Converting work orders from paper-based to wireless-based systems often supports three separate parts:

1. Back office integration to and from a third party software product or system to support job assignment and the collection of reported, or completed, data

2. A form to complete on the handset that offers job selection. This form might have items that could include photos, parts used, bar coding (or RFID reading), time spent, crew members on the particular job, start time, end time, follow-up notes, completed (or not) and GPS background tracking

3. Store and forward capabilities of submitted data to support workers who are in, and out, of wireless coverage

Your needs may vary. We currently support from simple forms to more complex systems that have hundreds of fields to complete. We also support conditional form logic online, where we are the back office system. Westlake has supported firms of every size in the implementation of automated work order systems using widely available smartphones. Our clients range from small service firms to divisions of Fortune 500 companies.

A Basic Example

ELTEC Elevator Repair in Seattle uses a product called Total Service Pro. This third party product is their internal work order management system. As work orders are created in Total Service Pro and assigned to workers, the data is instantaneously pulled and sent to the corresponding workers' handsets. Each worker selects his or her job assignment, tracks multiple aspects about the maintenance and repair on an elevator and submits the information when finished. This completed information is sent back to Total Service Pro and the record is updated.

Fuel Savings - ELTEC has eliminated the need for printing work orders which required workers to come to the office every morning to get their job assignments.

Time Savings - No lost paperwork, no double entry of data collected (paperwork to database) and fewer accounting errors.

Improved cash flow – Ability to invoice customers faster by capturing completed data in real-time, getting the information back to Total Service Pro within minutes of completion, instead of hours or days!

A More Advanced Example/

For CIPS Marketing Group [Tribune] (See: Case Study): Westlake pulls thousands of distribution routes every month for hundreds of workers for CIPS. We pull the data from a proprietary back office system and deliver it to auto-assigned newspaper drop-offs. The worker selects a work order from a list, completes an assessment that includes bar coding and photo capture on a Sprint Nextel Blackberry and submits the completed data. Once a job has been completed, the work order is eliminated from the list. Workers can do their routes in whatever order they wish as the Westlake system supports route memory. The next time the worker conducts the same route, the route order shifts to the last known order in which the work was conducted. This solution is supported with an integrated telematics (GPS) system matching the workers submitted location and date and time to the actual location of the work point. This is provided in both raw data format as well as with a map representation:

Addresses are geo-fenced. Our solution tracks approximately how many feet an employee was from the denoted address when submitting a record. The distance in this example would be perceived as acceptable.

Visual representation of the route shows an optional bread crumb trail. It also shows direction and route taken, as well as the distance from the physical location to the actual location where the work order was submitted.

No matter what your needs, Westlake can help. We have participated in hundreds of projects such as this since 1994.

For more information, please contact us or complete our needs assessment form to get started.