Tracer Pro Pak

Not only can a GPS equiped handheld with the Tracer Pro Pak software show you where your workers are, capture work ticket information for HVAC and Property management, but it can also save your life.  Search and rescue personnel can use GPS Cell Phone Tracking to locate you in an emergency.   On August 16th, the Civil Air Patrol did just that in Arizona.

Many large residential property management companies are on a buying spree for smaller well run companies.  Although the geography might change from Florida to California, most of the persistent problems can be grouped into 3 categories:

1. Service: Planned community residents want more and more service from their managers.  The quality of your follow up on Maintenance and repair, returning calls and correspondence will be among the top reasons your communities will either stay with you or start shopping around.   Unless you have a huge spike in your fees, price is not a material factor as most companies in a region are about the same in their pricing.  So it often comes down to perceived quality of service. 
   

   GPS enabled Location Based Phone

    

2. Deed restriction violation management: Managing the labor intensive logistics of documenting the violation, determining if this is a first or repeat offence, sending the appropriately worded letter out and tracking everything if the issue goes to legal.
3. Providing your board members and or residents with a secure web site where they can view accounting, architectural review requests and work orders is becoming an increasingly important to cater to a more web savvy customer.

Tracer solves these problems

Tracer allows managers to enter maintenance and work order information on their smart phones.  Tracer’s location aware technology goes beyond just giving GPS driving instructions, it helps the manager automatically connect the repair or work order ticket with the right geographical location with fewer mouse clicks.  Tracer knows how to treat repairs under warranty differently from non-warranty repairs.  Tracer knows how to show your managers the list of approved vendors for each community and can even transmit the work order to the vendor’s email or fax machine within minutes, with a photo and accurate location.  Your managers can spend less time chasing paperwork in the office and spend more time in the field, building better relationships with your board members and helping you keep and improve your business.

Deed restrictions: Tracer helps your manager document the violation, view violation history and send the details, with a picture, to the office for letter printing and mailing.

Web Portal:  Tracer helps you take your internal information and choose what you want your board members to view. A configuration panel allows you to manage who can view what.

Building appreciation and good will with your board members: What good is it if your managers are working hard but your community board members don’t notice?  With a few clicks Tracer produces detailed reports of activity for the month for your boards reading pleasure and appreciation.

We asked small business owners like you what types of challenges they faced in a slow economy coupled with rising costs.  Of the many things you described, we grouped the challenges that we could solve into 3 categories:

1. “When my technicians are out in the field, they are under billing:  For example, if they spent 1 hour and 45 minutes at a client, they are reporting back 1 hour and 30 minutes.  I can’t be sure how much of this is going on, but I can guarantee that it happens.  With 18 technicians, if a quarter of them did this every week, it is costing me a fortune in lost revenue.”
2. “My technicians do not show up on time.  Often, this is because the previous job ran late and it just causes a domino effect which hits customer service.  Customer service is critical right now because my competitors are dropping their prices to get business.”
3. “It takes 20 hours every week to take the paper tickets from my field technicians and have it entered in my inventory and accounting systems.  And when we purchase parts and materials, it is difficult to make sure it is all being billed out to the customers.”

Tracer solves these problems. 

1. We go beyond just showing you where your technicians are. Tracer uses smart location aware systems to automatically determine when a job starts and ends.  If Tracer’s start and end times vary from your technician, Tracer will alert you.  Tracer uses the same systems to track office time and travel time.
2. If your technician is projected to arrive late at an appointment, Tracer will send a message to your dispatcher so you can either solver the problem or inform the customer ahead of time.  Your customers perceive an advance warning of a late appointment as superior customer service.  They don’t get that level of service from their other vendors. (You don’t from your vendors, your customers don’t either).
3. Your technicians use their smart phones to complete the details of their work including parts and materials used.  This information is transmitted directly to your office allowing you to invoice and close the work order quickly and get paid sooner.

Tropical Storm Fay is an example of a potential Hurricane situation to which GPS Handheld Mobile Phones can play an intergral part.  Much of Hurricane response is location specific:  Damage, casualties, road blockages etc.  First responders with GPS enabled Windows Mobile Handheld units can document information which can be sent back to H.Q. for action.  A common problem during initial triage is lack of connectiviey.  The Tracer Pro Pack island mode allows data to be captured locally and then synced to the enterprise at the command center when the handheld is physcally docked.

Medical care at mass casualty incidents and disasters requires rapid patient triage and assessment, acute care and disposition often in the setting of overwhelming numbers of victims, limited time, and little resources. Current systems rely on a paper triage tag on which rescuers and medical providers mark the patient’s triage status and record limited information on injuries and treatments administered in the field.  Digitizing data capture has significant benefits.

For those readers in West Florida, here are some useful links from the BradentonSarasota Business Directory:

HurricaneAlley.net projected path of Fay *
Hurricane Preparedness plans for your family, pet, and securing your home.
Prevention Power: How to reduce Disaster Damage (Download from Fema)
A.P. News from Miami
Doppler from News Channel 8
Stuff to buy: Home Depot, Lowes

The challenges with facilities management can be addressed more effectively with location based solutions.  So much of the information in the facilities management industry are associated with assets or problems that are location specific.  With a Windows Mobile Powered hand held GPS Phone, much of that data can be made more actionable with a environmental cost;  if the manager who finds the problem can document it on his mobile hand held with GPS info so that the vendor can get to it with GPS navigation , think of the paper saved by digitizing the work order and think of the gas saved by quickly finding the location without driving all over.   A win all over the place for facilities management.

With all its inefficiencies, we have to thank the government for creating the location based solutions industry.  GPS capability was pioneered for military operations and made mainstream in part by the FCC’s 1996 Enhanced 911 Initiative requiring that cell phone carriers provide emergency responders with the location of mobile users making 911 calls.  Today, compliance with this requirements has created a growing location based solutions industry where pocket pc and hand held smart phones running the Windows Mobile Software can provide a wealth of location aware information.

If you don’t have one of the new AT&T Mobile phones (see previous post) don’t fear.  Google has released a new mobile search tool to help track down 2008 Olympic results quickly from your mobile phone. It also set up a mobile Web site specifically so followers of the games can peruse results and events at leisure. Let the Games begin!   Click for details

So with a Windows Mobile handheld pda, equiped with a Bluetooth GPS for vehicle tracking and the Tracer Pro Pak Software, not only can you complete work orders, check locations, update your payroll, invoicing and inventory systems from the field without paper, but you can keep tabs on the 2008 Olypics games half way around the world! How? Click Here

Sprint recently released the new Palm Treo with Bluetooth, GPS maps and navigation running the new Windows Mobile 6.1 software.  Unlike previous Treo’s running the Windows Mobile software, this Treo brings the useful shortcut feature from the Palm Treos.   And unlike the IPhone, the Treo battery can be easily replaced in the field by easily snaping open the battery cover.  

Tested by Tracer Pro in Hillsborough County, the Treo 800W proved to have less dropped calls than the Iphone on the 3G network.   (Switching off the 3G on the Iphone minimized the dropped call).  GPS turn by turn navigation with Garmin like maps was a breeze (turn by turn is not available on the IPhone without the purchase of additional add on software).  While a great improvement over the previous Windows Treo, the Treo browser still does not hold a candle to the IPhone Safari Browser.  The overall screen clarity of the IPhone still has all other devices beat not to mention the automatic change in orientation from portrait to landscape which the Treo does not have.

Also new with this Treo is Stereo Bluetooth and embeded Wi-Fi.  This PDA Phone is a great value at $249.   Installing the Tracer Work Order Software turns this device into a great Vehicle Tracking business utility for companies in the Landscape, HVAC and Real Estate Property Management industries.   Sales Force Automation is also improved with Tracer’s GPS compatability which integrates GPS information into the users work flow (so the user does not have to open a separate application to make use of GPS, navigation or map functions).

Highlights
Mobile versions of Microsoft Office, Outlook and Internet Explorer
Wireless Email - Corporate and Personal
Key Features
Sprint TV® enabled
Speakerphone
Built-in camera
Web, email capable
Bluetooth
External display
GPS enabled
Memory card slot
Broadband speeds where available