Social housing contractor mobilises workforce

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Saltire, a heating systems service provider to the Scottish social housing market, has agreed a deal to adopt mobile workforce management software.

The new software will integrate with Saltire's existing back-end database to enable more than 150 field engineers to have real-time access to mobile data and electronic documentation.

David Black, Saltire managing director, said: "It's very important for our business that we are able to offer the best possible service to all of our existing and prospective clients. This means getting engineers out quickly and at times that suit our customers."

The new system, supplied by vendor Cognito, will allow Saltire's mobile workers to communicate with the office more effectively and management to schedule their engineers' time in the field more efficiently.

"In addition, we've enabled our field engineers to electronically access our systems on the move so they can keep the business updated and don't have to deal with a mountain of paperwork at the end of each shift," Black added.

Previously, all job schedules and paperwork would have to be collected at the beginning of each day. But this is no longer necessary, as job allocation and information can be sent directly to engineers' mobile devices, where the Cognito software is integrated with existing device interfaces.

By eliminating the need to complete laborious and error-prone administrative paperwork after visiting a property, Saltire can also improve its compliance procedures at the same time. By law, paperwork such as the Landlord's Gas Safety Certificate or CP12 must be completed annually for each property.

The implementation enables field engineers to access electronic forms and documents that can be completed on their mobile devices and submitted directly to the back office via the mobile network, where a certificate will be issued and securely stored. And the system is giving the firm greater insight into how mobile workers are deployed to increase their awareness of the status of pending check-ups.

The ability to monitor mobile workers more effectively also enables Saltire to comply with health and safety regulations to make sure they are taking sufficient breaks and so on.

Mobile workers can also send real-time updates back to the office in the same way, keeping the Saltire informed so jobs can be reallocated if needed to ensure work is completed on time.

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