Mobile Inspection Software and Handheld PDAs in City Government

MobileDataforce has worked with a lot of municipal governments on mobilizing inspections using isnpection software designed for handheld PDAs. Here is a list of the departments in a typical city that conduct regular inspections:

• City Engineering


• City Land Use


• City Forestry


• City Historic Development


• City "Right-of-Way"


• City Traffic Engineers


• City Building Inspectors


• City Fire Marshall


• City Electrical Inspectors


• City Mechanical Inspectors


• City Plumbing Inspectors

Many of these departments may have multiple inspections they must perform. In the Fire Marshall department alone they have quite the selection:

• Fire Alarm


• Cooking Equipment


• Wall Rating


• Wall Penetrations


• Above Ceiling


• Exit and Emergency Lights


• Sprinklers


• Panic Hardware


• Standpipe


• Emergency Extinguishers


• Many more...

These departments and their associated inspections represent a lot of field data collection activities and internal office data entry. It is easy to see why MobileDataforce provides a lot of mobile inspection software to these agencies and departments.

Business Analytics and Mobile Handheld PDAs

We have many very large customers that are deploying hundreds and even thousands of mobile handheld PDAs to their field services and inspection teams around the world. In addition to all of the efficiencies derived from using mobile software applications that synchronize directly to enterprise database applications back at the office, there is the additional value of being able to analyze services and business metrics in real time. Let me explain:

If your company provides a defined list of services, it is easy to include a feature in your "mobile work order" application that will record the start and stop times on a service. Let's say you have 100 field service technicians all performing the same list of services. It will not take long to understand the average length of time it takes to complete that service. Your job estimates will become increasingly accurate, your planning and scheduling processes better defined and accurate and the individual performances of your field service technicians can be monitored based upon your analysis of the time it takes to complete each service that you offer. You can pay bonuses or give raises to service technicians that have above average service performances and that generate above average profits for the company.

These business analytic features can be included in just about any mobile software application for use on handheld PDAs developed on the PointSync Mobility Platform.

Inspection Software for Mobile Handheld PDAs, Service Requests & Asset Management

Many of our customers that use mobile handheld computers and PDAs for mobile inspections also use them for mobile service requests and asset tracking. Let me provide you with a scenario:

1. A mobile handheld computer is used to perform an inspection on the condition of a building (company asset)


2. The information collect from the conditional assessment inspection is synchronized to the enterprise Asset Management system so it can be documented, analyzed and work and budgets assigned to maintain it.


3. A service request is dispatched to the handheld computer or PDA of the service technician. The service technician completes the work that was dispatched to him/her and the service request is closed and synchronized with the enterprise Asset Management system

Inspections, Asset Management and Service Orders often go hand-in-hand. All three of these functions benefit from the use of mobile handheld computers and PDAs. The data that is collected is in the field, the company's assets are located in many different areas, the work that is performed is also done in many different remote locations.

MobileDataforce's PointSync Mobility Platform is designed specifically to support all of the enterprises connectivity between the enterprise's database applications and mobile field workers.

This link goes to a document that can be downloaded called "28 Reasons to Mobilize".

Mobile Handheld PDAs and Inspection Software

It is very important to select the appropriate and relevant handheld PDAs, Smartphones or Tablet PCs/Laptops when preparing for an inspection project. I have collected many of the most important considerations and published them in a document called, "Selecting Appropriate Handheld Computers".

Inspection software developed for handheld PDAs is unique and requires specialized attributes. It must work in disconnected environments, in rugged and remote locations and support the functionality built into your mobile handheld PDA.

I hope you find this helpful!

Mobile Inspections on Handheld PDAs and the Web

Inspections are of little value if the data is not shared, analyzed and provides relevant information necessary for making solid business decisions. We have worked with several customers who have reported that historic data from field inspections simply got placed in paper file folders and stored. The data was not accessed or viewed by any decision makers!!!

Most if not all of the field inspection software applications that MobileDataforce have worked on synchronize data from mobile handheld PDAs to a database back at the office. Often we are asked to create web interfaces to this data so project participants and management can quickly login and review the collected inspection data from anywhere in the world via a web browser. We customize a series of reports that display the data in relevant and helpful formats for quick and efficient viewing and understanding.