Data Tracking and Reporting: Software For Productivity and
Improvement in the Cleaning Industry
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BY
MICHAEL JENKINS
Productivity and improvement are key components of any
successful cleaning organization. Both are related to the work
a company performs, but each has a distinct meaning.
Productivity is about the amount of work that gets done.
Improvement is about the quality of work that gets done.
Productivity and improvement are especially relevant to one
aspect of business operations that is often overlooked: data
management.
From hospitals and educational facilities to building service
contractors, any organization responsible for cleaning and/or
maintenance handles tremendous amounts of information. The
company tracks employees, attends to clients, collates
inspection results, manages service area data, and reviews
performance quality.
Then it needs to correlate and combine that data from each of
these separate fields in order to create a meaningful picture of
performance as a whole. Hidden in all this information is
potentially valuable data that can be used to drive company
focus and set meaningful goals. If used effectively, data
tracking and reporting can uncover potential disasters before
they become irreversible.
Dissatisfied clients, incompetent employees, and ineffective
work measures can be identified, saving the company from lost
business and poor reputation. However, for companies that handle
their data manually, either on paper or with a basic spreadsheet
program like Excel, all of this work is painfully slow and often
ineffective.
Companies that manage their data manually encounter two major
hindrances. First, the process is time-consuming, which
negatively impacts company productivity. Second, it is
error-prone, preventing company improvement. This is the case
in all areas of data management, from interpreting inspection
results to maintaining client relations.
For example, the time required to compare different inspection
sheets increases rapidly with the number of inspections to
review. Trying to identify performance trends between several
inspections, or between several service areas, quickly becomes
an unwieldy task, and the employees analyzing the data often end
up needing to make guesses about where
to focus attention.
Client communications is another area that requires accurate
attention and timely review. Unfortunately, clients rarely send
their messages in neatly categorized charts, marking their
complaints like deficiencies on an inspection form. These client
requests are rarely tracked in a methodical manner, or even
recorded in an easily accessible way.
The clients’ concerns are misinterpreted, misplaced, and
forgotten resulting in dissatisfied clients who will likely start
shopping around for other options or, as for in house
facilities, request that company management make personnel
changes. A simple method of tracking inspections and client
complaints can be the solution to a company’s need to direct its
focus and perform more effectively.
Online Tracking System
There are several choices of software solutions to help service
managers out of the morass of manual data management. The most
comprehensive and powerful of these is the online tracking
system. Using an online tracking system to manage company data
can reduce time and the errors that result from manual data
management, resulting in increased productivity and improvement.
An online tracking system acts as a company information center
or database, storing client and employee data, complaints and
inspection results, and managing communication between the
company and its clients. Tracking systems are accessed through
the Internet, which means that you and your employees and
clients always see the same up-to-date information.
Because it is Internet-based, the system provides extreme flexibility.
Instead of being tied to a particular office or computer, you
can access vital information from any place that has an Internet
connection.
The basic services needed from an online tracking system are
electronic inspections, complaint tracking, and graphical
reporting. Higher quality professional-level tracking systems
will offer additional services, including message directing,
message archiving, and company record keeping. Each of these
services increases productivity and improvement for your company
in different ways.
Electronic Inspections
Electronic inspections are a key component in both productivity
and improvement. Electronic inspections are performed either
directly through the online tracking system on the Internet, or
else on a portable electronic device and then uploaded to the
tracking system. Since the inspections are uploaded
automatically into the tracking system database, employee time
is not spent filing the inspection. Also, the errors that are
inevitably made during manually transferring inspection results
from paper to computer are entirely avoided.
Complaint Tracking
Tracking client complaints is just as necessary as tracking
inspection results. While clients may not review cleaning
performance as extensively as your inspectors do, the things
they do notice are the most important to fix. With an online
tracking system in place, client complaints are stored and
categorized just like inspection results, making it easier for
you to learn your clients’ expectations and improve to keep them
satisfied.
Graphical Reporting
Inspection and complaint data only becomes useful when it can be
reviewed in a simple and easy-to-understand way. Looking through
pages of raw inspection results or client complaints in order to
discern performance trends can be frustrating and fruitless. An
online tracking system can save time, increasing productivity,
by filtering results for you, and presenting the information in
a meaningful way. This is done through graphical reports.
A tracking system’s graphical reports can quickly review
hundreds of messages to show which services clients complain
about the most, or which employees or service locations receive
the most complaints.
It can review inspection results to show the quality of work
performed for a particular client, service location, or even a
specific area within a service location. The combination of
electronic inspections, complaint tracking, and graphical
reporting gives your company quick and easy access to the
information needed to improve performance and, if you are a
building service contractor, a step up over the competition.
Communicating through Tracking Systems
In addition to tracking inspections and complaints, online
tracking systems assist in communications with clients and
employees. An effective tracking system stores contact and
organizational information for each client, client contact, and
employee that the company/organization works with. The tracking
system can use this data to make communication smoother and
simpler, resulting in greater productivity. Three major
advantages online tracking systems have over standard email are
directed messaging, downline visibility, and accessible storage.
Directed Messaging
The online tracking system uses the company data records to
ensure that messages go to the people who directly are
involved with a situation. Messages sent by a client will be
automatically directed to the employees who work with that
client. Since the tracking system stores the organizational
data for your company, when employees are transferred to
different positions, they immediately have access to any
messages that were sent to that position. In this way, client
concerns are prevented from falling through the cracks during
reorganizations.
Downline Visibility
Downline visibility means that supervisors and managers can
view all messages that are sent to or from their subordinate
workers. It acts as an additional check to make sure that
client concerns are addressed. Keeping supervisors informed of
clients’ communications helps them to manage effectively and
improve company services. Employees can be held accountable for
their actions because the supervisors will have direct access to
all communication between their employees and clients instead
of having to work through second-hand accounts.
Accessible Storage
Emails get deleted, letters are thrown away, and messages that
are of vital importance can be lost or misplaced. Your online
tracking system is a permanent repository of communication data.
Impor tant messages will be available for you to review months,
or even years, later. Keeping your message history in an online
tracking system gives you and your clients the assurance that
important information will never be lost.
Putting the Software to Work for You
So how can you get your company online with a professional
tracking system? Getting started with an online tracking system
is simple. Research the features that software companies
provide, match it up with your needs, and don’t forget to find
out about the customer support they offer to you. Try to find a
software tracking system that is customizable to fit your
company, not you having to change what you do to fit the
software.
Productivity and Improvement: The Final Analysis
The advent of the online tracking system marks a new era for
in-house cleaning departments and building service contractors.
The companies that are taking advantage of this new technology
have been able to improve their company operations to address
client needs more efficiently.
Inspection and complaint reporting capabilities are focusing
company resources in the places they are most needed to
increase productive service to clients. And reliable and rapid
communication means that clients are aware that their concerns
are being addressed and resolved. Online tracking systems appear
to be a win for the cleaning organizations as well as their
clients, those whom they serve. In an increasingly competitive
business environment, especially for building service
contractors, the question is no longer whether you need an
online tracking system, but whether you can get one before your
competitors do. ❑
Michael Jenkins is president of Clean-Brain Software, Inc. A
cleaning industry veteran of more than 20 years, he developed
CleanTelligent, CleanBrain’s online tracking solutions for
building service contractors and in-house cleaning departments
such as hospitals and educational facilities. To find out more
about CleanTelligent, email him at michael.jenkins@clean-brain.com,
call 1-877-272-4648, or visit www.CleanBrain.com. |
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