ipad out on site

BathmanNick

BathmanNick

BathmanNick

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Joined
16 Aug 2011
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276
Location
Lincoln
Hey guys

My boss at work bought his wife and ipad and has become amazed at it. i think he most likes how simple they are, and how they 'just work' - his words.

He now wants to give them to our on site engineers, which we have 3 of, so that they can put down what they have done on the job straight away and email them back then and there or at the end of the day, instead of filling out forms and loosing them in the vans or on travels. The job sheets we use at the moment are made in excel.

i was thinking something as simple as just using numbers or quick office pro to fill out the spreadsheet on the ipad and them email it back to the office, iv downloaded both on my iphone and quick office seems like it will work better - better save function and easy to email.

it all seems very simple, is this the best way of doing this?

thanks
 
There's always the reminders list built in to iOS 5.. more of a simple list function. But there's the notes app which is perfectly good as well. If all people are doing is writing stuff up then I wouldn't think it necessary to even bother with Numbers or Pages.
 
The ipad or tablet is to replace the forms that they usually have to fill in, these were made on excel. There is a lot of info they have to record
 
iPads - the bane of corporate IT. It's alright for us at the moment - we get to hide behind GovConnect rules that don't allow them anywhere near the network.
 
If the iPads are 3G (assuming there is a data connection where these people are), would turning the excel file into a secure website be an option? secure login, easy to fill out web form and all data is instantly dropped into a database.
 
I wouldn't bother with the email part.

Just drop the details straight into a document or database online.

Google docs for example.
 
The technicalities are the easy part - I'd be asking more broadly about whether this is going to improve the workflow and isn't just throwing the latest gadget at a problem. If they can manage to lose a job sheet in a van then what's to say an iPad isn't going to get lost, or even stolen?

I'm all about using the right tool for the job, and sometimes you can't really improve upon a pen and paper. If it doesn't matter whether they email their jobs sheets back straight away or at the end of the day then it doesn't sound like there is a compelling business benefit for getting this information "real time". Has somebody worked out if typing the information with an on-screen keyboard is actually quicker than writing? At least pilot it with one before rolling it out to everyone.

Sorry to be the fly in the ointment but I see these sorts of things all the time. In my opinion, good IT is about knowing when and when not to use it.

Spending money on iPads + associated costs vs "guys, it's not acceptable to be losing your jobsheets - sort it out". Which makes more business sense?
 
thanks for the replies guys,

theheyes - i have thought about these points already, its not just that they loose the jobsheets, sometimes they have to go on trips for a few weeks - a month at a time, it would be handy to have these emailed back during the trip, like when the engineer gets back to the hotel for the night. i also know this could be done on a laptop with a dongle, but these are more of a hassle to get out in the van. It's also more that the engineers get behind on the sheets and end up just writing in there diaries what they have done and then having to spend days writing them up/guessing what they did.

i agree we should just pilot it with one before rolling them out to everyone which is what i have done. Infact it has just arrived today and i am setting it up now. If worst comes to worst and it is all a crappy mess then the ipad wont go to waste, it'l get used on our stand at exhibitions/shows etc, im actually going to take it to one on wednesday.

I understand your points, its the boss's idea so iv gotta have a go anyway.

cokecan72 and Bonjour - the ipads are 3g, the engineers will be on farms though which wont all have signal all the time which is why i was going with the email, so they could fill it out then just send it off when they get signal later on.

If an online doc or database could work then im deffinatly up for trying that... if i can get it to work
 
Numbers for ipad

Is there a formula or something I can use in numbers so that when I put data into one cell it goes into another cell on the same sheet or/and a different sheet?

Thanks
 
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