J S Wright are building service engineers with offices in Birmingham, Bristol and London. They specialise in heating, plumbing, ventilation, air conditioning and drainage solutions for commercial buildings.
The challenge
They were using Microsoft Access to manage the logging and resolution of defects in new buildings. There were various processes that they wanted to add to the system but could not due to how the system had been setup. They were introduced to Smart Wolf and discussed the feasibility of moving to the FileMaker platform.
Their requirements for new functionality included sending automatic emails to occupiers and clients, having ‘one-click’ reporting available, keeping an audit log of all communications and producing on-site engineer reports using iPads.
The solution
It was apparent that the processes that were required were a great fit for FileMaker.
We developed a complete system to manage defect details, allowing team members to book appointments where required and notify occupiers of progress. This also includes a FileMaker Go solution that runs on iPads and allows engineers to enter data when they are on site attending a defect.
Further developments
Once the defect management department were using FileMaker, word quickly spread throughout the company and other departments expressed an interesting in achieving similar efficiency gains. We have since developed FileMaker systems for other teams and continue to develop and support the company’s FileMaker infrastructure.
We have developed a system that allows them to put together project proposals and log key financial data. Again, this replaces a more cumbersome system in Microsoft Access, delivering improved usability and better reporting.
More recently we created a quality management app to support the handover process. It has been developed for use on-site by engineers using iPads. Quality checks and assessments are performed on buildings, the app then sends reports and photographs back to the centralised system for analysis.
Client feedback
“Smart Wolf have developed various FileMaker systems for J S Wright; these systems are now integral to our day to day operations and workflows. The professional nature of both the systems provided and the Smart Wolf engineers has been exceptional.”
– David Cook, Associate Director