Field survey tools for the for the 4IR times ? Enter FIRtech’s lowcode App
Bringing specialized survey tools into the 21st centuryThe Challenge
- A prominent university came to FIRtech with the stated challenge – they need to get back in control of their field surveys
- The university has been able to use various specialised and online survey tools, but none of these tools could give the flexibility (complex surveys) or control (allowing the students as opposed to developers to set up the surveys) they needed.
- In addition, they required other smarts such as GPS coordinates of where the survey took place; photos of respondents and/or documents, and start and stop times of each survey event
- But most importantly, they needed to be in control and have ability to set up and distribute surveys
What a FIRtech low-code App can do for you:
- Whether it is a survey tool or food ordering service, mobile apps don’t have to take months and cost millions
- With our team of cloud engineers, we seek to assemble the best-fit, lowest-effort (and cost) solution for your exact needs
- We have access to pre-built stacks and are able to tailor the solution to your intensity of needs, budget and time-scale
- Whether it is full-stack or low-code; your concern is the time to value and cost of ownership.
- Speak to us about your requirement and the solution may be simpler than you think!
What FIRtech did
In order to accelerate the time to value we went for a low-code environment such as Powerapps.
In order to give the users full control, we used a simple configuration tool built on top of Excel, which all students and researchers already know and trust.
We created a PowerApp to conduct the surveys. An Excel Spreadsheet controls all authenticated users and their assigned surveys – the creation of surveys are all handled in Excel.
The PowerApp saves all the respondents details (Name, Surname, ID/Passport no., Picture of ID/Passport , GPS Location, Start and End times) in Online or Offline mode capability
All Data is saved to a central database.
The Excel file has reports on collected data.
In less than 6 weeks we had an MVP running and in testing with the University Research Department.
The Result
With a low-code environment, we could build the first MVP in no time, and we can keep on rolling out features as and when required in a truly agile fashion.
Seeing as FIRtech used Excel as the configuration and data display tool, the end-users needed almost zero training and can re-use many of their pre-built data models.
In low signal areas, this solution allows you to download your assigned surveys, conduct many surveys without disruption and upload all when signal is available. This FIRtech app solutions includes pictures and GPS locations.
This leaves the researchers with much more time to perform things like Analytics on Collection data and Central Repository of data.
The Green effect of no wasteful paper printing, is also a big plus!