Tessera has developed a project management application for technical companies on behalf of the German software company Easytec.

It is a system, which is addressed to a wide range of companies, active in the technical and construction sector. Its main function is project management, in which the company’s technicians are employed daily (a simpler version of this application, the 4techman product, has been implemented by Tessera in the Greek language).

The system consists of two main parts:

• the Android mobile application, which is managed by the technicians / employees of the company and
• the web application, which is responsible for transferring information between the enterprise ERP and the mobile application.

Through the mobile application, the technician receives on a daily basis the tasks in which he participates. It also records anything deemed important by the ERP (employment time, components used, etc.). The registered information is sent to the ERP system, which records the data from all technicians, having total supervision over the work of each technician. The system supports the creation of various types of reports for both internal use of the company and for use by the customer. An example is the report generated by the completion of the project and concerns the cost of labor and equipment, the use of materials, the work involved in the project and the comments of employees. Other reports generated relate to working hours per employee and equipment usage hours per project.

Features of the app

– Job information

One of the key features of the mobile application is the presentation of all the necessary information about a specific task. The technician receives information e.g. job description, list of technicians to take part, costing information, background, related to the specific job.

In addition, a detailed list of descriptions may be included, which may be related to individual tasks to be completed, inside information or information about a technician.

– Information about the customer

The technician receives the contact details of the client, so that he can contact him directly and instructions (via google maps), in order to go to the workplace.

– List and selection of materials / components

The application facilitates the management of equipment used by the company’s employees. The technician has the ability to add one or more materials / components (from a predefined list) that he used in a specific task. The materials are organized in catalogs and recorded by the mobile application.

Additional information recorded is equipment assignment per employee, equipment usage time per project, energy consumed by specific equipment and other information. The use of barcode for reference to equipment is supported. In this way the supervision of the equipment, that the company has, is possible at any time.

– Registration of working hours and costs

It is possible to record the position and status (work, break, driving) of employees in real time. The technician can add the hours worked as well as possible costs, during his work (eg parking fees, toll fees, fuel). Also, it is possible for the employee to process a project, only if it is at a certain distance from it. This information is recorded in reports and exported to the ERP.

Working time is recorded in detail. ERP has the ability to dynamically change the way time is entered. A series of reports related to time jobs are generated.

– View participants

Each task may involve one or more technicians working together to complete it. Each participant, after completing the part of the work he has undertaken, is invited to complete his working time. He can briefly describe his actions and add his signature to state that he has completed the part assigned to him.

– Send / Receive images and files

The technician can photograph the workplace from his device and send the images to the ERP. He can edit images (eg add text or custom shapes) to focus on specific points. In case the employee wishes to mark the points of damage or work, it is possible to record the places. For each space he can use his floor plan, in order to mark the points there by dragging them on the floor plan.

At the same time, in addition to images, the user can download or add other files such as pdf, text documents (doc, docx) and excel (xls, xlsx), which may include user manuals for devices, billing invoices, etc.

Documents and changes are synchronized so that everyone involved – ERP and other employees – is aware. The employee can relate documents and images not only to the project but also to its sections, such as a workspace or to-do list. Examples of documents and images are invoices, equipment usage manuals and an image from the technician’s autopsy at the place of a fault.

– Checklist – Accept tasks

Each task can contain lists of individual controls that must be executed in order for the task to be considered complete. Each item on the list is a question to the technician, who is asked to answer it. In this way the work is thoroughly checked before it is completed.

After completing all the checks, technician and customer are asked to sign that they accept the tasks and the job is completed.

– Proof of work

The system can generate reports for each job. Reports include general job information and lists of actions completed, materials added, hours worked and amount spent. The document comes signed by the customer and the technician (if the signatures have been completed). The report can be printed or sent via email (as an attached pdf).

In addition, at critical stages of the project, which are defined and changed dynamically by the ERP, the client or the employee is asked to sign, in order to confirm the changes made to the project. Signatures are often exported to reports.

– Overview of working hours

Each technician can create a report with the tasks, in which he has worked and the total number of hours spent (for each task) during a predetermined period of time. The report can be printed or sent via email (as an attached pdf).