Advanced Business Solutions, Inc., a Pendragon Solution Provider

Independent Beverage Group, Inc., beverage industry management consultants. Hilton Head Island, SC.

Before Pendragon Forms:

Field service technicians working in Atlanta, Phoenix, Tucson and Boise used paper forms to manage field service calls.  Technicians received route assignments, recorded service work provided and obtained signature authorization on paper.  The completed paper service reports were mailed to central office, data was keyed into the accounting system, and invoices were generated

Installation:

Pendragon Forms was used to create a handheld solution with both reference and data collection forms.  Schedule information is generated at the central office, and the technicians download weekly blocks of data. A read-only form displays scheduled appointments, customer contact and account information. 

While on-site, the technician uses a data entry form on the PDA to record the work performed, to automatically capture the date and time of the site visit, and to record the signature of the manager approving the work.  At the end of the day, the technician synchronizes the PDA with the central computer via telephone.  During synchronization, the daily work records are uploaded to the central computer and updated contact and route schedule data is downloaded to the PDA.

Safeguards are built into the forms to report any duplicate visit data, based upon date/time stamps and appointment information.  Additionally, any visits missing an approval signature are flagged for follow-up by the central office.

Benefits:

Seamless integration with the client's existing MS Access database, little user training required beyond basic operation of the PDA for data entry and synchronization, and accurate data collection.

Forms Development Time:

20 Hours

An estimated sixteen hours of weekly data input has been replaced with the Pendragon solution.  Site visit worksheets are transmitted daily rather than once a week, enabling the client to advance invoice creation.  Client estimates an ROI of over 400% since implementation.