How FK Group saves time and still gets the best QA documentation

Quality assurance documentation plays a significant role in the success of an organisation’s daily operations. Reducing the number of redundant, time-consuming tasks and streamlining processes allow organisations to flourish and excel. FK Group, the leading construction company in Altrincham – just outside of Manchester, specialising in providing maintenance services to a broad range of companies throughout the UK – has recognised the importance of relying on a tool designed to create a better QA documentation experience.

“Using Next Field, as a visual field tool we managed to save time and boost productivity on the site, but still stay organised and meet the strict quality and documentation demands” – Mark Hutchinson, Site Manager FK Group

Enjoy Easy Access to Valuable Insights with Next Field

Next Field has created an advanced cloud-based tool that allows users to get more done in less time while maintaining a level of precision and accuracy. Builders, contractors, and other professionals working in the construction and maintenance industries can benefit from using the visual tool during their day-to-day operations. Users can download the app and quickly access all the information they need in the palm of their hand. Built with field workers in mind, teams from different organisations can work better together while accessing accurate data on any project.

While using Next Field, business leaders can invite all team members and bring them together on the same project. At the same time, leaders can get the whole company on board to show them what the tool does, how it works, and how convenient it is to use. It also allows leaders to create clear and cohesive reports while saving hours that would generally get spent working on hundreds of pages.

“Established in 1979, we have worked our way up to become the UK’s leading full building envelope specialist. Work with us for the scope, expertise and experience to innovate exceptional building envelope solutions. We are a company built on new thinking, Quality and expertise, which is why we partnered with Next Field and formed a great relationship.” – Laura Keenan, HR Director at FK group

FK Group Utilises Next Field to Streamline Daily Operations

While contractors often use their own in-house queuing and applications similar to Next Field, those applications aren’t as fluid, and the workflow isn’t there. The problem with many other applications they have tried is that they are not user-friendly enough in the field. FK Group turned away from most of the other platforms as they did not give enough value to the project. Ultimately, FK Group decided to rely on Next Field to help stay organised and complete crucial tasks. The cloud-based tool offers contractors a faster and more efficient way to get things done while maintaining a greater sense of control over assigned tasks.

While FK Group was around 25 percent through with the project before the collaboration, it quickly became a scramble to get everything updated and back together. Next Field broke down the drawings to avoid wasting time, including drawings that feature all job elements in list form. The item list shows a complete index of everything, allowing team members to go to the column where they have a specific drawing, put a tag on it, and then work on it later as needed. It makes it much easier for team members to look up specific tasks without wasting time and experiencing the frustration of finding something specific.

Developing a QA Routine That Works

While utilising Next Field, FK Group has developed a stable QA routine for EDPM installation around windows. The process involves a series of steps, such as snapping several pictures, viewing the images, going over to the project section, and checking out different ways to use the tool. Contractors can copy the description from an item and duplicate it to make a new item with the exact details, adding new information to the description, and then including tags before placing the info on the proper window. Once a team member saves the task, they can review the one checked item for quality on a window that contains the details of the four different components they need to take a picture of beforehand. Each item lets team members know what types of tasks they need to complete and the steps they should take to finish those jobs, even allowing them to duplicate those tasks as much as they need to based on the workload. The system makes a full copy of each item, allowing contractors to place these items on all other tasks so that they’ll have four QA checks made and ready to be assigned to another team member.

While it might seem simple to make a selection for a task and add a tag to it, it’s repetitive and time-consuming when you have to do that same thing thousands of times. Not only does the tool drastically reduce many of these tedious tasks for FK Group, but it also allows the contractors to create sections for health and safety with everything pre-loaded and ready to access. The pre-loaded information includes buttons next to items, detailed reports, drawings, names of contractors, and any other pertinent information required. In addition, FK Group’s team of contractors can go into Next Field and see everything they want or need to access in their notification centre, including the detailed list of tasks they’d be responsible for completing on a certain day.

Providing a Safe and Secure Experience While Streamlining the Inspections Process

Next Field makes inspections easier while providing a secure and private experience to various organisations, including FK Group. The tool allows organisations to have a checklist for each item that needs completing while maintaining full EDPM control. Users can create a pin with the step-by-step process involved in completing a task, duplicating that pin for each job so that a team member can easily open the pin, read the description, meet the demands, and then mark it as completed and move on to the next thing to do. 

The straightforward process saves time and is a significant convenience for organisations of all sizes. With access to digitised drawings, checklists, digital reports, documentation, visual inspections, and much more using one single system, organisations can quickly improve communication and collaborative efforts between team members while working on any construction project. These easy-to-use project tools make meeting quality assurance goals a hassle-free process.