“They helped bring over our current customers and their inspection information, all our forms, invoices, payments, and always have been there day and night if we had any questions. The customer support is amazing and its easy for our team to collaborate on any work being done.”Scott B, President, Fire Alarm Testing, Inc.
THE CHALLENGE
Customer records in one tool, inspection forms in another
Fire Alarm Testing used a general field-service platform for customer and billing work and a separate forms application for inspection reports. Scott wanted software made more for fire alarm companies.
After a demonstration, he shared customer and service-address information, company materials and a blank NFPA 72 inspection form. Those gave Essential a starting point for bringing the company’s records and reporting workflow into the new system.
THE IMPLEMENTATION
Working through the records together
Essential’s team extracted historical inspection reports from the previous forms application and used Fire Alarm Testing’s NFPA 72 form to configure reports. It identified older records and properties with no matching report for the customer to review.
Some information was missing from the old source, including initiating-device details that would need to be collected during future inspections. Fire Alarm Testing and Essential also worked through historical billing information and later cleanup together.
LEARNING THE WORKFLOW
Training around real inspection and billing questions
The teams met for office and field training. The questions were specific to Fire Alarm Testing’s work: how to bill sites separately under one customer, pause one-time customers, carry inspection information into the next report, document a failed system and capture a sign-off.
The form builder took some practice. Scott describes the learning curve:
“Their form creation software took us a couple days to get used to but once we did, it works wonderful.”Scott B, President, Fire Alarm Testing, Inc.
THE EXPERIENCE
Help that continued after training
The transition continued with historical invoices, recurring billing and questions that came up as the team used Essential. In one later exchange, Scott flagged an address on an inspection report; Essential corrected it that day.
“Their staff is quick to respond, they fix any bugs and issues that do come up very quickly, and their reporting features are accurate and easy to use.”Scott B, President, Fire Alarm Testing, Inc.