Project Scope:  A real estate inspection business had numerous inspectors out in the field at all times.  To manage their scheduling, the office staff passed around a clipboard that had sheets of paper with each person's name and their appointments for one week periods.  The details of each order were written by hand on an order sheet, including the services they were to perform, the directions to each property, and how much to charge the customer. 

Since the inspectors seldom came into the office, each job order was faxed to the inspector at home.  Credit card payments were accepted over the phone when the appointment was scheduled but were not processed until the work was complete.  However, most customers paid by check or cash which was brought in by the inspectors every two weeks and had to be manually reconciled with the original job order tickets.  Finally, since the inspectors were paid based upon the number of inspections they did, the hand-written job tickets were also used as a basis for determining payroll.

Solution:  After observing the workflows in the office and speaking with the field inspectors, we put together a complex business management solution for the client.  Its core was a scheduling module that graphically illustrated each inspector's appointments on a daily grid (see illustration above), as well as on a weekly and monthly basis.  However, this was only the beginning of the process.

Now, when a potential customer calls in, the office staff immediately begins entering data into the system regarding the customer and his or her property.  They also ask how the customer found them for tracking of business referrals and marketing campaigns.

Once the data is entered, the inspection is automatically assigned to a geographic zone using custom zip code mapping.  This zone is color coded on the scheduling grid to facilitate the booking of an inspector's appointments in the same or contiguous zones, thus improving the inspector's efficiency and productivity.

The price for the services is automatically computed using data provided by the client, such that there is no opportunity for a miscalculation by the office staff.  If a credit card is being used for payment, its number is validated by the application without resulting in a charge.

Rather than faxing the service orders to the inspectors, the orders are now e-mailed.  The e-mails also include all of the order details as before along with a map link that shows the exact location of the property.  Appointment confirmations can also be e-mailed to the customer as well as to other parties to lessen the likelihood of a no-show.

The application also includes a customer relationship management module for follow up to customers as well as referral sources.

When payments are submitted by the inspectors, they are now recorded in the application.  Once payments are recorded, the application is used to compute each inspector's payroll, which is them communicated to the payroll service using a delimited data file.

As you can see from the above, this application has dramatically changed the way this business works, improving the efficiency and productivity of both field personnel and the office staff.

To see what we might be able to do for your business, please call  us at 404.847.9585 or toll-free at 1.877.720.8115 to discuss your needs directly with one of our developers.  You can also contact us via e-mail or by using our web form.