Here's what we've been up to for the past 365 days ... plus insider information on what we have in the works to help you tackle all those utility projects in 2024 (you'll have to make it all the way to the end of the post to see this).
TASK AND PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT FEATURE
This one was BIG!
A big feature request by utility contractors. A big project for our EQ developers. And a big pain in the butt at times to ensure we got it right. But it was worth it!
With the Task Management section, everyone on the crew will know what needs to be done, where, when, and how long it should take.
Quickly schedule all the tasks needed for a job using a drop-down to pick out the task type. Or create your own custom task type and save for use on future jobs.
Each task type has a predefined "measurable" field. You can't improve what you can't measure. You also can't get paid!
Visually see all the tasks on a detailed map of the job.
Log the time taken to complete each task - and compare it to what you estimated it should take.
Quickly see what tasks and jobs are on track or off track so you can take appropriate action.
Take photos directly through the task time-log entries to show job progress every step of the way.
Generate Daily Production Check-In Reports and Job Status Reports on the fly.
Check-off that crewmembers attended the daily safety meeting and have them sign-off on it.
Keep track of crewmember work hours as well as time spent travelling.
Find out more about Task Management here.
DAILY PRODUCTION CHECK-IN REPORT
Even though you can easily see what's been done and what hasn't from within the EQ app, sometimes you need a bit more context on the daily activities from your foremen.
A simple form provides prompts to your foreman filling out the daily report making it so easy they'll never complain (or forget) about filling it out again. Well, at least not as often. The Daily Check-In Report includes:
Overview of overall job details.
Tasks worked on or completed for the day including how long it took vs. expected duration.
Check-off of the crewmembers who attended the daily safety meeting - including a signature capture.
Arrival and departure times for individual crewmembers on the job.
Time spent travelling for individual crewmembers.
Highlight what was accomplished for the day and any hurdles encountered.
See what his scheduled for the next day.
Progress photos taken during task time log entries.
Easily export and share via email as a pdf document
Save a copy of every report within the app.
Find out more about Job Reports here.
EQUIPMENT AND TOOLING SPEC FIELDS
We did this one to help out the "newbies" that may not know exactly how much that vac weighs when full of slurry, or what thread is on the end of that 24" Ogre backreamer.
There are now category-specific spec fields for you to keep track of important information on your equipment and tooling. For example:
Category - Drill Rig
Pullback force
Torque
Drill fluid pump volume
Drill rod thread
Weight and dimensions
Drill rod thread
Category - Backreamer
Cut size
Pack size
Ground conditions used in
Front and rear threads
Drill rig size range used on
You get the idea. No more guessing what reamer is best for shale, or what trailer should be used to haul the JT10.
Find out more about Equipment and Tooling Spec fields here.
UPDATED CLIENTS FEATURE
We never intended EQ to be a rolodex (just dated myself) of all your important clients and contacts, but you asked for it ...
Store as many "clients" as you want in the app.
A client could actually be an inspector or engineer. Anyone you want to associate with a project and have their contact info easy to find.
Save multiple contacts to a single client.
Associate one or multiple clients and contacts to individual jobs.
Add a new client and contact on the fly while adding a bid or job into EQ.
SOME SMALLER UPDATES, BUT STILL PRETTY COOL
We wanted to make sure all our new features got some love, and make sure you are aware of them, so here you go ...
Assign a "position" to any crewmember. And it is searchable! Need to find out who your Operators are? Just search and they will appear.
Dump Site Mapping - what a great name for a feature! In addition to mapping all the soil conditions you've encountered, now you can map out the dump sites and make note of what they take, cost, and contact info. And just like the soil conditions, you can share the sites with the Equappment Community.
Multiple equipment filters can be used at one time. This makes finding the equipment or tools you need even easier. For example: apply filters to find what mud mixers are available next Tuesday.
Report Sharing - now you can choose which of your employees you want to have a report emailed directly to. For example: send the lead mechanic the work order for the JT32 track repairs.
Save Daily Production Check-in Reports to the Documents section of a job.
Select specific client contacts to be associated with a job.
WHAT'S COMING IN 2024?
I'm glad you asked! Thanks to valuable feedback from you, and our never-ending quest for the best app for utility contractors, we have a "hole" slew of new features slated for 2024. Everyone of them meant to help all of you with maximizing production and profit, and minimizing your stress and workload.
LOCATE TICKET MANAGEMENT
If anyone has ever had trouble managing all their locate tickets for projects, raise your hand!
This is probably the biggest problem we have heard about over the past several months, and therefore the biggest request. So many locate ticket requirements.
Soon Equappment will help you to manage those tickets for every project.
ticket approvals
expiration dates
reminders
resubmittals
ticket details
Every state is a bit different which complicates things (as you probably know), but we're on it and hope to have your locate ticket headaches resolved in Q1 2024.
STANDARD FORMS AND REPORTS GENERATOR
No one likes fill them out, but it has to be done. To make sure it is done, and done consistently and accurately, we're adding in several of the most common forms and reports into EQ.
Minimal manual entry needed from your crew since most data and details will be pulled in automatically from the app.
Completed forms and reports can be shared with others
Option to store completed forms in the app and associated with individual jobs
Signatures captured on those forms that require it
MORE HDD SPECIFIC POWER TOOLS
Expanded HDD calculators and converters
Bore profile planner
AND A COUPLE OTHER BIG UTILITY PROJECT PLANNING FEATURES THAT WE CAN'T SHARE WITH YOU HERE
But don't worry, as an Equappment user, you'll be the first to be in the know!