Service Software

Let technology work for you

2011-05-22T18:21:00.000-07:00

By Jeff Salton

Are you getting the most of the technology at your disposal? Most contractors have a computer, mobile phone, GPS, and a few other gadgets but, like our brains, we only use a small percentage of what they’re actually capable of doing.

For instance, if you’re using an outdated or paper-based job booking, billing and accounting system that relies on your memory and takes up you're your weekend sifting through notes, invoices, and the like, while your computer sits idly on a desk at home or in your office, you are definitely not taking advantage of available technology.

And when a company has already done all the hard work for you by developing a software program that tracks jobs, billable hours, inventory and compliance requirements, you are running out of excuses not to use it.

Finally, when you find out that it costs less than $1,000 to start using immediately, what the hell is stopping you?

Guy Arrowsmith, from i-Man has developed IMS – a complete project management and mobile field management system developed specifically for the service-based industry. The IMS program is an end-to-end solution allowing small and large businesses to track projects from quotation to invoice.

One of the beauties of this product is that Guy is a former electrical contractor, so he knows what other contractors need in a program to help them run successful businesses.

IMS is a web-based product built to streamline business processes and allows customers to gain access to their business data remotely 24/7. It was developed 10 years ago and has been widely available in the field for the past five years.

Guy explains that for a small upfront fee of less than $1,000 and an ongoing subscription, it puts it within reach of most small businesses.

“”Most companies we deal with have a low IT base and may not be too familiar with computer programs. If ever they have queries or get stuck, they simply ring us up and, using software that allows us to view their screen, we can talk them through any problems they have instantly and in a few minutes they’re back working at full strength,” Guy says.

“This saves contractors lots of time instead of having to wait for a costly site visit to fix a simple query or get just a little bit of help.”

Guy says he’s noticed that most companies using the IMS system remark on the increase in billable hours – around 20-30 percent “because their staff aren’t having to come into the office nearly as often, especially for simple administration tasks. And when personnel can invoice on-the-job, cashflow is greatly improved.

“Even fuel savings are noticeable with crews not having to drive to the office nearly as much,” he says.

The system is constantly being upgraded, probably weekly. That’s the beauty of a centralised system, we can do development work on the model that will benefit all our customers, from their feedback.

But how does it work?

IMS is a completely electronic and automated system that is reliable and easy to use. The IMS product allows admin staff to enter a job, assign it to a date and specific service staff. The project can then be accessed on site and the hours automatically tracked. Invoices can be generated on completion of jobs and payment can even be received on site.

This eliminates much of the messy Friday arvo paperwork, where collation of invoices, inventory, billable and non-billable hours, extras, etc, takes place, when most people are tired and looking forward to the weekend.

IMS makes managing reoccurring jobs, or unfinished jobs, inventory of stock and compliance forms much easier. The GPS tracking module allows for additional functionality in terms of project planning and service personal organisation.

For example; an urgent job can be assigned to the nearest service personnel located simply by the GPS tracking module. I-Man also provides an integration link between IMS and most mainstream accounting packages, so you can keep using a program you’re already familiar with.

Who uses IMS?

Guys says that around 80 percent of his customers are electrical or plumbing contracting businesses. They appeal to the administration, management and

service staff sections within most businesses.

“Each of these groups value different aspects of the IMS product. Management is likely to utilise the IMS diagnostic functions to analyses business profitability and loss, inventory and stock control factors and also keep an eye on staffing productivity,” says Guy.

“Administration benefits from a streamlined easy-to-use process that ensures accuracy and leaves less room for human error between the quote, the job and final invoice.

“Service Staff like the interface specifically designed for hand-held devices. They also can track hours accurately and do not have to rely on memory to do so. No longer is time wasted by dropping paperwork into the office as it all can be transmitted instantaneously and remotely 24/7.

“Our clients see substantial increases in profitability after the implementation of IMS. Less hours of administration, increases in billable hours, quicker turn around in invoicing, and a more comprehensive picture of the overall profit and loss of the business, ensure success.

“We often hear from new clients about an upsurge in jobs, billable hours and profit since implementing IMS,” adds Guy.

He says that i-Man customers must be willing to spend the time to implement IMS properly, and that they must be positive about the process? A little bit of pain for a lot of gain.

How it works

In the office:

The moment the phone is answered and a potential new job or query is made, IMS is opened and the data is entered. A task is then generated either to follow up, quote or a job is scheduled to a service personnel. Once the job is undertaken, service staff log their hours and parts used and any other additional costs. This information is instantly accessible to the administration staff. An invoice is generated, sent from IMS and can be transferred through the integration link between IMS and their accounting software. Based on information received through IMS from service personnel, a job may also be rescheduled, parts ordered or a selection of other outcomes.

On the road:

Work starts on site with IMS, not in the office. Service personnel access IMS, jobs are uploaded and information pertaining to each one is logged, ready to go.

IMS offers a specifically designed PDA interface allowing service personal to access information, order parts, log hours and even fill in compliance forms while on site.

After hours:

IMS streamlines business process to such an extent that tasks can be completed quickly and efficiently – even remotely. This means less time in overtime!

Guy says many of i-Man’s customers now have the confidence to take on more staff and quote on complex projects as they know they can be carefully managed by the IMS system.

IMS ensures that our customers can grow their business to the next level.

Increasing profitability and productivity of staff is a hallmark of good business

practice. IMS enables our customers to achieve excellent levels of business

practice and become leaders in their field.

He says the software is constantly being updated and that subscribers have instant access to any beneficial changes.

Visit i-man’s website to read up more details of the program and some detailed case studies (Velocity Electrical, Penguin Air, Five Star Electrical) and judge if IMS is right for your business.

www.i-man.com.au

EasyParts - Capturing job information is a breeze

2011-03-15T21:03:00.000-07:00

Easyparts is a new feature of IMS that automates the process of adding items to job’s and purchase orders from an emailed supplier invoice.

Your field staff only needs to generate the IMS purchase order number and give that to the supplier, when the invoice is emailed to your business, IMS automatically reads the suppliers invoice details in and adds the line items to the purchase order and job.

The time delay for the items being added to IMS depends on when the supplier sends the invoice, some suppliers can send their invoices as soon as the purchase is made and the items are added to the job within 15 minutes of the transaction, other suppliers send their invoices out in batch and may take a couple of days.

Credit notes and part invoices still need to be handled manually. Companies that want to keep track of their inventory will need to map the inventory items in the order reconciliation screen.

Availability of this service, depends on how your suppliers send their invoices and the format and accessibility of those invoices. Implementing EasyParts can be done relatively quickly for a small fee and further demonstrates the flexibility and power of a centralised cloud based system. For more information on EasyParts talk to one of our customer service staff by calling 1300794818

EasyParts - Coming Soon to IMS

2010-12-07T22:17:00.000-08:00

Imagine if your field staff could purchase material and have the items automatically booked out to a purchase order and job without them entering the items in!

It's on its way!

Using Custom Reports to get the most out of IMS

2010-11-09T19:03:00.000-08:00

Flexibility to capture data in the field is one of the biggest advantages with IMS. Time stamped task notes, custom fields and simple checklists that can record the name, time, date and even GPS coordinates all provide a real time audit trail that gives you total visibility of what happens in the field.

This is a huge advantage for companies that need to capture specific information to meet customer requirements or contract KPI’s or want a means of measuring performance / productivity of field staff. The custom reporting interface can save even more time by enabling you to extract reports in a format you desire, saving time in collating the data captured in the field.

The reporting interface has been in a stage of ongoing development and improved with the helpful input of our clients.Recently one of our Melbourne customers contacted us and raised an issue they were having in extracting data in the format they wanted. Complete Communications needed to provide daily reportsacross all their projects for one of their customers. General Manager, Steve Edmonds said that extracting the current day’s notes from every task was costing them over 8 hours a week in admin time.

The IMS team prioritised the request and within a day added the ability to generate a task report,display task notes filtered by date and therefore enabled them to generate a daily report providing on all activity during the current day.

We were delighted to be able to provide Steve with a solution and in doing so, added to the flexibility of the reporting tool that all our customers could use.

Steve's Testimonial

Going Paperless

2010-08-10T22:24:00.001-07:00

Going Paperless By Andrew Pride

As a consultant who has specialised in Trade and Service Business Improvement for over 10 years, I can tell you that the ultimate success of any Business Improvement Program or Strategy will be determined by how well you can gain the support and participation of the staff members involved in its implementation and daily use.

Nothing is truer when implementing a Computer Based System such as IMS. As far as Business Management Software for Trades goes IMS is one of the most simple and effective systems I have seen; however as with any such system it can only ever be as good as the people who use it. The old saying of “Garbage In = Garbage Out” holds very true, so if your people don’t fully embrace the system it can’t possibly function at anywhere near its full potential...

Solid Foundations

A number of my Trade Clients are currently working with me toward implementing IMS to it’s FULL POTENTIAL within their businesses, so I thought I might share with you some of the basic changes we are implementing to ensure we achieve complete success. While each of these changes obviously play a key role in providing a solid foundation for IMS they also play the dual role of involving staff members in gradually increasing levels of change within the business so they become comfortable with participating in the process before they get to critical strategies like implementing IMS.

Time Management and Business Priorities for the owners of the business are reviewed and improved to ensure that they are able to offer sufficient time and attention to the overall Development and Implementation of Business Improvement Strategies within the business.

Logical Product Code Systems are implemented to ensure that everyone in the business understands what products have been used on every job. This minimises mistakes and avoids any confusion. Tradesmen in the field use a simple process to account for everything that needs to be billed out for each job they do.

Structured Regular Team Meetings are implemented in the business to involve all team members in the overall Business Improvement Program so that they understand why the changes are needed in the business, and what is expected of them and how well progress is being achieved.

Simple Stock Control Systems are implemented in Warehouse and Mobile Units to identify “Core Stock Products” and ensure that appropriate stock holding levels are continually maintained. This saves significant money by enabling bulk buy purchases of stock and avoiding unnecessary and costly visits to wholesalers by employees.

Logical Office Workflow Systems are implemented in office areas by admin staff to streamline the flow of information and clear any bottlenecks identified. We also look at areas such as Customer Service Systems, File Management, system backups, stock reconciliation and invoicing processes to identify and address any inefficient problem areas.

If you already have IMS up and running in your business but feel that you can achieve more with it, these are a few of the areas I would suggest you look at in your business to ensure that you achieve maximum return from your IMS System and also achieve maximum profitability and minimum stress from your business.

Andrew Pride
SmartBiz Consulting
www.business-advice.com
Ph 0412 895 599

IMS Powered Electrical Contractors

2010-06-24T16:08:00.001-07:00

Advantages of availing the services of "IMS Powered Electrical Contractors"

When we refer to “IMS Powered Electrical Contractors", we are essentially referring to independent service providers who utilize the most recent technology for the purpose of delivering quick and dependable services in a more competent manner which leads to a greater level of customer satisfaction.

There are varied benefits of an association with "IMS Powered Electrical Contractors". In the first instance, job allocation and compliance forms are finished electronically as they are performed, enabling a complete Audit Trail of works which have been performed and integral Compliance like OH&S, QA and Environmental necessities which ensures that the customers are satisfied with the qualitative performance.

Moreover, "IMS Powered Electrical Contractors" supply customers with a proficient Web Interface for the purpose of generating and screening all the works which are in progress as well as compliance forms which assures the customers of 100% visibility, a detailed minute-to-minute reporting as well as an uncomplicated way to engage their distinctive services.

It is the primary responsibility of "IMS Powered Electrical Contractors" to deliver quicker services as they utilize the real time systems for the purpose of dispatching jobs, documenting work performed and closes off jobs from site, to initiate the billing process at the earliest.

The services of "IMS Powered Electrical Contractors" are also inclusive of the services of IMS Powered Plumbing Contractors which ensure that their customers are provided with an interface into their overall system which provides them with a proficient process of monitoring works which have been allocated and thus negates the requirement for any kind of paper work.

There are certain distinctive features which are provided by "IMS Powered Electrical Contractors" and this is proof of the fact that they are the best people to cater to your individual requirements. These features include:

• An all-inclusive system for managing OHS & Compliance
• A suitable Web customer interface
• Throughout the day access to job information
• Real time job & compliance reporting tools
• Streamlined scheduling and billing procedure
• Job & Compliance information freely accessible in electronic format
• 100% Visibility in the sphere of job & compliance information

"IMS Powered Electrical Contractors" is an influential web centric management tool which has been developed by i-man Pty Ltd and designed primarily to cater to the requirements of the service based industries. "IMS Powered Electrical Contractors" aids the partnership amidst customers, contractors and suppliers thereby increasing efficiency across the entire supply chain.

"IMS Powered Electrical Contractors" has been developed in close alliance with the customer base, as a result of which a product has emerged which aids in the streamlining of the procedure as well as improves efficiency in the fields of job control, OHS, and universal compliance for numerous users throughout Australia and New Zealand.

Well then what are you waiting for? Contact "IMS Powered Electrical Contractors" at the earliest to be assured of proficient services, which are customized to suit every individual requirement.

In order to know more about the excellent services, you should visit the website at www.contractorsservices.com.au.

Great New Reporting Tool

2010-06-16T21:54:00.000-07:00

Many of our customers have talked to us about different reports they would like to see in IMS. Many of the requests are similar with only slight variations and some are specific to their individual needs. What this has told us is that we needed to provide a flexible reporting tool that allows you to format your own reports and show the data the way you wish to see it.

We have now released a beta version of our new reporting tool and talking to our customers that have used it they are impressed with what they see. The new tool enables you to build custom reports, add and remove data fields, set filters, order data and set groupings, you can even view them as bar or line graphs. Once you have built a report you can save it as a custom report and re-generate it whenever you want.

The new tool provides the ability to mine the data out of IMS and present it in a format that you want to see it in. You can extract profit and loss reports and group them by customer or by the person who completed the job, enabling you to use it for reporting productivity or KPI information.

When you spend some time looking through the new reporting interface you will see you have a lot of flexibility to extract the data. As always, we are happy to talk to you if you need help or have any suggestions that could help us improve the tool.

IMS Overview

2010-06-16T21:52:00.000-07:00

IMS is a complete web-based job and compliance management solution. Its capacity to track jobs, billable hours, inventory, and compliance requirements makes it a standout among the completion.
The take up of IMS among service-based industries is testimony to the quality of the product. Jammed packed with clever features, IMS can handle compliance requirements; manage complex projects and offer smart GPS scheduling tools.
Designed for the Australian service industry, one of the application’s best features that makes it a stand out in the field, is its easy integration with no expensive hardware upgrades required. An internet connection will get IMS up and running quickly and efficiently.
Using a cloud environment as the platform for IMS, means users can login anywhere, anytime. IMS gives you access to accounts, staff, scheduling and component ordering, on the road, after hours or on holiday.
IMS offers security levels limiting access by staff and the capacity to set customised parameters tailored to specific business requirements. An on-line cloud environment offers additional insurance against hardware theft or damage; information stays secure against hardware failure and is accessible via any internet connection.
IMS offers an unmatched and intuitive PDA user interface, this means the take up by field staff is easy and minimises training or downtime.
With IMS users often seeing a 20% increase in profitability after IMS implementation, it’s a scalable application that both small and large business can’t afford to overlook.

Successfully Implementing Change - IMS

2010-01-31T18:08:00.000-08:00

Change is a fundamental component of improving business processes and ensuring this is performed correctly is critical to having the best outcome of an IMS implementation.
Implementing a new system requires people within you business to do something they have not done before and they are a critical resource, supporter, barrier and risk to the change processes. Change can generate a range of strong emotions, people can experience fear, frustration, anger, despair, acceptance, enthusiasm and elation. Which emotion encountered will depend on whether your people make change willingly or unwillingly, the level of consultation that occurred and the support provided by leadership? Understanding these emotions will assist managers in implementing the change process in a manner that they can anticipate, acknowledge and respond to concerns.
Implementing change depends on the actions of your staff and ultimately it will come down to winning their hearts and minds. They will not respond well to being told to change without having some input. To be successful, an effective communication strategy must be implemented and all stakeholders must have the opportunity to express their views and attitudes’, improving your business is about changing mindsets. It is about having the willingness of your staff to try something different and understanding the possibilities of thinking differently and the benefits to all involved of making practical improvements.
Tips for Change Process
1. Discuss with your employees your intentions and have a communications strategy.
2. Ensure they understand why change is necessary with a clear reason and the benefits to them.
3. Involve employees in the planning process, ensure they have input.
4. Be consistent about sharing information through weekly meetings
5. Listen and act on questions, feedback and concerns, IMS will work with you on this.
6. Acknowledge ideas, achievements and success
7. Have a shared vision about what the change will achieve.
8. Consider barriers individuals may have, Sight etc. and work with them to overcome them.
9. Remember resistance is a natural reaction to change introduced by someone else, giving them the chance to express ideas will improve their willingness to accept change.
10. Identify change champions , the innovators who are prepared to have a go, pilot the system with them and work with them closely, they will then help with those less likely to adopt change.
11. Be aware that people will uptake the system within different time frames; ensure the weekly follow ups continue until you are confident the uptake is complete. Provide a point of contact for your employees so they can discuss any problems they may be having.
12. Provide feedback to your staff, informing them of progress and the improvements that have been achieved.

Cloud Computing - NIST Definition

2009-12-15T14:58:00.000-08:00

Cloud computing is a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. This cloud model promotes availability and is composed of five essential characteristics, three service models, and four deployment models.

What Leongatha Refrigeration say

2009-11-30T16:08:00.000-08:00

25% increase in billable hours due to IMS

Built by a trady for tradies

IMS got us organised

Always up to date

“I-Man’s support is invaluable, couldn’t fault it"

Built by a trady for tradies

2009-11-30T16:07:00.000-08:00

That ‘s what Teresa from Leongatha Refrigeration says. She’s right! The key reason why IMS works so well is that Guy Arrowsmith the director of I-MAN, has a background in the trade. He has worked first hand as a plumber and knows the needs of the industry from the perspective of employee and employer.

IMS works alongside you, tracking your business processes so you don’t have to stress about it. “Taking the time to implement IMS to its full potential is the key”, says Theresa. If you invest in the initial outlay and take the time to train up staff and link it into your existing accounting packages, IMS will change your business process and allow you to do what you do best....

IMS goes Green

2009-11-30T16:05:00.000-08:00

The current trend for many companies is to make the shift towards a greener approach to business practice. Leongatha Refrigeration is no exception. Offering renewable and sustainable options for their clients, they believe that in-house business practice should reflect their green approach.

IMS plays a large role in moving towards a paperless office. A fully automated system ensures that staff can receive jobs, log hours and order stock all online. Back ups are made off site and the need for the print out of documentation is only occasional.

Saving a tree or two every year by using IMS is certainly a step forward in responsible business practice. However, the benefits of accessing your entire business online, being able to check orders, cash flow, stock and staff at the click of a button has more advantages than just being green! Reduced phone bills are just one!

IMS gets cool with Leongatha Refrigeration

2009-11-08T14:50:00.000-08:00

The suspicion that your billable hours are not as much as they should be haunts many business owners. Let’s face it, that alone can make or break you! Tracking hours is a difficult process for any service-based business. Attempting to recall hours at the end of the working day or worse still at the end of the week, inevitably results in inaccuracy. More often than not, a very conservative estimate of chargeable hours ends up costing your business.

For Leongatha Refrigeration, the implementation of IMS has resulted in at least 25% revenue increase due solely to more accuracy in tracking billable hours.

Although according to Theresa Doohan, productivity was not the only motivating factor for implementing IMS. The business organisational process for Leongatha Refrigeration had become difficult to manage on a day-to-day basis. More and more time was being invested in paperwork when time in business development and strategy was being lost. Barb Sauvarin, business manager for Leongatha Refrigeration, sums it up; “IMS got us organised”. No more loose job cards and pieces of paper, everything is automated and organised. Business process for Leongatha Refrigeration.... it’s a breeze.

Cloudstorming IMS Style

2009-11-01T18:08:00.000-08:00

There is a new kind of storm brewing in the IT world and IMS is at the eye of the storm. This IT revolution transforms the way we think about our business hardware requirements. IMS does not require highend servers or regular software upgrades. We rely on just one element in your business, an internet connection.

Save yourself a packet and see the benefits of our business management tool that is based in an online cloud environment. It’s an IT revolutionary concept and we are proud to offer cutting edge technology that is effective and most importantly cost savvy.

Read More

Slash your tax bills with IMS!

2009-10-25T18:17:00.000-07:00

IMS can be used as a marketing tool to help win valuable new business. The end of year tax time is one of the peak stress times in any business. Paperwork that lies un-entered since January, lost invoices and chargeable hours that have never been logged, one big disaster.

The worst-case scenario is that you back up the trailer and load paperwork liberally, spin it round to the accountant and watch your money fall out the back as your accountant breaks into a cold sweat. Organisation is the key to minimising your tax and accounting fees. Organisation also ensures you are in the best position to make last minute smart tax decisions.

IMS is the ultimate weapon against office chaos! Taking the time to set up IMS properly ensures that you get the best out of it. It will save you a bucket of time and stress at the end of each financial year.

Using IMS to its full capacity means, you have logged every hour both billable and non- billable for the whole financial year. You can track profit and loss on individual staff, monitor stock and control your finances with instant updates on your net position. Utilising the company diagnostic features you can run full reports at anytime from anywhere to know exactly where you stand.

No longer does the end of financial year need to be a huge stress. Call I-Man now if you need additional assistance to get your IMS working to peak performance. A little work now will save you weeks of pain and lost income later on.

IMS at work for Advantage Plumbing

2009-10-04T20:00:00.000-07:00

Jason Tait, director of Advantage Plumbing has cleared his desk of a paperwork nightmare and vows never to go back to his life before IMS came to the office.

“It’s been an easy change “says Jason and within 24 hours of his sign up with i-man, customer service relations manager Bradley Bristow-Stagg, was on the phone walking him through the process.

Trialling the system first with one staff member and truck, Jason was so impressed that within 2 weeks all staff and vehicles were transitioned onto the new system. Customised for Advantage Plumbing, IMS has revolutionised his business and substantially increased his revenue.

Not only can Jason now track jobs from the initial enquiry through to invoicing, compliance and stock can be tracked and accounted for. “The biggest benefit”, Jason says, “is the turnaround in revenue”. Previous issues of unaccounted hours and unhappy clients due to complicated office process, are now eliminated and as a result revenue has increased. No more lost paperwork or complicated systems, everything is managed by IMS.

Knowing his business can be contained and managed anywhere, anytime by IMS, Jason now has the capability to manage large contracts that once were logistically impossible. Procurement of goods to site, staffing movements, JSA requirements, OH&S and invoicing can now be done as a seamless and interrelated task rather than hours of labour intensive paperwork.

Jason is now enjoying more home time with family and friends as he knows he can log into the office at any time to check on job progress or attend to invoices without towing home the filing cabinet first!

Creating & Receiving Service Work

2009-09-17T22:05:00.000-07:00

Creating & Receiving Service Work “Flexible Ways to Receive Your Work Orders”

Our field service software provides flexible ways to create or receive jobs, including:

Via the IMS web service management interface.
From system generated emails sent by the customer.
Automatically generated from periodic or routine schedules.
Through the IMS web based client service interface
Directly from site via the mobile field service interface.

IMS provides flexibility on how your service management system can be used, opening up the options of remote computing for your admin personnel and reducing the need for an office to be occupied during business hours.

More info go to www.i-man.com.au

Service Web Page

2009-08-26T18:19:00.000-07:00

IMS Field Service Software “Service Management Excellence”
IMS Field Service software takes service management to a new level with a system that is simple enough to user for non-technical people yet powerful enough to streamline workflow and provide significant improvements to back end efficiency, productivity, cash flow and bottom line profits.

Taking The Plunge

2009-08-23T23:49:00.000-07:00

One of the big advantages with IMS is how fast you can get up and going. Most of our new customers take advantage of this and start gaining the benefits almost immediately. One recent example of this is a plumbing company in Canberra who had their 10 field staff interacting with the system within a week of deciding to go ahead.

While our success stories far out weigh the companies who are slow on the uptake we still have a number who find it hard to get going despite significant improvements in our documentation and customer service.

So why does it happen and is there anymore i-man can do to help?

The main problem we are seeing is that companies or key personnel are not committed to change. The situation is made worse when only half hearted attempts are made to implement the system. This leads a breakdown in information workflow because only some people are using it, reducing the benefit the system.

Alan Quinn from Project Relocations was one such case. The company runs a team of riggers who specialize in relocation of electrical equipment, Switchboards, generators etc. Envisaging riggers entering daily job sheet information into a PDA was difficult for them to get their head around.

Project Relocations first implemented IMS in September 2008 but they hardly used the system until March 2009. Alan new they were missing out big time on chargeable hours and finally committed to using IMS properly, they have not looked back since.

The business reality for anyone who has workers in the field is that if you can not streamline your information flow between the office and the field it will be costing you time and money, lots of it!

The tangible benefits were significant and immediate but they noticed intangible benefits as well. Alan recently had a customer ask for a break up of hours and crane rates for a job. "I called him back a few minutes later and gave them to him, he could not believe it. He was expecting me to get back to him in a couple of weeks, and this left a very positive impression with our customer".

There is little i-man can do to speed up the implementation process if the commitment is not there from the company. You need to ask yourself what it is costing you in time and money if you do not commit.

IMS – Now with GPSTrack

2009-08-12T18:19:00.000-07:00

IMS now has a solution to fill the gap between efficient job management and the benefits of GPS tracking by integrating GPS capabilities into the job management system. Using the latest technology, IMS is now able to capture a users coordinates and record them with job information.

The information can be used to verify when and where information was recorded and assist in locating personnel for scheduling purposes. This also improves the speed of creating efficient job runs by scheduling jobs nearest to each other or to a field workers last known position, helping to minimise travel and optimising time spent on productive work.

The need for scheduling can further be reduced as field staff can find the nearest un-assigned job to their current position from their PDA, without calling the office or being scheduled to a job.

The system can be used with most PDA / Smart phones on the market but is more accurate with devices that have a built in GPS chip, no other hardware is required.

Initial implementation of GPS capabilities into IMS has focused on the job management functions but will in the future incorporate other areas like locating suppliers and recording when and where compliance forms were completed.

IMS GPSTrack provides a cost effective solution that integrates into the existing job management system, providing the ability to verify when and where forms have been completed and locating field staff. This will assist in improving visibility without a costly GPS system that some employees may feel intrusive.

Effects of Eliminating Paperwork

2009-08-09T17:52:00.000-07:00

In November 2006 Velocity Electrical, a small electrical contracting business with 5 employees, was at breaking point. Although they had plenty of work, the company was experiencing severe cash flow problems, profit was minimal, the business owner Mike Brewitt spent most of his time performing operational tasks like scheduling and paper work. He was stuck spending his time in the business and not doing business, but did not know how to you turn it around. Something had to change or it did not make sense continuing.

Mike began searching for a solution and came across IMS, a web based job and compliance management system that allows the field staff to receive and update job information in real time, eliminating paperwork and streamlining work flow. After seeing a demonstration of the system he jumped at it.

“I had been looking for a while, this was different to other systems I had seen and I felt it was something that could solve my problem”, says Mike.
Mike went about setting up IMS with the enthusiasm of someone first starting a business. The implementation of Velocity Electrical was one of the fastest i-man had ever done, their field staff were using it within 3 days and the benefits flowed from there.

The results were amazing, they were able to get through much more work and their billable hours increased from an average of 30 to 35-40 hours per employee per week. In the office, the results were even better. They currently estimate it is saving them around 20 hours a week in admin time and invoices are getting sent out as the work is completed.

The net benefit is that cash flow position, revenue and profit significantly improved, not to mention their quality of life for people in the business. Mike’s time is now free to chase new opportunities; he is now working on the business rather than in it.

i-man continues to develop IMS, working closely with their customers to identify what functions need to be added that can help streamline things even further. Recent improvements include better support for projects, automatic conversion of emails into jobs and adding some powerful reports that can assist with performance monitoring and prioritising work.

For more information go to www.i-man.com.au

New Features To Save More Time?

2009-08-04T16:05:00.000-07:00

Automatic conversion of email into IMS jobs!
If you have customers who send you jobs via email you now have the option to have them automatically converted into IMS tasks saving you time re-keying data. The function requires a standard email format so that text can be mapped to the correct fields in IMS. It can convert directly from email content or from work orders attached to an email. IMS support staff will assist setting up 1 email format for each of our customers, standard rates apply for setting up additional formats.

In other development news, work is progressing steadily on the new estimating/quotation module and we should have a release date within the next month. The new module has been designed with significant input from our customer base and will provide more flexibility in formatting quotes and speed up the estimating process.

How is your Service business performing

2009-08-04T15:52:00.000-07:00

In confronting the challenging business environment we are now in, companies need to closely monitor their trading position to ensure cashflow and productivity is kept at an optimum. Losing out on billable hours, delays in invoicing and poor job management will cost you money and affect customer retention.

Companies who have maximized the benefits of IMS have used it to control and improve these areas of their business, many with some dramatic results. To provide further support in these areas of your business, we have produced a new report called 'Company Diagnostic' to summarise the current status of key performance indicators.

The Company Diagnostic report gives you a single view to show job throughput, productive hours vs non productive hours and the dollar value of closed jobs that have not been invoiced. It also gives you the cost of jobs in the report period vs the value invoiced for the same period.

Missing out on billing one hour a week will reduce your annual revenue by over $3,500 a year, so it is important to ensure you maximise your return on your labour. The IMS benchmark is 100% return on labour, that is a company that was a losing out on 25 hours a week across five technicians prior to implementation. How is your business performing?

The Company Diagnostic can be found under the invoicing tab in the reports menu.

www.i-man.com.au

Who Uses IMS Service Software

2009-08-02T21:30:00.000-07:00

Companies who adopted IMS service software have identified issues that were affecting their company's viability, these include:

Collection & collating job information for invoicing and timesheets is resource intensive affects cashflow, efficicency and profitability.
Inaccurate or non billing of jobs = lost revenue.
Poor access to information = Operational issues managing field personnel and affecting service delivery.
Having difficulty managing and controlling compliance leaving company exposed.
Poor delivery of service and lack of systems effecting customer retention and winning new business.
Time spent managing the business effecting business operators personall lives.

Service software can run on iPhones http://www.i-man.com.au/software/iphone-service-software.cfm

What is IMS Service Software

2009-08-02T21:21:00.000-07:00

IMS is a web based service software solution that supports job and compliance management. It enables you to communicate with your mobile workforce in real time eliminating paperwork and streamlining work flow dramatically improving efficiency and profitability.

More information can be found at http://www.i-man.com.au