Doing-it-yourself works great for hobby projects – but not so great when you require professional expertise and the right resources. You have many options when it comes to field form builders and digitizing field data, but only one can provide real peace of mind.
Issues come up fast and furious in the field, and there’s often no way you can solve them the way a seasoned development team can. If you’re looking to digitize your field data collection, you should prioritize support and maintenance. QNOPY provides comprehensive service at no additional charge to your monthly subscription. DIY field form builders rarely hold up in the real world, so make sure you know what you’re getting into with your decision.
DIY Form Builders Beware
Using field form builders that let you build them yourself using drag and drop and no/low code methods seem appealing. But that’s just it. They seem like low cost, quick solutions, but in the field, a DIY field form builder most likely won’t survive stress testing. A field form built by a full-time team with tailored software development can reliably serve your teams for the long haul. Just to give you an idea of what comes up when you are managing field work automation, here is a look at what our app team may deal with in just a 4 week period:
- Photo Sync Issues: A client took 1,600 full-size photos offline on an iPhone 11 Pro Max. The device’s memory was full, preventing photo sync. Our team quickly developed a rescue app to extract the photos, saving the client two full working days of manual downloading and data linking.
- Satellite Image Annotations: Another client needed to upload over 500 location-specific satellite images for further annotation by the field crew. This feature was integrated into the app within five days.
- Offline Data Printing: A project required offline printing of data at a high-security site. We implemented a feature for printing/exporting data over Bluetooth in just two days.
- File Format Flexibility: Upon request, we added the capability to email Word files directly from the app, in addition to PDFs, within a week.
- Custom Sample Naming: We introduced a feature allowing for four different types of sample naming conventions, tailored to the project’s specific needs.
- Seamless Form Switching: To enhance efficiency, we enabled users to switch forms without exiting the current form, facilitating quick data entries into different logs.
When you need quick and efficient changes in the field, leave it to our team to fulfill all your requirements. No last minute issues or headaches. No scrambling to find a member of your team to fix or debug a DIY form.
The Advantage of Professional Field Form Builders
These examples illustrate the complexity and varied nature of challenges in field work automation. We’re not kidding – and this list is just for our Mobile App team. In a given 4 week period, our support team creates numerous new forms and customizes existing ones. Additionally, our Web Development team constantly adds a variety of other user-requested features to the platform.
Saving Time and Money in Field Operations
The best part? Our clients didn’t have to pay extra for any of this. Adding features that our clients want is just part of our end-to-end service. Creating forms isn’t hard—VB-6 had a form builder back in 1998. The real challenge lies in the support and upkeep of these forms, which determine the success of your program.
Without the budget and team to handle all these aspects, DIY form builders might not be the best route. Most people underestimate the value of premium service and support.
If you’re thinking about automating your field projects, I’d be more than happy to share more information. We’ve been at this for over 10 years.
By: Saurabh Gogate
Date: June 10, 2020