Best Practices for Moving To Electronic Job Tickets (DSM Mobile) Charlie Warrell, CEO Peak Software July 2019

Paper forms have been around our whole lives, we’ve come to both love the simplicity and hate the logistics of it.  This article is dedicated to a helping you safely transition to DSM Mobile electronic job tickets.  Rest assured you’re using the right tool as we have invested countless hours of field testing and attention to detail to make DSM Mobile simple enough for your operators regardless of their education or age.

 

First a few questions to demystify the process and help you with configuration.  Feel free to skip to the checklist at the bottom if you’re only concerned about the actual startup.

 

Why will your operators use it and what is in it for them?

 

1.      Because you tell them it is part of their job.  It’s not optional and it helps the entire company to be more efficient, accurate and competitive.

2.      Because it’s the method to record their time in which they get paid.

3.      Because they will start and finish their day much easier and quicker.

They may be resistant at the start but after a short period, they will prefer electronic to paper.

What will you get out of it?

 

1.      Your job ticket data filled out every day promptly, accurately, and available for billing and payroll.

2.      The DSM Schedule that Dispatch views will automatically update to the appropriate job statuses.

3.      Better information on your job ticket because the Mobile App enforces work flow.  If you want a vehicle inspection, job safety assessments, blade usage information, equipment usage, etc., you will get it because they can’t complete the job and finish their payroll time until they comply  (advanced features such as those are hidden to keep things simple unless you need them)

4.      Reduced chatter and time of operators bunching up in the morning to get their job assignments or afternoon at the shop talking about the details.

 

What technology is involved?

 

1.      Both Android based equipment or Apple will work well.  Typically Android equipment is less expensive.

2.      DSM Mobile uses a browser based application which is simple to install and doesn’t require going to an app store, complex setup and is automatically updated.

3.      DSM Mobile will only work when you have internet connectivity.  The trend is “the world” is being connected wirelessly everywhere.  Connectivity is already amazing and over time, your connectivity options will only get better and better.  If you don’t have connectivity, you simply need to make any notes on paper and then enter the data when you get back to a service area.

Will you use Phones or Tablets or some combination?

 

The decision point is based on whether you are using the Customer Signoff feature or not. Customer Signoff is essentially the site foreman’s review and digital signature of the work completed.  An email of the Signoff form can also be sent at completion.   If you are using that feature, then we recommend a basic company tablet they hand to the customer to sign.  Handing over an operator’s personal phone might be awkward and has a smaller screen.  Either way the functionality works.

 

 

How is each operator’s time handled?

 

If you have multiple operators on a job ticket, you have a decision to make.  Does each operator enter their own time by accessing DSM Mobile on their phone OR does the helper’s time simply mirror the main operator’s time?  This is often best discussed with Peak support staff as it can be complicated due to the many configuration options we make available to satisfy a variety of situations.  The general rule is no matter what works for you, keep it consistent across all teams!  A crew member either always enters his time or he mirrors the main operator. 

 

Generally speaking, the best situation is to make each operator responsible for their own time.  If you do Customer Signoff’s requiring tablets for the foreman, it is no problem to use phones for the crew.  Mixing and matching devices is not problem, however a crew’s version of DSM Mobile screens are slightly different from the operator foreman’s.  For example, the task of entering the work done, JSA’s, etc. is done on the foreman’s device and not available on the crew’s device.

 

An example when it might be best for the crew’s time mirror the operator is when a crew travels everyday with the foreman or there is a large number of crew members on the job.  In this case, DSM has an option to allow the foreman to edit crew member’s time. 

 

 

How to start implementing DSM Mobile

 

1.      Start simple with just the electronic job ticket with one operator.  Choose a good candidate.  Everyone in your company will be able to do it because it’s simple but start with someone who is at least somewhat technology savvy. 

2.      Go through the process with them in the office (not in the field) so they’ve got it.  Run through the whole process setting job statuses finishing with the end of day button which captures travel back to the shop.  Make the operator physically press the buttons as people learn best by doing. Have some fun.

3.      Select a day and leave the paper behind. Do NOT ask the operator to do two systems.  They only do the electronic ticket starting that day.  Telling them to do paper in addition sends the strong message this is just a test and it might now work thus giving them an option to resist.  Instead Dispatch helps them as needed.  At the end of the day, dispatch prints their electronic ticket and puts it in the collected ticket pile.  At this juncture billing stays the same, everyone is comfortable. The operator is happy as he has nothing to drop off reducing a step in their day.

4.      After you review the job ticket, have the operator check his hours on his phone or tablet.  They will appreciate being able to see what they’re going to be paid for.  If there’s a problem, it can be resolved promptly while everyone’s memory is fresh.

5.      Once that operator no longer needs assistance, introduce DSM Mobile to a second operator.  By then dispatch and billing will have flushed out any snags specific to your operation and knows how to tell operators to handle those situations.   Although you can create cheat sheets, they are typically not needed.  DSM Mobile is very intuitive and automatically prevents operators from skipping required sections.

 

If you start with this process, your transition will be smooth and stress free.  The key is starting slow, not overwhelming dispatch and keeping on top of it every day.

 

Moving to deeper integration of DSM Mobile with your business

 

From this point you should keep introducing all operators and crew members to DSM Mobile job tickets.  Once you have solid adoption and use then you can consider adding Pre-job checklists, JSA/exposure forms or other features of DSM Mobile.    You can also bill electronically without printing all the tickets in house.

 

Our technical consulting team is here to support your efforts so please reach out for training, consulting and support by calling us at 801-572-3570 #2 or emailing Support@peakinfo.com