Background on Mobile Data Collection and KipTraq
Making the switch from paper to digital inspection forms is a win in itself. You save time, money and headaches while improving operations and safety. And KipTraq allows you to do this immediately by allowing you to build a form in minutes.
How to Demo Video – Get Started Building Forms in Minutes
Watch this quick video to learn how anyone can start building data collection forms in minutes
While sometimes it may be enough to get started with our quick mobile form, over time it’s best to take advantage of all the digital tools available in KipTraq to make sure your inspection report data is accurate, valid and actionable. It’s also advantageous to have a platform that allows your inspectors to quickly report and resolve issues on the spot. And finally long term to take advantage of all our reporting and analysis capabilities to automate many of your reporting and compliance needs.
Quick Demo Video – Automated Reporting and Analysis
In this video to we share how automated reporting and real time data saves time, money and improves effectiveness
Tips for Creating a Great Digital and Mobile Data Collection Form with KipTraq
Since we provide a no code app that allows you to build forms in minutes here are some tips on how you can leverage KipTraq to optimize your digital inspection forms.
Keep it simple.
When creating a new form, simplicity ought to be your guiding principle. No one admires the complexity of tax forms or the dozens of forms your business must complete in order to ensure regulatory compliance. Your ultimate goal in creating a form is to understand that you want a document that collects useful information that is easily adaptable to your business systems and has a clearly articulated purpose. One way of thinking about the process is that ultimate goal of your form should be to make a job or process easier. That means the following qualities are necessary to the process: Your form needs to be short and simple. No one wants to fill out a long, complicated form. Get to the point and only ask for the information that you need.
Use clear and concise language.
Avoid jargon and technical terms so users at all levels can understand the questions on the form. If you have users that prefer to use a language other than English, KipTraq can help make that happen very easily
Use appropriate formatting.
Use headings, bullets, and white space to make your form easy to read and navigate.
Use validation rules.
Make sure that your form fields are validated so that users can’t enter invalid data. For example, if you need to collect phone numbers, make sure the data will only accept the appropriate number of digits. Users should be able to easily edit or correct any errors they make while filling out the form.
Auto-Populate Form Fields.
Similarly, you can automatically populate form fields by having a form user choose items from a dropdown list (e.g., equipment list, product list). When the item is selected, relevant details and data about that item (e.g., serial number, account information) will automatically appear on the form. Incomplete, inaccurate, or even fraudulent entries are not possible, because the form limits the options to provide only the appropriate data. Barcodes, QR codes and NFC technology can also auto-populate data on your forms.
Provide clear instructions.
Tell users what they need to do at each step of the form. Make sure your users can complete the form with a minimum of instruction, and ideally without having to consult outside resources. Test your form thoroughly. Make sure that your form works properly before you launch it to the public. And get feedback from users. Ask users for feedback on your form so that you can make improvements. It’s important to remember that while you may be intimately familiar with every aspect of your business and your data collection process, the person filling out the form probably won’t be. As an example, when creating a product, consider putting a picture of what they are making right there on the form for them to reference! It’s easy to do in KipTraq
Provide clear and accessible help.
Include clear and accessible help options, such as tooltips or help buttons, to assist users who may have questions or need additional guidance. Make an effort to design your forms to be universally accessible for your users. The clearer and more concise your fields, the more useful your data will be.
Optimize for mobile.
With more and more users accessing digital forms on mobile devices, it’s important to ensure that your form is optimized for mobile. Use a mobile-friendly design and ensure that the form is easy to navigate and complete on smaller screens. KipTraq makes this very easy.
Anticipate integration with other tools.
Depending on the purpose of your digital form, consider integrating it with other tools, such as your ERP, CRM systems, or even tie it to a spreadsheet! We make it very easy to pull data out of KipTraq or bring data in, no IT people required. You could expose your data through a dashboard to customers or auditors. There are lots of options!
Enable Photo Capture.
Employees should be able to capture video and photo evidence of their findings and embed it directly in the form. Received damaged goods? Take a picture. Evidence of insects in a produce field? Take a picture. KipTraq’s workflows and the ability to use several languages helps provide clear and accurate understandings of the situations in the field, on the loading dock, or on the production floor. Photographic evidence enhances decision-making, and provides you with visual records for compliance or trend analysis purposes.
Validate Inspections Data With Timestamps & Geo-Tags.
Like photo evidence, automated timestamps and GPS information provide another valuable compliance tool. They provide clear records of where and when inspections took place, helping to prevent data tampering and fraud. They protect your investment in product, equipment, and employees, and provide verification that processes were completed according to your standards and timelines.
If your operations are indoors (where GPS doesn’t work) fear not! We have a novel way of still proving your employee was in the right location before letting them do a task. We’ll happily share this with you when we talk.
Streamline Reports, Reviews & Approvals.
Any step a business takes to move from paper to digital helps create efficiencies, especially when data is available in centralized locations, and manual data entry on paper or in Excel spreadsheets becomes a thing of the past. Digital forms make the review and approval process more efficient, and creating customized workflows can further help cut the time you used to spend waiting for multiple, independent decisionmakers. Approvals are fully FSMA compliant, assuming that applies to your operations.
Contact Us for a Custom Demo and Free Consultation
Contact us to learn more about how we can quickly work with you and your team to help with you leverage KipTraq for faster data collection an automated reporting.