{"id":1924,"date":"2019-03-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-04T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/devicemagic-dev.peaktwo.com\/blog\/five-steps-to-better-data-from-construction-site\/"},"modified":"2021-09-09T15:46:47","modified_gmt":"2021-09-09T15:46:47","slug":"five-steps-to-better-data-from-construction-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.devicemagic.com\/blog\/five-steps-to-better-data-from-construction-site\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Steps to Receiving Better Data from the Construction Site"},"content":{"rendered":"\"construction\n<\/picture>\n

Construction supervisors have a ton of work on their plate. Consider what a typical work week might look like for them:<\/p>\n

Supervise employees<\/strong>: As the supervisor, you need to check on employees to make sure they’re following the schedule. From time to time, supervisors also have to work on union-related issues.<\/p>\n

Maintain safety standards<\/strong>: Construction work is dangerous. Supervisors need to make sure all staff members attend safety meetings and receive functional safety training. If a safety requirement is missed, employees may suffer, and the company\u2019s reputation will take a hit.<\/p>\n

Work with the customer<\/strong>: Even the most understanding customers are going to have complaints occasionally. For example, a customer points out that construction noise on one floor is upsetting other tenants. A construction supervisor is often the first person to hear these complaints.<\/p>\n

Complete head office requirements<\/strong>: If the above wasn’t enough, there are also forms and paperwork<\/a> to be completed for the head office. Compared to safety and employee issues, many supervisors see these forms as less important. Yet, those forms contain critical data for head office to detect problems and hit corporate goals.<\/p>\n

Five Steps to Receiving Better Data from the Construction Site<\/h2>\n

Work through this list to get better quality data from the field.<\/p>\n

1. Simplify Your Form to the Essentials<\/h3>\n

The more questions you have on your forms, the more likely you are to have incomplete or inaccurate information. As a rule of thumb, use 10 or fewer questions on weekly forms. For monthly, quarterly, or annual forms, you can get away with asking more questions.<\/p>\n

Before you do anything else, analyze your forms critically and see how you can simplify your questions.<\/p>\n

Resource: Do you have a form in the field that requires construction supervisors to enter location information? Entering the same city, address, and zip code data each week is mind-numbing. That\u2019s why Device Magic introduced geomapping<\/a>. With this capability, you can automatically detect the user\u2019s location based on his or her smartphone. That means you receive location data without having to ask for it.<\/p>\n

2. Move Your Forms to a Mobile Digital Platform<\/h3>\n

Construction supervisors have a lot to manage, so don\u2019t ask them to fill out paper forms<\/a>. Instead, use digital forms. They don\u2019t have to worry about their handwriting or dropping off forms at the head office each week. Instead, you can leverage the mobile devices your construction supervisors already have in their pockets.<\/p>\n

Caution: You might think about using a spreadsheet or Microsoft Word document as a form. That\u2019s a mistake. While those are digital files, there’s no easy way to connect them to your workflow. Practically, that means an overworked administrator will have to copy and paste data just to get your data ready for use. Instead of that, use Device Magic\u2019s enterprise form solution. It’s built to integrate directly into Slack<\/a>, Podio, Google Drive<\/a>, and Salesforce<\/a>.<\/p>\n

3. Use a Variety of Fields, Not Just Text<\/h3>\n

Designing easy-to-use digital forms<\/a> probably isn\u2019t something you think about every day; it\u2019s something you do on the side when the need comes up. To get better data from construction staff, use these different form features.<\/p>\n