Key Takeaways
- Combining Asset & Document Tracking for Security & Compliance
Using both real-time GPS asset tracking and mobile reporting ensures better security, operational efficiency, and regulatory compliance. - Mobile Reporting Enhances Decision-Making
Document tracking (mobile reporting) provides real-time insights into safety inspections, repair orders, and compliance reports, improving asset management. - Cloud-Based Data Storage for Instant Access
Secure, cloud-based systems like 1st Reporting enable instant access to reports, safety audits, and critical documents from anywhere. - Customizable Reporting & Alerts Improve Accountability
AI-powered reporting tools allow for tailored forms and automated notifications, streamlining compliance and communication. - Best Practices for Mobile Asset Tracking
Implementing access control, integrating incident reporting, and regularly auditing tracking systems strengthens security and efficiency.
Mobile Reporting is More Versatile Than GPS Hardware
Unlike traditional GPS tracking modules, mobile reporting systems are device-agnostic, reducing hardware dependency and maintenance issues.
Any fleet or equipment manager knows that using tracking systems to ensure they understand where equipment is at any given time is a good idea. However, have you ever considered a different approach to asset tracking systems by tracking the reports that go along with those mobile assets?
Enhancing the security of mobile assets with a combination of mobile asset tracking systems and mobile reporting tracking is the only way to ensure both asset security and appropriate asset management while meeting regulatory compliance requirements.
In this guide, we’ll discover the often overlooked mobile reporting that makes asset management more efficient and improves operations management company-wide.
How Mobile Asset and Document Tracking Strengthens Security
Obviously, if you have mobile assets like vehicles or equipment, tracking them in real-time is a smart move for security. However, document tracking is another means of monitoring not only equipment and vehicle use but also compliance, safety, and security.
Mobile asset tracking involves using GPS-tracking devices installed on equipment or vehicles to track these assets in real-time. Document tracking, often referred to as mobile reporting, is a way of monitoring documents associated with anything from incident inspections to safety audits and asset condition reports. Furthermore, with a robust mobile reporting system, your organization can track everything from incident reports to repair work orders and everything in between.
Real-time tracking of assets and reports helps organizations like yours minimize risks and prevent theft. Furthermore, these sorts of tracking enable far greater decision-making for asset security via their robust data-driven natures. Well, mobile reporting is genuinely better at handling data, which is why it’s really the unsung hero of the two types of systems. Let’s look a little deeper at why you should seriously consider mobile reporting alongside your real-time asset tracking systems.
Key Features of an Effective Mobile Asset Document Tracking System
In the 15+ years I managed mobile service crews, I gained a lot of experience with mobile asset management. We had service trucks, trailers, lift equipment, forklifts, and even mobile cranes. I don’t mind telling you that it was, at times, a challenge. Of course, we also don’t have the same type of technologies available today. Namely, we had mobile asset tracking systems, but they didn’t gather any data. They only let me know where the equipment was currently located.
Back when I managed mobile assets, my teams performed pre-use safety inspections every day, whether it was lift equipment, forklifts, or service trucks. The problem was that I often wouldn’t find out about equipment or vehicle concerns until the end of the day. I wish I had tools like the 1st Reporting application at my disposal, that’s for sure. With that said, here are the key features I would look for in an effective mobile reporting system if I implement one today.
Real-Time GPS Tracking
Real-time GPS tracking is a no-brainer when managing mobile equipment or vehicles. However, even the best software can’t tell you there’s something wrong with the equipment or vehicle operation. Sure, some expensive trackers can tie into the equipment to report on things like operator braking, mileage, and similar concepts. Still, none of them can tell you a steel anchor point is cracked or that a headlight is out.
That’s where mobile reporting comes into play.
Mobile reporting that incorporates real-time GPS document data is a crucial feature of today’s most valuable software. Take the 1st Reporting application as an example. Sure, it may not track vehicle location in the way that a vehicle-installed GPS tracker might, but it has far more far-reaching powers.
Let’s say you have a team of field personnel, and a part of their daily routine is to perform a pre-use vehicle inspection before they start their day. With the 1st Reporting application and a custom safety form with GPS enabled, you can not only gain insights into vehicle or equipment safety concerns, but you can also encourage accountability through a powerful form-centric GPS tracking system that can include the user name, their location, and the time to which they started, edited, or submitted their safety report. Furthermore, with secure cloud-based data storage, you can access that report within seconds of your crew completing it in the field. Actually, let’s talk about that next.
Cloud-Based Data Storage
I mentioned how the 1st Reporting application empowers your team and management with cloud-based data storage. However, that really doesn’t do it justice, as it is more than just a repository for field reports. The 1st Reporting application has two primary means of using cloud storage to your advantage, and it’s a feature that you really have to understand to understand how it is a game changer.
- Mobile report form storage – The application stores field personnel’s reports for instant access for managers, whether they are in the office, or half way around the world. You can access it via any web browser or the application directly installed on your mobile device (laptops, tablets, or smartphones).
- Team document database – The 1st Reporting application includes a space to save and share documents like SOPs, training materials, equipment manuals, and other critical documents that your field personnel might need to refer to in the field. This feature makes it easy for you to ensure your teams have the correct information when they need it, no matter where they are.
Customizable Reporting and Alerts
One of the best features to look for in any mobile asset document management system is the means to create custom report forms quickly. Integration of an application like 1st Reporting is a lot easier than many others, not only because it has an intuitive interface but also because it includes an AI-powered form builder called Template Genie. Template Genie helps you to make fully customizable forms in mere seconds with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence. Not only that, but you can easily ask Genie for revisions or additional form elements, so it takes the guesswork out of form creation, making it a fast and effective way to get your team set up quickly and with minimal effort.
The application also has a powerful and genuinely customizable notification system. Not only does it give you the power to create custom automated messages to send to specified recipients, but it also lets you control the trigger as well as the conditions for the notification to fire in the first place. Whether it’s a specific field on a form (like a must-have safety audit step), form submission, or any number of other triggers, you have truly complete control over building highly customized notifications, making communication barriers a thing of the past.
Best Practices for Enhancing Security with Mobile Asset Tracking
There are several best practices for enhancing security related to mobile assets and document tracking. However, you likely know the common ones already, so let’s review a few related to specific platform features that you should know about.
Implementing Access Control Measures
Restricting asset data access to authorized personnel is a must-do for any organization that uses mobile vehicles or equipment assets. With a tool like the 1st Reporting app, you can set access controls easily by implementing teams and access levels within the app team management dashboard. You can set these role-based permissions for different user levels, making it easy to ensure that you have complete control over data access management.
Integrating Asset Tracking with Incident Reporting
By now, you must realize how powerful using a field reporting system in conjunction with your asset-tracking GPS systems is. Using these two together is a more powerful way to enhance security relating to both mobile and stationary assets. Whether you’re tracking vehicles or incidents, with the 1st Reporting app working alongside your asset GPS tracker, you have a complete system for powerfully enhanced mobile asset management.
Regular System Audits and Updates
One of the most frustrating aspects of using asset tracking hardware is that it generally isn’t easy to fix. Mobile reporting solutions, being in the form of an application in the case of 1st Reporting, work on pretty much any device, making it super user-friendly. Unlike physical tracking modules, 1st Reporting is a mobile app that you can access from anywhere and on any device, be it your smartphone, tablet, laptop, or desktop. If you don’t have the app installed, as long as you have login credentials, you can also access it via a browser.
Due to the frustrating nature of physical asset tracking modules, I strongly recommend that you review and audit their performance regularly. Back when I managed mobile equipment and a fleet of service vehicles, I found that those physical asset tracking modules would sometimes report incorrectly, and I remember having to call in an installer to swap them out from time to time due to module failures. In today’s age of the smartphone, having mobile reporting tracking is a lot easier to manage than those tracking hardware modules. It’s much more capable of handling everything related to reporting, from incidents to safety audits, making it a much more broadly accessible and functional tool for your teams.
Strengthening Security with Smarter Mobile Asset Management
We’ve talked about mobile asset tracking systems and compared them to mobile reporting and documentation tracking platforms, like the 1st Reporting application. By now, you will have a much better understanding of how these two types of mobile asset management tools can work to bring you unprecedented insight into your asset management. Furthermore, I’m sure you now understand how you can enhance not only security but also safety and regulatory compliance with tools like the 1st Reporting app.
If you’re ready to take your mobile asset and document tracking to the next level, I invite you to sign up and test the 1st Reporting application for yourself. It’s a powerful tool in any asset manager’s toolbox, available as an application on both Google Play and The Apple App Store.
You can also sign up for the 1st Reporting app here or book a personalized demo with one of our mobile reporting specialists. As a former mobile asset and service manager myself, I don’t mind telling you it’s the tool I wish I had when I ran service crews. Check it out; you’ll be glad you did.