guide to Digital Inspection Form Builders

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What is an inspection form?

Inspection forms are used during the inspection process to collect information that is compiled into a report. An inspection form can be completed using a standard sheet of paper or it can be completed digitally using software for inspections on a mobile form.

Many different types of inspection forms exist and will depend on the use case. For example, there are home inspections, commercial vehicle inspections, building inspections, safety inspections, equipment inspections, operational inspections, and even more. Each of these inspection types will require different form fields to collect the information that is relevant to that industry. Checklist forms are commonly used for many inspection types to give the inspector a simple checklist to ensure all items are filled out.

Inspection forms are most commonly used in the fields of construction, service industry, oil & gas, transportation & logistics, utilities, and various other industries. These industries can benefit greatly from software designed to streamline the inspection process for field teams collecting data.

Why do businesses need software for inspections?

Companies are adopting software to transform their business operations in many different ways. Inspections are a perfect example of a paper-based process that works more efficiently when performed digitally. The reason for buying inspection form builder software is to save time and money for your business. Here is how most companies make the business case and ROI for inspection form builder software:

Eliminating cumbersome data entry from the field

Inspection form builder software allows field teams to capture data from the field using inspection forms. Data is captured in real-time and shared with anyone that needs to see it, rather than relying on paper forms and manual data entry.

Avoiding risk and liability

Most inspections contain information that is very important to a business and needs to be kept safe. With paper documents, there is no way to control if documents are lost or illegible. With digital inspections using software and forms, organizations reduce their risk by having the information automatically saved to the cloud. Inspections can even be performed offline and then synced to the cloud when an internet connection is available again. This ensures that inspection reports are always available, whenever they are needed.

Gaining insights into field operations

It’s really difficult to spot trends and have meaningful insights into your business in real-time when manual processes and paper forms are involved. You may get to the reports, but your staff spends too much time creating reports on a daily and weekly basis. Moving the inspection process to software will give your organization the ability to analyze trends and potential problems. You can even get alerts to know when inspections fail, so you can send someone to resolve the issue right away. All of the reporting is done in real-time and available in the cloud, giving your business greater visibility into field operations.

How does inspection form builder software work?

There are many different features and functionality offered for inspection form builder software and forms. Here are some of the main ways that inspection software can be used:

Dispatch

One key feature of inspection form builder software is dispatch. With Dispatch, you can create, assign, and send tasks to your team from the software application. Field technicians can then head directly to the next call without ever having to check in with status updates. The software will also let you create custom report approvals between employees and supervisors using workflows. The goal of dispatch is to send jobs directly to your workers in the field to improve their productivity and reduce their downtime.

Forms and checklists

Another feature of inspection software is the form builder for field data collection. Forms and checklists that were once paper-based, now become a digital process for technicians to complete on tablets or mobile devices. The best form builder inspection software will allow you to build customized inspection forms using a low-code or no-code platform. This means that you can easily create customizable forms and apps on the platform, without any advanced technical knowledge. Mobile forms and checklists for inspections make the entire process simple. Easily collect all of the relevant information for your industry’s inspection, collect electronic signatures on the spot, and have the information digitized for record-keeping.

Reports

Once the inspection is completed in the field, the next step in the process is to generate a report. Without software for inspections, this might require several hours of additional work to compile the reports and send them to the appropriate parties after the job has been completed. Inspection form builder software streamlines this process by generating a digital report in real-time that can be shared via email and other communication channels.

Analytics

Another important feature of inspection form builder software is the ability to perform analytics across inspections. For many industries, this is useful for visualizing what’s happening across the business and distributing findings throughout the organization. Analytics is designed to allow you to drill down into one facet of your business or keep track of everything in a high-level view. All of this is meant to empower data-driven decision-making that can result in improved productivity and greater profitability.

Getting Started with Inspection Form Builder Software and Forms

The best part about inspection form builder software and forms is that the process to get started is simple. You can get started for free by signing up for an account with GoCanvas and companies that use the platform see a very fast time to value with digital inspections. Here are some common inspection form templates and examples.

Inspection Form Templates and Examples

Building Inspection Form

Looking for a customizable inspection form for your business? This versatile inspection form is designed for building inspections and can be adapted to fit your needs. This digital inspection form simplifies the processes to assess home condition and safety.

The inspection template covers general property condition topics covered during the inspection process, including cleanliness, safety and overall condition. Jot down notes about whether or not the home is in good condition and add photos.

Follow this link to try the GoCanvas Building Inspection Form.

Quality Control Inspection Form

The Quality Control Inspection form enables inspection of mechanical devices and equipment inspections. The form is designed for quality management and can be used by many different industries.  The form is designed to help you detect problems and identify where quality improvement  through corrective measures is needed. The digital quality control inspection form allows you to make recommendations in real-time using inspection form builder software to streamline the process for your business.

Follow this link to try the GoCanvas Quality Control Inspection Form.

Vehicle Inspection Form

Vehicle inspection forms can be used during the pre-purchase phase of the vehicle, to ensure that the car is ready to be sold. Vehicle inspection technicians can use this mobile form to review the vehicle’s condition and assess what repairs are needed in order to have the vehicle in top condition for the new owner. Use this inspection form to ensure customer satisfaction and document your dealership’s attention to detail when performing vehicle inspections for the customer.

Follow this link to try the GoCanvas Vehicle Inspection Form.

Housekeeping Inspection Form

The housekeeping inspection form is designed for companies that provide cleaning services and janitorial services. Use the mobile form to add specific details about the building, including areas that need extra attention from cleaning staff, and the overall condition of inspected areas.

This inspection form helps to ensure that the highest level of standards are met and inspections are performed consistently using the template form provided to employees. Going digital with this type of inspection form allows your teams to complete inspections faster and provide instant feedback from their inspections. For example, if an issue is detected during the inspection, an image can be attached to the report and submitted instantly to have the item corrected as soon as possible.

Follow this link to try the GoCanvas Housekeeping Inspection Form.

Food Service Inspection Form

The Food Service Inspection Form helps restaurants to perform full  inspections of food service operations electronically.

The food establishment inspection form includes all areas of the food service facility and can be completed on a mobile device with a report that is automatically generated with the results of your inspection. This form is essential for restaurants and other service businesses to ensure the quality and cleanliness standards are met.

Follow this link to try the GoCanvas Food Service Inspection Form.

Looking for something different? See another helpful resource that is a compiled list of inspection templates and examples for many different use cases and industries. You can also find all of our inspection apps on the GoCanvas App Store.

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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

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.

Learn more
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.

Watch VIDEO
Closeup of a handshake.

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.

View integrations

Connect with an Expert Today.

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

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How Apps for Contractors Strengthen the Customer Experience

Posted on by GoCanvas Team

How Apps for Contractors Strengthen the Customer Experience

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The construction industry and contractors benefit when they deliver excellent customer service and make it easy for customers to do business. That’s why more companies are investing in technology, relying on mobile apps that can streamline customer interactions and improve productivity for workers.

Research from Gartner explains that “customer loyalty depends on how easy you make it for your customers to do business with you.” The key takeaway from the study is that companies who make business interactions effortless for their customers will have a competitive advantage.

Using apps for contractors, companies can work toward strengthening the customer experience. The short and long term benefits to a business include:

  • Repeat Business –  More likely to work with you again.
  • Referrals – More likely to recommend you to their network.
  • Reviews –  More likely to leave positive assessments of your business online.
  • Competitive edge – Stand out from the competition.
  • Increased revenue – More business for you and your company.

When used as part of an overall strategy to build the customer experience, apps for contractors can improve your business’s internal efficiency and help create a more seamless customer experience.

How Digital Forms Improve Customer Interactions

Apps for contractors are designed to transform how you do business with customers.

Traditional paper forms create manual work for your employees, and it gives your business and the customer very limited visibility into the work being performed. Savvy contractors are instead relying on digital forms and communications instead of paper, so they can provide greater transparency for the customer. With apps for contractors, the entire process is handled digitally.

How it works

Our contractor apps enable you to streamline your process by digitizing the paper forms you use. Digital records reduce the time your team spends completing standard forms and allow them to be more productive. Mobile checklists can be completed in the field on a smartphone or tablet and shared immediately. Our apps for contractors eliminate the duplication of effort and the possibility of clerical errors that often occur when generating routine daily, weekly, or monthly reports. Routine reports are generated from digital data, enabling you to collect, process, analyze, and share information in minutes.

Apps for contractors help to increase transparency and communication with customers, suppliers, and the home office. Real-time data reporting will help you streamline and integrate every step of your business process, from the initial contact with your customer to invoice and payment processing. Additionally, by digitizing your data with apps, the information you need is at your fingertips, whether in the office or the field.

From Quote to Cash

With GoCanvas’ apps for contractors, you can streamline the quote or estimate, invoice digitally, process payment, and easily share digital reports detailing all of the transactions. Digital data ensures that calculations are accurate and error-free by removing the need for duplication of entries. In addition, GoCanvas apps ensure that your sales team and field service representatives always have the latest pricing information when data is pulled from the cloud to their mobile device on-site.

Digital Quotes and Estimates

Using apps like our digital estimate template, you can turn your paper estimates into dynamic digital forms that simplify the bidding process. Our mobile digital estimates app is an intuitive, easy-to-use, and comprehensive app that eliminates inefficient duplication of paperwork, reducing costly errors, and increasing your profitability.

With our digital estimates app, data such as prices and parts is auto-populated into the form, reducing time and errors. As a result, your field representatives can quickly and accurately calculate material and labor costs and provide estimates immediately. In addition, because data is stored in the cloud, estimates can be shared, reviewed, and updated instantly anytime or anywhere.

Digital Invoicing 

Digital Invoices with GoCanvas help to simplify the invoice process for your field technicians and enable them to generate professional, branded invoices directly from their mobile devices. Field representatives can collect and enter pertinent data on the site, automatically calculate costs, and create invoices immediately before leaving the location. 

In addition, data can be integrated with your accounting and inventory software (QuickBooks or similar systems) to eliminate the need to duplicate data entries manually.

Payment Processing

Finally, when the job is over, GoCanvas provides digital payment processing in our app that integrates directly with Square to enable you to collect payments quickly and immediately.

Invoices along with detailed digital reports are produced rapidly on-site, and payment processing is at your fingertips. Our apps for contractors can improve your cash flow, eliminating the need to create and send paper invoices and wait for the client’s payment. Customers will prefer this experience, giving them the ability to review documents digitally and pay securely through a credit card.

Strengthen the Customer Experience and Win More Business

GoCanvas apps for contractors are powerful tools that can help you strengthen the customer experience and provide the digital interactions that customers have come to expect in today’s digital era. Using GoCanvas templates and digitizing your paper forms, your field representatives and technicians can improve the accuracy and efficiency of customer interactions. 

Through powerful integrations, you can enable your teams on-site and in the field with the latest information and give them the ability to quickly and easily perform work digitally. This saves time for your workers, creates efficiencies for your business, and creates an effortless experience for the customer. Contact us any time to learn more about the GoCanvas suite of tools for contractors.

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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

Three inspection workers on job site.

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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A electrician inspecting equipment.

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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