The terms Work Flow and Work Order management are often confused and considered the same, however, in reality, a Work Flow is an integral part of a Work Order process. Sound complex? Some systems are complex and some Work Order systems are extremely difficult to use. This is not necessarily because they have been setup incorrectly but most often because of the nature of the systems used. Atlas is different, it is part of the WWNWT class (clarified in the last paragraph).

Based on customer feedback, we have implemented a simple, yet brilliant way to easily handle Work Flow and work orders. Below we provide a clarification on how we do inspections in Atlas and the steps needed to get up and running. The types of inspections are not “hard coded” into Atlas but instead are fully configurable by the user. We accept any type of back office data and any type of inspection form. Vegetation Management and Pole Inspections as highlighted in this article are just 2 of the many work flows that can be easily configured to meet inspection needs.

STEPS:

The following list outlines the simple steps required in order to get going with inspections in Atlas. Since this article focusses on work flow and work order assignments, some screenshots highlighting those points are provided. Note that some of the steps only have to be setup once.

  • Create user credentials in the admin panel
  • Create the inspection form(s);  Input data can be pasted, which then automatically creates a template and will automatically complete 80% of the form, including the values for the pull downs (it will look at the top row for field names and in the columns for possible values for pull downs).
  • Configure validations and follow up question triggers
  • Setup user hierarchy (who reports to who, and who approves work)
Supervisors (Left) and Crew Members (Right)

Supervisors (Left) and Crew Members (Right)

  • Define workflow statuses that specify the the inspection work flow and approval process.
Some different work order status options and the corresponding next steps.

Some different work order status options and the corresponding next steps.

  • Create additional dashboards (optional)
  • Import inspection data
Many import and export formats are available.

Many import and export formats are available.

  • Assign work to crews (if not already defined in the import data, i.e. coming from a third party system)
Red dot: to be inspected Green dot: inspection completed and approved Yellow dot: inspection not completed. Dot with circle: inspection assigned to me.

Red dot: to be inspected. Green dot: inspection completed and approved. Blue dot: inspection not completed, but in progress. Dot with circle: inspection assigned to me.

  • Perform the inspection
    Items assigned to you are shown in toolbar (envelope).
  • Approve work
  • Create billing statement (optional)
Dashboard showing generated inspection revenue, updated in real time.

Dashboard showing generated inspection revenue, updated in real time.

The above shows some sample screenshots. Your configuration might look different as each organization has different demands or processes for validations. This is easy to configure using drag and drop.

There is more functionality, which goes beyond the scope of this article. For example, we support the capturing images or other documentation to associate with the inspection, but more about that in a later article.

Adding photos is easy

Adding photos is easy

 

WWNWT:

So we wonder: with this flexibility of being able to use any back office data, on any platform, from any platform, scalability, real time data, working connected and disconnected and ease of configuration: Who Would Not Want This?