Alpha Software Blog



A Sample Field Inspection App for Field Service Teams

Companies that operate on paper must go paperless to streamline daily tasks, improve data sharing and find insights in their field data and customers' service reports. We've digitized an equipment inspection process and made it into a powerful field inspection app that you can try and customize.

 

If you're still doing inspections on paper, it's time to evolve. Companies that make customer and service data available to their field workers when and where they need them score better on customer satisfaction surveys. Business leaders that can quickly access analytics on inspection reports are in a better position to find issues quickly, predict future problems, and improve the bottom line.

To accomplish this, inspection managers can turn their paper inspection reports into mobile apps that record inspections on mobile devices and digitize this information for sharing and analysis. While many organizations are rushing to develop inspection apps for field service, many of these apps initially fail because they do not include critical features and capabilities necessary to make field workers productive on a mobile device.

To showcase important mobile app features and an outstanding user experience now required in modern field service apps, the team at Alpha Software built “Inspections Solutions” — a sample app that can be turned into inspection software for field workers in virtually any industry.

Field inspection app for field workers doing inspectionsInspection Apps For Field Workers: A Sample Field Inspection App

Inspection Solutions digitizes the field inspection process for inspectors who need to inspect construction vehicles in the field; however, the app showcases functionality relevant to many other field service apps. This mobile inspection app works on iOS and Android devices and can be customized to serve field inspectors in any industry.

This sample inspection app for field workers includes critical features now required in modern field service inspection apps, such as offline capability, bar code scanning, voice annotation, and digital ink. We used the Alpha Anywhere rapid mobile application development and deployment platform to create this hybrid app. While targeted for use on inexpensive tablets the Inspections Solutions app is responsive and can work on smartphones.

After opening the field inspection app, users scan QR codes (using their device’s camera) to look up properties about the vehicles they are inspecting. (A sheet of six QR codes for different types of vehicles is supplied with the app so users can walk through the user experience for different types of vehicles.) Data about the vehicles are stored in a client-side data cache that comes with the application.

Users then see an intuitive interface optimized for field workers who must collect detailed inspection form data using one hand or a finger. The Inspections Solutions app features critical inspection checklist items such as:

  • The ability to take and annotate pictures, and you can dictate free-form notes using the device's built-in speech-to-text (voice annotation) capability or mark up those pictures using digital ink.
  • An in-app checklist that features customized controls for easy data input and capture of inspection information, including large Pass/Fail buttons that are easy to tap – and the ability to swipe left or right between screens of inspection questions.
  • Access to the device hardware to store data and rich media files relating to the inspection
  • The ability to work offline to conduct inspections in areas without cell or WiFi connection.

When the inspector finishes inspecting the construction vehicle, s/he signs the mobile form and submits the record. It is then synchronized with the data source of the user’s choice. The app can even stamp the job site location, time, and more.

Inspection managers or other business leaders can access inspection reports real time in the back office.

View a field inspection app with that you can customize for any inspection project.Click here for full details on this inspection app for data collection. You can read about its complete inspection capabilities and a video of the Inspections Solutions application in use.

You can download the source code for this inspection app from Alpha Software’s Github account and modify it for use in your company’s inspection process. This inspection app was created using out-of-the-box Alpha Anywhere functionality with a minimum of custom JavaScript so it is easy to modify. Developers can customize this sample inspection app directly from Alpha Anywhere.

Need assistance modifying this app for your specific needs? Contact the Alpha Software Professional Services Group

Interested in inspection management apps for other industries? View more of our app templates and examples for:

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About Author

Amy Groden-Morrison
Amy Groden-Morrison

Amy Groden-Morrison has served more than 15 years in marketing communications leadership roles at companies such as TIBCO Software, RSA Security and Ziff-Davis. Most recently she was responsible for developing marketing programs that helped achieve 30%+ annual growth rate for analytics products at a $1Bil, NASDAQ-listed business integration Software Company. Her past accomplishments include establishing the first co-branded technology program with CNN, launching an events company on the NYSE, rebranding a NASDAQ-listed company amid a crisis, and positioning and marketing a Boston-area startup for successful acquisition. Amy currently serves as a Healthbox Accelerator Program Mentor, Marketing Committee Lead for the MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge Launch Smart Clinics, and on the organizing team for Boston TechJam. She holds an MBA from Northeastern University.

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The Alpha platform is the only unified mobile and web app development and deployment environment with distinct “no-code” and “low-code” components. Using the Alpha TransForm no-code product, business users and developers can take full advantage of all the capabilities of the smartphone to turn any form into a mobile app in minutes, and power users can add advanced app functionality with Alpha TransForm's built-in programming language. IT developers can use the Alpha Anywhere low-code environment to develop complex web or mobile business apps from scratch, integrate data with existing systems of record and workflows (including data collected via Alpha TransForm), and add additional security or authentication requirements to protect corporate data.

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