Field app
A field app a technician will actually open
It opens on the time clock, because that is the first thing anybody does. Big type, one thumb, no office clutter.
The problem this solves
Most field apps are the office software squeezed onto a phone. A tech in a crawl space with cold hands will not use them, and then your office is guessing.
How it works
- 1
Clock in first
The app opens on the time clock. Clock in, clock out, see the week's hours. Then jobs.
- 2
Today, one thumb
Customer names are set large and bold so they are readable at arm's length. 'On my way' sits first, then the reason for the call, then call, text and map.
- 3
Scan the equipment
Photograph the data plate. Make, model and serial are read from the picture and saved to that address for the next visit.
- 4
No signal, no problem
Notes and captures are written to the phone and sync when signal comes back. The technician is not blocked and nothing is lost.
- 5
Their own customers
A technician can pull up a customer he has served, see past visits and invoices, and call, text or navigate to them. That helps a week later when she calls back.
- 6
Their own pay
Hours, overtime and commission for the current and last pay period, visible to that technician only.
Working in the demo build
Exercised end to end against made-up data.
- Time clock as the first screen, with shift history
- Today and this week's jobs, status advance, on-my-way
- Equipment data-plate scan saved to the service address
- Job photos, notes and customer signature capture
- Offline queue that syncs on reconnect
- Per-technician customer history and earnings, scoped by the database
- Add to Home Screen for a full-screen icon on iPhone and Android
Not built yet, in development
Said plainly here so it is not a surprise later.
- No App Store or Play Store build; it runs in the phone browser
- No push notifications for new dispatches
- Offline behaviour is proven on one phone and in the sandbox, not across a fleet
SkillBison is a development build running on synthetic data in test mode. It has not been penetration tested, PCI reviewed or CPA reviewed, and it is not represented as production ready.
Questions
Is there an app to download?
Not in the app stores. It runs in the phone's browser and can be saved to the home screen so it opens full screen with its own icon. A native build is a later decision, not a current claim.
What happens when the phone loses signal mid-job?
Work is saved on the device and syncs when the connection returns. We have exercised this in the sandbox and on a physical phone; we have not tested it across a fleet.
See this part working
Half an hour on a screen share. We run one job from the phone call to the ledger entry.