Effective Mobile Forms: Creating Customized Forms to Suit Your Field Service Needs

Did you know that managing paper-based data is one of the top challenges in field service management?

If your business is still using a paper-based system in the field, then it's time you made the move to mobile forms.

By switching to digital forms you can finally say goodbye to all those paper-based nightmares and reap the benefits that mobile field service management can offer.

If you're not sure where to start, read on as we take a closing look at creating customized forms to suit your field service needs.

Why You Need Customized Mobile Forms

There are two parts to this question: why customized, and why mobile?

Customized forms allow you to obtain only the data that's necessary. Your employees don't need to waste time recording data that you don't need, and you don't need to sift through useless data to find the information you want.

Mobile forms allow you to boost productivity by removing all the time-consuming admin that comes with paper forms. You can access the data from the moment it's been uploaded, meaning you can be much more responsive. You can also ensure that that data is stored securely whilst still being accessible from anywhere.

Designing a Mobile Form

When designing your form, you want it to be as efficient and user-friendly as possible. Some key tips include:

Keeping it as short as possible
Making the layout easy to follow
Using placeholders to indicate what kind of data should go in each field
Making sure you keep buttons far enough apart to avoid misclicks
Using responsive design, to work perfectly on different mobile devices

Different Types of Forms for Different Businesses

Field management is a broad field and forms that are perfect for one type of business may not be ideal for another.

For example, a business offering repair or installation services might need the option to upload images and videos in their forms. This feature may be redundant for other types of businesses that are purely working with numerical data.

That's why customized forms are a must. Generic, one-size-fits-all forms aren't going to be the most efficient way for you to manage your data. By customizing forms, you can create the perfect form for your business.

Tips for Creating Customized Forms

Creating customized forms may sound daunting, but it doesn't have to be. Here are some useful tips for creating customized forms.

Don't reinvent the wheel—you can use templates to help create your customized forms
Work out your design on paper before you start trying to build it online
Focus on the data you want and prioritize the most important data
Use conditioned responses to change the form based on the answers given
Get input from field agents who will be using these forms
Test and refine until you're happy with the finished forms
Consider using proven form management solutions

Are You Looking to Digitize, Scale, and Manage Field Processes?

If you want to create custom mobile forms to meet the needs of different teams and units, then we're here to help.

Lena Field offers more than 20 form answer types, can condition your questions based on the answers given, and render questions invisible when they're not needed. You can add unit maps to forms and questions can be answered using photos, videos, and files to ensure you have all the information you need.

We also offer a wide range of other field solutions including field team management, asset management, work order management, and more.