Thompson Grading Improves Productivity with Mobile Time and Job Tracking Solution
Business Situation
Using a BlackBerry handheld on the Nextel network, Actsoft’s Comet Tracker software and a Flic Cordless Scanner, Thompson Grading synchronizes the home office with field-based job and time tracking. Business Situation Job StatusThompson Grading relies on its crew leaders to manage employee timekeeping and track job status. Crew Leaders were required to deliver this information to the head office to aid customer billing and payroll processing. Historically, crew leaders would be hours from the home office – hand delivery was an extremely inefficient use of time. Thompson Grading required a solution that allowed crew leaders to capture information while at the jobsite then send this information wirelessly to the home office for further processing.
Solutions
Shanna Fields, CFO of Thompson Grading, sought out Actsoft’s Comet Tracker in conjunction with the Bluetooth-enabled Flic Cordless Laser Bar Code Scanner. Each crew leader was given a BlackBerry 7520, a fully integrated Flic Scanner and one month to get comfortable with the basic functionality of the BlackBerry. The complete solution was deployed one month later when Comet Tracker time and attendance module was loaded onto the handhelds. Crew leaders now carry a small book of reference bar codes. As each crew member arrives on site, the crew leader scans their ID badge then scans a job code to apply the employee’s time to a specific job. Using the Nextel Network and the wireless capabilities of the BlackBerry, time, location and job status are sent to the home office for payroll processing and customer billing.
“We went with the Flic Scanners and BlackBerry running the Comet Tracker application because it’s simple and one step- everything changes daily in our business and we didn’t want to have people manually keying in information. Comet Tracker provided us the ability to personalize the application.” —Shanna Fields, CFO Thompson Grading
Benefits
- Reduced Overtime – Thompson Grading realized monthly savings of up to $3,000, contributing to company health and profitability.
- Increased Productivity – Crew leaders now redirect hours previously used to deliver documentation to job better on-site job management.
- Improved administration – Sharing documents keeps track of the details that affect job costing and customer billing.
Scanner Benefits
- Simple: One-button operation captures bar code data and pushes it to BlackBerry application via Bluetooth connection.
- Affordable: Low acquisition cost, no training required, and common AAA batteries makes for low Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).