How Wristask optimizes sensory properties control in dairy production:

1. Real-time task assignment & monitoring
   • Managers assign sensory checks to employees’ smartwatches at various production stages (e.g., pasteurization, fermentation, and packaging), updating tasks in real time.
   • Supervisors can monitor task progress and make adjustments as needed, ensuring evaluations are completed on time and consistently.
2. Customized checklists for accurate sensory evaluation:
   • Tailored checklists are created for each sensory property evaluated (consistency, flavor, color, taste). Employees use their smartwatches to complete these checklists during each batch inspection.
   • For each sensory property, checklist confirms whether a product meets standards.
3. Accountability & transparency:
   • Each completed sensory check is automatically logged, generating a timestamped record for compliance, traceability, and quality assurance.
   • Stakeholders receive detailed reports, enhancing transparency and accountability across shifts and supporting quality tracking.
4. Resource optimization & bottleneck avoidance:
   • Wristask identifies any delays in the sensory evaluation process by monitoring task completion in real time. Resources can be reallocated if needed to ensure timely quality checks, preventing production slowdowns.

System functionality and workflow:

The core of the Wristask system lies in its task management capabilities, designed specifically for employees’ smartwatches. Using a centralized tool, the shift manager oversees production processes, including sensory property checks, assigning tasks with real-time control and tracking. Each employee receives a task list on their smartwatch, and when it’s time for a sensory property check, the device vibrates to prompt action.

The employee acknowledges the task with a quick tap on the watch, launching a checklist that allows them to log critical sensory evaluations—such as color, odor, taste, and consistency—of the dairy product at each production stage. This data is then seamlessly uploaded to Microsoft Dataverse, where the shift manager can access it through Power Apps for inspection and verification. Furthermore, the data is available for analysis at any time, revealing potential production deficiencies or serving as the foundation for initiatives to boost productivity.

Experience Wristask

Experience firsthand how Wristask can streamline task management and sensory evaluations in dairy production and other industries.

Príspevok Use case: Sensory properties control in dairy production with Wristask zobrazený najskôr Resco.

Here’s a detailed look at the key updates. We’ve organized them into three categories to highlight how each feature benefits your mobile app development, user interface, and mobile workflows.

1. New mobile app development capabilities
   
   This release introduces several features designed to expand your development toolkit, making it easier to build custom mobile solutions and ensure consistency across your projects.
2. UX/UI enhancements
   
   We’ve introduced several improvements to streamline the user experience both for app makers and end users, ensuring that your apps look and perform better.
3. Improvements for mobile tasks
   
   We’ve added new features to make mobile tasks easier for frontline workers. These updates streamline processes, improve efficiency, and ensure a smoother experience when completing tasks in the field.

New mobile app development capabilities

Delete signatures after report generation

You can now automatically delete signatures from the database after generating a report. This is especially helpful if you’re using the enhanced signature flow to sign reports at runtime.

Once the report is saved, the signature is removed from the database but stays in the generated report. When you create a new version of the report, a new signature will be required.

This feature helps you meet legal and security requirements and saves storage space. For a step-by-step guide on how to enable this, check out the Resco Wiki tutorial.

Global constants for Woodford projects

As a Woodford admin, you can now define project-specific global constants that can be used across business logic in the app. This makes managing values within your app simpler, and ensures you have a single source of truth, reducing potential errors. You can define constants in Boolean, Date Time, Decimal, Integer, and String formats, streamlining complex project configurations.

Field usage whitelist

The field usage feature, introduced in the previous release, helps you identify actively used fields in your app, allowing you to disable unused ones to speed up synchronization.

In this release, we’ve enhanced this feature by adding the ability to create a whitelist of fields that you don’t want to disable, even if they’re not currently in use. This ensures that important fields remain active, improving synchronization efficiency without compromising access to critical data.

Bulk update behavior change

The bulk update feature has been improved to ensure modifications to child entities are now accurately propagated across all views, and any associated handlers receive notifications.

This update changes how child entities are handled—previously, changes made outside the child list (e.g., via custom JavaScript or business rules) were ignored, but now they’re automatically refreshed, even if modified externally.

MSAL authentication control

You now have greater control over MSAL (Microsoft Authentication Library) authentication settings. Whether you’re an MDM admin, Woodford admin, or end user, you can customize these settings to fit your organization’s security needs, ensuring a secure and compliant authentication process. See MSAL authentication for details.

Simplified Resco Forms+ setup

New users of Forms+ can now take advantage of a default fallback Woodford project, simplifying the setup process. This means you no longer need to manually create a new project to get started, reducing friction during onboarding.

UI enhancements

Enhanced dropdown lists

Improved dropdown lists, initially available only for iOS, are now extended to Android and Windows UWP. This enhancement offers a smoother, more consistent experience across platforms, making navigation easier and more standardized for frontline workers.

Improved Theme editor

The preview in the theme editor now reflects all color properties displayed in the right panel. Tooltips with the names of the color properties appear when hovering over elements, ensuring changes are applied exactly where you intended. This enhancement provides more precise control over the colors used in your application, making it easier to create user-friendly, polished interfaces.

New home page of Resco Suite app

We’ve created the home page for the Resco Suite to provide better navigation and more intuitive access to key tools. The new design allows you to quickly navigate between designer tools, manager tools, and learning materials, helping you get the most out of Resco.

Collapsible side panes in Questionnaire Designer

The Questionnaire Designer now features collapsible side panes, giving you more screen space to focus on building your questionnaires. This makes it easier to design complex forms without unnecessary distractions, speeding up the design process.

Improvements for mobile tasks

Read Aztec codes with mobile app

The frontline workers can now scan and process Aztec barcodes with Resco’s mobile app. This is particularly useful for industries requiring fast and reliable barcode scanning, such as transportation, logistics, and inventory management. On iOS, the native iOS API is used, while Android and Windows platforms utilize the ZXing.Net library.

Firebase Cloud Messaging for Android

With the discontinuation of Google Cloud Messaging, Resco solutions now supports Firebase Cloud Messaging for push notifications on Android devices. This transition ensures uninterrupted communication and timely updates for your field teams, keeping workflows smooth and efficient.

For a comprehensive overview of all the new features, head to Resco’s Fall Update 2024 on the wiki. Dive in and explore the full spectrum of new possibilities.

Príspevok Fall 2024 update: New features to enhance mobile app development, user experience, and workflows zobrazený najskôr Resco.

Workflow automation in field service

It’s the unfortunate truth that many present-day companies still refuse to let go of the old-world work processes, pen-and-paper being at the forefront of the biggest offenders. And that’s in the face of better, more efficient digital solutions being widely available! 

For argument’s sake, let’s consider the pitfalls of old, traditional workflow processes. The detriments of pen-and-paper include:  

• Inefficient Medium: Paper is an inherently fragile medium, prone to getting lost or damaged – especially in field service use. Paper costs are also far from inconspicuous.  
• Time Requirements: Regardless of individual writing proficiency, the pen-and-paper approach requires a considerable overall time investment. 
• Organizational Inadequacy: A secondary medium needs to facilitate communication between on-site inspectors and off-site handlers, wasting even more time.  

On the other hand, digital field service software offers: 

• Easy Accessibility: Easily downloadable on any smartphone or tablet, mobile field service apps can be used anywhere, anytime, with little worry for damage or loss. 
• Streamlined Workflow: The checklists are organized into clear steps to guide new and old employees through their field workday safely and efficiently.  
• Assessment-friendly: Inspection software can be effortlessly incorporated into most CMS’, allowing for simple on-and-off-site communication, and report archiving.  

But these are just the overall benefits digital can offer your organization. Let’s have a look at a few specific tools you may want to incorporate into your workflow. 

1) Permit-to-work 

Clients typically want to know who’s running around on their premises and whether they’re qualified to do so. And that goes double for potentially dangerous workplaces. Hence a permit-to-work is necessary. But lanyards are far from a good solution nowadays.  

Download a free Permit-to-work checklist

Download a free Work Permit Checklist template to document the process of planned maintenance

Download template

Equipping your inspectors and maintenance workers with a digital permit-to-work makes them easily verifiable, and allows them to go about their business with no hassle. They can be customized to your individual company’s or client’s needs. And on the organizational side of things, you’ll be able to keep a comprehensive list of your employees within your CRM to prevent any possible mishaps.  

Upgrade your current permit-to-work solution with Resco’s permit-to-work checklist for absolutely free here.  

2) Health and Safety assessment 

With an estimated 2.3 million work-related deaths occurring every year, it suffices to say H&S is no joke. But getting employees to remember and comply with all the requirements can be a difficult task. Thankfully, we have field service software for that too. 

Download a free Health and Safety assessment checklist

Download a free Health & Safety Assessment Checklist template to identify hazards and safety risks occurring on work premises

Download template

Our checklist for health & safety compliance saves you a ton of time, is fully customizable and digital. You can make it your own based on your industry’s regulations and standards. Add photos, videos, or audio for your workers to help them understand the equipment better. Track employee training. Keep PPE in check. Report on work environment hazards.  

Ease the managers‘ workload with our interactive checklist. Tracking and reporting are faster, it’s completely digital and can be saved to the cloud or your company’s server for future reference. Do whatever you need to make sure everybody is safe – and do it paperless. 

Ensure your employees’ H&S compliance with our Health and Safety Assessment checklist for free here.  

3) Risk assessment 

Has your workplace been the scene of an unfortunate accident? While definitely undesirable, it does happen. However, it’s in your best interest to ensure that no such thing happens again. And if you’ve been lucky to see no injuries so far, you’ll want to guarantee it stays that way.  

Download a free Risk assessment checklist

Download a free Risk Assessment Form to manage and break down details of the risks occurring in workplace

Download template

That’s where a risk assessment checklist comes in handy. As all our tools, it can be tailor-suited to your workplace and used to assess any possible hazards present. Thus you can avoid the threat of something being overlooked and possibly resulting in a tragic outcome.  

Save yourself the trouble, and your employees the pain with our risk assessment checklist for free here. 

About our digital solutions 

Resco takes pride in providing you with the digital, paper-free solutions you need and want to improve your administrative processes. We believe the three tools described in this article should meet all your manufacturing needs. But, should you be in the market for more apps, checklists, and other helpful digital tools, visit Resco’s Digital Template Library! 

Príspevok Automate your workflow and save time with these digital checklists zobrazený najskôr Resco.

Príspevok NIVY Watch is also a COVID-19 protection zobrazený najskôr Resco.

One template, several languages

Is your company operating across different countries? Or even across different continents? Are you managing a multilingual workforce? If that’s the case, perhaps you’ve been already pondering how to overcome the language barrier that arises in an international environment. What if your employees could easily switch to their native language, or to a language they are fully proficient in when working with questionnaires? With Resco Inspections’ upcoming Localization feature, they can.
Starting with the Autumn Update, each questionnaire template can be translated into various languages in the Designer. This information will be saved in the Localization table. System admins can then select the preferred language or let the workers choose themselves in their app’s settings.

New configuration options to fit the needs of managers

We’ve been also working tirelessly on making sure that managers get the best possible experience when using Inspections on Resco Cloud – offering detailed and consistent overview of tasks, progress, and results of their field teams.
However, every manager has different needs and priorities. That’s why the new Manager Experience will offer the freedom to fully customize menus and views to fit individual needs. Maybe you don’t require the Calendar in the Overview section. Or your managers don’t access the Questionnaire Designer. The Manager Experience is based on the Resco web app, you can easily configure it in Woodford, just like any other Resco app.

Resco Houston even more accessible

Have you tried the Houston AR video calls for seamless information sharing between team members, unveiled this summer? With the Autumn release, connecting with a colleague or back-office expert becomes easier yet again.
Most of the time, these experts providing guidance are sitting behind their desktops. And now, they will be able to connect to Houston AR video calls not just from an iPad or iPhone, but also from PCs and laptops. This will further simplify the instruction delivery to field workers and make AR guidance even more accessible.

Additionally, each call will create a record in the call log history, including a Notes section. Experts can then add detailed notes on what the issue was about, explaining the problem – which will ultimately enable managers to see what the most problematic tasks are and focus on them during trainings.

Legally-binding signature available offline with DocuSign

Get remote work completed faster. From sales invoices and quotes to service reports and work orders, the integration of DocuSign’s eSignature will enable you to add legally-binding signatures to any of your Resco forms. Accelerate agreements, eliminate manual data input, and save an average of $36 per agreement by reducing hard costs and improving employee productivity.* Coming first to Android versions of all Resco apps, fully functional even offline.

Redesigned Home screen editor

Furthermore, we’re also preparing a new editor for even more streamlined visual customization of every app’s starting point – your Home screen.

Want to experience the Resco Autumn Update early?

We’re developing these and many other great upgrades for our Autumn Update 2020 – and we’d like you to see them first.
Join our exclusive beta-testing community and you’ll always get the first look at each new Resco release before it’s offered to the general public. You’ll be able to try out new features, tell us what works the best for you, and suggest where we can improve.
The first beta of the Autumn Update will arrive in early September. If you sign up for beta testing (or already have signed up in the past) you will receive an email notification immediately after it becomes available.
Please note that the features and images above are development previews and can be subject to change in the final product release.
*www.docusign.com/products/electronic-signature

Príspevok Preview: Questionnaire localization, redesigned Manager Experience & legally-binding offline e-signatures coming to Resco Autumn Update zobrazený najskôr Resco.

Resco Inspections: User experience reimagined with new-look Questionnaire Designer

In the upcoming Spring Update of Resco Inspections we set out to simplify the questionnaire setup process from top to bottom.
Noticeable at first sight, the Questionnaire designer will receive a fresh new look, enabling smoother and faster navigation.

Part of the overhaul also includes the possibility to set up Smart questions – conditions like question visibility, requirement, and several others, will be directly available on all questions, without having to open the rule editor. So even managers with no technical background can effortlessly set up common business logic.

Innovations: Speed up operations with devices in perfect sync

Field staff will be able to not only complete entire questionnaires on a smartwatch. Now, if they fill out the form on a phone or tablet, the information is also immediately visible in the Inspections app on the synced smartwatch.
Thanks to that, users can always verify the entered data from any device. If unsure about an answer they entered a few questions back on the phone, they can effortlessly check it on another device and make any adjustments if needed – which further improves the collected data’s accuracy & reliability.

Furthermore, in the Spring Update will also introduce the possibility to go back a step when filling out questionnaires on smartwatches. After all, we’re still only human and mistakes can happen regardless the device you’re working on.

Resco Mobile Platform: Reinforce customer confidence with e-signatures on completed reports

From a young age we’re all taught not to sign anything until we’ve properly read the entire document. Whether signing an insurance claim assessment or a simple invoice – people like to see what they sign before they put pen to paper.
Up until now, when mobile reports  required a digital signature, it needed to be captured before the final PDF has been created. With the Spring Update, in any Resco app, digital signatures can be added after the report has been finalized- a signature pad and (an optional) comment section will be displayed underneath the document.

Want to experience the Resco Spring Update early?

We’re working hard on these and many other great upgrades for the Spring Update 2020 – and we’d like you to see them first.
Join our exclusive beta-testing community and you’ll always get a first look at each new Resco release before it’s offered to the general public. You’ll be able to try new features, tell us what works the best for you, and where we can improve. Help us create solutions that ultimately serve you even better.
The first beta of the Spring Update will arrive in just a few short days.
* Please note that the images above are development previews and can be subject to change in the final product release.

Príspevok Preview: Revamped Resco Inspections setup, enhanced wearables sync, and new way of signing reports coming in Resco Spring Update 2020 zobrazený najskôr Resco.

In 2019, over 2800+ emails were processed per month, which means a 1000+ monthly increase from last year. This is due to the rapid growth of our customer base and the launch of two brand-new Resco products in the previous year: Resco Inspections and Resco Routes.  

Resco has provided comprehensive support to customers all around the world, mostly in Europe (51 %), Americas (30 %), Australia and Oceania (19 %). Since Europe, Australia, and Oceania were our most prominently growing markets in 2019, there was a significant increase in the support provided in these territories.

Reaction time based on continents:   

• Americas: 7h 
• Europe: 2h  
• Australia and Oceania: 9h

Solving issues based on the magnitude of the problem:

• Small: 3h  
• Medium:  3h – 3 days  
• Large: 1-5 days

Much to our delight, the support team has expanded by 50% since last year. Now that we are bigger, we genuinely hope we can provide even better and quicker support for our customers and partners.

 If you have any questions regarding Resco products, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at mobilecrm@resco.net. Our support manager, Lukáš Leško, and his team are always ready to help you the best they can. 

Príspevok 2019: Customer and partner support in numbers zobrazený najskôr Resco.

Avento

This year’s Innovation winner was also a finalist in the Partner of the Year category. Avento deserved its spot in this list as well, because apart from being innovative, they also have implemented many successful Resco projects, and we really appreciate their proactive and professional approach.

To guide businesses through digital transformation, Avento’s staff are not only pure-blooded IT specialists but skilled change managers too. They enable effective collaboration between a client’s back office and field teams, so the latter can always fully concentrate on the customer.

On top of state-of-the-art technology, Avento also provides coaching, training and specialized communication to ensure successful digital transformation. Its FMCG365 solution helps companies such as Henkel, Brewery Boon, Duvel Moortgat, Detry, Field Resource, Het Anker, Limarc, The Java Coffee Company to claim and maintain leading positions in the FMCG sector.

Resco Partner Marketplace listing:
FMCG365

COSMO CONSULT

For more than 20 years COSMO CONSULT has been updating business processes and IT structures by implementing and supporting various business solutions. We have been working closely with their Austrian and German offices. They are a finalist in the Partner of the Year award because of their professional approach and business success. Check out a recent customer success story they did with a Resco customer – Containex.
Apart from implementation, COSMO CONSULT provides workshops, training, webinars and to ensure that our customers can benefit from rapid knowledge transfer.
Resco Partner Marketplace listing:
Fair-Contact Manager

Cloud Innovation

Belgium partner Cloud Innovation is this year’s finalists in the Innovation category with its Salesforce-based Retail Execution app, incorporating Resco Inspections technology – CPG 360.
It is used by sales teams working on product introductions, placing orders, timely discussing promotions and checking contractual agreements related to product availability, pricing & usage of promotional materials.
We were impressed by how can Resco technology be creatively combined with two more 3rd party solutions, like a live route planner with real-time traffic information.
Resco Partner Marketplace listing:
CPG 360

GFI

Gfi Informatique is a key player in value-added IT services and software in Europe, that through its differentiated approaches occupies a strategic position between global firms and niche markets.
They were a finalist in the Innovation category, with their custom solution Eficienza Health for the healthcare industry, which facilitates collaboration between Sales teams, Marketing and Medical departments.
We really liked how the solution handles complex price calculations, creatively uses switch form triggers and successfully integrates data with specialized 3rd party healthcare solutions.
Resco Partner Marketplace listing:
Eficienza Health

Key2Act (formerly known as WennSoft)

The only American partner on this list is also one of the most experienced ones.
Key2Act has used Resco technology and enhanced it with their industry and technical know-how to create MobileTech – a mobile solution which connects to Microsoft Dynamics GP. It enables technicians to track their appointments, quickly view data on customers and equipment, and efficiently complete the appointment and then process the invoice/payment in the field. It also enables field workers to manage service calls and job appointments, access full customer and equipment history, and capture opportunities for additional work. It is used for construction, equipment management, service management, fixed assets management and mobile dispatch of field technicians.
Key2Act made to it to the list of finalists in this year’s Partner of the Year award because of the number of successfully implemented MobileTech projects, which could be counted in hundreds.
Last year, we had the pleasure to attend their Synergy conference.

Metadata Technologies

Our only Asian partner in this list is based in Dubai, UAE. The company participated as a finalist in the Innovation category, with their custom solution Property-xRM.
This custom Resco solution is used for property development companies to manage their end-to-end sales process right from lead generation to selling of property. It covers the business’s critical sales, leasing and facilities management functionalities for the Commercial and Residential real estate sector. It also leverages the technological advancements from Microsoft, including Outlook email integration, customizable workflows, mobility features, social media integration, along with a complete stack of Microsoft products like Office 365.
We were especially impressed by its 2D & 3D floor plan visualization and the ability to identify property invitees using QR Codes.
Resco Partner Marketplace listing:
Property-xRM

Navicon

Our most experienced and successful partner from Russia was a finalist in the Partner of the Year award. Navicon has successfully implemented over 500 various IT projects for both Russian and international companies. Some of their clients include Sberbank CIB, Heineken Russia, R-Pharm, Sanofi, Bayer, Russian Television and Radio Broadcasting, and many others.
Established in 2002, the company has currently over 250 employees on staff and focuses primarily on the pharmaceutical, FMCG and retail, manufacturing, distribution, and professional services industries.
Among all companies headquartered in Russia, Navicon is the only one listed by Gartner as a CRM vendor for pharma and biotech companies.
Resco Partner Marketplace listing:
Navicon Pharma CRM

NORRIQ

NORRIQ offers consultancy and technology that streamlines and supports all processes of companies throughout the entire value chain. They are specialists in ERP, CRM, BI and e-commerce.
The company was founded in Denmark in 2007 and today has grown into an international company with 11 offices in 7 countries and implementations in 46 different countries, but we’ve been working mainly with the Belgium branch. NORRIQ is a finalist in the Partner of the Year award because of the number and scope of projects implemented. In total, they have over 5,000 customers internationally. They are a regular guest at our resco.next conference.
Resco Partner Marketplace listing:
Pharma 365 Sales
Drink IT 365

ORBIS

This year’s Partner of the Year winner was also a finalist in the Innovation category, with their custom solution Mobile Offline Visit Planning. This solution helps sales reps across a wide range of industries to plan their appointments as efficiently as possible. It allows searching for data, both graphically via a map-supported radius search and according to flexible criteria, such as customer potential, customers with open activities, customers near site, and more.
Resco Partner Marketplace listing:
ORBIS ConsumerOne

Rimrock Corporation (FIELDBOSS)

Rimrock Corporation was a finalist in both Partner of the Year and Innovation categories.
Established in 1989, Rimrock Corporation is a boutique consulting firm specializing in Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics Business Central and FIELDBOSS contractor management business applications. They also specialize in hosting GP within Microsoft Azure. They have gold competency in Gold Enterprise Resource Planning, and Silver in Cloud Customer Relationship Management and Small and Mid-market Cloud Solutions.
When it comes to innovation, we were impressed by the capabilities of its end-to-end solution for elevator and HVAC contractors.
Resco Partner Marketplace listings:
FIELDBOSS Elevator Contractor Management
FIELDBOSS HVAC Contractor Management

Sycor

It would be hard to find a Resco partner with more Microsoft competencies than Sycor – 12 Gold and 3 silver. It’s no wonder they are a finalist in the Innovation award with their custom Resco solution e.Folder.
This solution takes digital sales presentations to a new level. It allows sales representatives to access their latest marketing materials centrally and offline. The presentations are launched directly from Microsoft CRM: With full integration with Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Customer Engagement, sales reps automatically know which presentations we’re already shared with CRM contacts. With a handy feedback function, they can quickly see how the product demonstration has arrived to the customer. Also, every single slide in sales presentation will automatically track the duration of your viewing – giving the marketing team vital information to streamline their presentations continually.
Resco Partner Marketplace listing:
Sycor.eFolder
Sycor.LifeSciences
—
We are truly grateful and honored to be working with partners from around the globe that are so innovative, hard-working and customer-centric.
Can’t wait to see who will take the spotlight next year!
Until then – keep on innovating and helping customers transform and grow.
—
If you have any questions about Resco Partner Awards or partner co-marketing, feel free to reach out to me.

Príspevok Partner Awards 2019 – Revealing the finalists zobrazený najskôr Resco.

Most Valuable Professionals (MVP’s)

The winners receiving their award from Resco’s Tomas Gregor, Marketing & Business Development Director and Anna Kontsekova, Partner Channel Lead
The Resco Most Valuable Professional Award went to individuals that have been actively sharing their business and technical expertise with Resco mobility solutions. They stand out from the crowd, go the extra mile, and do things we don’t take for granted. ​

The winners for 2019 are…

Jeremy Higgins, Owner at Higgins One
– for playing an instrumental role in various successful Resco mobility projects in North America, and developing creative custom solutions based on Resco technology.

Andreas Schulz, General Manager at ORBIS
– for being an outstanding ambassador of Resco solutions, and guiding ORBIS in becoming the premier Resco partner in the DACH region.

Sven Peleman, Founder & Managing Partner at Cloud Innovation
– for creating a unique mobile solution powered by Resco technology and valuable feedback that continuously helps improve Resco functionality.

Torsten Harden, Senior Solution Architect at Sycor
– for promoting Resco mobility at various conferences, sharing technical and industry knowledge.
This Resco MVP Award positions the winners as global experts and ambassadors of Resco and gives them access to different types of exclusive content, training, and more.

Innovation Award – AVENTO

Tom Moortgat, Managing Director at AVENTO receiving the award from Resco’s Head of Product, Juraj Mojik
And the award for Innovation went to Avento for developing an advanced vertical solution FMCG365 that is built on Resco and addresses complex business challenges in the FMCG/retail sector.

The solution encompasses sophisticated Resco features, such as push reporting, multimedia management, route planning, and also artificial intelligence for an automatic share of shelf calculation.

Avento has successfully implemented FMCG365 to customers like Charlier Brabo Group, Het Anker and Vache Bleue.
Avento delivers this solution to both; Dynamics and Salesforce backends.

You can find more information about this year’s most innovative solution on Microsoft AppSource and Resco Partner Marketplace and on its very own product page of Avento’s website.

Partner of the Year – ORBIS

Andreas Schulz, Managing Director and Henning Sittel, Senior Manager at ORBIS, receiving the award from Resco CEO, Miro Pomsar

ORBIS has been a top-performing Resco partner for many years now and has constantly been delivering successful enterprise mobility implementations based on Resco in the DACH region.

Their 30-plus years of experience with international projects in various sectors and seven years of Resco experience makes ORBIS one of the most skillful and reliable partners we have.

ORBIS is also a gold Microsoft and SAP partner and a member of the prestigious Inner Circle of Microsoft.
One of the most successful offerings is ConsumerONE, which is a CRM solution for the consumer goods industry and commerce powered by Resco and Microsoft Dynamics. It supports all levels of customer relations between trade, wholesale, and manufacturers in a central information system. The solution integrates business processes across the company.
ORBIS ConsumerONE brings benefits to the areas like:

• the development of markets (shelf availability, product range monitoring, product launches, etc.)
• the support of shop systems (attracting new customers in B2C) and
• complex mapping of upstream and downstream condition management structures.

Throughout the years, ORBIS has delivered Resco to dozens of customers, including DMG Mori, Bystronic Laser, Heidelberger Druckermaschinen, and Ruhle.
—
Stay tuned for the second part of this blog series – next week we will honor the finalists in the Innovation and Partner of the Year award categories.

Príspevok Partner Awards 2019 – Revealing the winners zobrazený najskôr Resco.

Dissecting the Resco DNA

What’s at the heart of Resco? Mobile apps? Enterprise mobility?
With 20 years of experience under our belt, we can honestly say neither of those is the complete answer. In fact, it’s something way more elementary, at least at first sight: Innovation.

Resco started with mobile development because the market at the end of the 20th century offered unexplored opportunities when creating software for Pocket PCs and PDAs. We moved to enterprise mobility after hardware has matured enough to offer intriguing challenges for business use cases. And we’re still helping organizations with our products today, because the relentless tech evolution keeps bringing exciting scenarios that need to be tackled in and out of the office.
This desire to innovate and improve has driven Resco forward for the past two decades. With the uncharted territory that wearables, augmented reality, or artificial intelligence offer to organizations of all shapes and sizes, we don’t see our excitement for innovation waning any time soon.

Innovating through technology

Wearables. Augmented reality. Artificial intelligence. These three innovations are making their way to businesses, and Resco will be expand on them. Why?

Over the last year, smartwatches outsold regular watches. Google has bought Fossil, one of the largest traditional watchmakers. Apple is already working on the sixth generation of its market-leading Apple Watch. And all major manufacturers are starting to incorporate virtual SIMs, cutting the smartwatch’s umbilical cord to the phone.
Resco is ready to answer the challenge – starting by bringing Resco Inspections to smartwatches today, expanding the rest of our portfolio to wearables in the soon, and exploring standalone watch apps over the coming months.

The same goes for augmented reality and artificial intelligence. Zuzana Curajova, Resco Inspections Product Manager, explained that bringing voice-controlled tools to the users’ field of vision and freeing up their hands isn’t stuff from science fiction anymore. It’s a powerful feature you can already utilize with Inspections on HoloLens. On phones and tablets, Tagged image now enables you to snap a picture and add interactive tags with question fields anywhere on the photo, providing more detail and context.
On the other hand, AI image recognition eliminates manual search across all Resco-based apps. More AI-enabled functionality is also on the way, to make business activities even faster, more detailed, and accurate.

Becoming a puzzle master

What can you build using Resco tech and products? Almost anything. However therein lies a challenge best described by Andrew Lorraine, Resco’s Partner Strategy & Field Service Manager, when reminiscing about his younger years.
“The admission test to join the elementary that I went to was really interesting. At 5 years old, we were given a puzzle to put together. The only instructions were that the puzzle should resemble a farm and that we had 5 minutes to do it, “Andrew described.

“However, we could never test our customers by asking them to put together a Resco puzzle. That’s because every single Resco customer would fail. Not because they weren’t creative, or intelligent, or capable. They’d fail because one Resco customer might see a farm, while the next one would see a dinosaur, another would see a pirate ship, the next would see outer space – there simply isn’t only one correct way.”
Indeed, for every customer or partner, Resco represents a puzzle with hundreds or thousands of pieces that, when put together, can resemble nearly anything.
“But all partners & customers – our Resco puzzle builders – do have something in common: like Resco, they are innovators,” Andrew continued. “They want to take their work, their tools, and their mission directly out into the field. To fix things. To deliver better service. To connect with their customers better. To sell better. To help people. And to master technology and harness innovation in a tangible way, customers from all kinds of industries turn to Resco.”

Supporting partner growth

Building their Resco puzzle ultimately helps customers & partners to grow their business. And when talking about partner growth, nothing beats an actual example.

Take Avento, as introduced by Resco’s Partner Channel Manager, Anna Kontsekova. The company specializes in sales processes in FMCG. They implement Microsoft Dynamics & Salesforce, and all their mobility is built on top of Resco. But not only did they create a custom solution – they are continuously improving it and enhancing it with new capabilities, such as AI and others.

This enabled Avento to become renowned experts in their industry, acquiring customers like Heineken, Coca Cola, or Henkel. Today, they help over 500 FMCG brands, across more than 40 countries.
Avento is based in Belgium, and they have been partnering with Resco for more than 7 years. Currently, they have over 40 customers who are running their mobile solution built on Resco. Furthermore, three years ago, when Resco expanded into the Salesforce ecosystem, Avento took the offered opportunity. Up until now, they’ve implemented their mobile solution to 300+ Salesforce users with many more in the pipeline.

And these days, they are also expanding their operations, opening a new office in France.

That’s how innovation & mobility drives our partners’ growth. And to help more partners achieve success, we’re launching resco.academy – an educational platform making enterprise mobility know-how easily accessible to partners worldwide. Stay tuned as more details on resco.academy will follow very soon

The bottom line: Expanding into the world

Resco, as a company, has hit several milestones throughout 2019.
Our headcount has grown from 70 to 100 people, and we’ll be moving into new spacious offices at the end of Q1 2020.

On a global scale, 50 different employees traveled to 50+ events. Translated to miles, we went around the planet more than 6 times in the past 12 months. And all this travel resulted in approximately 5,000 conversations with you – our partners, customers, and prospects.
Ultimately, we’re now serving over 2,800 corporate customers worldwide with 250,000 licensed users.
If you couldn’t make it to resco.next this time, make sure to keep an eye on our blog and website as more news from the event will follow shortly.
And to those who joined us in Rome – thank you for attending, you’re making the entire conference an extraordinary experience once again.

Príspevok 5 takeaways from Resco CEO’s keynote at resco.next 2019 zobrazený najskôr Resco.

After gathering feedback from companies utilizing Resco Inspections+, we have been able to identify benefits that might be less obvious, but more tangible.

The real benefits of exchanging paper for digital forms

Better data quality

Quality data can offer valuable insights into business operations and prevent all sorts of economic damages. What constitutes ‘quality’?

• Completeness – mandatory data is not missing
• Conformity – data maintains a set standard, such as data type, size or format
• Consistency – data reflects the same information and is in sync across teams and/or points in time
• Accuracy – the degree to which data correctly reflects the real-world object or event
• Timeliness – data is up-to-date

Digital forms can improve data quality across all these dimensions. Completeness can be achieved by simple inclusion of mandatory fields, without which the form can’t be submitted. Conformity of data is a direct result of form and input field settings, and as an added benefit, users don’t have to be trained or reminded of what input format to use.

This also naturally results in consistency. Accuracy can be improved in several ways, for example, by scanning codes instead of using manual input. Or simply by omitting the transcription process, where information is copied manually from paper forms into a system. And submitting the data directly in digital form improves timeliness and means quicker availability for the back office.

Business process standardization

Standardization reduces losses, increases transparency, and simplifies employee training. The bigger the company, the bigger the need to set internal standards of work across departments. Digital forms can undoubtedly help since, by design, they are more standardized than paper.

The issue of data conformity from the previous section already touches on this subject. By requiring a certain answer format or process flow, you are already making the first steps towards more unified workflows.

Another example might come from a common confusion amongst end users over answers which aren’t distinct enough, such as marking a service as “Standard” or “Pro”. Instead of recurring training sessions on how to correctly fill out the paperwork, the forms can help them make the decision, or even include a rule that will pre-fill the fields based on the information already provided.

Increased business compliance

Digital forms can also help with adherence to law and regulations. Creating and managing compliance checks is just the start. Timeliness of data means the data is available when it is expected and needed, for example, for quarterly or yearly reviews. Digital forms can also ensure worker safety by guiding them through processes and reminding them to follow regulations.

Resco Inspections+: Custom mobile forms for enhancing your business

Whether you need it for inspections, audits, quality control, compliance checklists, surveys or inventory management, Resco Inspections enables you to build flexible digital forms that run smoothly on any mobile device – tablet, phone or smartwatch – so you can comfortably work in the field and meet your business goals. Start your product tour or Schedule a demo today.

Príspevok 3 unexpected business benefits of digital forms zobrazený najskôr Resco.

If you join us for resco.next 2019, taking place in Rome, Italy, on 24 – 25 October 2019, you can find out yourself – the city boasts countless attractions worth visiting during your stay. And below you’ll find a few tips and recommendations to make sure you really do as the Romans do.

(The number with the arrow behind every attraction, restaurant, café or bar represents the distance from the A.Roma LIfestyle Hotel to the particular destination)

Top 7 attractions

Colosseum ( 9,5 km)

Just like the Eiffel tower belongs to Paris, the Colosseum belongs to Rome. Built almost 2000 years ago, the Colosseum was by then the greatest Roman amphitheater used for exhibitions, executions and gladiator fights. Now, around 6 million people are coming to visit the landmark each year.

Roman Forum ( 9,1 km)

The Roman Forum represents the heart of the political and religious life in Rome. There are several temples inside the forum as well as the ancient streets where Julius Ceasar was walking.

Trevi Fountain (8,6 km)

Built in 1732, it’s the largest and most beautiful fountain in the city. Don’t forget to throw a coin into the water. (1 coin: you will return to Rome; 2 coins: you’ll fall in love with an attractive Italian; 3 coins: you’ll marry the person you met). Fun fact: 3000€ are collected every night from the fountain!

St. Peter’s Basilica (6,1 km)

Next to St. Peter’s Square, you can find the Basilica as one of the holiest symbols of Christianity and one of the largest churches in the world. Take the stairs to the top of the dome and enjoy an unforgettable view of St. Peter’s Square and the city.

Sistine Chapel (5,5 km)

Another treasure worth seeing at least once in a lifetime is Vatican’s Sistine Chapel. It is famous especially for its ceiling painted by Michelangelo, and as the place where popes are elected.

Piazza di Spagna & Spanish Steps (9,2 km)

This famous square is the home of the Spanish Embassy for Vatican – located here since the seventeenth century – and one of the most visited squares in Rome. On the Spanish Steps, you can sit, relax, and enjoy the view.

Pantheon (7,3 km)

Known also as the Roman Pantheon, it is one of the architectural masterpieces of the Italian capital. It is the most preserved building from ancient Rome. Tombs of many famous kings can be found here as well.

Dining

Roman cuisine:

Cacio e Pepe
Spaghetti with pecorino romano cheese and black pepper.

Carfiofi
Artichokes grown in Italy that can be prepared alla Giudia style – deep-fried – or alla Romana style – steamed with garlic and chopped herbs, including mint and olive oil.

Supplì (pictured on the right)
Crispy giant breaded croquettes filled with mozzarella, pecorino, rice, and meat sauce.

Roman-style pizza
Traditional Roman-style pies are ultra-thin and crispy with light toppings and minimal cheese.

Coffee houses

Antico Caffe Greco (7,7 km)
Opened in 1860, Antico Caffé Greco is the oldest coffee shop in Rome. It is formal, the prices are high, and it’s crowded.

Sant Eustachio Il Caffe (6,6 km)
Café near the Pantheon that roasts their own coffee beans.

Bar del Cappuccino (5,4 km)
The bar in the Hebrew Ghetto makes the best cappuccino downtown.

Bars with a view

Les Etoiles (6,3 km)
The open rooftop terrace of the Hotel Atlante Star.

Tiziano Terrace (8,1 km)
On the 5th floor of the Monti Palace Hotel.

Radisson Blu es. Hotel Roma Rooftop (10,2 km)
7th-floor rooftop pool and lounge bar.

Restaurants

Da Armando al Pantheon (7,0 km)
Traditional Roman cuisine. There are just 14 tables at this cozy little place, located near some of the major tourist attractions. Be sure to book ahead.

Da Enzo Al 29 (5,6 km)
The best choice for Pasta in Rome, offering also other typical Italian meals. Order a table in advance, otherwise you’ll have to wait for a long time.

CiPasso (7,0 km)
This restaurant is in the top 5 of all restaurants in Rome. Short menu, friendly owners, beautiful dishes. Definitely not a typical tourist place.

Pizza e Mozzarella (7,0 km)
If you want to go for a little pizza snack during the day, this is the #1 choice for fresh-made pizza on TripAdvisor out of all restaurants in Rome. Try it out and stop by!

Shopping

Via Condotti (10,4 km)
Best choice for all High-end fashion lovers. This popular shopping street offers a wide range of famous luxury stores like Versace, Gucci, Prada, Armani & Cavalli.

Via Cola di Rienzo (6,5 km)
This shopping street just north of the Vatican offers many of the superstores. It’s also home to a variety of high-end, premium, and mid-range stores. Another difference is the amount of people – it has far fewer tourists crowding the sidewalks.

Via del Corso (7,2 km)
Probably the most known shopping street in Rome, packed with shops from top to bottom. Here, big retailers like Zara, H&M, Benetton, Diesel, and others seamlessly mix with smaller family-run stores.

Public transport & taxi

Tickets for public transport

Due to limitations of the metro and the tram which usually don’t pass the main attractions, the best option for tourists is to take the bus. Tickets can be bought at any metro station, news-stand or convenience stores. Don’t forget to validate your ticket – once you buy one, you need to insert your ticket in a validation machine on the bus.

One-way ticket (BIT): 1,50€ (lasts 100 minutes since its first validation).

Day pass (BIG): 6,00€ (unlimited use until midnight of the same day).

3 Day Tourist Pass (BTI): 16,50€ (unlimited use for three days from the moment it is first validated).

Roma Pass: 48-hour Roma Pass: 28 € / 72-hour Roma Pass: 38,50 € (free use of public transport & discounts on many city highlights for the respective time)

You can also plan your route ahead, on the city’s official public transport website.

Taxi

Rate 1: 1,10€ per km (until you get to 11€)

Rate 2: 1,30€ per km (rate starts once the fare gets to 11€ and goes until it gets to 13€)

Rate 3: 1,60€ per km (until the end of the trip)

Some of the best taxi companies in the city:
Radio Taxi: 06-3570  /  Pronto Taxi: 06-6645

Do’s and Don’ts in Rome

As you know, Rome is a major metropolis, with tourists from all around the world. In order to avoid falling into some of the common “tourist traps”, here’s our final advice:

DON’T ask men dressed like Gladiators to pose for a photo without asking for the price first. Posing for a photo is not for free!

DON’T go for a taxi offering you a fixed rate for the ride. Choose one with a labeled official meter. Fixed-rate taxis will charge you twice as much for the ride!

DON’T post photos from Vatican’s museums online when you visit. Taking pictures is permitted only for personal use. Flashlights are strictly forbidden, as well as the use of selfie sticks and other equipment.

DO order a “caffé americano” if you want a regular coffee. Otherwise you’ll get an espresso if you order just a “caffé”.

DO take taxis that are officially accredited by the city of Rome. You can recognize those cabs by their yellow or white look, or the “Certificate of Comune di Roma” sticker on the side of the car.

DO carry a bottle of water with you while exploring the city. The best thing: you can always easily refill your bottle at public fountains all around the city at any time!

Interested to learn about enterprise mobility, Resco products, and enjoy the city of Rome? Save your spot at resco.next 2019! With our Early Bird offer available until September 8, you can now save 30% on your ticket.

In case you have any questions about the conference, feel free to contact our Event Manager, Simona Luhova at simona.luhova@resco.net.

Hope to see you in Rome!

Príspevok Know before you go – Resco.next 2019 in Rome zobrazený najskôr Resco.

Vehicles on the rise

Today, 55% of the world’s population lives in urban areas, a proportion that is expected to increase to 68% by 2050 (United Nations). It’s safe to assume that the number of cars in urban areas is going to increase too. More than three billion vehicles are predicted to be on the planet in 2050, compared to around one billion today, mostly because of mass-motorisation in emerging countries.

The cost of congestion

More vehicles, more congestion. According to INRIX, in 2018, congestion cost each American 97 hours and $1,348. Each year, INRIX also compiles the list of the most congested cities in the world. In top ranking cities, such as Bogota, Moscow or Los Angeles, the yearly cost is more than 200 hours.
Bad weather is especially expensive. According to Federal Highway Administration of U.S. Department of Transportation, companies lose around 32.6 billion hours each year due to weather-related congestion, and the cost of weather-related delays ranges from $2.2 billion to $3.5 billion annually. Bad weather also puts safety to the test – 21% of all vehicle crashes are weather-related.
However, there’s a silver lining. As INRIX often states in their yearly reports, congestion is usually higher in times when economy is booming.

The state of field service

Gartner predicts that 10% of all field service work will be triaged and scheduled by AI by 2020. However, 52% of field service companies still plan their operations manually with pen and paper and only 30% leverage GPS tracking (SoftwareAdvice). The disparity is understandable – not only is field service a wide field, but automation is still not a common practice, as companies battle with both affordability and missing know-how on how to implement it properly. What it all boils down to is that by facing these challenges and following industry leaders and upcoming standards, field service companies can quickly rise above their competition in the same category by being there first.

Bottom line

With more vehicles on the road each year and higher demands on the quantity and quality of work, field service companies need to consider how to digitalize and streamline their operations so that:

• They can quickly respond in case of an unpredictable situation on the road
• Scaling is possible (imagine multiple managers assigning work orders to an even bigger number of employees on paper versus with one software system)
• Easy reporting and back-tracking is available (imagine trying to figure out who was where a month ago)
• Needless time is not lost on reccurring tasks, such as manual appointment scheduling

If you think you are lacking in one or more of these points, you may be interested in Resco Routes. This all-in-one system will help you improve efficiency and spend more time where it counts by using real-time location monitoring, scheduling and timesheet management. All of that without buying extra hardware.
Resco Routes is coming on June 12, 2019. But you don’t have to remember that. If you leave us your email, we will notify you immediately after the trial becomes available.

Príspevok Route planning: Essential statistics for field service (Infographic) zobrazený najskôr Resco.

Undeniably successful industry for decades

According to McKinsey, by 2010, the FMCG industry had created 23 of the world’s top 100 brands and had grown total return to shareholders almost 15 percent a year for 45 years—performance second only to the materials industry.

Major types of FMCG = products that “can be sold quickly”  

Did you know that the major and most sought-after types of consumer goods include: Home and personal care, Food & Beverage, Tobacco and Alcoholic drinks?

Companies we live with everyday

Revenues of the FMCG sector reached US$ 52.8 billion in FY18 and are estimated to reach US$ 103.7 billion in 2020. A couple of major popular brands to name are Nestle AG, PepsiCo or Resco’s loyal customers for years, Kraft Heinz, Procter & Gamble and Danone.

Customer satisfaction vs. Customer safety

As FMCG manufacturers strive to meet the ever-more-rigorous requirements of consumers, retailers and authorities, they are investing in technologies that will ensure 100% customer satisfaction.

And even though, todays companies do their utmost to make customer happy when introducing new product lines, they often underestimate customer safety. What does it mean? Ultimately, it all comes down to protecting the consumers and protecting your brand and products.

Sheer safety and high-quality standards across an entire organization is the alpha and omega of a healthy FMCG company.

Inspection systems to transform retail execution for field & merchandising teams

This is where advanced inspection business systems that will check, detect and quickly solve any (even potential) issues for the industry come to play.

Considering FMCG’s enormous scale, modern inspection tools play a crucial role in its production processes – because both speed and accuracy are extremely important. Each industry has its ways and specifics when performing inspections. One thing they have in common though, is that they can all streamline company workflow with mobility.

Why mobilizing inspection processes in FMCG matters

Running an FMCG company requires a high-quality on-site job performed by teams of field workers at the actual retail stores. Why mobilize in the first place?

Optimized store inspection processes

• Enable field teams to influence and engage with retailers through an inspections app with your company branding
• Plan, execute and analyze your consumer goods merchandising activities
• Achieve more qualitative store visits and better follow-up
• Calculate the duration of your retail store visit based on your check-in and check-out time
• Manage reward programs

Smart data management & analytics

• Work from anywhere, even offline, with all your data available – create and execute audits, surveys, checklists, assessments, questionnaires, and more
• Collect data in any form – snap pictures of potential damage, edit them on spot
• Collect consistent data, standardize operations, send reports, identify failed areas and get problems resolved
• Analyzed data can be a unique asset to generate value by better targeted product development, pricing, promotions, and marketing
• Analytics can help inspectors make sense of data on the move and enable engaging sales-oriented conversation with retailers
• Check the KPI metrics and provide insights to help raise safety and quality standards across an organization

Time & productivity

• Have information about stores, promotions and purchases at your fingertips
• Enhance in-store merchandising
• Use live route planner & better plan customer visits
• Shorten the time spent on retail audits and inspections while optimizing the opportunities to improve brand compliance
• Maintain contact with retailers between field visits

Focused on the customer

• Determine the importance of your customers
• Give your customers a “Perfect Store Score”
• Create & use tailored templates per visit type, per customer, user profile, …

—
Here is a couple of example areas where an app for inspectors in FMCG comes in handy:

• Vending machine tracking
• Field service & market research
• Mystery shopping
• Field surveys
• Quality control
• Compliance management
• Stand/display management
• Receiving & shipping inspections
• & many more

In conclusion

Resco Partners have already introduced FMCG solutions to their Inspection customers:

In 2018, Resco introduced a new product called Resco Inspections+ that lets customers execute the whole inspection process from A to Z within one solution. Resco Inspections+ helps FMCG or any other types of companies optimize their workflows when it comes to – not only executing, but also creating the entire inspection workflow. Up to this date, this four-part solution incorporating the Designer, Scheduler,

Inspector and Analyst tools has been receiving a lot of attention and positive feedback from our partners. They have been able to create their own branded products – evolving from Resco Inspections+ and combining them also with other 3rd party systems.

To name a few, Cloud Innovation introduced a powerful accelerator called CPG 360, a vertical solution which allows for very agile project-based implementations at FMCG and similar companies. This cloud solution largely based on Resco and Salesforce technology gives field reps instant offline access to information about stores, promotions and purchases.

Yet another solution that evolved from Resco Inspections+ was brought to market by our partner Avento. Its FMCG 365 platform aims to help organizations to master daily FMCG activities. FMCG 365 integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Salesforce.

Discover the Inspections solution

Visit our website and get a free 30-day trial with unlimited functionality to see what it can do for you. If you prefer to see it in action first-hand, ask for a live demo and contact us at: sales@resco.net.

Príspevok How can FMCG companies benefit from the Inspections app in the field zobrazený najskôr Resco.

Miro and I were incredibly grateful for the chance to experience something totally new, both in terms of our daily work and our own knowledge of the world, while also gathering critical feedback and helping with the first deployment of these tools in Cameroon.

Our travels took us first to Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon, where we had a quick introduction to the country before driving east to the cities of Bertoua and Batouri.

We spent the bulk of our time helping the local UNHCR registration teams prepare their Resco-based tools for field work (the Rapid Application “RApp” for offline registration activities and the Resco Field Server to aggregate local registration data).

Then we had the chance to accompany these teams out to villages and refugee camps, offering us an incredible opportunity to see how the Resco tools work firsthand while also learning much more about the realities and challenges faced by refugees in their daily lives.

After taking a few days to decompress after this whirlwind experience, what were some of the biggest takeaways from our Cameroon mission?

1. UNHCR works tirelessly to bring assistance and recognition to refugees facing tremendous hardship.

All of the UNHCR staff we worked with were incredibly energized and motivated to help refugees in need. Their enthusiasm was contagious and they do great work under challenging conditions.

2. Technology can help you accomplish what was previously impossible…

Crisis situations often cause refugees to settle in locations where there is little infrastructure and zero connectivity. Resco’s offline platform held up very strongly in the most remote, disconnected environments that we’ve ever been a part of and helped provide better services to the local refugees.

3. …but there’s still more work to do.

Both speed and accuracy are crucial in these crisis situations, so we’ll use our experience in the field to improve RApp’s UI and performance and make registration activities even more efficient.

4. The Resco Field Server component of the project deserves special recognition.

Having local teams of registration officers syncing RApp to their Resco Field Server – enabling their work offline while also complying with strict data requirements from the local authorities – is an interesting option for some of our private sector and non-profit partners to consider for their own Resco projects.

5. Stepping outside of your comfort zone, both professionally and personally, is always a good thing.

From the UNHCR staff to the refugees themselves, Miro and I drew inspiration from the way everyone handled these difficult circumstances with grace and perseverance.  This experience offered us a chance to bring some perspective to our own lives while also striving to do more to help those in need.

Looking into the future, Resco and UNHCR plan to deepen our partnership by improving RApp and the Resco Field Server while also mobilizing more UNHCR processes via the Resco platform.

The experience we gained from this mission will absolutely help us along the way, and we’re grateful to our UNHCR hosts for their warm welcome and collaboration.

All of us at Resco feel a tremendous sense of pride seeing our work used for good and we look forward to helping UNHCR use their Resco tools worldwide!

If you’re interested to get a better picture of what it was like for us, check out our photo gallery here.
Andrew Lorraine is Resco’s Field Service Business Development Manager and participated alongside Resco CTO Miro Pomsar in this mission to Cameroon. You can read more about UNHCR’s reliance on Resco technology at this blog post.

Príspevok Our mission to Cameroon with the UN Refugee Agency – 5 key takeaways zobrazený najskôr Resco.

We know that it’s always better to show than just to talk about it, so we’ve prepared the following detailed example.

This example demonstrates how easily you can configure multiple components in order to dynamically display the Questionnaire Templates based on the selected Appointment Type. Let’s assume we have three Appointment Types (Inspection, Repair, Maintenance) and three Questionnaire Templates.

Our goal is to make sure that for the “Inspection” appointment two templates are displayed, for the “Repair” appointment one template is displayed and for the “Maintenance” appointment no template is displayed.

Prerequisites:

• Dynamics 365/CRM System Administrator/Customizer security role is required
• Current version of the Woodford solution must be imported in Dynamics 365/CRM
• Resco Inspections feature must be enabled in the Woodford customization tool
• Resco Inspections trial or real licence (Inspector and SuperUser) is obtained
• “Appointment Type” is a separate entity, not just an option-set field on the Appointment entity
• There is a 1:N relationship between “Appointment Type” entity and “Appointment” entity – in other words, there must be an “Appointment Type” lookup on the “Appointment” entity

High level steps:

1. Create a new N:N relationship in Dynamics 365/CRM
2. Associate the Questionnaire Templates with the Appointment Types in the Questionnaire Builder
3. Perform customizations in the Woodford tool
4. Sync the Resco mobile app and check if the templates are displayed dynamically

Detailed steps:

A) Create a new custom N:N relationship between the Questionnaire and the Appointment Type entities. In order to do that, go to Dynamics 365/CRM, open the top menu and navigate to Settings. In Customization section select Customizations and click on the Customize the System item. A new window showing the default solution appears:

1. In the left panel expand the Entities item to display all Dynamics entities
2. Locate the Appointment Type entity and expand it to display all sub-components
3. Click on the N:N Relationships item
4. Click on the New Many-to-Many Relationship button -> a new Relationship window appears
5. In the Other Entity section select “Questionnaire” in the Entity Name dropdown menu
6. In the Relationship Definition section type in the Name and Relationship Entity Name (or just leave the default texts)
7. Click Save and Close button
8. Click Publish All Customizations button and wait until the changes are published

B) Associate each Questionnaire Template with the corresponding Appointment Type. In order to do that, go to Dynamics 365/CRM, open the top menu and navigate to Settings. In MobileCRM section select Inspections and click on the Builder item. A new window called Resco Questionnaire Builder appears:

1. Select a Questionnaire Template
2. Click on the Associate button to open the Associate dialog
3. Click on the Add button to open the Select Entity dialog
4. Select a corresponding Appointment Type from the list
5. Click on the OK button to confirm the selection
6. Close the Associate dialog by clicking on the OK button

In this example we’ve associated two templates with “Inspection” and one template with “Repair”; there is no template associated with the “Maintenance” type of appointment.

C) Customize and configure the Resco mobile app using the Woodford tool. In order to do that, go to Dynamics 365/CRM, open the top menu and navigate to Settings. In MobileCRM section select Woodford and click on the MobileCRM Woodford HTML5 item. A new window called Woodford appears showing the list of available mobile projects (if there are any).

1. Select your preferred mobile project or create a new one by clicking on the New button -> fill in the New Mobile Project form:
   • Type = Standard User
   • Template = Default
   • Name = Inspections (or anything meaningful)
   • Priority = 1 (but if you already have any other mobile project, select a higher number than the existing project has)
   • Roles – select a corresponding security role for your user (make sure the security role has all necessary privileges also for the custom entity Appointment Type)
   • Click Save to close the form

2. Open the mobile project selected/created in step 1. In the left panel select the Inspections item and check the Enable Inspections checkbox. When confirmation pop-up appears, select the “I Confirm this Organization has the appropriate license” option and save the changes.

3. Refresh the web browser and re-open the mobile project. In the left panel locate and double-click the Questionnaire item to show the pre-defined views. In the top menu click on the New View button and fill the New View form:
   • Name = Associated Questionnaires
   • Type = Associated List
   • Template = empty
   • Hidden = unchecked
   • click OK -> View Designer appears -> in the top menu click Save & Close button

4. In the left panel select the Questionnaire item, locate and check the Status Reason field in the list of available fields and save your changes:

5. In the left panel locate and select the N:N relationship entity that you’ve configured in step A.6. In this example it’s called “new_appointmenttype_questionnaire” and it’s greyed out. In the top menu click on Enable button to activate this entity and then click on Save button:

6. In the left panel locate and select an Appointment Type item (which is greyed out), in the top menu click on Enable button to activate this entity and then click on Save button:

7. In the left panel select an Appointment item, locate and check the Appointment Type lookup field (not the option set!) in the list of available fields and save your changes:

8. In the left panel double-click the Appointment item to show the pre-defined form, views and charts. Double-click the Default form to open the Form Designer. In the top menu click on the Add Field button and select the Appointment Type to add this field on the form. Then you can adjust the location of this field by using the Move Up and Move Down buttons. Click on the Save button to save your changes (do not close the Form Designer).

9. In the top menu click on the Add List button and select the Unrelated Entity List option. In the Template dropdown menu select the Questionnaire [resco_questionnaire] option and click OK.

10. Select the newly created tab called Questionnaires List (*), in the top menu click on the Rename button, change the name to “Questionnaire Templates”, click OK and save your changes (do not close the Form Designer).

11. Select the renamed tab Questionnaire Templates and in the left Properties menu change the Height to 5. Then in the top menu click on the Properties button. Make sure that only the Associated Questionnaires view (created in step C.3.) is checked, uncheck any other views. Then click on the Edit Filter button to set up the filter that will ensure that only the questionnaire templates associated with the selected Appointment Type are displayed.

12. Configure the filter according to the screenshot below:
    • add the condition Is Template = Yes
    • add link for the N:N relationship entity created in step A. (in this example it is called “new_appointmenttype_questionnaire (resco_questionnaireid)”) and make sure this L0 link is defined as “outer”
    • add link for the Appointment Type entity (in this example it is called “new_appointmenttypeid”) and make sure this L1 link is defined as “inner”
    • add condition L1.Appointment Type = new_appointmenttypeid (select this via Variable button)
    • click Save & Close to save your changes and close the Edit Filter and Properties windows

13. On the Appointment form in the top menu click on the On Changed button in order to configure a simple rule to ensure that the Questionnaire Templates tab is refreshed when user changes the Appointment Type (see the screenshot below):
    • add condition If ChangedItem = new_appointmenttypeid
    • add step Tabs.Questionnaire Templates.IsLoaded = True
    • click Save & Close button to save your changes and close the Rules Editor

14. On the Appointment form click the Save & Close button to save your changes. Then in the top menu click the Publish button to publish the whole mobile project.

D) Sync the Resco MobileCRM app using your Dynamics 365/CRM credentials, then in the left menu navigate to Activities and create a new appointment.
If you select the Appointment Type = Inspection, there are two templates available in the Questionnaire Templates section.

If you select the Appointment Type = Repair, there is one template available in the Questionnaire Templates section.

If you select the Appointment Type = Inspection, there are two templates available in the Questionnaire Templates section.

And that’s it!
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us through Resco Support portal.

Príspevok How to dynamically filter Questionnaire templates on the Appointment entity form based on Appointment Type zobrazený najskôr Resco.

Streamlining the refugee registration process

Resco and UNHCR have been working together to vastly improve the refugee registration process as well as the comfort and outcomes for refugees in some of the most remote, disconnected environments on the planet.
After first meeting to investigate the Resco platform at the resco.next 2017 conference, the UNHCR and Resco teams (with the involvement of Resco partner PowerObjects) prototyped the first version of “Rapid App” (RApp) in a matter of months. RApp, a customized version of the Resco Mobile CRM application, provides local UNHCR officers with a completely offline application for refugee registration. The goal is to collect refugees’ personal information using the offline app, and then sync it with the larger, global refugee database once the teams return to areas with stable internet access.
RApp itself is a core component of PRIMES, a suite of UNHCR applications that provides a centralized repository of all relevant identity data of persons of concern, accessible from anywhere by UNHCR staff and partners with appropriate access rights.
Just a few months after the initial prototype, the RApp pilot implemented by Power Objects was deployed in Spring 2018 in the Amazon region of Brazil, with tremendous results. The Resco technology used not only included RApp, but also a local Resco Cloud server that aggregated all refugee registration information and then synchronized the thousands of registrations back to the UNHCR’s global database. This Resco platform approach not only saved time and data costs, but it offered tangible proof that refugees could be registered at a much, much faster rate – helping provide them with more comfort and efficient services in an extremely stressful situation.

Expanding across South America and Africa

The success of the Brazil pilot spread quickly throughout UNHCR, as RApp rapidly expanded to 15+ countries across Africa and South America in just a few short months. To further strengthen the partnership, Resco welcomed UNHCR representatives to resco.next 2018 in Prague for more planning and discussion. Daniel Buzatu, ICT Business Systems Coordinator at UNHCR, enthralled the audience during the event’s keynote by showcasing the work he and his team are doing around the world with PRIMES and Resco.

We ended 2018 with plans to expand RApp’s role to cover more than just refugee registration – including modules for child protection, sexual gender-based violence, resettlement, legal & physical protection, and voluntary repatriation.

Stay tuned for our live travel journal

So what’s in store for Resco and UNHCR in Cameroon? This Sunday, Miro and I will depart Vienna for Paris, followed by a flight Cameroon’s capital Yaounde. Following a short stay in this city of 1.3 million, we’ll travel east to Bertoua, the capital of the Cameroon’s Eastern Region. Further travel will take us to the town of Batouri, the home to several refugee facilities serving refugees from the Central African Republic, where we will assist in the country’s first deployment of PRIMES.
For regular updates from our mission keep an eye on Resco’s Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin channels, starting on Monday, March 4. Our daily travel journal will take you behind the scenes of the entire operation as it happens and you‘ll be able witness the impact of mobile technology in some of the most challenging conditions in the world.
Note: Title image courtesy of ©UNHCR/Omotola Akindipe

Príspevok On a mission to Cameroon with the UN Refugee Agency zobrazený najskôr Resco.

Essentials & Nice-to-have’s

What should your solution definitely include? Since “inspection” is a very broad term, some capabilities might be more or less important, depending on the case. Still, we came up with a list of features we consider the most useful.

• Offline mode
  We may live on the verge of 5G, but chances are your workers are going to regularly visit places without proper internet connection, such as warehouses, underground parking lots, offshore powerplants, historical buildings, etc.
• Attachments
  The option to include pictures, audio, or video documentation should be a given.
• Signatures
  The option to add legally-binding signatures is sometimes a must, without which the company can’t actually switch from paper to digital.
• GPS stamps and the option to check-in and check-out
  The proof of your inspector being on site.
• Barcode scanning
  Although not a must-have, the option to quickly search for products or spare parts is a useful feature that speeds up processes and minimizes human error.

Questions to consider when choosing your tool

1. What backend do you use?

How are you storing or planning to store your data? Do you opt for a stand-alone cloud solution that wouldn’t require additional considerations regarding data storage, or do you want to integrate your solution with another systems? This will heavily influence your decision. For example, if you utilize a CRM-based system, you might benefit from a software that is built on similar logic and works well with entities such as Contacts or Appointments.

2. Who will be creating and managing your forms?

If you want your forms to be created and updated by managers, team leads, i.e. people who know the business side of things, instead of IT admins, pick a solution that doesn’t require coding skills and allows you to adjust the solution without tampering with metadata.

3. What kind and number of forms will you be designing?

Let’s talk about the actual forms you will be preparing and using.

• Are the forms long?
• Are they complex, with sections or even whole papers that get skipped based on the situation, i.e. do you need business logic?
• Do you require a slightly different form for each product model?
• Could you benefit from inheritance systems once you move to digital?
• Do you need to maintain your forms in more than one language?

Consider all these questions, try out product demos and choose a solution that allows to design forms, organize them, and make changes easily.

4. What kind of reports do you need?

So, you have designed your questionnaire, assigned it to a field inspector, who collected the data and sent it back for evaluation. What happens now depends on your end goal. Do you want easy to read dashboards and overviews that will give you the gist of it without losing too much time on configuration? Or do you need custom reports, option to go through the answers one by one, or tools for some serious data crunching? Consider this when choosing your solution as well. You don’t want to end up with a software you have to constantly bend to get the answers you need.

5. Last but not least: What about end users?

The app that will be used by the inspectors to carry out the task will probably consist of more than just a list a questionnaires. Think about your end users, their workflow and work circumstances. Do they use phones, tablets, or laptops? Do they have easy access to contact information and addresses? Once they arrive on site, does the app guide them through the inspection? Since you are already providing them with an app with a list of their appointments, do you also want to include an option to request absence? Or do you want any other special functionality?
Based on your case you might want to choose a solution that doesn’t just allow you to design the forms, but configure the actual app as well.

Conclusion

So, what mobile inspection tool is the best? As with most things in life, the answer is “it depends”. To find the right fit, you have to carefully go through your process, from form design to data analysis, and identify your key needs. The biggest mistake is to consider only one part of the process and then choose a solution that is difficult to incorporate with the remaining parts. E.g. a solution that might work great for the back office, but is hard to manage or even unusable for your workers in the field. We hope the five questions above will help you avoid this mistake and make an informed decision.

Resco Inspections: A powerful solution that adapts to you

Resco has recently announced its own tool for field inspections. Resco Inspections offers:

• a powerful questionnaire designer with a vast array of question types and business logic, that will allow you to bring even hundreds of forms into the digital form with ease
• native integration into Dynamics 365 and Salesforce, or an API for integration into other 3rd party solutions
• a fully customizable Inspector app for your mobile workers, capable of running in full offline mode
• and more!

For more information, visit the Resco Inspections page, get the free 30-day trial, or contact us for a demo.

Príspevok How to choose the right inspection tool for work on the go? 5 questions to guide your decision zobrazený najskôr Resco.