To get speed and flexibility, we need to set up our safety and quality inspectors for success — even in a dynamic environment with changing requirements.
First, inspectors need to know exactly what they’re looking for and take data appropriately. There should be minimal variance in the way they collect data, even as the specific data elements change.
Second, inspectors need support in adapting to changes. If there’s a new item to check, they need to know immediately what that item is, what the inspection standard is, and what specific data elements they need to collect about it. If they don’t have that information directly in front of them, then we leave open the possibility of significant errors in inspections.
For example:
Third, supervisors and managers of inspection teams need to be able to make changes rapidly and immediately have all inspectors using the same checklist in the same way.
Paper-based checklists aren’t as rigorous as we sometimes need. Even a well-thought-out paper checklist can leave a blank for a measurement, at which point an inspector can write “adequate” instead of “38.2°F,” as in our previous example.
Nor do they provide the speed that we need. Certain delays are built into the paper-checklist process:
Worse, in their efforts to be precise, they often sacrifice flexibility.
When inspectors use a SaaS-based* no-code application platform, they avoid the problems associated with paper.
A no-code mobile app platform with workflow automation changes the game for health, safety, quality, and other inspections. Paper doesn’t come close.
Try Fulcrum free for 30 days to check out the difference.
In our next post, we’ll talk about how to speed up your organization's reaction time to events that happen in the field.
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* If you’re not familiar with SaaS, it stands for “Software as a Service.” SaaS or SaaS-based means that you don’t need to install software on your own computers, and all of your data is protected in the cloud — like money in a bank. Salesforce, Facebook, and similar apps are all SaaS applications.