WHAT’S NEW?
ENHANCED SITE CHECK IN PROCESS USING
BLUETOOTH BEACONS Ostara was recently approached by a client who had the goal of reducing, if not removing altogether, the opportunity for contractor overcharging to occur based on the following activities/behaviours that had been observed:
● Contractor rounding of time on site to the nearest quarter hour or thirty minutes without appropriate controls.
● Engineer accuracy/fraud. For example, starting jobs before arrival at site or after the engineer has left site. Also charging for time spent for tea breaks and lunch breaks at the client’s cost.
● Head offi ces systematic fraud using photos of QR codes (if used) at head offi ce and retrospectively starting/stopping jobs using non- verifi able times and in some cases, where no visit has taken place.
To resolve this challenge, Ostara introduced a three-tiered check-in to site process, used by engineers when arriving on site to identify that they are indeed at the correct site.
The primary solution was to install proprietary, confi gured Bluetooth Beacons at each site as a primary identifi er. GPS positioning data was then introduced as a backup, should the primary process fail. The QR code was kept as a fi nal fall-back, in the event that both Bluetooth and GPS are not available.
The Bluetooth Beacon is a small, inconspicuous device, that can be branded to client design standards. Each one is confi gured with an individual ID, that makes it unique to the site of installation and allows the Ostara System to ensure identifi cation is made. The client was able to mobilise their existing contractor base to install the beacons at site.
Once the engineer arrives on site, they open the Ostara Mobile App. On selecting ‘Check In’, the device looks for the existence of a Bluetooth beacon in range.
24 | TOMORROW’S FM
If it fi nds one, it presents the user with the site detail to ‘Check In’ to that site. If no Bluetooth device is found, (or Bluetooth is not enabled on the device) the user is informed that this was not possible, and if it is not, the app checks for sites that are in range based on GPS coordinates. Should location services not be enabled, or the location of the device is not within the tolerance for the site, the fi nal option of prompting the user to scan the QR code is carried out.
In the event that all scan in options fail (or QR code is declined), a message appears to the user advising them that they must submit signed job sheets with their work to enable a manual verifi cation of site attendance. The user is allowed to search for a work order manually and start and stop without the attendance confi rmation. In the scenario where a work order is completed without the Bluetooth solution being used, the invoice raised against this work order has an unapproved reason of ‘Location Verifi cation Not Available’.
Regular communications were sent to contractors at the highest level to advise of the new process and the change in operating procedures. This communication included the intent to incentivise high levels of mobile usage and highlighted the simplifi cation of the check in process for engineers attending site. This communication included the ability for contractors to feedback and ask for additional assistance and training should it be required. Online videos that could be shared with engineers were also prepared and made available by Ostara.
Following the installation of the devices, the Contractor Dashboard and Performance Dashboard reports in Ostara were used to monitor progress of adoption of the new process.
As a result of these new processes, the client saw monthly mobile usage increase above 98% which reduced down the number of rejected invoices for non-mobile usage which in turn provided more accurate and real-time accruals along with more accurate invoice checking for time on site.
The client saw a reduction in their average order values in a number of disciplines, and they also reduced down the level of resources required for auditing as a result of this more robust mechanism.
More importantly, the occurrences of fraudulent dates and times being provided was signifi cantly reduced.
Contractors fed back that they were happy that the amount of time spent on site trying to gain access to the QR code or an individual to validate their visit had been signifi cantly reduced.
An additional benefi t of this implementation and the higher levels of mobile use, was a greater adherence to the health and safety processes which ensure that engineers always have visibility of asbestos and must complete the relevant mobile-based permit to work.
The requirement of renewing or replacing QR codes was reduced (which should ideally be completed once every one to two months), lessening the burden on site users to print off new QR codes maintaining compliance with a maintenance process. In turn this also reduced any COVID concerns with the removal of a face-to-face interaction between site staff when providing the QR code to the attending engineer.
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