Field Data Collection Automation
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Transcript of Field Data Collection Automation
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Automating Field Data Collection
best practices, workflow design, and techniques
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
About me
Coleman McCormick
12 years in mapping / GIS
7 years developing software products
Work with companies + organizations worldwide on business process, data management, software
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
What we doSoftware company in St Petersburg, FL est. 2009
Mobile form builder — web, iOS, Android
Workforce management
Automation & streamlining of data collection
SaaS subscription service
Worldwide customer base — 100+ countries
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
Field collection use cases• Asset management
• Damage assessments
• Inspections
• Public works
• Regulatory audits
• On and on…
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
AgendaGoals and objectives in collecting data
Brief history of data collection
A look at workflow
Friction and its causes
Techniques
Some examples of automation in action
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
Ideals + Goalsi need to collect some data.
what does “success” look like?
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
What’s the ideal process?• Think about goals and objectives
• What questions need answering?
• Who are the stakeholders? (Who’s asking the questions?)
• Interviews — understand the “why” of the requirements
• Paint the picture — what does success look like?
• Tasking your field workforces
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
Start by defining the successful final result, and work backwards!
bit.ly/amazon-product-dev
Need consensus on goals from bottom to top
“First write the press release, then build the product”
Meeting Mission Objectives
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
On-Demand
• Leadership wants answers to questions now, not 3, 6, or 12 months later
• Reporting on specific data views — the data I want, when I want it
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
On-Demand• Event-driven decision making
• Push and pull to get answers — Notifications vs. self-service reporting, hybrid environments
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
Other key goals• Cost savings — fieldwork is expensive; room for huge
savings
• Reliability — critical data can’t be wrong, costs incurred with unreliable inputs or systems
• Speed — decisions can’t be made without the data in hand!
• Compliance — proof of work, audit history
• No duplication of effort
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
a rapid evolution in technology
A Brief History
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
Pen and paper, notes, transcription
pain
time between collection + decision = wide gap
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
Then we advanced, sorta
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
Finally!
Integrated sensors Mobile computing
Low cost Off-the-shelf
Ease of use
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
Historic challenges
• Error-prone — handwritten, hard to QC, clunky
• Time-consuming — lots of duplication, revisits to fix mistakes and fill gaps
• Delays — reporting + aggregation takes days or weeks
• Difficult to integrate — needs transcription / cleanup
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
Workflowunderstanding, designing, iterating
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
Feedback loops
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
Start at the beginning
• What questions need answering?
• What data do I need to get those answers?
• Who are the stakeholders?
• How will we get the needed info?
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
Easy pitfalls
• Overengineering
• Minimize the “nice to haves”
• KISS
• YAGNI — “you aren’t gonna need it”
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
• What’s the aggregate burden of capturing everything?
• If something slips through the cracks, which thing will it be?
• Weighting expectations against the goals
• Classify things by “order of importance”
• Better yet — If you can’t envision how some information will be used, why bother with it?
“If our team is going to be on site, let’s just get everything we can…”
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
A quick story about our approach to workflow design…
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
• JIFX field experiments — Camp Roberts, CA
• Goal: Field test technologies / tools for disaster relief scenarios
• Work with FEMA to field test mobile tools for damage assessment data capture
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
Frictionthe source of our data management pains
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
Automation = the removal of friction
“Alexa, get me an Uber”
Tap a button → Perform an action
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
Common sources of friction
• Technology — tools are too complicated, systems over-designed, “solution looking for a problem”
• Work — complexity of the work, steps in the workflow
• Human factors — compliance, need-to-know, organizational silos
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
It’s not all bad, but should reduce what we can control
There is always some friction in the workflow
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
Treat the sources, not the symptoms.
If not, your workflow becomes a patchwork of workarounds.
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
Iteration• Incremental reflection + improvement
• Look at whole workflow, seek frictions, test new methods to reduce, re-deploy, re-test
• Scrum!
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
A Few Techniquesdemonstrating ways to reduce friction
(with tech)
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
Some samples of what this looks like
• Autofilling data
• Real-time QA
• StreetView integration
• Capturing weather data
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
Autofilling parcel data
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
QA settingsread-only data
fields required for submission
validation
if-this-then-that conditions
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
Live QA/QC
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
Google StreetView
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
Auto-populate weather
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
Looking forward
• Workflow — triggers / actions, “if this, then that”
• Dispatch / scheduling
• On-demand metrics + reporting
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
Automation in Actionexamples from the field
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
Automation in action• A few diverse examples:
• Comcast — telecom
• HALO Trust — humanitarian aid
• Desert Channels — wildlife
• Century Engineering — civil engineering
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
The HALO Trust
fulcrumapp.com/cases/halo-trust
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
fulcrumapp.com/cases/desert-channels-queensland
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
Century Engineering
fulcrumapp.com/cases/century-engineering
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field data automation ✦ fulcrumapp.com/gispro2016
Thanks!
fulcrumapp.com/blog
@fulcrumapp
Coleman McCormickEVP, Fulcrum