Air Projects Mini Case Study

Summary

I led the development of an improved Fire Damper inspection certificate process at Air Projects, enhancing efficiency and streamlining operations.

Discovery

Air Projects provides essential fire damper inspection and servicing, issuing reports and quotes for remedial work, and completion certificates for each annual service. During the discovery phase, we identified significant opportunities to improve how Air Projects captures and generates their Fire Damper inspection certificates.

Process

Discovery sessions revealed the existing workflow:

1. Engineers recorded test and service results and comments on paper or spreadsheets on laptops.
2. Engineers used digital cameras to take pictures of the fire dampers.
3. These records were physically delivered to the office, where:
   • Test results, notes, and comments were manually transferred onto spreadsheets, which became the certificates.
   • Images were manually downloaded, matched to the correct dampers, renamed, and added to the spreadsheets.
4. Certificates were then sent to clients by email.

This manual process often took 3-4 weeks to generate certificates, depending on the number of fire dampers inspected.

Solution: Native Simpro Functionality

We initially explored using Simpro’s native functionality, aiming for minimal changes. However, after extensive configuration and testing, we found that the available workflows and certificate presentation that we were able to achieve did not meet our standards.

Solution: Bespoke Integration with Simpro

We then designed a bespoke solution integrated into Simpro, leveraging as much native functionality as possible. The new workflow was as follows:

1. Engineers entered their test results and images into the mobile app on-site.
2. This data was sent to the office instantaneously.
3. The office could preview reports directly within the Simpro job, using the bespoke development.
4. Fire Damper certificates could be generated directly from within the Simpro job (see below).

Using a combination of PostgreSQL and API integrations, we pulled the data and images into a templated form, automatically uploading the completed job as a PDF that could be shared with clients. This transformation reduced the certificate generation time from weeks to within a day of the service visit.

Summary

This development journey had its challenges. We had to redesign the certificates multiple times and meticulously integrate various elements within Simpro, such as tags and webhook-triggered development scripts. Despite these hurdles, we persevered and achieved an excellent outcome. The new process provides Air Projects with a modern, efficient solution that gives them a competitive edge in the industry.