The Problem
Property managers travel regularly to perform inspections of all their managed properties. Each inspection must subsequently be recorded in an inspection form.
The existing inspection process involved generating an offline, Excel version of the inspection. This was time-consuming and inefficient, as numerous offline files had to be managed by each property manager with no centralized, consolidated, online repository of inspections. It was further not possible to easily add photo or video evidence of any property issues to an inspection.
The property data captured in these inspections could not be reported on either, resulting in missed opportunities to gather business insights from reporting data.
The Solution
Microsoft’s low-code platform, Power Apps, was selected to systemize the property inspection process. The following key elements were included in the solution:
- Property data is imported from the client’s ERP system to ensure data standardization.
- Non-required sections or fields can be marked as N/A to speed up inspection completion.
- Previous inspections can be duplicated and edited to avoid time waste duplicating responses across inspections.
- Photos or videos can be uploaded to each inspection question to demonstrate concerns or progress.
- Users can easily find historic inspections from a listing using filtering search criteria.
- Inspections have an automatically derived status of “In Progress” or “Complete”.
The Outcome
Users are now able to complete or continue inspections from anywhere (including while on the road) and from any desktop or mobile device. Users are able to search for and view existing inspections, create new inspections, and complete inspections within a single, user-friendly application.
Inspection records are now enhanced with the addition of photo and video attachments to inspection questions. The inspection process has been systemized, centralized and streamlined. Reporting and analytics have been facilitated for their property and inspection data.
