Review is one of those areas where the difference between simply having a feature and designing a proper workflow becomes obvious. A survey has been completed. Now someone needs to check it. That person might be the original inspector. It might be another member of the team. It might be someone carrying out a formal quality check. The question is: …
Designing for the Worst Case: Making Inspection Software Recoverable
When we were building BrightChecker’s synchronisation system, we discovered something that is easy to overlook. A synchronisation process can be working perfectly and still be almost invisible. Information goes into a queue. The queue sends it to the server. The server confirms receipt. Everything is fine. But what happens if something isn’t fine? Building the synchronisation queue The synchronisation system …
Designing Inspection Surveys: Why We Moved Away From Overcomplicated Interfaces
Sometimes software becomes more complicated because the designers are trying too hard to make it better. We’ve done it ourselves. Our inspection software has gone through several iterations, and the way we structure surveys is a good example of what we learned. The first version was simple Our original prototype had sections and questions. There was a fairly rigid report …
Designing an Inspection Software Interface That People Actually Use
Good interface design isn’t about making software look impressive. It is about making people understand what to do next. That sounds obvious. It is surprisingly difficult to get right. Put the common actions where people expect them BrightChecker’s main administration screens have a deliberately limited top-level menu. We chose six of the most commonly used areas rather than filling the …
Assigning Inspection Jobs: From Property to Surveyor
Before an inspection can happen, someone has to assign the job. That sounds simple, and it should be. We deliberately designed the process so that assigning a survey doesn’t become an administrative exercise in itself. Start with the property The first step is to select the property. BrightChecker uses searchable selection controls, so whether you have a handful of properties …
What Happens If You Lose Your Phone During an Inspection?
Losing a phone during an inspection is not supposed to be part of the workflow. But phones get lost. They get broken. They get left at the office. They get dropped. And, occasionally, they get dropped somewhere considerably worse. So what happens to an inspection that is already in progress? This is one of those situations where the design of …
Inspection Software That Works Offline: What Happens When You Lose Connectivity?
There is a very simple question people ask us when we talk about inspection software: “What happens when I lose my connection?” It is a fair question. We are based in Norfolk, and we have spent years carrying out inspections ourselves. So we know that mobile connectivity is not something you can take for granted. You can be in a …
Mobile Property Inspection App: What Really Matters When You’re in the Field
A mobile property inspection app needs to do more than put an inspection form onto a phone. When you are actually standing inside a property, the priorities are different. You need to see what you are doing, move through the inspection quickly, capture photographs and notes without fighting the interface, and keep working when the mobile signal disappears. And sometimes …
How to Assign and Reassign Surveys
Before you can assign a survey inspection, somebody has to decide three things: what is being inspected, which template should be used and who is going to do the work. That sounds simple. It should be simple. In practice, once you have a growing list of properties, templates and surveyors, you need a quick way to create the job, give …
What Happens If You Lose the Device You’re Using for an Inspection?
You are halfway through an inspection. You’ve taken photographs, entered responses and worked your way through the property. The inspection is progressing normally. Then you lose the phone, or you’ve left the tablet at the office. Perhaps it has been dropped, damaged or simply isn’t available when you need it. What happens to the inspection? The obvious worry is that …
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