Alpha Tracker - Tips & Tricks - Webinar #18

Robin 

Welcome to the Wednesday webinar, Alpha Tracker webinar. Today's topic is asbestos re-inspections.

So who have you got on the webinar today? You've got myself, I'm Robin. I'm the director here at Alpha Tracker. You have Kim.

Kim 

Hello

Robin 

 Asbestos specialist, and we have Jack joining us. Hi, Jack. 

Jack 

Hiya.

Robin 

And Jack is the Alpha Tracker product manager.

I'm just paused there because I can only see you, Jack, and I can normally see us. So I don't know whether people can see me, Kim, or only you. 

Jack 

I can see the view, so I'm hoping everyone can see you as well. If people want to just put something in the chat...

Robin 

Zoom's trying to trip us up, as usual. 

Robin 

Now, welcome to everybody joining live, thanks for joining us. The webinars normally take 20 minutes or so. Please do ask questions as we're going along. You'll see a Q&A button in your Zoom window. If you'd like to click that now and just say hello for us to let us know that you can see us and hear us, that would be wonderful.

Then we'll do some name checks. Jack, do you want to just say hello to some people? 

Jack 

Yeah, we've got plenty of people in, everyone's just started typing hi. Great, so just say hi Mark, Serena, Sarah, Angela, lots of people. 

Robin 

Thank you so much. So first of all, I guess Kim, we need to just say what an asbestos re-inspection is in Alpha Tracker.

So let me see if I get this right. This is data that's already in Alpha Tracker.

Kim 

It is, yes.

Robin 

Either from surveys or prior re-inspections or imported from another system or even imported from another Alpha Tracker.

Kim 

Yes, correct.

Robin 

Being sent back to site, so somebody turns up with it on their handset to record the latest condition for the asbestos, retake photos, update conditions, that sort of things. 

Kim 

Exactly. So they're seeing the existing records and they are updating them and sending them into a new project so that they can create a re-inspection report. 

Robin 

Great, so a report will come out of this but also I guess all of the data in Alpha Tracker, the latest site position will be updated automatically?

Kim 

That will update the register too. 

Robin 

Yes. Good, right, we know what we're talking about. Jack, this is a good start.

So we're gonna, there are lots of ways of doing re-inspections in Alpha Tracker. So we thought we'd put this webinar on to explain how we recommend you do re-inspections, but also to primarily to describe a choice that you have, which is either that your re-inspection will be controlled entirely by the office, by the back office staff, or you can give an element of control to your site staff, to your surveyors. Now I'm saying surveyors, I know sometimes it isn't surveyors that do re-inspections, but we're gonna talk about surveyors. But we'll call them those, yeah. So that's your basic choice. It's whether everything's controlled by the office or partly controlled by the surveyors. So it's either being pushed by the office or pulled by the surveyors, is that right? 

Kim 

Correct. We are talking about site re-inspections here, where we've got that choice. 

Robin 

Fine. So that's what we're going to be covering today. We're also going to briefly talk about how the re-inspections are actually done on the handset only briefly because it is really easy. And then we'll cover off other ways that re-inspections are done. As I say, ask questions at any time. Jack will interrupt us if we've made no sense, which is probable. Or if not, he'll leave them to the end and we'll have a Q&A session at the end. Jack or Michael might also be answering the questions as we go along, in which case you'll see those in the answer tab. Just be aware that all your questions are visible to everybody. So just be aware of that.

Right then, Kim. So this is option one. This is everything controlled by the office, data pushed to a handset. 

Kim 

Right, so what we're talking about here is re-inspecting from the site asbestos register first. So let's change what we're doing, what we're looking at. Let's go over to Alpha Tracker. 

Robin 

Yeah. 

Kim 

So what I've got here is I'm going via the site register, and I'm finding my site. So I could be finding my site and opening it up.

I could also be going from an existing project for the site and using the site details button. So we're going to be re-inspecting from the asbestos register. And from this side, we're going to be looking at how the office control the sending of the records. So from the asbestos register, you have got the latest position for the site. You've got the most up-to-date records. That's why this is the recommended way of doing a re-inspection. You've got the latest records from say, the last re-inspection. You've also got any manual updates that might've been done. So you say register updates done by you or by your client. So it's the latest position. That's why we recommend this method. So what you do is you go to the asbestos register and you've got a button for create re-inspection project at the bottom. 

Robin 

Yep. 

Kim 

You could filter this list because if you just click the button it will use all of the records that are in this register. So you could go to the search field, you could say okay just show me the records for the corridor for example and it will filter the list to just show those and then you're only re-inspecting those records. 

Robin 

I guess generally people will be re-inspecting an entire room or location. 

Kim 

Exactly. You get  the whole lot, click create re-inspection project. And now we can do a few things.

So we can nominate the handset that we're going to send the records to. So they've got to go to somebody. So we choose that handset. So that's the unit ID as specified on the staff list, the staff setup and in Tracker Mobile. We've got the project letter. So if we're creating the re-inspection project by doing this, we need to know what letter we're going to set it to. And then we could just click create new project and send. And what that will do is immediately create that project and send those handset records out. 

Robin 

So that's the situation where I'm on the way to site or this perhaps is a job for tomorrow and you can just do it straight away and the records will just sit on my handset overnight and that'd be fine. Yeah. 

Kim 

I do. Absolutely fine.

And that's quite a normal way of doing things, just doing it straight away. Because obviously the surveyor could be filtering the records that displayed on Tracker Mobile. But you've got options, so you don't have to just create and send immediately. You could be specifying a specific date when you want those records to appear on the handset. So you could be creating the project but saying I don't want these records to actually go down to the handset, to the surveyor, until this date. Set the date and then click the button. 

Robin 

Right. So okay this is situation then. So you've got a re-inspection booked in for the following week and you perhaps you've got that particular person doing a different reinspection every day until then. You don't want the handset to be cluttered, so you're saying don't send the records to the handset until that date and that'll happen automatically will it?

Kim 

It will happen automatically. Yeah, as soon as they connect and synchronise on that day. 

Robin 

Yeah. 

Kim 

OK, there's another option, which is if you create the re-inspection project, say as a normal project, and you scheduled it, you can still come here to the register to select the records and then say "add to project" and select that project number and it will send them out to that project number. 

Robin 

Okay, great. So later. Fine.

So that's a clear choice there then. So either we're creating, this dialogue will create the job and send the records immediately, or we can have it create the job for us and send the records on a future date, or we can add these records to a project we've already booked in and already put in the diary. 

Kim 

Yeah, so we're just doing it later after the creation of the project. 

Robin 

Perfect. And this is all with the office in full control of what's going on. 

Kim 

Absolutely, that's the key point with this. We're doing it from the site register, and it's the office who are selecting the records that are going to be sent down, and they are pushing them down to the surveyor. 

Robin 

Okay, and I think, Jack, I don't know if you agree, I think this is how most of our clients will be using the system, because the back office are taking control and pushing records out. 

Jack 

Yes, I think so. The majority of our users use it like this.

And the back office is in charge of when the data is sent. We do just have one question, just quickly. 

Robin 

Sure. 

Jack 

So someone just asked what time of day would pending sessions be received? 

Robin 

That's a great question. Jack, what's the answer to that one?

Jack 

I can answer that one. 

Jack 

I can answer that question. So the sessions are sent at one minute past midnight, but they won't be received on your device until you connect. So basically, once the day ticks over, they're ready to go. So if you've got a job at one in the morning, two in the morning, early start, they'll be ready for you once you connect your device and they'll be ready for you at 8am as well once you connect at that time.

Robin 

Perfect. Thanks Jack. 

Jack 

No problem.

Robin 

Hope you answered that one. Right the second option and this is the big choice you've got. So that so far we've covered off the office is in charge, the data's been pushed. In this option Kim the surveyor, the site staff can actually pull the records

Kim 

They're pulling the data. This is, let's say, you've created the job in the office, you've scheduled it, but you've not done anything about sending the records.

And you don't want the office staff to be selecting the records that are going to be re-inspected, you want surveyors to do that. So perhaps, perhaps they've got more knowledge about what needs to be re-inspected. So you do that using Alpha Tracker Mobile. 

Robin 

Okay, so the job's booked in as normal though, by the back office staff, that's as option one, it's only how the data ends up on the handset that's different. 

Kim 

That's right, that's right. And it's still done by the registers, but it's the surveyor doing it from Alpha Tracker Mobile. 

Robin 

So let's have a look at some screenshots for that then. So this is Alpha Tracker Mobile itself. Just talk us through this then Kim. 

Kim 

Okay, so the first screenshot we've got there is the opening screen of Alpha Tracker Mobile, and you'll be selecting the "View Registers" button. Okay, so that's the one that they use. It moves on, and then they then select the site that they want to be re-inspecting. They know which one they're doing because it's scheduled for them, isn't it? It's all arranged.

So they select the site, and then they can select which register they want to see if they get a choice. So perhaps it's asbestos register. It displays the asbestos register, and they have an option using the dot dot dot button up in the top right-hand corner there of send data to handset. 

Robin 

Okay. 

Kim 

So they select that, it selects all the records in the register, you can see the little tick there next to them, they can deselect individual ones, they can select all, they can search, they can do all sorts of things there to get the records that they want. And when they've got those selected, they tap send data at the bottom.

It then takes them through to show them their appointments and they select the appointment that this is going to be. Okay. 

Robin 

And that's how it's all going to link together in the back office, okay. 

Kim 

that's a good bit so then if that appointment is for a future date then they get the option of sending the record now to the Tracker Mobile or sending them later and if you choose later then it's on the day of the appointment. 

Robin 

Fine. So why would people do this?

Now, I know this is an increasingly popular option. Is it, do you think, mainly to reduce the admin sort of overhead and just to sort of rebalance? 

Kim 

Yeah, I think that's quite a saving thing, in terms of who's doing what. Yeah, if the surveyors are doing it, they're pulling the records down.

They should know what they need to re-inspect rather than the office doing it. 

Robin 

Fine, makes perfect sense. Any questions about that one Jack? 

Jack 

No questions about that one. Good. Must have been easy. 

Robin 

Right, so this, so we've covered off the two basic choices, office push or surveyor pull. Either way, it's going to look the same in Tracker Mobile, isn't it?

It's going to look like very similar screens to a survey job. It's just different. 

Kim 

So when you receive those records on the handset in Tracker Mobile, they're highlighted red in your session list so you can identify them nice and clearly, you know what you've got to do. You open each one in turn, they turn white when you when you open them, you review the data, so review the records and update them.

And the key thing with reviewing those re-inspection records is you can see the previous values in blue, that's what that screenshot on there is showing us. It's the previous values are there in blue text, so in case you're changing things and can't remember what you've changed it from, you've got a reminder there of what the original record said. So you're going through, perhaps you're changing the condition, entering some re-inspection notes, taking some new photos typically. And then as normal, you're synchronizing to send the data in. 

Robin 

Okay. Well, let's talk about samples though. So if I'm doing a re-inspection, perhaps I've got into an area of a room that I couldn't gain access to before. Can I take a new sample? 

Kim 

You can take new samples, and that we allow you to. It's not our choice, but yes, if you're allowed to, then you can take new samples, and you would use the approach of S to sample.

And the key thing is that any previous samples that you were re-inspecting are no longer marked as S. They're marked as PS, previously sampled. So you've got a clear distinction between new samples and older samples. 

Robin 

Let's just walk that through again then. So if one survey has happened at this building and there are four samples, they'll be S1, 2, 3 and 4, they go out to a re-inspection and I take a new sample 5. When the re-inspection report is being looked at, they'll see PS1, PS2, PS3 and PS4, previously sampled 1 to 4, but an S5. Okay, so there's a nice clear distinction on the report and the register to show when the samples were taken.

Makes perfect sense and as you say we allow the samples to be taken but clearly if the person's not a qualified surveyor they shouldn't be doing it but the system will allow them to. Lovely, so the only point at which they need an internet connection then is when they're syncing the data at the end and of course when they're collecting the records in the first place. Yeah fine. But during the re-inspection they don't need an internet connection as you'd expect.

Right, so those are the methods that we recommend and the choices we recommend but there are lots of other ways of doing this aren't there. 

Kim 

There are alternative methods, yes. 

Robin 

And we notice from the support desk, because we get a lot of questions on the support desk about all the different ways that you can do re-inspections. That's why we're trying to simplify it, Jack, in this webinar, is to say this is the way to do it, because it makes the most sense and it's easy.

But there are some other ways. So what about re-inspecting from a project, then? 

Kim 

Right. So instead of re-inspecting from the site register, you could be re-inspecting from a project, but this is re-inspecting from a snapshot in time. So it's all the data you've got in that project. It won't give you any later updates, for example.

So you can do it, and you would do it from, you'd open up the project, you'd go through to survey details, and you'd be looking at the choose task menu, choosing one of the options on there. 

Robin 

But I think people may be doing this, probably for historical reasons, sort of habit reasons, perhaps. But yeah, okay, but it is possible.

What about from the client view register then? What's that about? 

Kim 

Right, so you can you can re-inspect from the client view register, which is another tab on the on the site. So if you go to the site and you look at the register, you've got the client view register. This is the data that the clients can see on the client portal. And the key difference is that it's got positives and negatives. So that's, that's the difference in the data.

So the asbestos register is just positives but if you're doing it from the client view register, we do have to switch it on, but you get the same button on the bottom works in exactly the same way, but it includes positives. No accesses as usual. 

Robin 

And negatives, so things that aren't asbestos. So if for some reason somebody wants to do a re-inspection and include the items that weren't asbestos, that's the way they could do that.

And the last option there that we've put on for desktop re-inspections, this one's quite interesting isn't it, this is how you can do a re-inspection and update the site register automatically but without actually sending any data to a handset at all. 

Kim 

Yeah, yeah, it doesn't go to the handset, it goes straight into the new project that you're creating the re-inspection project. So it's new, it's records in there as part of that new project. So they're copied in, if you like, and then you would be amending those records, updating them in the re-inspection project itself, a desktop exercise. 

Robin 

Right, so let's talk this one through then. When would this be used?

So for example, one of our consultancy's clients does some building work themselves, perhaps creates some paperwork to show what work has been done, and they send the paperwork to the consultancy to say, can you update the asbestos register? I've now refurbed this room. That's how that could be used, isn't it? So they've got some paperwork or a PDF or a spreadsheet or something with that data on. They could do one of these desktop re-inspections, record the results of what's happened, and there'd be a home in Alpha Tracker for the data that's been ordered. 

Kim 

Yeah, there's a home, it gives it a project number, it gives it some data, it was an event. You can tell it, you can track it, you can see it, rather than just doing ad-hoc register updates. 

Robin 

Okay, that makes sense. So, but yeah, no need to send the data to a handset, you can do it all within Alpha Tracker itself, and you'll still get the history and the audit trail.

I've put a picture there of Zac on the support desk, because just to say, if you've got any questions about this, or you perhaps do re-inspections another way that we've not mentioned today in Alpha Tracker, just give us a call on the support desk as per usual, and we'll talk you through how you're working and how you might want to work better and more efficiently. There are lots of settings in the system that control this. 

Kim 

There are quite a few. 

Kim 

Everybody wants to work in slightly different ways, so there are different things that we can do depending on how you want to work. 

Robin 

Sure. So that's just a little reminder there.

Fine. Okay. So let's have a little recap, I think. So we are very much recommending now that you do re-inspections from site, from the site asbestos register. You'll always get the latest position. The register itself will be updated automatically when you're finished. It's the easiest way to do it. And you can either, this is your big choice, either do it entirely from the office and push the data to handsets, or you can pull the data from handsets if you want your surveyors to do some of the work. We said you can either have the record sent immediately, good if the re-inspections the next day or a day or two, or even the same day, but you can also set it to be pending on a specific date. That way the surveyor's handset doesn't get cluttered with future data and it's just simpler for them. And that works on both options, by the way. And then finally, we just talked about some of the different ways you can do it. You can re-inspect from a project, you can re-inspect non-asbestos information by doing it from the client view of the register, or you can even do desktop re-inspections where data doesn't hit the handset at all and you're managing it all and controlling it all and recording it all within the office.

Jack, any questions at this point? Anything you want to raise? 

Jack 

I've got quite a few questions. There's one question about using Alpha Tracker Mobile. I think a few people have mentioned that they don't have access to Alpha Tracker Mobile and how do they get access to it. 

Robin 

So that's an easy one. So just get in touch with support and we can set you up with that.

It's just the app itself is just a download from the app stores, either Apple or Google. But there's a little setting we have to enable in your system. So just get in touch with support if you want us to enable that. 

Jack 

Next one is when you complete the re-inspection, does it automatically get a new project number? 

Robin 

Yes, so when you create it, the point of creating it, the button that Kim showed which was create and send.

Kim 

Yeah, create re-inspection and send.

Robin 

That will automatically create the job, give it a new number and send the records across. The other option you've got is to book the job in yourself in advance and give it a new number at that point and then you can send the data and link it back to that particular job number. But yeah, all re-inspections should have their own number. That's really important.

Whether you're UCAS accredited or not, each re-inspection needs its own number so that you can see and look at the audit trail for a particular site. 

Kim 

And when we send those records out to the handset, they get the new number. Yeah, so that's not the original records with the old number, they're new ones with the new re-inspiration project number. 

Robin 

That's it. 

Jack 

There's quite a few others

Robin 

We'll take two more and then any more we'll get back to people after the webinar. 

Jack 

Yeah, no problem. One moment. I've just lost my Q&A. There it is. Can we report on what re-inspection data was sent to a surveyor between different dates? 

Robin 

That's a great question. I think the answer is probably yes. Can't we Jack because we know...

Jack 

Yeah, we can yeah. We've got a log of data that was sent out to a surveyor, either through the Alpha Tracker Mobile app or through the desktop, so we can create some reports if you want to be keeping tabs on people sending data out and making sure it was sent out correctly. 

Robin 

OK, nice. Good question. One more, or a couple more. 

Jack 

They do keep rolling in. What is the best way to work out what is due a re-inspection each month?

Robin 

Okay, so there's some reports built into Alpha Tracker for that which can give you that information. So you've got a whole reporting system in here. So there are reports built in which tell you when re-inspections are coming up. You can also see it through the portal. So there's visibility of this through the client portal. So your clients can see the re-inspection dates on sites. So those are the two key ways, yeah.

It's either through the portal view or through one of the reports that are built in.

Kim 

Yeah, on the reports, if you just search for the keyword inspections, you'll find the main one for that. 

Jack 

I'll leave it there because they just keep coming. 

Robin 

All of the questions that we haven't answered, Kim will be in touch afterwards to answer them as follow-up emails, so don't worry about those. Thanks again for joining.

It was great to have so many people join today live. You can watch all of our webinars after the event on our website. They're all recorded. They're all on YouTube. That was last month. You can see 17. This will be number 18. You can watch them all here. I'll watch them on YouTube. Do share the links with your colleagues as well. If you've got ideas for future webinars, let us know. We love all feedback from clients. The next live one will be next month, which is all about risk assessments. I think I'm on holiday for that one, but I think Jack might be on holiday as well. I can't remember. He might be back by then. It'll be Kim and somebody for the one about risk assessments. Thanks again for joining. We really appreciate it. You're taking the time out from your lunch. Hope that was useful. It's certainly useful for us to be able to summarize the best ways that we think you should be doing asbestos re-inspections in Alpha Tracker. See you again next time.