Field Operations

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.

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3 Key Integrations for Construction Time Card Apps

Posted on by GoCanvas Team

3 Key Integrations for Construction Time Card Apps

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Time cards are widely used in the construction industry to keep an accurate record of hours worked, for project management and payroll purposes. 

The basic function of a time card is to collect employee data. While many businesses have traditionally relied on paper forms or spreadsheets as a way to track hours worked, more companies are now starting to embrace technology solutions for construction project management and reporting.

Paper forms and spreadsheets are now being replaced with mobile forms — allowing workers to complete their time cards simply by using their mobile phones on the job site.

As a standalone application, a construction time card app is fairly basic in its functionality. It will track standard fields like hours worked, type of hours (regular time, over time, or double time), and things like a signature for approval. It goes without saying that the exact fields on a mobile time card app can be customized based on business needs, and no-code solutions make it easy to design the app to your exact requirements.

Although time cards are relatively simple applications, they can become a powerful asset when digitized through mobile apps and integrated into other core business processes.

3 Ways to Elevate Your Business Operations with Technology

This article covers how time card apps can be integrated into the larger business technology and data ecosystem. The ideal state is to make it easy for employees to fill out and automate manual processes for operational staff in the office. Here are three ways to leverage time card apps into your business operations:

#1 Leveraging Reference Data to Save Employees Time

Depending on the nature of the work being performed, employees may need to input data on their timesheets that are specific to the project, customer, or type of work. While this can certainly be done manually each time, it winds up costing employees additional time to fill out all of the form fields by hand or referencing other sources of information.

GoCanvas time sheet apps are built with a feature called Reference Data, which allows you to integrate apps with other databases that you own. Instead of looking up the data on your own, GoCanvas will automatically fill out form fields using data that exists in another database. Pull in specific project codes, customer information, accounting fields, and anything else that you need to include on that time card sheet.

Anywhere your company stores data can be pulled into GoCanvas automatically, allowing employees in the field to leverage pre-filled form fields or drop-down lists to capture information faster. 

Not only does the reference data feature help employees spend less time filling out forms, but it also enables your company to standardize how data is submitted. Required fields and drop-down lists can ensure that no mistakes are made or critical information is missing. All of this allows your employees to spend less time on busy work and gives you better, more accurate data in real-time.

#2 Streamline Operations for Accounting

We covered how you can bring data into GoCanvas to simplify form fills, but you can also connect this data from the field to then sync with other applications your business uses in the office. 

For construction time card apps, the most common example of this would be an integration with your accounting system like or Xero. Not only can data be brought into GoCanvas, but submissions from GoCanvas apps can be automatically synced into those core accounting systems that your business uses.  

Paper forms and spreadsheets create additional manual work for teams. A manual workflow usually requires:

  • Data entry in the field 
  • Ensuring there are no mistakes
  • Communicating back and forth between teams via email
  • Manually entering or uploading information back into the accounting system

All of this creates additional steps in the workflow that are not necessary. With GoCanvas apps, all of this manual work is eliminated and once a timesheet is submitted, it’s automatically recorded in the accounting system. This can help to process payroll and any other accounting tasks faster when data is available instantly from job sites. 

This type of automation and data integration is essential for growing businesses. Paper forms and manual work can not scale efficiently. Anywhere you can leverage technology like GoCanvas to automate workflows will save you time and money that impacts overall profitability.

#3 Integrated Data for Reporting Purposes

Another key benefit for organizations that digitize their time cards is the ability to integrate that data for reporting purposes. 

With construction time cards, you can have them sync with your construction daily reports, giving project managers and stakeholders a real-time view of work performed. GoCanvas helps construction site managers instantly share their daily reports via email as a designed PDF document with images and relevant updates. 

Digitizing time cards and daily reports can have a significant impact on productivity and cost savings. For example, one general contracting company was able to realize a $120,000 cost savings on an annual basis by switching to GoCanvas for mobile daily reports.

Beyond reports, mobile form data can also be used for data analytics performance. This could be in the form of a dashboard that is monitored by owners or project managers to understand how things are tracking toward the plan. For construction projects, these types of analytics insights can help to avoid cost overruns or delays, and having the insights in real-time can allow you to communicate the issues quickly and take any proactive measures.

A study found that 96% of construction data goes unused. Your data that is collected in the field can be a powerful asset when rolled up for analytics. Mobile data platforms like GoCanvas allow you to collect data through forms, and create custom dashboards right in GoCanvas for analytics purposes. GoCanvas also allows you to take the submission data and integrate it with other BI applications your business uses, opening up the possibilities for you to integrate GoCanvas into your broader data ecosystem.

Want to learn more about how mobile data platforms can impact your construction business? Check out our playbook on the power of data analytics for commercial construction.

Playbook: 3 Keys to Unleashing the Power of Data Analytics in Commercial Construction
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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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Simple Guide to Electrical Inspection Checklists

Posted on by GoCanvas Team

Simple Guide to Electrical Inspection Checklists

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A checklist is essential for keeping everything organized. It’s a useful tool for task management, project management, and workflow optimization. Investing in checklist apps can be a game-changer for enhancing your productivity. Thanks to advancements in technology, you can today leverage mobile devices (Apple/iOS or Android devices) with customizable checklists for specific purposes, such as an electrical inspection checklist.

An electrical inspection checklist app allows you to start from templates and customize them to suit your needs. You can input due dates, automate tasks, create subtasks, collaborate with co-workers, and take advantage of other advanced features. 

What is the purpose of an electrical inspection checklist?

An electrical inspection checklist serves numerous purposes. When buying a new home, you must ensure that the electrical wiring is not faulty or dangerous. An electrical inspection checklist can help you verify the safety of the electrical installation. A licensed electrician can use an inspection checklist to verify the health of the electrical wiring. If you did major home renovations with the potential to change the configuration of your electrical components, it’s vital to have an electrical inspection done. The same applies if you’re adding a new home appliance or replacing an existing one. 

Additionally, periodic electrical inspections of an older house ensure that the electrical system is functioning properly. Homes built before 1940 may have outdated lighting technologies, such as knob-and-tube lighting. By conducting an electrical inspection, you can know whether or not to replace obsolete fixtures and whether they are working as they should.

Benefits of electrical inspections

Having an electrical inspection saves you money by reducing electricity bills each month. Through an electrical inspection, your electrician can easily tell if your current electrical system is inefficient. This is particularly true for older houses with knob-and-tube wiring. Upgrading your electrical wiring will not only cut your monthly electricity spending but also help reduce your carbon footprint.

Other benefits of conducting an electrical inspection include:

1. Avert potential hazards

The primary purpose of an electrical code is to ensure safety. Having a licensed electrician inspect your home’s wiring helps prevent hazards such as electrical fires. It also ensures that your home’s electrical wiring is functioning correctly. It’s a reassurance that no mistakes were made during the installation, preventing future mishaps due to faults with your electrical system. System malfunctions and fires are the most common threats posed by faulty electrical components.

2. Compliance with electrical codes

Electrical inspections ensure that your house is not in violation of any federal or local electrical codes. Most local electrical codes follow the National Electrical Code (NEC) implemented by the National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA). When national and local codes conflict, the local code typically takes precedent over the federal code. A local electrician should be well-versed with your local electrical codes and should be able to tell whether or not your home’s electrical system is violating any local or national code.

Who uses an electrical inspection checklist?

Electrical inspectors, property managers, and property owners can use an electrical inspection checklist to execute electrical system inspections for residential or commercial properties. The key purpose of the checklist is to ensure that the electrical system complies with NEC electrical safety guidelines. It also helps identify any electrical hazards such as electrical fires. Besides, you can use the checklist to check whether the equipment is in correct condition and working as it should.      

 

What is checked during an electrical inspection?

An electrical inspection checklist includes the items that ensure your home or workplace adheres to National Electrical Code electrical safety standards. It’s a guidance document that helps in conducting electrical safety inspections for any property. The NFA 70 or NEC is a standard for the safe installation of any electrical wiring or equipment in the U.S. It’s published by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). During an electrical inspection, the following parameters of your electrical wiring are checked:

1. Electrical meter

During an inspection, your electric meter will be checked for possible defects. Other than ensuring the electrical meter is logging the correct wattage, your electrician will also check if the meter is installed properly or if its mechanisms have become defective over time due to wear and tear. Your electrician will also look out for rust and other signs of water damage. If there is a leakage, water can easily seep from the meter through to the main electric panel.

2. Check the circuit breaker capacity

Another critical step during an electrical inspection is to check whether or not the circuit breaker is working as designed. Your electrician will also check if the circuit is at risk of overload, an integral consideration for electrical safety. Electricians primarily inspect if the circuit breaker can maintain electrical currents at safe levels. Additionally, they can determine if there is any water damage, corrosion, or structural and mechanical issues that might trigger sparks or fires.

3. Inspect electrical wires for damage or fraying

Electrical wires that are fraying, dangling from walls or ceiling, popping out of their protective coating, or exposed to damp or wet areas can pose hazards. Your electrician should look out for such issues and make the necessary adjustments. They should not leave any space unexamined but check all wires encased in plain sight and those looped through tight nooks and crannies. Where wiring could become unsafe, the electrician should recommend the right fixes.

4. Ensure that GFCI outlets are wired correctly

Ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCIs) are electrical devices installed on power outlets to cut appliances off from the power supply whenever there are irregularities. These irregularities may include water or moisture infiltrating the outlet or strange objects other than plugs. Overall, GFCIs are essential to home safety. Your electrician will double-check that these devices are in correct working order.

Software and forms for electrical inspection checklists

An electrical inspection checklist app or software simplifies the whole process of electrical inspections. It enables electricians to quickly and efficiently conduct routine electrical inspections using mobile devices rather than regular pen and paper. You can use the app to take pictures that are automatically linked to the inspection record to document all system issues and share the results in real-time.

Check out GoCanvas’s free templates for electrical inspections. Schedule time with one of our product experts to see what GoCanvas can do for your business.

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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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Job Card Apps – Examples & Templates

Posted on by GoCanvas Team

Job Card Apps – Examples & Templates

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What is a job card?

Job cards are used to record all of the pertinent information that workers need to know about a job or task to be performed as part of a work order. Many industries leverage job cards, including construction and contractors, manufacturing, engineering, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and other similar types of field service organizations. 

What should a job card include?

Job cards should include any of the necessary information that will be needed to complete the job assigned. Typically, this would include:

  • Client information and project-specific details
  • Scope of work and what is being done
  • Form fields to note the time, materials, stock, and total cost of work
  • Signature lines to be signed by worker and project manager or client
  • Relevant images and additional notes

All of the fields on a job card will be custom to the work being performed and the job at hand. While these have historically been managed using paper forms for job cards, more companies are switching to apps for job cards to digitize their workflows.

Why use an app for job cards?

Construction Management Software for job cards are gaining popularity with businesses because they can be completed via a mobile device or tablet from anywhere. Instantly having all of the information digitized is a time-saver for teams and businesses benefit from eliminating paper forms. Some of the main drawbacks of using paper forms include:

  • Incomplete or illegible data
  • Lost or misplaced documents
  • Inefficient workflows that require manual work

Mobile apps are designed to simplify the process for everyone involved. Job card apps can be customized to include all of the key details, form fields, and automatic calculations for time and material costs, digital signatures, and image capture for additional context. All of the information is created as a report or PDF and sent automatically to anyone that needs the information. 

Seamless process for job management

Beyond just the basic use case for a job card app, many companies also benefit from integrated job card apps with other business processes related to the job card app. App platforms today are designed to automate work and fit into many of the workflows that happen on a job site or out in the field. 

This means that apps for job cards can be one part of the entire process for job management. You may also want to design the app platform to have other components like quotes, contracts, work orders, dispatching systems, invoicing, and payment processing.

Modern app platforms like GoCanvas can enable your business to streamline how this work gets done, with a completely seamless process for handling all of these different components from start to finish. Using our no-code platform for apps, companies are able to digitize their operations and enable employees on job sites and in the field to easily enter data using their mobile devices.

These tools are designed to be simple, giving businesses of all sizes the ability to embrace digital technologies to save time, reduce risk, and create a competitive advantage for the business. Learn more about how it works by visiting our website, or you can get started for free using one of our job card templates listed in the next section.

Getting started with one of our templates, you will see how easy it is to build and customize apps for job cards and many other key business processes.

Job Card App Examples and Templates

Material and Labor Job Card Mobile App

The material and labor job card app is used to record all of the materials used for a project. The app also has a worksheet for recording all the labor work used for the same project. The material section covers both the acquired materials at the course of the project and the offcuts which were left out after the project.

material and labor job card example

Subcontractor Job Card Mobile App

This subcontractor job card app is used to collect all the relevant information required by the general contractor for an ongoing contract or job. This includes project requirements, the scope of work. estimated cost, estimated completion date, risk analysis, and more. Once the contractor requirements form is complete, the job card sheet is stored for your records and can be edited as needed. This makes it easy for general contractors to maintain current records for construction projects and all other jobs that require the help of subcontractor employees.

subcontractor job card app example

Engineering Job Card: Service Installation Mobile App

The engineering job card app enables the professional engineer to record excavation and reinstatement information. This mobile application can be modified to meet your customer expectations, including preventative maintenance and quality assurance.

engineering job card app example

Looking for something different?

We have hundreds of pre-built forms with a variety of features to fit all of your business needs. Discover more inspections in our Application 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.

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Getting Started with Land Survey Apps

Posted on by GoCanvas Team

Getting Started with Land Survey Apps

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

Is there an app for land surveying?

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

Top Benefits of Using Land Survey Apps

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

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

What to look for in a land survey app

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

Field data capture and report generation

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

Customizable templates

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

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

No-code or low-code platforms

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

 

Key Features of a Land Survey App

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

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

Free Land Survey App for iPhone and Android Mobile Devices

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

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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 VIP Lighting optimized efficiency with GoCanvas

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3 Reasons to Invest in Field Service Management Software

Posted on by GoCanvas Team

3 Reasons to Invest in Field Service Management Software

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

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

The Need for Digitization in Field Service Management

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

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

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

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

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

Key features to look for in technology

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

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

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

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

3 Reasons To Invest in Field Service Management Software and Apps

#1 Workforce productivity and satisfaction

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

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

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

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

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

Productivity increases with mobile apps

#2 Customer satisfaction

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

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

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

Customer satisfaction increases

#3 Data and Analytics

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

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

Time saved on building reports

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

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

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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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7 Examples of Creating Forms & How to Craft Your Own

Posted on by GoCanvas Team

7 Examples of Creating Forms & How to Craft Your Own

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Creating forms to capture data is one of the most important components of business today. When you design a great form, your business is collecting data that then becomes an asset you can use for reports and analysis. 

But if you’ve ever experienced creating a form, you already know that how you structure the form will impact the data that’s collected. You want to be very thoughtful in how you design your forms, making it easy for people to respond, while also getting the required information in the correct format. 

This blog post will introduce you to some of the most common form fields and we will explain some of the best practices for creating an effective form. We will also highlight some of the specific types of forms to consider and examples of how they can be used to collect information. 

While there are many options to choose from, it’s good to remember that forms are simple and with some practice, you can become an expert in no time. With the form builders on the market today, you’ll be able to create forms, improve workflows, and automate key business processes to become more efficient. Keep reading for an overview on creating forms and additional resources to get started.

What are the most useful form fields for different types of forms?

Modern form builders have many different types of form fields that can be used for different business purposes. Some common examples of field types are things like: 

  • Dropdown menus
  • Checkboxes 
  • Multiple-choice selections
  • Scale sliders 
  • Text inputs
  • And much more! 

People have many different reasons for using forms, so it makes sense to have a form builder with a wide variety of form fields to fit every data collection need. With so many options for the types of form fields you can use, it may be helpful to also think about them in terms of categories:

  • Text and Numbers
  • Choices
  • Multimedia
  • Date, Time, and Location
  • Other miscellaneous field types

In the next section, we cover some of the most common types of forms and a brief summary of the types of form fields that are most commonly used. This should give you an idea of how these form fields are put into practice for some of the top business use cases for collecting data.

1. Contact Forms

It’s quite common for businesses to collect contact information from their customers. Contact forms typically use text and number fields to collect a name, telephone number, email address, and similar types of information.

A good practice to remember in forms is to think about how data is collected and designing your forms to standardize the data. For example, instead of using an open text field, you may want to consider using a choice field with a drop-down that lists the available options. 

A great example of this is for fields like “State,” where you would want to list a drop-down of formatted states. In this example, if you were to leave the field open-ended, you could get a wide variety of formats for the same state (e.g. NY, New York) or you could have misspellings that happen by mistake. Giving people a drop-down ensures that data is formatted correctly for when you need to report on it later.

Contact forms can also be used for longer text fields that allow people to submit more extensive information, such as the reason that they are submitting the contact form. 

2. Invoices

Invoices are used as forms to collect payment information, typically in a table-style format. These can be used to highlight an item name or description, the quantity of an item purchased on the invoice, a price per unit, and a total cost for each line item. 

This type of form typically uses text and number fields, as well as a calculation field that can automatically perform math calculations to make it easier for people by pulling in dynamic information like prices and sales tax.

These types of forms are particularly useful if your business has dynamic pricing that is stored in a separate database. Instead of requiring employees to look up the current price, it can be automatically populated with real-time information to make the process more efficient when processing invoices.

Other advanced features include payment authorizations and signature form fields so that customers can sign for credit card transactions or sign off on agreements. Many digital forms can also accept credit card information that people can integrate through payment processors like Square, PayPal, Stripe, and other similar solutions.

3. Surveys

Surveys are one of the most popular use cases for forms and they are used to collect answers or feedback from a group of people. Common examples include asking customers to rate your level of satisfaction or collecting feedback from employees on ways to improve your business. With so many possibilities for types of surveys, it makes sense that they leverage many different types of form fields, including:

  • Choice fields such as a drop-down
  • Multiple-choice questions 
  • Single choice checkboxes
  • Multiple choice buttons
  • Open text and number fields
  • Calculation and summary fields to tabulate scores
  • Slider and rating options (like 1-5 stars) 

If you have a more complex survey, you can also consider using conditional logic in your form. This means that people will be navigated to different options that are dynamic based on their answers to the questions.

For example, if someone answers “Yes” to a question, they may be prompted later on with the option to provide a more detailed explanation for their answer. If they selected “No,” then they may be directed to a different set of follow-up questions. This type of logic allows you to make the form more dynamic and relevant based on the information that is provided in real-time.

4. Inspections

Creating forms for inspections provides form builders with many options to create highly effective and powerful inspection tools. 

Like many forms, inspections often begin with different Text and Number fields where an inspector can add their information and the relevant details about what they are inspecting, such as the address or the reason for the inspection. Inspection forms also include a number of advanced options:

  • Checkboxes to check off items
  • Choice fields to provide pre-selected input related to the inspection
  • Text and number fields to provide descriptions, context, or numerical values to the inspection 
  • Photo fields to upload an existing photo or add new photos using the camera functionality found on mobile devices  
  • Track GPS locations if required to log the physical location

5. Logs

Creating a log is a fairly simple use case for a form. Logs typically are in the format of a table and people can log certain information, but most commonly are seen with companies that need to log work milestones, like keeping track of time or materials.

Log forms vary in the type of information collected, including text and numbers, multimedia, date, time, location, and others. Using digital logs, companies can ensure that projects stay on time and data can be collected from a large number of people for reporting purposes.

6. Records

It’s very common that businesses need to create records. This can be for tracking a certain event, documenting specific actions that have occurred, or even for recording physical items.

When creating a record, forms can help to standardize the data that is being collected. This will depend on what type of record is being created, but most commonly text and number form fields are used to track specific details about the record and the date/time of the event.  

Companies may also use automated notifications that remind individuals when to generate records. For example, if a record needs to be generated every month for a certain action, calendar alerts for the future can be set up when logging a record. 

One familiar example is creating a customer record for a CRM system. Companies create a customer record form to intake information about a customer or update existing information about a customer. The form builders often integrate directly into the customer relationship management (CRM) systems so that companies can use these forms to update and maintain records seamlessly.

7. Checklists

Checklists are widely used in different industries as forms to collect information. The simple nature of a checklist allows people to select from a multiple-choice checkbox item or a single checkbox item. Many times these will use the required field option so that every checkbox requires you to select an answer before you can submit it.

Inspections will frequently use checklists so employees can certify that a long list of items has been inspected. This is another example where conditional logic is particularly useful, giving people the ability to request additional information on the form depending on the check box response.

Should I use templates or state with a new form?

After reading this article, you can see how forms can go in many different directions and there are endless ways to customize the information that’s collected. Many people find that it’s helpful to start from a pre-built template and then customize the form to fit your specific needs. Other people prefer to start totally from scratch, so there is really no right or wrong answer to the question. At GoCanvas, our form builder provides a great deal of flexibility to fit all of your form-building needs and we have an extensive library of templates to help you get started.

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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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Connect with an Expert Today.

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

Let’s Build A Plan Together

A Beginner’s Guide to Checklist Apps

Posted on by GoCanvas Team

A Beginner’s Guide to Checklist Apps

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

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

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

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

What are the best practices in making a checklist?

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

Identify your intent  

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

Start with broad categories

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

Don’t be afraid to get granular

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

Keep it simple

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

Consider extra space for note-taking

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

Create separate checklists when appropriate 

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

What are the benefits of a checklist app?

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

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

Availability across multiple devices

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

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

Easy to customize

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

Advanced features available

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

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

Access to templates

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

Integrations to improve workflows

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

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

Collaboration with co-workers

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

What industries use checklist apps?

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

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

GoCanvas checklist apps

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

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

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About GoCanvas

GoCanvas® is on a mission to simplify inspections and maximize compliance. Our intuitive platform takes care of the administrative tasks, freeing our customers to focus on what truly matters – safeguarding their people, protecting their equipment, and delivering exceptional quality to their customers. 

Since 2008, thousands of companies have chosen GoCanvas as their go-to partner for seamless field operations.

Check out even more resources

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

Let’s Build A Plan Together

Daley’s Drywall Taps GoCanvas For Mobile Field Reports

Posted on by GoCanvas Team

Daley’s Drywall Taps GoCanvas For Mobile Field Reports

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Highlights

  • Streamlined work orders from days into 30 minutes
  • Rich feature set makes it easier to collect important data
  • Improved communications with customers 

Forms Used

  • Field Report
  • Material Order Form
  • Field Incident Report Form

Background

California-based Daley’s Drywall and Taping operates in an industry not known for its use of innovative products or technologies. But this provider of commercial and residential drywall services sped past its 50th year in business due to its progressive approach to meeting and exceeding clients’ expectations for safety, quality and services.

The company’s forward-looking approach has extended to adoption of technology, as long as the technology made a return on investment.

Until 2012 however, one area that remained anchored in paper-based processes was work orders and field reports. Their foremen, working on various sites, continued to fill out and submit these forms by hand. 

With drywall construction projects throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, manual submission of work orders and field reports was becoming a problem. Taking hours or days to return the office led to delays and inefficiencies in processing. With slow returns, and time spent on data entry, manual submission impacted worker productivity, process efficiency, customer satisfaction and ultimately, Daley’s bottom line.

SOLUTION & RESULTS

In November 2012, Daley’s decided to go with GoCanvas, the global leader in mobile forms for business. Daley’s Drywall foremen quickly embraced the GoCanvas solution, a testament to the intuitive interface with the flexibility built in.

It was intuitive enough that forms could be created, deployed and customized by “non IT” professionals within the organization. The solution was fully deployed within three months and field report forms were created within a week. 

Daley’s Drywall found itself in the same position thousands of GoCanvas customers have; the GoCanvas platform—with 14,000+ customizable mobile forms, the form builder and real-time form management—was revolutionizing their internal processes.

Today more than 40 foremen use the Field Report form, which is customized to fit their needs. Daley’s Drywall also uses other forms, including one for accident and safety investigation forms. Over the past year and a half, this company has seen real, measurable results. Some benefits include:

Real Time Information

Prior to turning to GoCanvas, a work order form for a new project would be signed in triplicate by a client on 3-part carbon forms. With projects at residential and business locations throughout the Bay Area, Daley’s Drywall has foremen leading projects ranging from two-man jobs to 70-person operations. These disparate locations meant that it could take several days for the foreman to return to the office and submit the work order.

Once the foreman returned to the office with required paperwork, the work order would be processed, further prolonging billing. All of these delays could result in losing up to 10 days of cash flow. This drawn out process meant that project managers responsible had delayed visibility into the status of each customer project. 

Today, Daley’s collects information more quickly. Users are able to create some field reports within 30 minutes, which is a dramatic improvement from a process that used to take several days.

In addition, the data captured via GoCanvas’s mobile form solution is automatically transmitted in real-time to Daley’s corporate office. Project managers now receive a consistent flow of key customer and project information. They can analyze this information and head off cost impact issues in the field, or other data related to the project. 

More Efficient Service

When filling out work information with paper, sending information to customers took longer. Not only did the office have to wait hours or days to receive information, so too did Daley’s clients.

Moving from paper-based processes to GoCanvas accelerated the turnaround time for delivering field reports to residential and commercial customers. When customers once waited days, they can receive in real time. As a result, customers have more immediate visibility into projects.  

“By using GoCanvas’s mobile form solution, the process of creating and submitting field reports that used to take several days now can be done in thirty minutes – significantly improving the efficiency of our mobile workforce, cash flow position and customer satisfaction.” – Craig Daley, President, Daley’s Drywall

Rich Feature Set

Previously, Daley’s foremen were restricted by paper: The full information they needed couldn’t be done on paper. In the past, a foreman had to take a picture with a cellphone, email the photo to himself, and then attach it for others to view. Not only was this cumbersome, it also allowed room for error.

With GoCanvas, the foremen today can:

  • Transmit work orders back to the central office in real-time
  • Collect e-signatures from customers on-site 
  • Email the signed e-forms to project managers for immediate processing
  • Take photos of work in progress and transmit them as needed in real-time to project managers

This rich feature set assures that Daley’s not only works efficiently, but also removes fewer opportunities for errors. Using GoCanvas strengthens the information employees collect as well as continues to streamline their processes even further.

Flexibility to Meet Evolving Business Needs

As a cloud-based, mobile platform combined with an easy-to-use mobile form builder, GoCanvas provides Daley’s Drywall the flexibility to add new features and functionality to any of their mobile forms. As needs evolve and change, GoCanvas makes editing forms a frictionless process.

For instance, as the cost of their supplies changes, Daley’s Drywall can go into their GoCanvas account and simply update the price list they use. Within minutes, these cost changes will be updated for all their technicians. This allows for an easy transition, with limited possibility for accounting errors.

Other mobile form alternatives make this process cumbersome or costly, weakening the effectiveness of their platforms. With GoCanvas it is a frictionless process at no additional cost. 

Today, Daley’s continues to embrace mobile forms. They continue to look at other paper forms they can convert to mobile, streamlining their processes even further. With faster processes, improved customer service, and real time information, Daley’s sees only benefits from going with GoCanvas.  

“Based on feedback to date from our foremen and project managers, we hope to have all our foremen operating 100 percent paperless in the near future.”  – Craig Daley, President, Daley’s Drywall

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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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