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Schools deal with gazillion of paper files. Surprisingly, students’ essays and other homework tasks are not the main part of school paper storage. What is? Bills, inspections, permission slips, HR documents. Here’s the list of top 5 school documentation flows that can be automated.

1. Bills and receipts

Schools receive and pay the bills, and they also need to store them. Electricity, gas, heating and cooling systems, and water are sometimes split into several utility bills. Once paid, the bills are stored to be retrieved in case of inspections. Storing bills and receipts takes space and much time sorting out and searching for the required bill.

2. Invoices

Another part of the paper forms is taken by invoices. Schools receive invoices for the services they require, for example, when they need maintenance or service from a third party, such as food delivery. All the paid invoices are stored separately from the bills listed above, and they also require accurate storage. Just imagine the amount of paper needed to print the invoices. Additionally, hard copies of invoices can get damaged or lost while mobile invoices are securely protected and can be accessed by an authorized person 24/7.

3. Inspections and Inventories

Schools have to perform a regular inspection of just about everything: fire hydrant inspections, safety inspections, food inspections, classroom inventories and more. Certainly, a piece of paper is required for these activities. Automating paper inspections and inventories is the way to a paperless future and the ability to process inspections and inventories faster, which results in accelerated decision making.

4. Permissions slips

Can students forge permission slips? Can parents forget to provide one? Can a teacher lose it? The answer to all is Yes. With the advent of mobile technologies, it takes just a second to take a photo of a handwritten permission slip and share it with the teacher. Exclude paper permission slips to make sure it is 100% accurate and will never get lost.

5. HR documents

Employment contracts, sick leaves, vendor contracts, vacations, payments and many other documents can replace paper in favor of mobile forms and apps. Digital signatures have been used by many organizations all over the world, which helps not only accelerate the documentation flow but also cut down the paper chase. No need to drive to the HR office specifically to sign a form when there is a mobile app allowing you to do so. Another benefit is the availability during the audit.

Fortunately, these can be automated with the DocuMate Scanner app from Snappii. By scanning, taking a photo or uploading a document, schools save hours of work, ditch paperwork for good and help the environment. The app uses AI to understand what’s there in the photo or scanned document, so typing just a few letters will show the document you are looking for.  The app is available for free download from the Apple App Store here.

After all, school is supposed to set an example. Starting from such a thing as document management will eventually bring fruitful results: accelerate workflow, improve productivity, focus on real work instead of paperwork. Mobile technologies are already here, let’s integrate them into the school system.

Every business has to deal with paper documents. Medical institutions deal with patient cards and recipes, restaurants deal with bills and menu, lawyers deal with legal documentation, schools deal with paper tests, homework and curriculum, even construction business deals with paperwork: change orders, job estimates, equipment inspections and more are done on paper. With the expansion of the digital age, writing and printing papers are slowly declining, however, many companies still operate many processes on paper.

What are the disadvantages of paper documentation flow?

Paper is a very fragile instrument to deal with. In fact, it can get lost or be damaged easily, it takes time to sort and store, and even more time to find the particular piece of document you need right now. Nevertheless, companies keep wasting time, effort and money on paper workflow. Why is that happening? Many people are used to working the old-fashioned way and don’t want to change anything. Others think that transitioning from paper-based processes to digital processes is time-consuming. Once they sit and put down all the disadvantages of paper, they start thinking towards mobile forms and apps that do the same only are safer, faster and are more reliable than paper.

Mobile forms VS. paper forms

One of the best benefits of paper forms is that they are always available to you 24/7. They can be accessed on a mobile device that is an indispensable part of any human being these days. Really, a person who remembers to have left a mobile phone, returns almost immediately. Would you remember you forgot one piece of paper from the bulk of papers you have grabbed with you? We do not think so.

Secondly, mobile forms can be filled out anywhere and instantly passed to your client for review and signature. With paper forms, you will never get that speed. It takes time to drive the paper form to the office to sign and then drive it back and keep for your records.

Another benefit is that mobile forms are stored in the cloud forever and can never be lost. Secure your forms with pass-codes and rest assured no one will ever get to them without your permission. Can you gain that with paper forms? Anyone can sneak to the office and view the paper documents, steal them or throw them away.

Now, to the office management. Stacks of paper require proper filing and storage. One person spends several hours per day organizing paper documents. This has to stay in the past.

The solution

Modern mobile technologies allow us to scan any paper, sign and edit it, share instantly and store in the cloud forever. Then quickly find when needed. Snappii has created a mobile app called DocuMate Scanner app – it is a life-saver for every business that deals with paper documents. The app allows its users to scan, upload or take a picture of a document, sign it, share, store and find using just a few letters. No more office trips, no more clipboards, no more wasted time and paper expenses. One tiny app is a great pocket tool for office management activities. The app is available for free download from the Apple App Store.

Other than that, Snappii helps businesses switch from paper forms to mobile forms fast and affordable. Learn more here.

The majority of businesses understand the necessity of mobile business apps. Mobile apps for business help speed up communication between the teams, significantly reduce paperwork, improve daily operations, speed up invoicing, estimates, inspections, etc. A mobile app developer charges you tens of thousands of dollars and delivers the app from 6 months. That’s too long. Your competition is already likely using a mobile app for their business, so there is no time to wait.

You can turn your eyes towards codeless mobile app development platforms. Codeless mobile application development platforms are gaining a mounting presence in the app development market. And the number of such platforms is increasing rapidly. Custom mobile app development is no longer a costly privilege. With codeless mobile app development platforms, the cost of app development is dropping because of the time spent and the resources.

So what’s a codeless mobile app development platform?

Usually, it is a website with a visual drag and drop editor. The users can select a ready-made template for their interest, then select the colors and overall look and feel of the app and fill it with their content. Along with the customizable templates, these platforms allow users to create apps from scratch using a blank canvas. The codeless app development platform offers various tabs and buttons for every business need.

The process looks like this. The user visually creates a mobile app. The app can be live-previewed on a mobile device. The Platform uses a native preview app that is installed on a user’s device. Once the changes to the app are made, the preview app is catching the latest updates. As soon as the user is pleased with the result, the app can be submitted to Apple and Google Stores, or published as a private app and shared with the company employees.

The ability for individual users to create their own apps to support their personalized workflow will also drive greater productivity. Apps built on codeless platforms will not require users to worry about changes made to smartphones and tablets.  The codeless platform should automatically take care of the needed changes.

Snappii created its codeless mobile app development platform almost twelve years ago. During this time, it has been constantly enhanced with more complex features. Snappii platform is used over half a million people and this number keeps growing. Let’s schedule a quick demo to show you all the platform capabilities. Don’t want to DIY? Our team of professional app builders will create a mobile app for you in a matter of days. Send us your requirements here.

The 4th of July holidays are coming soon so make sure you can easily find the photos you have taken!

Many people are taking several days off to celebrate the Independence day, according to Statista. In a survey conducted in 2021, 61 % of American respondents stated that they were planning to celebrate this year’s Independence Day with a cookout, a barbecue or a picnic. Following this tradition, families and friends are gathering together to feel more united. Some travel to other places one day, the other day it can be a relaxed family dinner, the next day it can be a party. For every event almost everyone takes a photo to share it and to keep it as a memory. Later, you can all sit together and review those memorable days. But is there a way to quickly find and access those photos in your photo library?

Snappii has created a mobile app that allows its users to quickly find any photo with a keyword, location or date. It’s called DocuMate Scanner. Simply load your photos to this app, and you are good to go. You can even use the app to take a photo in the first place. Simply allow the DocuMate Scanner app to access your location, and all the photos taken with the DocuMate Scanner app will have a location tag on them. This way, you can use a built-in Search feature to type in the location name to quickly retrieve all the photos taken there. Super convenient.

Another way of using the Search feature with the DocuMate Scanner app, is typing in a word to find a photo. The app uses AI (Artificial Intelligence) to identify what’s there in the photo.

So how can you organize your photo library with the DocuMate Scanner app?

The app not only allows you to search with keywords, dates and location tags, but also group the photos into folders. Select the photos and create a new folder. Now the entire photo library is neatly organized.

The app is available for free download from the Apple Store.

Browsing an app store endlessly it is not easy to choose the right app for you. Sometimes you see high star ratings but the reviews are not good. Which makes you think that the rating is fake. Snappii tested top 5 scanner apps that are free to use.

1. Notes (iOS)

The preinstalled Notes app for an iPhone allows you to take a scan without the need to download scanner apps from the AppStore. It is free and fulfills its function just fine. Yes, it is limited to just scanning but if that’s all you want, use it.

2. CamScanner

CamScanner is an all-in-one scanner app. It turns your mobile device into a powerful portable scanner. Besides scanning, it allows collaborating on one document for the entire team. It also puts a watermark on the scanned documents.

3. Adobe Scan

This free app is a pocket scanner on the go. Allows you to scan anything and save as PDF or jpg. The app is enhanced with powerful editing features. Crop, add text, remove imperfections on the documents, etc.

4. Genius Scan

With the free version, you can scan and use all the tools to improve the scanned documents: correct distortions, remove shadows, apply filters. Batch scanning allows you to scan multiple pages in seconds.

5. DocuMate Scanner

This multi-task app has a free scanner feature that’s always free. The scans are coming out looking really nice and neat. The app works with cloud drives, can share from them and to them. It also exports documents to text and has many features that other scanner apps don’t. For example, it has a search feature that allows you to search for your files and documents with a keyword. It allows you to create PDF reports combining several documents. It allows you to sign and stamp documents. Snappii’s DocuMate Scanner app allows you to annotate photos and documents which comes in handy for many users.

Regardless of the app you choose, you will be one step closer to leaving the paperwork behind making your life easier. In the end, that’s why all these apps have created: to simplify our lives.

Surprisingly, but in the second decade of the 21st century a bill of lading still exists on paper. In our previous blogs, we have discussed the necessity of switching business operations from paper to digital format. In short, mobile apps are safe to use, they reduce data input errors, improve collaboration between the field and the office, speed up decision making, and minimize the time spent on daily reports.

Today, transportation companies are looking at digital bills of lading as the means of accelerating invoicing processes. Indeed, once created, a bill of lading will do lots of things:

• provide understandable and readable information about items
• collect proof of delivery signatures
• calculate total hours and costs
• invoice customers immediately and get paid faster.

Paper documents can never achieve this potential and improve the workflow. Paper forms are difficult to maintain. First thing to deal with is illegible handwriting. Drivers can be inaccurate which results in mistakes once the office retypes the information from paper bill of lading into the computer. Not only does it take time, but also results in errors. Which later cost your company money.

The second major issue is timing. Often after completing a job, the driver heads onto the next job and there’s no way to bring the paper bill of lading to the office. It means that the company waits for days or weeks when the driver gets back so they could invoice the customer.

The last but not leas issue is vehicle inspections. Drivers need to make sure the vehicle is safe and is DOT compliant, and in case of the accident, be able to provide all the documentation regarding latest inspections. With paper inspections, it can be dangerous: paper gets damaged easily, it gets lost or forgotten as well. Having inspections on a mobile device, drivers can be sure that the they have access to them 24/7.

Snappii has created its mobile apps to cover these cases. The Bill of Lading Manager app is a perfect tool to create electronic bills of lading, get proof of delivery and send invoices to the customers. The Vehicle Inspection app is a pocket tool to perform regular inspections and access them anytime from anywhere. The Snappii team of professionals can show you all the benefits your company will gain with the mobile app. The majority of our apps are customized to specific needs of a business. Let’s schedule a quick demo.

Snappii introduces its new Landlord 360 app to ensure accurate and flawless property management process. Landlords deal with lots of documentation: lease agreements, property inspections, repairs, photos, bills, invoices, and more. For the most part, properties are placed in different locations and physically, it takes way too much time to attend them all to check conditions, or meet with the tenants to sign agreements or receive repair bills. Is it possible to save the time on documentation flow?

It is. And Snappii has created a Landlord 360 app – a pocket tool to easily manage all properties. No need to drive to the tenant to sign documents. Fill it in with the mobile app and electronically sign. Not only does it save files, it also saves tenants’ information and allows landlords and property managers to one button call or email them. It is very easy to pick up your phone, add units, take move-in and move-out photos, capture tenant info, and track expenses.

Finally a comprehensive app to help landlords to manage their properties more efficiently and save precious time! Use LandLord 360 and rent out more units. Main features include:

o Send out leases in seconds

o Instantly look up tenant, property and unit information

o Easily track expenses per property and unit to generate expense reports

o Know details about each unit. Eg. roof age, heater installation date, etc

o Pre and Post photos to quickly figure out if tenant broke anything

o Call or text tenants instantly

o Capture photos

o Improve your documentation

o Increase occupancy and tenant satisfaction

Learn more from this video. The Landlord 360 app is available for free download from Apple here and Google here. The Landlord 360 app can be customized to the needs of your business. Contact us with your app requirements here.

Many processes are dependent on paper. Receipts, agreements, invoices, bills, reports, questionnaires and so much more needs to be handled on a daily basis. There are many industries that work together on the same documentation flow. Often, office workers are waiting for the site team to deliver documentation to continue working on it. Snappii has created a top list of office/site jobs that are dependent on paper delivery process.

Real Estate

While realtors spend time in the office and on site, they have to drag a bunch of documents that need to be signed and shared with the client. Lease agreements, contracts of sale, property inspections, seller disclosures and other important documents take a special place in every realtor’s file cabinet. However, a realtor needs to make sure no document is left out in the office and no signature is skipped. Nevertheless, human errors occur. Many realtors have been in a situation when they collected client’s signatures but forgot to add it to one last page. They need to rush to find the client to complete the document flow. This article elaborates more on realtor’s pain.

Transportation

Drivers receive a bill of lading to deliver goods and get a proof of delivery from the client, then send it back to the office. Upon that, the office can generate an invoice. Sometimes it can take up to 10 days because drivers receive several BOLs in a row. They physically cannot get back to the office sooner to deliver the paper documents. It means that offices are waiting and cannot proceed invoices to get paid. Check out Snappii’s Bill of Lading app that solves the problem of documentation flow.

Home care

Home care providers deal with a ton of paper documents: client visit form, client intake form, client care plan, deviation report, etc. Every process of daily operations has to be documented and taken into account. These documents then need to be delivered to the office and added to the patient’s medical card. In Home Care Providers app from Snappii makes having great documentation easy, fast and simple to do.

Of course, there are more industries than that, today we have focused on these three. And of course, Snappii offers a solution to them all: mobile forms. Snappii has created 200+ mobile apps to fit any industry. The apps can be found here.

Inspections are conducted in all spheres of businesses. Construction job sites, warehouses, hotels, schools, hospitals, buildings, garages, and many other facilities and institutions require different types of inspections. Some inspections are done every week, others every month and every year. No matter how soon an inspection is due, it is always a headache. Inspectors drag clipboards with pen and paper, a camera to take photos, and other necessary equipment. It usually starts from one hour and can take several hours or even the entire day to complete a proper inspection.

It is a fact that an employee with pen and paper is prone to making mistakes not necessarily dependent on him. Take handwritten documents, when retyped into a computer, illegible handwriting is hard to read and can lead to errors. There are even more cons than that. Time is another problem. Like it was stated above, proper inspections take from one hour up to the entire day. Can this process be speeded up? We believe it can and it should.

Snappii introduces its Inspect Anything app available for free download from Apple and Google stores.

Create full-length reports with photos, drawings, QR codes, barcodes, and locations. Instantly generate PDF and/or Excel inspection reports and email them to the designated email address. Created reports will be stored locally on your device and available for sharing later on. Completed inspections will be also saved to be edited, shared, or deleted on demand. Streamline inspections by using Inspect Anything on your mobile device to improve accuracy, and efficiency, significantly cut down your report writing time, and bring in more business.

Inspect Anything allows you to:

• Easily capture notes, photos, signatures, drawings, QR codes, barcodes, and locations
• Instantly create custom PDF and Excel inspection reports
• Modify or delete completed inspections on demand
• Share inspection reports via email, text messages, cloud drives and other services
• Store collected data on your mobile device and access it anytime, anywhere
• Upload and edit your own PDF documents and use them as a report template

Benefits:

• Capture a rich flow of data in the field
• Sync collected data across multiple devices
• Increase productivity and efficiency
• Improve data accuracy
• Improve customer service and satisfaction
• Lower costs and save time
• Eliminate paperwork and go green

If you are not satisfied with our pre-built form solution, you can upload your own PDF form and 100% customize it to meet your specific business needs. Contact us with your requirements here.

Many non-profit organizations and business companies apply for passes at their workplace to access the facility. This is done for safety. Often there are situations when you just forget where you put that pass. Or maybe you pinned it to your shirt but it just unpinned somehow in a subway or wherever.  And now you are facing a security guard knowing your boss will not be happy to settle this situation down. Besides, passes might be costly to replace.

Did you know that you can show a picture of your pass on the smartphone? Exactly, after the COVID19 pandemic, it has become a norm to avoid touching extra surfaces, so using your mobile device to show a pass is quite frequent. Snappii has created its DocuMate Scanner app to help people simplify their lives and never worry about losing or forgetting important documents.

Watch this quick video to have a better understanding of how this works. Simply scan or take a photo of your pass and save it to the DocuMate Scanner app. Every time you need it, type in a keyword to instantly retrieve it. People forget stuff when they are leaving home, but they barely forget their smartphones. Even if they do, the majority come back the minute they realize they left their phone at home. There’s even a word for that, nomophobia – a fear of being without your phone. Indeed, people forget keys, IDs, wallets, and bags, but they almost never forget their phones. The fear of missing out on an important call or message, or being left without this means of communication makes people anxious. A mobile phone can substitute the whole bag, as it has the ability to pay, show IDs and documents, can scan, sign and share files. There’s a mobile app for everything. DocuMate Scanner app combines so many features into one app that you can use it alone. Scan, sign, stamp, share, add photos, upload files, edit photos and documents, and even hide information behind a password. Download the DocuMate Scanner app from the Apple App Store here, it is free.