PAPERLESS DATA COLLECTION FOR FIELDWORKERS

APPCAN CASE STUDIES

AppCan digital data collection has transformed the way many of our clients work. Our case studies show how AppCan helped our clients gather, manage and share fieldwork data to meet their exact business needs.

MAKING DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT EASIER

THE PROBLEM

Our client’s field teams needed to carry project packs – a large file of hard copy drawings, schematics, pre-survey data and details of how the work would be undertaken. The pack took time to produce, and two further copies had to be made: an office copy, and a backup in case the original file became damaged or lost.

Their main problems were ensuring the contents of the pack were always available to the team on-site, and that the pack always remained in its original indexed condition – so components of it couldn’t be removed and lost.

THE APPCAN SOLUTION

Using the simple and intuitive ‘Document Distribution’ app creator interface within AppCan, our client was able to upload PDF versions of the documents into their folder structure. This meant time saved on printing triplicate hard copies, and money saved on printing and paper costs.

This new approach also gave our client control over document versions, which could be quickly and seamlessly updated from a central point without needing the physical originals. Additionally, the whole bundle could quickly be issued to new users, such as a newly appointed team.

IMPROVING EFFICIENCY

THE PROBLEM

Our client’s daily safety risk assessment suffered from compliance issues, with some staff members failing to either complete the risk assessment paperwork in the field, or only partially or retrospectively completing it.
The assessments could also take some time to return from the field, putting pressure on the back-office team who had to cope with filing and reporting the returns.

Plus, hard copies didn’t provide for the capture of photographs and couldn’t independently validate time and location details.

THE APPCAN SOLUTION

By turning their risk assessment form into a ‘Data Collector’ application in AppCan, they issued the app to all their team leaders’ iPhones. Their teams welcomed this, as it was quicker, and they liked the facility to photograph evidence of any hazards identified on site.

AppCan provided our client with clear, daily summaries of all the risk assessment submissions returned from site by their teams.

And using AppCan’s ‘Form Builder’, they designed a suitable template to print out individual risk assessments whenever they needed a hard copy. They also used ‘Form Builder’ to create a summary table, which they used for weekly and monthly management reporting of their risk assessment submissions.

STREAMLINING PROCESSES

THE PROBLEM

One of our clients was struggling to support commercial claims for ‘variations’ arising from works instructions issued on site. Very often the required site paperwork wasn’t being completed correctly, or was being completed retrospectively after the works had been undertaken. This was leading to disputes over authorisation of the additional work, and in some cases commercial claims were being rejected for lack of supporting documentation.

THE APPCAN SOLUTION

First, all the paper versions of the required documentation were converted into data collector applications using AppCan. This was pushed out to field-based teams on both their mobile devices, letting them quickly raise and submit the works instruction to their Commercial Team. They could also use AppCan to secure signatures on each submission.

The second step was to use AppCan’s ‘Form Builder’ to create a suitable template to print hard copies of each works instruction.

Our client’s client – who liked the new approach – requested some changes to be made to both the ‘Data Collector’ app and the layout of the printed version. Our client was able to easily make these changes in AppCan, and within a day of the request being made, their teams were using an updated version of the app.

MODERNISING COMMERCIAL VALIDATION

THE PROBLEM

We were approached by a client who had retained a large term contract within the utility construction sector. The commercial terms of their new contract required them to capture, and report upon, actual times spent working on discreet construction activities in the field.

They had a short timeframe to set up new processes, and more than enough existing paperwork to contend with.

THE APPCAN SOLUTION

Our client built a timesheet data collector app using AppCan. This allowed team leaders to easily record the duration and number of man-hours spent on contracts using their mobile devices.

AppCan also let our client format the data for commercial reporting purposes.

The result was not only quick and effective, but inexpensive too. Our client even extended their use of AppCan to report holidays, sickness, training and overtime claims by field staff.

SHARING IMPORTANT INFORMATION

THE PROBLEM

One of our utility construction clients was faced with the challenge of updating field-based teams with new information about the business, such as new procedures and safety issues. Taking teams to a central location meant significant cost and downtime, so they wanted to look at carrying out briefings on-site instead.

THE APPCAN SOLUTION

Our client used AppCan to build a document distribution application called ‘Monthly team briefings’. The briefing was pushed to supervisors’ devices, so they could present it using their mobile devices. They also built a simple data collector application, so supervisors could keep track of who had attended each briefing using names and signatures of those present.

Using AppCan’s Form Builder, our client also put together simple dashboards so supervisors could easily show their monthly information.

Our client has reported greater levels of assurance of both the coverage and the effectiveness of their monthly team briefing process, all of which has been achieved with a net reduction in the total number of unproductive hours being booked each month.

SITE SURVEYS

THE PROBLEM

When preparing pre-site project packs, our client found that the information from surveys took time to get back to them, and varied in quality.

THE APPCAN SOLUTION

A ‘Survey’ data collector application was built for the survey team to use, and ‘Form Builder’ was used to create a template, so each survey record could be printed to a PDF file.

Our client then uploaded these files to the relevant ‘Project Pack’ document distribution application used by the team undertaking the work on-site.

This approach significantly reduced the time taken to receive survey data from sites, as well as ensuring the survey data submitted was consistently of a very high quality.

Centrally holding all the survey records within ‘Document Distribution’ applications on their AppCan cloud was beneficial to our client’s supervisor community too, as they could have the same ‘Project Packs’ assigned to their own devices.