I figure I am not the only person here who ends up being the free IT consultant for friends and family.
My friend works for a county government and his department just acquired (?) another department, and he wants to get them organized. But, you know, for like basically no money.
The department to be organized is the fire marshal; they inspect (mostly) commercial buildings on a varying schedule (high risk more frequently, etc.).
One very real option is paper forms (like today) and tracking it in spreadsheets (an improvement believe it or not). That is honestly the most likely route unless I can come up with something at least as easy as that.
Weāre not talking setting up a database from scratch or anything. This department has two employees.
I said, āThereās probably an app for that.ā
Anyone have any thoughts on what would:
Be dirt cheap
Be easy to use for anybody
Allow reoccurring inspections on a schedule
āCustomerā table with location, etc. (not just needing to write it in ad hoc every time)
Have logical roles/permissions built-in or customizable (i.e. an inspector canāt go edit an inspection afterward, unless perhaps it was reopened by the manager)
And then some nice-to-haves that I thought of:
Mobile app
A web dashboard for the manager
Allow printed inspection reports for hard copies
Ability to use the app offline would be a big plus
My mind went to the idea of maintenance or work orders. One contender so far (in my mind) is called FastField Forms. Iām still working on UAT (with me as the only user so far).
I wondered if anyone else has looked into anything like this. Thanks in advance.
There are any number of Web/Cloud based form filling/archiving apps, those should be easy to find. But for scheduling, my mind goes immediately to Outlook shared mailbox. Contacts for the properties, calendar for the varying schedules - set them up like meetings.
Or, look for a āhouse-callā app, like for physical therapy or home care nurses. They would all effectively have the same requirements as what you need.
Smartsheet has been a great tool for me.
Itās a simple database that you can assign tasks, etc.
On one sheet you could set up reminders for each customer and attached links.
Outlook - reminders are annoying as hell and never go away unless you mark them as such, thereās the To-Do (Task) list, and possibly some PowerApp stuff you could do to trigger reminders - but I know of no āreportingā for things inside Outlook. But there are quite a lot of Outlook toolbar add-ins that may add functionality - since Outlook itself is really a database
Just my personal opinion, Iām trying to get users to stop using Email as a data repository. So many security issues, so difficult to manage corporate data, ā¦
IF they are using 365, Microsoft Lists might not be a bad way to go. It has a mobile app, each record has a change log, there are calendar views and filters, uses the same security structure (Azure AD), and is free with the tenant. You can also add automation to remind when next inspections are due, send emails, etc.
With an easy answer IF security, compliance, and the other data integrity things that databases do is important to you! Sorry for hijacking your thread.
I do agree with @Mark_Wonsil - and I love how he came right out to correct me LOL!
My users archive their lives in Outlook and we struggle with that. But I think the scale at which these fire marshals will use the system may warrant the simplicity, butā¦
Having put a bit more thought into itā¦ Iām struggling with idea that their records may in fact be legal documents, subject to a subpoena for the courts or for insurance investigations. It might just be better to spend the time, money and effort to find a proper application for this.
There are fire marshals everywhere. A good point to start would be to approach other counties/cities on what they do. Someone must have already developed a resource that is available to use for
Successful government organizations? Is that a conundrum?
All joking aside, though, I think I would have a hard time finding a small county office that was modern and efficient. Thatās kind of a contradictionā¦
I clicked on a few but no pricing listed. If I have to ask, they canāt afford itā¦
Itās a fire marshal, not fire department. I think most of those are overkill for a tiny admin office. But I am surprised they have apps that are that specific.
I appreciate all the effort from everyone; you all are going way above and beyond.
I actually downloaded iAuditor over the weekend and toyed around with it. I forget the exact issue but a lot of these programs donāt let you have user roles; everyone can edit everything anytime. Not cool. Or that ability is only in the super premium version.
And then the other problem I had, is when I would google āFire inspectionā they think I mean some internal inspection as part of maintaining an apartment complex or something.
Sorry for hijacking your thread.
