Today’s top businesses use analytics to power smarter, faster decisions. Learn how to harness the power of your data and propel your business to new heights.
In this on-demand webinar, Device Magic experts Connie Leeper and Mae Bouley share the most common analytics dashboards clients are using to optimize performance and fuel growth.
Maximize profit margins: Compare timesheets, invoice rates, and fixed costs.
Drive cost-efficiency: Eliminate bottlenecks and strategically allocate resources.
Mitigate risk: Identify and address small issues before they become big problems.
Discover the potential of data analytics firsthand by filling in the form.
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How Digital Work Orders Impact Your Key Business Outcomes
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Centurion is the largest heavy haulage provider in Australia. They deliver national supply chain solutions to the resources, energy, construction & retail sectors throughout Western Australia, Queensland & the Northern Territory...
Companies rely on collecting data in order to operate. In a fast-changing world, companies that focus on streamlining and improving their data collection processes will be able to do more. The good news is that it’s become easier than ever for businesses of all...
In this webinar, Device Magic experts Connie Leeper and Mae Bouley will share the most common analytics dashboards clients are using to optimize performance and fuel growth, including inspection reports, work orders, and timesheets.
Since 2008, GoCanvas has been the go-to for job site management and compliance in construction and manufacturing. We are on a mission to eliminate paperwork, streamline workflows, and become an indispensable tool for any business owner. Together with Device Magic, our customizable mobile forms solution delivers seamless simplicity and optimal productivity. See why our 4 million monthly users chose GoCanvas and unlock your potential with our user-friendly platform.
Simplify fire protection management and enjoy streamlined workflows. With Device Magic’s real-time data collection and reporting, ensure compliance and make quicker decisions for faster response to identified issues. Our form builder and GoCanvas partnership enable easy operation management from your mobile device. Enhance fire inspections, safety and compliance, and payments to achieve efficiency and protect your bottom line with Device Magic and GoCanvas.
How Digital Work Orders Impact Your Key Business Outcomes
Is your company still using paper sheets to manage work orders? The drawbacks of using paper forms are often hidden, making it difficult to understand the true impact of paper forms on a business…
Centurion is the largest heavy haulage provider in Australia. They deliver national supply chain solutions to the resources, energy, construction & retail sectors throughout Western Australia, Queensland & the Northern Territory…
Companies rely on collecting data in order to operate. In a fast-changing world, companies that focus on streamlining and improving their data collection processes will be able to do more. The good news is that it’s become easier than ever for businesses of all…
See how the “Cost of Doing Nothing” is actually costing a lot; costing time, costing money, and costing your reputation. Learn how GoCanvas, with its customizable digital forms and automated workflows, can help you streamline your operations, improve your communication, and meet deadlines.
How Digital Work Orders Impact Your Key Business Outcomes
Is your company still using paper sheets to manage work orders? The drawbacks of using paper forms are often hidden, making it difficult to understand the true impact of paper forms on a business…
Centurion is the largest heavy haulage provider in Australia. They deliver national supply chain solutions to the resources, energy, construction & retail sectors throughout Western Australia, Queensland & the Northern Territory…
Companies rely on collecting data in order to operate. In a fast-changing world, companies that focus on streamlining and improving their data collection processes will be able to do more. The good news is that it’s become easier than ever for businesses of all…
Are you overwhelmed with paperwork? Find out how delaying the digitization of your operations can adversely affect your billing, slow down your team, and put your reputation at risk.
With GoCanvas’ easy-to-adopt digital forms and seamless integrations, you can streamline your operations, improve communication, and ultimately get paid faster. Don’t let paperwork hold you back – digitize your operations with GoCanvas today.
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Improving Your Operations with Field Service Management Software
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How the Best Field Services Businesses Use Mobile Apps
Mobility and field service: the talk has been happening forever. The idea that real-time information improves customer service and boosts technician productivity is changing…
How The Best Field Service Businesses Use Mobile Apps
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Introduction
Mobility and field service: The talk has been happening forever. The idea that real-time information improves customer service and boosts technician productivity is changing the entire industry. According to a Field Technologies Online survey, 33 percent of sampled field service organizations said their top strategic initiative was optimizing mobile operations with the latest technologies.
What is the real problem with paper documentation? How are companies using mobile apps? What are the features that strengthen your business? What’s the best way to transition to a mobile app?
Working with thousands of field service companies, we’ve heard these questions a lot. So, we decided to share our answers in this ebook. We hope this information helps you think strategically about mobile apps and make the best decision for your business.
Chapter 1: The One Thing Robbing You of Billable Hours and Slowing Your Sales Cycle
You work hard to provide the best service. But paperwork orders, service reports, estimates, and other documentation rob you of time and money. Here’s how:
Paper forms make you wait hours or days for information
Paper forms take hours or days to return back to your office. Slow information delays sending out invoices and following up with customers.
Worse, your employees spend too much time getting information. They may have to run to and from the office just to get the details of the next job. This struggle means fewer jobs per day and fewer billable hours.
In both cases, sharing information via paper is a struggle. Going mobile removes this issue; all forms filled out on a mobile app are immediately available in the cloud. Receive information from the field in real-time. With dispatch, you can easily send mobile notifications to employees with information about jobs.
For instance, at the beginning of the day, you can send out mobile work orders to technicians with the time of appointment, the customer’s address, and a brief note about the customer’s issue inside the work order. Your employees immediately receive the information on their smartphone or tablet. Less time waiting, more time working.
You’re wasting that information… again
Even after your reports return from the field, employees have to type up that information. If you spend just one hour a day on data entry, that adds up to over 200 hours in a year.
More than time, data entry creates opportunities for errors. You may have heard about the National Health Service error where 20,000 men were pregnant in Britain. It wasn’t a fluke of nature, just bad data entry.
While hilarious, data entry errors are common. In field service, these errors lead to inaccurate invoices, incorrect purchase orders, and unnecessary work.
Going mobile dramatically reduces these issues. All information is immediately available in the cloud and can be emailed to customers or partners.
Furthermore, that information can be integrated into other software programs and databases. A simple CSV export makes it easy to take your information from the cloud into a variety of programs including QuickBooks, Salesforce, and more.
Paper allows for errors
Even before data entry, paper forms allow for a variety of mistakes. First, there are the forms that never come back at all. They get lost somewhere between the work site and your office. This can be a huge issue: one company found that missing work orders were costing it up to $10,000 a month.
Not only do you have missing forms, but also unreadable text, missing fields, and bad information. This makes billing and paying employees harder and slower. Going mobile ensures you get accurate information the first time. No more handwriting, just clear text. Add automatic time and date stamps to know how long your employee was on site working on a problem. Use your own list of materials, pricing, and more inside an app. With calculations, it’s easy to create an accurate quote on-site.
Tired of forms returning incomplete? Make fields required. One click ensures that these fields can’t be skipped.
Human error is a part of life, but going mobile reduces errors and creates more accurate reports.
You wait to get paidfor
Even after onsite work is finished, there’s more work to be done just to get paid. You have to bring back the work order, fill out an invoice, and then send it out to a customer. This can add on days or weeks to your sale cycle.
But what if you could get paid on-site as soon as you finish? With GoCanvas, you can. Simply fill out your form, and calculate the price of the work inside the app. Our mobile payments functionality allows you to charge on-site. Accept credit or debit cards, or take cash or check.
Your customer gets a receipt in their inbox as a part of their copy of the work order or invoice. You get paid the same day your work is done. And that sales cycle that took forever? It’s done in one day.
Using paper for your records costs you time and money. Worse, it often causes more errors along the way. Going mobile allows you to get paid the same day you do your work, and share information in real-time inside your business and with your customers.
Mobile apps shorten your sale cycle, increase your billable hours, and save your office hundreds of hours a year.
Chapter 2: Improve Your Internal Visibility with Mobile Apps
Whether you have two or 200 employees, your business’ success depends on their hard work. Passionate, motivated team players are the difference between surviving and thriving. But in field service, your employees are often far from the office.
So how do you know which employees are carrying their weight? Time cards and field reports can be one way of trying to find out. But paper forms take time to get back, and are limited in information. Mobile apps can improve your internal visibility and ability to make strategic decisions faster.
Time and date stamps
Let’s say your paperwork order says the work took three hours, but what if the customer only remembers the work taking two hours? This puts you in an awkward position with your customers and employees.
By going mobile you can create more accurate records of hours worked. Simply open up a work order or service report, and the time is automatically entered. The app can even calculate the time worked based on clocking in and clocking out.
Time and date stamps ensure better accuracy and fewer issues for both invoices and payroll. Mobile time cards help businesses spend less on tracking employees and more on their actual work.
Pictures
Sometimes, the work you need to do is obvious. You need to fix a major water leak or install a heating system. But for some businesses, like pest control, the work can be less obvious. Or if your work is technical, like pool maintenance, text can be confusing to customers. For the office, text isn’t verifiable.
Adding pictures can be incredibly helpful for your business and customers. With one click, a mobile app gives you a great visual. It’s easier to show termite damage with a photo than with words. Visuals make it easy for both your office and customers to understand. Photos educate clients and build trust in your work and analysis. Your business enjoys visual confirmation that work is either needed or was performed.
Dispatch
Sending out job information to field employees can be a hassle. Either they have to drive to and from the office between jobs, wasting time and gas. Or, they have to constantly check their email or phone for job information. How can you be sure that they get it, and follow through on the work?
A dispatch system improves communication and provides more oversight. Dispatch with GoCanvas can also track the progress of these appointments.
The dispatch feature will show when employees opened the dispatch when they started filling out the work order, and when it was completed. Sharing job information becomes easier, and you know when the job is done in real-time.
Oversight is never perfect. However, mobile apps allow you to have a better understanding of field employees’ work — not only when and where employees work, but also what they do. Being available in real-time also helps you make strategic decisions about your workforce and ensure you have the strongest and most effective team.
Chapter 3: How a Texas Moving Company Saved $175,000 with GoCanvas
Highlights
Savings of $175,000 in processing and labor costs • Improved information collection
Stronger management oversight
Apps Used
Bill of Lading
Damage Report
Background
Founded in 1996 by owner Kenny Baker, AB Moving has a fleet of 72 trucks, serving customers in Dallas, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio. The company is headquartered in Allen, a Dallas suburb, with 15 office employees, and all moving is done by subcontractors. The company and its 72 mover teams complete as many as 700 jobs each week.
AB Moving has been moving homes and businesses for over 20 years. AB understands they aren’t just moving customer’s possessions, but their lives.
Yet paper wasn’t serving the company well. In 2009, AB Moving started using a sophisticated software application to record customer, job booking, and move data. But drivers were still using paper bills of lading and damage reports.
The result? All movers had to come into the office at 5 a.m. to pick up that day’s assignments. Though AB Moving had sophisticated technology, it struggled to get information from the field integrated back into its system.
Brent Davis, the general manager, knew they could do better. “I was an auto adjuster for 17 years,” Brent says, “and was also the guy who test-piloted all the new technology. I’m just blessed with the ability to see how things can be done in the most efficient way.”
So Brent began looking for a technology fix that would eliminate as much of the paper as possible.
Solution & Results
In January 2014, AB Moving made the switch to GoCanvas, the global leader in mobile apps for business. Thousands of organizations leverage GoCanvas’s cloud-based, software-as-a-service mobile app platform to replace cumbersome paper forms with highly customizable mobile business apps.
Businesses can search from over 16,000 ready-made apps in the GoCanvas Application Store that can be customized to an individual business user’s needs. In addition, GoCanvas offers a do-it-yourself app builder that enables non-technical users to build their own apps in minutes.
Over the past year, AB Moving drivers have stopped using paper and started to use Samsung Galaxy tablets and GoCanvas mobile apps. The company has discovered measurable results, including:
Substantial Financial Savings
Previously, AB Moving took payment with a manual credit card machine or over the phone. However, this process was slow, cumbersome, and had high fees. By going digital, AB Moving has lower fees, and estimates they’ve saved $125,000 in fees alone.
AB Moving’s previous process was also time-consuming for office employees. They would spend hours matching contracts and credit card receipts, taking credit card information over the phone, and printing bills of lading. By streamlining this process, AB has saved another $50,000 in employee time.
In total? AB Moving has saved $175,000 by switching to GoCanvas.
Measurable Time Savings
AB Moving’s drivers work through many parts of Texas, often far from the office. Previously, all drivers would have to come into the office at 5 a.m. to pick up their jobs for the day. Davis recalls with a cringe, “If it was raining outside, they would come in and get the papers all wet. It was awful.”
With GoCanvas, the office can set up all moves the day beforehand. The light dispatch feature allows AB Moving to pre-populate bill of lading forms so movers know where they need to go and what to do. The matching and scheduling process that once took hours or days is now available in minutes.
Dispatch reduces the number of unproductive miles for drivers. AB Moving saves gas and time.
Improved Data Collection
AB Moving also receives stronger and more accurate information from GoCanvas. Previously, it would have to compensate customers up to 90 days after the move, since it didn’t have proof that items were already damaged.
Today, movers can easily take photos of items damaged before moving. With all information in the cloud, the photos are easy to find and always accessible. Photos have reduced the number and costs of post-move damage claims.
In addition, bills of lading are required by state law to be signed. Davis explains, “There are fines for incomplete forms. With the GoCanvas application, the movers can’t upload the form until everything is complete and it is signed. It’s bulletproof now, and that is saving us a lot of money in fines.”
GoCanvas does this by easily making fields required. With paper, nothing stopped a form from being returned only half-finished. A driver can skip a field in the GoCanvas mobile app, but if a field is required, he won’t be able to submit the app until the required fields are completed. So AB Moving no longer struggles with missing information in their forms.
Real-Time Oversight
With a dispersed workforce, AB Moving struggled to get information about its workforce in an easy manner. Who booked the move? How did the customer hear about AB Moving? Were any packaging supplies sold?
Today all reports are submitted immediately, so AB Moving can understand information in real time. The company is even taking this data further: data from each job is integrated with a home-grown application that AB Moving developed.
Through that application, Davis says, “Now I can see exactly what every mover did, who booked the move, the referral source, any boxes and other packaging supplies we sold. We can track anything we need to.”
What once were disparate files are now seamlessly connected and available for understanding not in a week, but the very same day.
Flexibility to Meet Evolving Business Needs
As a cloud-based, mobile platform combined with an easy-to-use mobile app builder, GoCanvas provides AB Moving the flexibility to add new features and functionality to any of its mobile apps. As needs evolve and change, GoCanvas makes editing apps a frictionless process.
For instance, as prices change, it’s easy for AB Moving to upload a new price list into its GoCanvas apps. The company doesn’t need to rely on IT support or have any knowledge of coding. With GoCanvas, it’s a simple drag-and-drop interface that anyone can use.
Today, AB Moving has ditched paper for mobile apps. Having taken back time in the workday, the company can focus on helping people move easily throughout Texas.
Chapter 4: How The Best Field Service Companies Go Mobile
You know going mobile has benefits for businesses. But any change is an investment of time and money. So how are the best companies in the industry getting started with mobile apps?
1. Start with a common form
Choose a form you use every day. Maybe it’s a work order, or perhaps a service form. Choose something that you use frequently and move it to a mobile app. Starting with a form you use daily means you’ll be able to test it often and perfect the process.
There are multiple ways to build your app with GoCanvas. You can build it from scratch with our mobile app builder. Our simple drag-and-drop platform makes it easy and requires no coding.
Another option is to choose an app from our mobile application store. We have over 400 mobile apps in field service alone. All of these can be edited for the perfect fit.
Don’t have time to build your own? Not a problem, send us your form, and we’ll convert it for you.
No matter which way you go, choosing a frequently used form makes the initial process easier, and more sustainable in the long run.
2. Think about the information you need and want
Look at what does and doesn’t work in your form now. Are you consistently missing certain information? Consider making these fields required. Tired of inaccurate invoices? Calculations are a great asset to ensure accurate charges.
With mobile apps, you can collect more information. Why not add a before and after image for customers? Perhaps add a coupon for customers in your PDF receipt. Automate labor, material, and tax calculations so your field techs don’t have to manually calculate the math. Or add barcode scanning to help your technicians understand the equipment they’re working with.
Mobile apps provide endless options to engage customers and improve your understanding of your business. Depending on what you want to know, GoCanvas mobile apps can make that easier to find out.
3. Test it
To ensure your mobile app works best, test with a small group of employees to find any issues before full implementation. Often, companies will test with technologically savvy users and those more comfortable with flip phones. Have these employees use the mobile apps as they would in their day-to-day work.
Test periods also help generate employee interest. Even during a trial, co-workers start seeing that using GoCanvas makes their work faster and easier. Employees begin to ask to go mobile!
4. Be open to feedback
To successfully implement your mobile app, you need to listen to the experiences of employees using it. Even after testing, it’s crucial that all your employees using GoCanvas feel like they can bring up issues.
Sometimes the issue is small. One field service company struggled to implement because technicians had nowhere to put their gloves. With the gloves on, they couldn’t use the touch screen. By giving employees a belt clip, not only was the company able to remove the pain point, but also got more employees to use GoCanvas.
Testing is crucial to help make the process smooth to start. Listening to feedback and addressing employees’ pain points will ensure wider implementation and long-term success.
5. Contact us
Every customer at GoCanvas is assigned a consultant. Available via phone, chat, or email, we are here to answer any of your questions. Something that may seem impossible, could need a simple fix. With years of experience, we’re ready and available to make your mobile app experience and adoption a seamless and easy transition.
No two businesses, even in field service, are alike. However great field service companies use similar tactics to ramp up with mobile apps effectively. These strategies, from starting with one common form to feedback, will help ensure that your whole team uses GoCanvas and that it helps you do business.
Ready to Rethink How You Work?
GoCanvas has helped a variety of businesses across multiple industries transform their safety processes and rethink their efficiency, ultimately saving them money. Why not do the same? Reach out to one of our experts today to kickstart your process revolution.
Improving Your Operations with Field Service Management Software
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Achieving Efficiency by Eliminating Workflow Bottlenecks
There’s a reason why certain challenges come with paper-based processes and workflows. Outdated and manual practices contribute to common industry issues such as client dissatisfaction, project delays, slow payments, disjointed communication, and repetitive work. By going digital, you’ll be empowered to finish high-quality projects on time and budget, achieving operational efficiency.
In this on-demand webinar, Brent Nieder, VP of Product, and Lauren Sunday, Product Training Lead, will give you insight into:
What operational chaos looks and feels like
How going digital brings operational control
Two real-world scenarios from the construction and manufacturing industry
Connect with an Expert Today.
We’ll help you put together the right solution for your needs.
Achieving Efficiency by Eliminating Workflow Bottlenecks
Webinar Overview:
Outdated and manual practices contribute to common industry issues such as client dissatisfaction, project delays, slow payments, disjointed communication, and repetitive work.
In this on-demand webinar you will gain insight into:
What operational chaos looks and feels like
How going digital brings operational control
Two real-world scenarios from the construction and manufacturing industry
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Converting your paper forms into digital forms instead? The switch from paper to digital brings you new possibilities on what to include and how to create your forms to optimize your results. This article covers some of the ways you can create better forms using digital form builders.
Instead of trying to replicate your exact paper form, it can be useful to think outside of the box to come up with smarter ways of collecting, sharing, and storing your information. You can definitely keep the same look and feel of your paper forms in the digital world, so think about how the technology can build upon what you have to make it even better. Here are 13 ideas on how you can start creating forms to maximize your results.
13 Ideas to Create Better Forms
#1. Make Fields Required
You never know what information your workers are going to jot down when it comes to paper forms. Many times you are left with missing fields or incorrect information that creates additional work to fix the mistakes.
But with digital forms, you can create required fields that help to ensure information is filled out completely. A required field you may see marked with an asterisk to denote that this field can not be skipped over. This is a simple feature of a digital form, but it can go a long way to helping you get the information you need for complete data.
#2. Create Standard Fields
While making fields required will give you more complete data, creating standard fields will help you to get more standard data. Standard data may seem unimportant, but when you go to run a report you will find that standard fields ensure you have accurate reporting.
Take for example a form field that is asking you to fill out a client’s address, including their state. If the client lives in DC, your submission from the field could be formatted as several different options (i.e. Washington, Washington, D.C., DC, etc.). When you go to run a report of all clients in DC, you may be left with incomplete data since the spelling is inconsistent throughout your data.
The best practice here is to standardize how you collect data with the digital form. By making the state field in this example a “drop-down” list with predetermined options, your data will come out uniform. Be careful with open-ended form fields and instead use a drop-down list or check boxes to ensure information is formatted consistently across submissions.
#3. Include Images
By moving from paper forms to digital submissions, you have the ability to include new types of media in your submission. Including images can be added to your form, so that an employee can take photos on their mobile device and have it attached to their submission.
This can be useful for things like inspections, where you also have a report that is generated after the completed inspection. Showing images in those inspection reports bring greater detail and more value for the client to see exactly what is being documented in the report.
#4. Collect Signatures
Signature capture is an essential part of many forms, from invoices and quotes to inspections and audits. This feature is simplified with digital forms, giving your teams the ability to sign documents directly from a tablet or mobile device. Make sure that you include signature capture on any of the forms where you need to verify approval or want a digital record in the future of an agreement between parties.
#5. Track GPS
Another added advantage of digital forms is the ability to use native mobile features, like GPS tracking captured by a cell phone. You can include this information in a form submission so that the exact location is captured and documented in your final report. This can be useful for use cases where you need to document and verify the exact location, like a job site inspection for example. GPS coordinates can also be tracked as a hidden field, so it’s collected automatically when the worker is on a specific job site.
#6. Include Calculations
One of the biggest challenges for field teams can be calculating math on the spot for an estimate or invoice. An added benefit of using digital forms is that you can actually create calculations within the form, so that all your calculations are performed automatically. For the person filling out the form, they will simply need to input the correct numbers (i.e. hours worked or parts used) and the calculation will be done for them. This simplifies the job for teams and ensures that there are no costly calculation errors.
#7. Enable Barcodes
Many industries rely on barcodes on the job, including industries like Retail, Manufacturing, Construction, or transportation and logistics. Digital forms can include barcode scanning, allowing your teams to submit this information directly from their mobile device or barcode scanning hardware. This feature saves companies time by enabling them to quickly scan codes into their forms without having to manually type 12+ characters into the form field. It also helps reduce errors in data collection, since typing out data manually can often introduce human error. Barcode scanning and QR code scanning is another great add-on to enhance your digital mobile forms.
#8. Enable Payments
Creating forms with the option to collect a digital payment is a nice feature for companies that work directly with clients. This feature can help your business get paid faster and simplify the process for clients with seamless digital payments and invoices. Many digital forms on the market today will allow you to connect to a payments platform like Square, so you can capture credit card payments directly from your mobile device or tablet from a customer.
#9. Enrich Data
A simple paper form can be time-consuming to fill out all of the appropriate information. When you move to creating your forms digitally, you can also leverage tools for enriching your form field data with information that is already known. For example, you could bring in data from your CRM system, so that a customer’s address is pre-populated in the form, rather than having that filled out by hand. This type of data integration allows for faster form submissions and makes the job easier for employees.
#10. Integrate data
Similar to a scenario where you would want to integrate data into your forms, you may also want to have a data integration set up to take your form submission data and push it into another database. For example, you may have an integration set up with payroll or accounting systems to process invoices or timesheets based on the data that is submitted within a form. This can streamline and automate your business processes, and helps increase productivity for your staff. Consider data integrations when creating forms, as this can be another advanced way to leverage the technology to save your business time and money.
#11. Collaborate with Others
When creating forms, you may also want to take advantage of the ability to assign and collaborate with different people at your organization. Form builders will allow you to dispatch or assign a form to one person at your company and then have a workflow setup to pass the submission to another person to complete their assigned task. This type of collaboration and workflow features within forms, allows you to create forms that can be distributed to multiple people in real-time.
#12. Share Your Results
After all of this hard work you have done to collect accurate and rich information through your form submissions, the final step is to make sure you are putting that information into the hands of anyone that needs it. This could be in the form of a report that is automatically sent via email to the appropriate stakeholders, or it could mean using analytics reports to identify trends in your business. A digital form builder allows you to share information in real-time, cutting down the time it takes to create and share reports. Analytics are becoming more widely adopted to spot trends within the submission data to discern patterns.
#13. Ensure Compliance
Another way to create better forms is to use a platform that is built to support compliance. OSHA and HIPPA are two of the common compliance requirements in the US when collecting information. When selecting a platform for creating digital forms, be sure that they can support compliance needs for your organization when handling this critical information. Most best-in-class form builders will have this feature built into their platforms, but it’s an important one to remember when you embark on creating your digital forms.
About GoCanvas
GoCanvas is a mobile platform that makes it simple for any business to automate how work is done, replacing outdated processes and expensive paperwork. The GoCanvas App works on all smartphones and tablets, helping companies easily collect information across their organization, share it instantly with others and gain real-time insights on their business operations.
GoCanvas® is on a mission to simplify inspections and maximize compliance. Our intuitive platform takes care of the administrative tasks, freeing our customers to focus on what truly matters – safeguarding their people, protecting their equipment, and delivering exceptional quality to their customers.
Since 2008, thousands of companies have chosen GoCanvas as their go-to partner for seamless field operations.
Check out even more resources
Gown Your Business with GoCanvas Partner Program
Join our Partner Program and gain instant access to our global network of thought leaders and industry experts enjoying shared collaboration and collective success.
Explore how Forte Supply Chain Solutions partnered with GoCanvas, combining in-house industry expertise with our white-label mobile forms to revolutionize their processes.
As someone in the construction industry, your foremost goals likely include keeping your employees safe and getting your job done right. To achieve these goals, it’s crucial to keep a daily construction report.
If you’re still keeping records with pen and paper, now is the time to transition to the digital sphere, which will make your life easier and your company more competitive.
Before we discuss the ways a daily construction report can transform your construction company’s day-to-day functioning, it’s important to define what a daily report actually is. Put simply, it’s a sheet that describes all the tasks your company is on schedule to complete that day and includes crucial information associated with your current job.
For example, your daily report will note whether it’s supposed to rain or if you need to order certain materials. With a daily report, you can track your progress and have detailed documentation in case anything goes wrong.
Here are a few things that could go on a daily report:
The weather forecast: Clouds, snow, rain, and thunderstorms will all impact the job in different ways—for instance, rain will make the ground wet, which could cause timeline delays or postponements.
Daily meetings: Logging meetings with vendors, colleagues, employees, and customers is a critical component of thorough recordkeeping. Including meetings in daily reports will ensure that everyone’s on the same page about what meetings are happening and when.
Visitors: In the construction industry, it’s vital to keep track of who comes to the job site and when—whether it be inspectors, customers, or third-party laborers.
Potential delays: From supply chain issues to site conditions, an array of unforeseen circumstances can impact timelines. If you’re anticipating any delays on the horizon, make a note of these in the daily report.
Productivity: To ensure your team is working hard and performing well, you can use the daily report to keep track of employees’ collective and individual progress.
Why Is an Online Daily Report in Construction Important?
You’ll Stay Organized… Without the Paperwork
What’s more frustrating than having to hunt through hundreds of pieces of paper to find the document you need? Pretty much nothing. In addition to organizational challenges, the pitfalls associated with pen-and-paper records can include hard-to-read handwriting, version control issues, inability to access information remotely, and the potential for information to be lost due to everything from sprinkler system malfunctions to spilled coffee.
To stay organized without pesky paper, opt to move your daily construction report online and enjoy perks such as:
Convenience: With less time spent wrangling paper records, you’ll have more time to manage employees and projects on the job site.
Portability: As you move from job to job, your files come with you.
Speed: If a customer or colleague needs a certain piece of documentation, you can find it fast.
Being Thorough Is Easier With Automated Processes
Choosing to complete your daily construction report online means having the option to automate your data entry processes. Using smart technology to streamline the process will take the stress off you by removing the potential for error associated with manually entering information.
Stock and Maintenance Management Is Streamlined
Maintaining company vehicles, following device service schedules, and monitoring ever-fluctuating levels of materials can be a full-time job in itself. With online daily construction reports, you can have all your information in one spot, making it easier to determine when something needs to be serviced or purchased. You’ll never go to the job site unprepared, because with an online daily construction report, you’ll know what’s going on at all times.
Your daily construction report should log this maintenance-related information:
The frequency of oil changes
When brakes, fluids, and tire pressure were last checked
Which inspections are coming up, as well as when these were last performed
Any leaks or other issues observed
Records of prior ownership
When deliveries are arriving
When you last ordered certain materials
Safety Will Never Go Unchecked
With online daily construction reports, you’ll always know when your equipment needs to undergo maintenance, which will go a long way toward ensuring you have top-notch tools on your job site and eliminating the chance of on-site injuries or equipment failures.
You can use the audit checklist component of your online daily report to monitor the following:
Equipment logistics: Log inspection information about heavy machinery.
Health and personal safety: Note the location and availability of first-aid kits.
Information about electrical wiring: Are the job site’s electrical fixtures in adherence with local guidelines? When were inspections completed?
Fall-related safety measures: Did your crew members follow fall prevention guidelines?
Fire-related safety measures: Were fire hydrants and other fire-preventative items readily available?
You Can Keep a Tighter Budget
When you’re running a company, you don’t want to spend money frivolously, so adhering to a strict budget is important. It can be all too easy to deviate from your budget when you don’t have a record of how much things cost or when they were purchased, but an online daily construction report provides you with estimates, price quotes, and more. Plus, you can submit work orders straight from your report, so you’ll know how much things will cost before you call in the troops.
You Can Transition Old Forms Into an Online Format
If you’re used to pen-and-paper documentation, you may be hesitant to make the transition to the digital sphere because you don’t want to lose access to all the information you accumulated manually. Don’t fret if this sounds like you, because you can transfer all your paperwork from past years into your new digital system. Not only will you not have to worry about losing anything, but your information will be on a secure online platform that’s much safer than your file cabinets.
Customer Support Will Always Be There for You
When you’re keeping manual records yourself, you don’t have anyone to call for assistance. This isn’t the case when you use online daily reports, because there is always a support team that can help you navigate challenges and provide answers to your questions.
Choose GoCanvas for Your Daily Reports
Using an online daily construction report will help you keep track of logistics and simplify your day-to-day processes. If you’re interested in finding an online daily report program to streamline your business, you’re in luck: GoCanvas is committed to helping business owners digitalize their daily reports. Are you ready to transition to online daily reporting? GoCanvas is here to help you navigate this change. Start today and impact your business for the better. For more information, schedule time with a product expert.
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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Smarter, Faster, Safer—Improving Safety Compliance with Mobile Technology
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Introduction
The Problem with Compliance Today
Compliance: there are many ways we talk about it. A necessary evil, a chore, a struggle, or a critically important part of the business. We all know how crucial it is, to help save lives and keep projects on track.
Whether you are in construction or waste management, there are a variety of things that must be checked, some multiple times a day. Equipment, proper safety gear, and clear fire exits could all be things you check and recheck. A simple oversight such as using the wrong pair of gloves can lead to disastrous consequences.
You may think you have your compliance bases covered. But did you know that manual processes can undermine your safety? They are an inherently bad way of collecting and sharing information. It can take hours or days to get information back to your office. Even then, it can be difficult to understand and be missing crucial information.
Even worse, it takes additional time to enter all this information into your system. A broken piece of equipment, thus, could take hours or days to fix, just because of slow reporting. This lag drains time and money; employees spend time on data entry and filing instead of other tasks. Instead of making decisions, you spend hours collecting and formatting the data just to get an understanding of what’s happening in your business.
You deserve the bigger picture, especially on compliance. You deserve to get that quickly, with accurate information. You deserve to get it in a way that allows you to make the best decisions for your business. But getting the bigger picture with paper or Excel spreadsheets is costly and inefficient.
In this guide, we’ll show you how the strategic use of mobile technology can help you save hundreds of hours and get actionable intelligence in real time. With more accessible and affordable options for smartphones and tablets, there are new ways to ensure your work is safe and more productive than ever.
More than faster work, you’ll get greater insights and stronger record keeping
Chapter 1: How to Think Strategically About Compliance and Technology Today
15 years ago, the iPhone didn’t even exist. How has mobile technology changed the safety industry? Mobile technology has had a huge impact on the safety industry within the past few years.
Today with a smartphone or tablet, an employee out in the field has the ability to conduct and record safety inspections and share their findings faster than ever before. Thus safety coordinators have access to the most current information.
Even if employees are working in an area without an internet connection, they can still use mobile technology to collect and share data. For example, our clients can use GoCanvas in the field and users can sync their data once they regain internet access.
Has technology made compliance easier? Has anything become more difficult in the past 15 years?
Technology has certainly made it easier for organizations to achieve regulatory compliance. Many safety management software systems allow users to quickly and easily generate accurate regulatory reports, such as OSHA 300, 300A, and 301 logs.
Managers can also use safety management technology to reinforce their employees’ compliance with safety processes. This can be done simply by using the system to schedule email notifications to alert employees to complete a training course or to perform an inspection or corrective action.
As regulations change, technology makes it easier to update inspections and collect data quickly. Instead of printing off new forms that take hours or days to reach the field, edits can be made quickly to a mobile form, and be ready for immediate use.
Since 2007, regulations and safety training requirements have increased in complexity, which has made using safety technology even more crucial.
Does technology give companies a strategic advantage? Why or why not?
Technology absolutely gives companies a strategic advantage because it saves their employees time and energy by allowing them to automatically generate required reports and collect data more efficiently than a manual process. A safety inspection done on paper, for instance, could take hours or days to make it to the office.
In addition, safety management software allows safety professionals to easily track and identify trends in their companies’ reporting, giving them increased visibility into their business operations.
For large work sites, corporate sites, or mobile workforces, safety management technology helps promote consistency in record keeping and reporting.
Still, many companies resist adopting time-saving technology. Why is that?
Change, in itself, is often difficult and professionals may be reluctant to modify their established business practices. In addition, a company must feel not only that a piece of technology will help save time, but also that it will be easy for employees to use.
Moving forward, technology is changing faster than ever before. What strategic questions must companies keep in mind?
Because technology is advancing at such a quick pace, keeping an eye out for emerging trends has become extremely important.
Companies should be mindful of how these trends and changes will impact their users’ needs and how they could be used to better serve them. Collecting feedback is a great way to determine the next steps that users would like to see.
How do you overcome barriers to adopting technology?
One specific client ensures their software’s navigation is clear and its design elements are simple and straightforward. They believe that it’s important to work with customers throughout the implementation process to ensure that their specific business needs are correctly assessed, that the software is configured to best suit their organization, and finally, that they are familiar with all available tools and features.
It’s wonderful if an organization decides to use safety management software, but if they aren’t leveraging all that the technology has to offer, they won’t get the maximum return on their investment.
Chapter 2: Four Ways Mobile Inspections Ensure Better Compliance
The whole point of inspections is to ensure compliance. They help you ensure your work is up to code and your employees are safe.
Here are four ways mobile data collection ensures better compliance:
1. Receive each and every report
Perhaps it got lost on the way to your office. Maybe you go to look up a form later on and just can’t find it. Either way, you’re missing a report. It happens to many businesses. In fact, up to 11% of documents are misfiled or lost. That’s 11% of your time wasted. Worse, lost inspections create a massive liability risk.
Going mobile ensures you receive every inspection. Every finished safety inspection is stored securely in the cloud. There, you can access each and every data point.
GoCanvas also makes it easy in case OSHA audits you. With all safety inspections stored in your GoCanvas account, you can quickly retrieve your safety inspections to prove your continued dedication to a culture of safety.
A mobile data collection ensures your business has all the safety inspection records you need to stay in compliance and give you an accurate bigger picture.
2. Wait, what does this say?
Reading handwriting can be an art. You can have amazing inspectors, but if you can’t read their writing, they might as well have written the information in Latin!
Mobile data collection allows you to gather that information in a clear and easy-to-understand way. Every inspection has typed text. Easily read it at your computer, or even on the go on a smartphone or tablet. You’ll spend less time trying to translate and more time getting work done.
3. Right time, right place
A safety inspection done on paper can be hard to verify. How can you be sure that it occurred at the appropriate time and place? Some companies have tried to game the system: New York is taking up a case against a business that hired unqualified peopleto pose as licensed site safety managers. These bad eggs, however, can put additional pressure on other businesses to prove that their work sites are safe.
Going mobile can provide additional information to protect and validate your inspections. Automatic date and time stamps prove when an inspection took place. With one click, you can have GPS capture your location, proving that the inspection occurred at the right location. You can also take photos, providing visual information to back up your inspection. Need a signature? Just sign with a finger or a stylus.
All of these features provide additional proof that manual processes can’t provide. They create external validation, protecting your business even further. Digital processes keep your business safe and help you gather more information than ever before.
4. No more holes in knowledge
It doesn’t matter how many asterisks or underlines you use; sometimes forms come back incomplete. With forms taking hours or days to come to your office, it’s often too late to go back and get good information.
A mobile inspection removes this headache. With one click, you can make the fields required. Even if an employee skips a section, they won’t be able to submit their inspection until they fill out the required fields. No more chasing down employees days later, just easy-to-read and complete inspections at your fingertips. Creating accurate reports relies on having the best data possible. Mobile technology reduces human error and allows you to gather more information in real-time. Say goodbye to illegible handwriting, missing paperwork, and other holes in your information. Say goodbye to incomplete information and say hello to accurate, real-time data each and every time.
Chapter 3: How TE3CO Leverages Data Analytics to Unlock Business Potential
Now that TE3CO has implemented GoCanvas to help with field operations and management, they’re able to save time and money by eliminating manual processes and having data that’s accessible for decision-making.
About TE3CO
TE3CO provides mission-critical pressure relief technology and services to customers across the oil and gas industry. They employ a highly trained and capable workforce of field technicians and engineers.
The Challenge
Before working with GoCanvas, TE3CO relied on spreadsheets and emails to manage their ticketing process but found the system time-consuming and difficult to track. The business had grown from 3 units to over 140 units across the U.S. and Canada in a short period of time, and the ticketing process had become an “absolute nightmare” in the words of John Kovac, Technology Integration Manager at TE3CO.
Highly complex
Multiple clicks
Manual data entry
Time-consuming
Traceability was difficult
The Solution
TE3CO partnered with GoCanvas to simplify its ticketing process and increase efficiency:
Minimize rework and ensure accuracy by automating data entry
Streamline data collection through one database
Identify bottlenecks and improve process efficiency with data analytics
Spend less time on reactive admin tasks, allowing more time to focus on a proactive growth strategy
“The ability to fill out field tickets real-time, have the customer sign real-time, and be able to track it from its fruition through the final process was absolutely game-changing for our company,” said Kovac. “It used to take until the 15th or 16th of the following month to close out every ticket for the month, averaging approximately 85 to 90 tickets a month. Now, we’re able to have the month closed by the first or second using such things as workflow and being able to follow it from beginning to end.”
The Impact
Now that TE3CO has implemented GoCanvas to help with field operations and management, they’re able to save time and money by eliminating manual processes and having data that’s accessible for decision-making.
“Once our technician fills out the ticket, there’s no more transferring of data. GoCanvas handles all that,” Kovac said. “Using reference data and integration data, you can have everything in a dropdown, so every person is filling out all the generic information the same way.”
Software for the field service industry has the potential to make a significant impact on overall efficiency and productivity. Ensuring data is consistent, standard, and accessible can enable organizations to make more informed decisions.
“I have five apps that are being brought into analytics. From there, I can break that down by district, by camp, by company – once it’s in, you can drill into it as far as you want to,” Kovac said. “The world is at your fingers, and the more information you can get for one of your customers, the better it is.”
Leveraging software built for the field,TE3CO has found they’re able to:
Free up 20-30 man-hours/month
Save ~$60,000/year in resource efficiency
Identify leading indicators in 10 minutes vs. three days
Track tickets in real-time ticket
Reduce billing time
“There’s so much that you can do when you have the proper information to know that you’re running your company properly and that you’re charging properly and taking care of your customers properly,” Kovac said.
How GoCanvas Analytics Works
GoCanvas Analytics provides a seamless solution to report on submission data, visualize what’s happening, and distribute your findings throughoutyour organization. Drill down into one facet of your business or keep track of everything in a high-level view. Uncover trends and make data-driven decisions that result in improved productivity, cost savings, and increased revenue.
Chapter 4: 9 Common Misconceptions About Safety and Environmental Mobile Inspections
Working with thousands of companies, we know there can be a lot of confusion and misinformation about mobile data collection, especially for safety and environmental inspections. Below are ten of the most common misconceptions we hear and how mobile inspections actually work.
Misconception #1:
Our employees are not technically savvy. They rarely use or even send an email. We like the idea, but it will be too hard to implement here.
Over the past couple of years, GoCanvas has worked with thousands of organizations both large and small. Many of our customers are in safety positions. The beauty of mobile data collection with custom digital forms with GoCanvas is that it can be as easy as you’d like. You can create mobile forms as simple as our vehicle inspection form or our environmental controls inspection checklist. Your employees can have a digital experience that is simple, fast, and painless.
Admittedly, some of our customers have had hesitation in this transition but were able to get through this. Their advice to other companies includes:
A. Start with a test group
Companies often use our free trial period to test out their digital data collection for any potential issues. Often, they will start with technologically savvy users and their complete opposites. Even during the trial, employees start seeing that GoCanvas makes their work faster and easier. Employees begin approaching management and ask to go mobile!
B. Integrate with your back-end system
People love easy-to-use technology. With GoCanvas, it’s easy to integrate your data with backend safety software and remove the job people hate most: data entry. One New England client says it best:
“When employees get used to finding the data easily, they will ask, ‘Hey, what about this other safety checklist?’”
Not only will this mean your employees are free to do other tasks, but they also become advocates on your behalf.
Misconception #2:
We use a lot of different devices: Android tablets, iPhones, and even Blackberries! It’s just too complicated to deploy for our business.
This is a common concern, especially if you have been looking at custom mobile app development. Often, this will lock you into one platform, and can be difficult not only with a range of devices but also limits your future mobile strategy!
With GoCanvas, we want to help you do business your way. So our platform works on iOS, Android, Blackberry, and some Windows devices. If you need a rugged device or a large tablet, you can still enjoy an intuitive and easy inspection experience with GoCanvas.
Misconception #3:
My team writes faster than they type. This will slow down our processes further.
Our data collection process can bypass the need for typing in several ways to make your inspections or surveys even faster. They include:
Drop-down lists: providing a range of pre-written answers to fill in
Checkboxes: click once, and all done.
Reference data: add your own information such as equipment information or location- or client-specific data, into forms to make your inspections faster and more accurate.
On top of these powerful features at GoCanvas, many smartphones and tablets have the talk-to-text ability. So even if your users have to fill in descriptions, they can talk into their device, and it will transcribe for them.
In all, most of our customers find that mobile data collection takes less time, has fewer errors, and also allows them to capture more information than ever before.
Misconception #4:
I have team members in places where they can’t get the internet or Wi-Fi, so going mobile won’t work for our business.
This is a common issue for companies. GoCanvas understands that lots of companies have workers in remote places. Internet isn’t always available, especially in the safety industry.
With GoCanvas, you don’t need to be connected to the internet to fill out forms. Once you have access to the internet, all your forms will be automatically submitted to the cloud.
Misconception #5:
We use many different carriers. I don’t have the time to figure out how it would work with each one.
Our emphasis on flexibility and ease of use has meant that we work with various carriers. We can work with any carrier in any country. We have customers in California, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and even Singapore! Our customers live and work in over 60 different countries and use over 100 different carrier networks.
Wherever you are, whatever network you use, GoCanvas can work with you.
Misconception #6:
I like capturing data on mobile devices, but I don’t need information in the cloud. I need to integrate it into our other systems.
Being able to collect and store data quickly and efficiently is great, but we go far beyond easy information collection at GoCanvas. We have an open API, which allows customers to integrate their GoCanvas data with almost any software or database.
You can integrate with:
Google Drive
Google Calendar
Google Sheets
Dropbox
SMS Text Notification
PDF
Quickbooks Desktop
QuickBooks Online
SignNow
HubSpot
SQL
Asana
Slack
Salesforce
Sharepoint
Microsoft Teams
Misconception #7:
I’m too busy; I don’t have time to implement another program.
Transitioning to GoCanvas isn’t like other programs. Change an app and use it within the same hour to a prebuilt template and test drive it right away. No matter what industry you’re in, we have something to help you get started today.
With years of helping thousands of companies transition, we’ve seen many companies fully implement GoCanvas well within the first 30 days.
Misconception #8:
Building a mobile safety inspection app? I don’t have time to learn how to do that.
Our solution builder is simple to use. You don’t need to learn any coding or any HTML. Simply drag and drop the features you want. You can have a simple custom option in five minutes, or a more powerful data collection process in under an hour.
Still don’t have the time? No worries, we can convert your form for you. We’ll convert your first form into a custom option for free. Through the whole process you’ll have a point of contact keeping in touch, and ensuring that our solution fits your needs. Our product specialists are available via phone and email. We are always happy to answer any of your questions.
Misconception #9:
Digital data collection will mean a strain on our data costs, making it
What kind of information will you be gathering? If you will be using simple text or checklists, our forms are as light as an average email. That’s light for data, and probably won’t affect your data costs.
Want to use images or GPS? That can cause some additional use of data. However, GoCanvas is flexible and you can use it on Wi-Fi or offline. That can help reduce your use of data in the long run.
Conclusion
Compliance will always be a crucial part of your job. The rules and regulations aren’t going away. If anything, they’re becoming more complicated than ever. Today, you can make it easier for your company to gather, collect, and visualize this data. Digital transformation allows you to collect and use this information in real-time.
Unchain yourself from manual processes and start saving time and money today with GoCanvas. Send us your first form, and we’ll convert it into a mobile version for free.
Ready to Rethink How You Work?
GoCanvas has helped a variety of businesses across multiple industries transform their safety processes and rethink their efficiency, ultimately saving them money. Why not do the same? Reach out to one of our experts today to kickstart your process revolution.
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