HAB Mobile Inspections

Transcription

1 HAB Mobile Inspections April 4, 2012

2 HAB Mobile Inspections Page -2- HAB Mobile Inspections REQUIREMENTS & SETUP REQUIREMENTS In order to utilize the HAB Mobile Inspection product, an agency must subscribe to this hosted web service from HAB INC. All inspectors utilizing the HAB Mobile product set will need a valid address. The HAB Mobile environment supports a variety of mobile equipment including Android, ipad, iphone options. Laptop computers with wireless internet connections can also access the HAB Mobile software via their browsers. The application is browser-based and utilizes the jquery Mobile development software to allow screens to be rendered to the mobile device type. Tested and approved equipment includes: Motorola Xoom Tablet Droid Smartphones Apple ipad Apple iphone Samsung Galaxy Tablet AGENCY SETUP FROM THE SETUP MENU OF WININSPECT, CLICK ON THE LAST MENU ITEM. Each agency that subscribes to HAB Mobile will receive a unique agency ID that defines the agency to the mobile database. This ID is used to provide security as well as uniquely identify inspectors and inspection data related to that agency. Upon signing up for HAB Mobile Inspections, HAB personnel will set up this agency ID and update the client s database with the appropriate data necessary to begin the process.

3 HAB Mobile Inspections Page -3- INSPECTOR SETUP Any inspectors that will be accessing the mobile software will need a valid address. In addition, there is a new setup option within the wininspect software that allows inspectors to be defined to the mobile system. Once an inspector is defined using this setup, an is sent to the address of the newly defined inspector. That is utilized to complete the authorization process and establish a username and password. wininspect has is a new option under SETUP for Inspector Designation: Select an Inspector by clicking on their name. Turn on the ability to be a Mobile Inspector and enter an address for this person. Once the inspector is designated as being able to use the Mobile System click on the Ok button. This brings up the Inspector Info Entry box. Additional address information can be entered if the inspector works for a third party. The program actually builds the inspector account when the user clicks on (F3) Ok.

4 HAB Mobile Inspections Page -4- There are the limitations on the addresses of Inspectors. 1) Each address must be unique for the entire HAB Mobile System. So in the above example the inspector known as Bugs Bunny has the of That address cannot be used by any other inspector at the agency and cannot be used by any inspector at any agency that participates in the Mobile System. If a user tries to build an identical account they will get an error message. 2) If you are working with a third party inspection service, it might be that the inspector is already registered with another agency. In that case ask the inspector to come up with a new address (Gmail is one possibility) or ask your administrator to create an account for the agency. 3) At this moment we cannot delete an address from the mobile system. However, we can delete it if the agency calls our support department and requests that it be deleted. INSPECTOR VALIDATION Upon clicking the OK button above from the Inspector Info Entry screen, the inspector is added to the mobile web database and an is generated by that system to the indicated address. This is utilized to verify the address and provide that user with a way to define their username and password for the HAB Mobile system. Users may need to look in their SPAM directory to find it based on the agency s or provider s security/spam handling o If you find the in your SPAM or Junk folder be sure to Whitelist or put the address into your Contacts folder. More will come from our server as you work with the system. It may take several minutes up to 15 minutes - for the to be sent out. The will be similar to the one depicted below: Users should click the link and they will be taken to a screen where they can choose a user name and password. A Note on Web Browsers: Many workstation users use Microsoft Outlook for their system. When they click on the link it normally starts Internet Explorer (IE). It just so happens that versions of IE 9 or less do not display the confirmation screen correctly. The text might be missing; however the screen does work and can be used to create a password. An alternative to this is to have the Inspector read the from their actual devices (ipads, etc). That way they can create the accounts and store the web address of the actual product as you ll see below.

5 HAB Mobile Inspections Page -5- Registration Process Enter a user name of your choosing and a password. Try to keep the name simple as you may have to type it in again with a virtual keyboard. However, the user name must be unique across the whole Mobile system. The user name does not need to be the same as the name the inspector uses at the agency. The password must be entered twice for verification.. After clicking, the user receives confirmation of the user registration and is provided a link to log into the HAB Mobile inspection site with their new username and password. HAB highly recommends then, using the Log-in to HABMobile link on the screen above to login with new username & password: Once connected to the HABMobile Inspections login page, HAB also highly recommends using the Add to Home Screen (Apple and ios devices) or whatever the equivalent is on an Android device. This will create a quick-link for users on their device for future accessibility. Note: When logging into the Mobile system from a device, you can enter your user name OR your address. So in our example the user name Bugs Bunny and the of habinc99@gmail.com are equivalent.

6 HAB Mobile Inspections Page -6- INITIALIZATION OF AGENCY WEB-DATABASE Overview of the Process Begin with a review of your current inspection forms. If you think they are out-of-date or no longer meet your agencies needs then talk to our trainers or support staff. It is best to have the form in perfect shape before you start using it on the Mobile Web Server. It becomes quite confusing if you edit a form that is associated with an inspection that is pending or in progress. We recommend that instead of editing an existing form you make a copy and give it a revision number. That way you can distinguish between the forms at a later date. Instructions on editing a form are detailed below. Inspection Forms. In order to utilize the agency s custom-tailored inspection forms on the HAB Mobile environment, any forms that are intended to be used need to be downloaded/defined for the mobile database. This is a simple process where the agency simply accesses the desired form and updates it to the web. Clicking the OK button in the Inspection Form Entry will update the web with the entire inspection form including the form, rooms, items and defaults. Standard Comments. If the agency wishes to have standard comments available to inspectors to eliminate having to manually typing comments, those standard comments also need to be downloaded/defined for the mobile database. This is a simple process where the agency simply accesses the Standard Comments setup area and updates it to the web. Clicking the OK button on the Standard Comments screen below updates the web with any standard comments that have been defined.

7 HAB Mobile Inspections Page -7- Editing or Creating Inspection Forms: These options allow the user to tailor inspection forms to suit their agency s needs. As noted above the first step is to review the forms that the agency is currently using. Here is a complete list of the forms currently in use by our clients. Note that we now display the Form ID as well as the form name and protect option. The ID is very useful when talking to the HAB Support staff. The Add & Delete button should not be used unless directed by the HAB Staff. The Modify and Utilities Buttons are now explained. Best Practice: Keep an untouched copy of the required HUD forms on your system. In other words leave the form and the REAC forms alone. You should turn-off the HAB Mobile Status flag found on the Setup Page. (See page 2) This will allow you to work without numerous interruptions as the agencies system will not try to keep the Mobile system in sync.

8 HAB Mobile Inspections Page -8- Using the Utilities button: Import: This allows the user to import an already defined form into the system. Clicking this menu option opens up a dialog box that requires the user to find an exported form. (See next item) This function was not working properly until the HAB Mobile System was developed. This is the method that HAB Support uses to add new HUD forms to your system. Export: Choose a form and then click on Export. The system gives the user a dialog box that prompts for the file name and directory location to place the form. The file will end in.sql and contain the raw instructions to build the form on another system. (via the Import option) the chosen form. Report: Choose a form and then click on Report. The system responds with a report that lists the various rooms, items and values for Copy: Choose a form and click on Copy. The system responds with a dialog box that prompts the user to make a new copy of the selected form. When a copy is made the new form is an exact copy of the original. Users would then use the Modify button to edit the form.

9 HAB Mobile Inspections Page -9- Improvements to these functions in Release Until the HAB Mobile Version of the system, the Copy / Load / Unload functions did not preserve the Item Definitions nor the Data Transfer items on a chosen form. This has been corrected! Using the Modify button: The Modify program has had several changes since it was first documented. Users will notice several new columns of data as they explore their Inspection Forms. The Item ID is included as well as the Description of the item. (Previous to this the description could only be accessed by clicking on an item and selecting the Modify button.) Further to the right the Room ID for an item is displayed. The Room ID column is now added to the Rooms tab as well as the Items tab. The Copy Room button on the Items tab allows the user to quickly make a room based on a previously defined room. The user first enters a new room name on the Room tab and then switches to the Items tab. Clicking on the button gives the user the ability to copy all the items from one room to another. This feature has been improved with Release and is now reliable. Note that you can alter the name of the Form from this screen. That is really useful when working on a new form that you want to put to the top of the form choice list or likewise push to the bottom of the list. In this example I added two blanks to the front of the name and added a revision # (R2) to the end of the form. If I added an x to the front of the name the form would sort lower on the various choice lists for Forms.

10 HAB Mobile Inspections Page -10- If you turned off the HAB Mobile Status flag while you worked on Forms, then turn that flag back on now. Exit the WinInspect Module when this is completed. SCHEDULING INSPECTIONS Once the agency has been defined on the web and all of its associated inspectors, inspection forms and standard comments have been defined to the web, an agency can begin scheduling inspections. If the agency is a current wininspect user, there is NO change to how inspections get scheduled. Scheduling is a matter of selecting the units, then which inspection form and inspector and defining the inspection dates and times. Loading the inspection schedule to the web happens automatically for Inspectors that are defined for mobile inspection use. As soon as the user clicks SCHEDULE UNITS, the units are sent to the web database and would immediately appear on an inspector s browser app when logged into the HAB Mobile application. 1. Select UNITS to be inspected and click OK button. 2. Then using the scheduling tools, define a starting date & time for inspections at the top of the page. Pick an Inspector that has been marked as Mobile. (Page 3) Pick a Form that has been uploaded to the Web Server. (Page 6) Pick an inspection row from the list and set the inspection time.

11 HAB Mobile Inspections Page -11- When user clicks SCHEDULE UNITS, the unit inspections are saved in the HAB database. If this is a mobile inspector, the inspections are also sent to the web database for remote access. There may be a slight pause/flash when the SCHEDULE UNITS button is clicked as the inspections are being sent to the web. Note that the user has the option to NOT send an inspection to the web. This is accomplished by clicking within the Send to Mobile? column as you schedule each inspection. Note that we have added a feature to the selection screen that highlights the situation that a Section 8 Landlord / tenant has a rent on hold. These units are highlighted in yellow. Three units on this page have a rent on hold.

12 HAB Mobile Inspections Page -12- Further options with interfacing inspections with the HAB Mobile Server: If you have scheduled an inspection and then decide to remove the inspection from the web, then you have that option. The Remove from Mobile button appears when the system determines that an uncompleted inspection is being displayed on the web. Likewise you can force an existing inspection back to the web. This figure shows the conditions necessary for the button to appear.

13 HAB Mobile Inspections Page -13- RE-INSPECTIONS Re-inspections are scheduled just as they always have been. A user clicks on an existing inspection that has been completed. After clicking on that inspection row, the user then clicks the Sched. Follow_up button and the system allows the user to set a reinspection date and time and save the new inspection, in effect scheduling the next inspection. As soon as this data is saved on the HMS wininspect side, the system automatically sends the inspection to the web database and it is available on that inspector s device for access for the date specified. With regards to mobile inspections, reinspections behave exactly like any other inspection. Eventually the user interface on the inspector side will graphically identify these as a re-inspections. HAB automatically will set the values on a reinspection as they were on the original inspection. HAB will also provide a Deficiency Summary button the inspector can access to view just the items from the last time they were in the unit, to review what really needs to be examined this time.

14 HAB Mobile Inspections Page -14- HAB Mobile Inspections BROWSER ACCESS LOGGING INTO HAB MOBILE If the inspector has been defined as outlined in the prior steps and using the they were sent, created a Username and Password, they are allowed access to the mobile system using their tablet or smartphone. When accessing the site for the first time during the authorization process, the system can create an APP icon for tablets, ipads and Smartphones. Clicking this APP will launch the HAB Mobile app. (HAB will provide a link to the site for all users, for now it is ) ACCESSING MOBILE INSPECTIONS After a user logs into HAB Mobile, if any inspections are scheduled for that inspector they will appear. Users can toggle between SHOW COMPLETED and SHOW IN-PROGRESS inspections simply by clicking the button. Clicking the information icon highlighted below will bring up information regarding this specific unit inspection as well as a link to Google Maps to find the unit location. Inspection Details:

15 HAB Mobile Inspections Page -15- Google Mapping: Clicking the Goggle Map button will map the address of the unit and give options for locating the unit. Update an Inspection: An inspection can be selected simply by touching it and a list of rooms will be displayed. Users continue to select the rooms and items as necessary and indicate their choices. Samples of a particular inspection are provided below: Pick an Inspection to do: Pick a Room, then scroll up and down through the various room items Select the appropriate values.

16 HAB Mobile Inspections Page -16- Enter comments manually or available standard comments: When done with all rooms and the inspection is completed, simply click the completed TRUE tool button:

17 HAB Mobile Inspections Page -17- UPLOAD COMPLETED INSPECTIONS HAB has automated the process to upload completed inspections from the web database results. When a user logs into wininspect and access the INSPECTIONS screen, there will be a slight pause for agencies using mobile inspections. This pause is the system retrieving all results from the web and updating the HAB wininspect database with results and comments. After it completes the process, users can proceed with normal scheduling, updating, or reviewing new or completed inspections. When the user clicks the INSPECTIONS button, all remote activity is uploaded and updated in the HAB wininspect database.