TrueContext Consulting 

Here’s just a sample of a few of the more common “forms” that I’ve run into over the years. These are things that many of my clients have asked for in the past, or are industry standard forms revolving around safety, compliance, or common workflows.

Click on the various items in the tabs above to take a look at what they entail, and how I can make them amazing.

• BBSO : Peer conducted Safety analysis at your fingertips
• FLHA / JHA : Site & Job safety forms with lots of cool features 
• Shift Logs : Keeping shift supervisors informed and “in the know” with lots of analytics!
• Inventory : The dreaded nightmare, made a lot cooler and no longer a pain in the backside.

A Job Hazard Assessment (JHA) is a systematic process used to identify potential hazards associated with specific job tasks. It involves breaking down a job into individual steps, examining each step for potential safety risks, and determining appropriate controls to mitigate these risks. The goal of a JHA is to prevent workplace injuries and illnesses by proactively addressing hazards before they lead to incidents. This process typically includes input from employees familiar with the tasks, and results in documented procedures and safety measures that are communicated and implemented to ensure a safer working environment.

Imagine getting to a job site and you painstakingly have to fill in this incredibly long list, hand writing in each step, each hazard, and mitigation steps. That would take forever, so maybe we can automate some of that! Now, tied to each work order is a list of job tasks because we know the common ones associated with what type of job it is. And, there’s even the most common mitigation techniques already listed, but of course things could manually be added or deleted, too! That would save potentially hours each day, keep people safer, and even give them some guidance so they don’t forget anything! There’s so many cool things I can help you achieve!

Let’s face it, nobody truly likes to do inventory. It’s one of those tasks that needs to be done, but it always seems like a pain. That’s because it usually is. So, the question becomes how can we make it more painless, encouraging people to do this much easier task than they remembered?

I can build you a solutions that can pull current inventory information from your CRM/ERP then display it on your user’s mobile device. Need some barcode scanning in there? No problem! Users can see the “expected” stock level, then just tap to count what they find. Instant feedback with a colour coded system can provide them “at-a-glance” visibility on what’s still left to be counted, where there’s missing items, or even when something is above it’s expected level. Then, here’s the magical part – it’ll update your CRM/ERP with new levels and even launch alerts or new workflows when something doesn’t match what it should. 

Heck, we can even track how long it takes for the job to be done, how many line items were counted, and how many of each line item was counted. Now we can predict expected timeframes for future inventory audits based on median time per item in inventory in past counts! There’s so many cool things we can do. Nice one!

Here’s a couple of the wild ideas I’ve built over the years for a whole list of different clients in many different sectors. You should click through and read a couple, they may give you some wild ideas too!

Think of TrueContext as a platform you can do anything with. It’s like having a blank canvas in-front of you along with all the pencils, paints, brushes, and tools you’d ever need right there beside you ready for use. Now all you need is someone who can paint. I’m that guy, and I’m pretty darn good at it. I’m like that little guy in the icon – always thinking – except he’s got a hefty head of hair. I’m not jealous, I save a bundle on barber fees!

• Mixing Chemicals : When you need a customized workflow to track manufacturing patented adhesives, you need a system that’ll be flexible. I built a workflow that walked the operator through all the steps, gave them information at their fingertips, and even included passing the batch through quality assurance, potentially back to the operator, logging every step of the way and actions taken.
• Global Notices : Need to notify just a couple, or maybe thousands of people instantly, with the ability to know when they’ve read the message? No need to go buy another system if you’re using TrueContext. My notification system does it all, and has deep tie ins with other back-end systems. It’s pretty darn cool.
• HVAC Inspection Magic : What’s worse than having some carbon paper stuffed on the dashboard of a service truck, forgotten about, and now suddenly the EPA is breathing down your neck. All that is prevented with some slick automations all triggered through customized workflows for HVAC technicians!
• Dialysis Detailed : Gone are the days of guess work. Using the workflows and systems I put in place, inventory can be “just in time”, and analysts can determine what devices in the field need an upcoming service call – all at a glance!
• Oil & Gas Predictability : You need to know what’s happening at your wells to prevent disasters. The systems I put in place helped technicians quickly identify potential problems, while also giving deep insights into what’s going on all over the globe with an organization’s key source of their raw product!

An adhesives manufacturer came to me with a unique problem. They wanted a system that could pull up a work order for a batch of one of their products. These adhesives aren’t just in some barrel, they’re the ones that mix the raw ingredients to make that adhesive that goes into the barrel! Each adhesive has a recipe, and I’m told that it’s not just as simple as dumping it all in a big bowl and mixing it together like you would punch at a high school prom in the 80’s. Instead it’s a lot like baking a cake, in that different things need to be mixed at different times. OK, got it!

What I put together let workers select a work order (or, one could be sent to them!), they’d see the general information, then be provided a list of raw ingredients, along with the quantity needed, at what stage it needs to be added and some notes. Workers could tap as they’re beginning to mix that ingredient and the time would be logged. Heck, even move some steps around, or operators could freestyle their mixing, as many of them have specific methods unique to themselves. In the end, it’d give them some nice visual feedback on what’s left to add, and they send that batch off to Quality Assurance for testing. Nice!

But wait, there’s more! QA then gets the order and is presented with the various tests they need to conduct based on the type of adhesive made. Did it fail? Now the form gets sent back to the operator with instructions on how to correct the problem, it’d allow them to make those adjustments, and send back to QA again. The form goes round-and-round until it meets standards. Nice! 

But wait AGAIN, there’s more! All that data gets logged into their ERP system with all the nuances of that batch. Did the batch have a higher failure rate than usual? Now we can look at what went wrong in the production process. But, if that batch performed better than expected, we get insights into what makes a better recipe, allowing for future improvements. This was one of those projects that I thought was the absolutely coolest. 

When one of the largest HVAC manufacturers came to me looking to digitize their inspection forms, I thought this would be a pretty standard job. I love standard jobs, because it gives me a chance to find great ways to make process improvements enabled by technology – and that’s just what we did here!

What I was provided was effectively a scanned copy of what a technician would fill out when they went to inspect a chiller unit. This could be the beer fridge at the local pub, to a commercial refrigeration unit in a high end restaurant, or even one of those massive air conditioning units you see on the top of the MetLife tower in NYC. I accounted for everything.

A technician pulls up the site they’re visiting, is presented a list of the chillers on site, and they select the one in question. Automatically the form provides them with asset information, a service guide PDF, and even adjusts acceptable leak rate values based on the type of chiller. Heck, they can even see the results of prior inspections! As they work their way through the inspection they are presented with only the questions relevant to the chiller model, letting them think about the task at hand, not “is this relevant?”. All data gets sent back to their ERP system and logged with all details. 

But wait, maybe there’s a leak! Here’s where the magic happens. It’ll guide them down a set of questions for them to input the details, take some photos, and document the problem if. All of that becomes a follow-up work order with all relevant information already filled in if they weren’t able to solve it on the spot.  Did you know that if there’s a leak in a chiller, that needs to be rectified in a specific timeframe, and that timeframe can vary depending on the method of repair? Also, the plan for rectification must be attached to the problematic asset until it’s been repaired! A new opportunity presents itself.

Why doesn’t the form automatically determine this and set threshold dates for the technician so they can ensure they’re within EPA compliance in their plan? And, why couldn’t this form automatically generate the rectification plan into a PDF, then send that custom branded PDF directly to the customer in real time with all the information they need to keep them within regulations? Well, that’s exactly what I built. Now, there’s no more carbon paper forms sitting in the passenger seat of their work truck, forgotten, and EPA regulations slip through the cracks. I think this is such a great example of how you can take a process and super-charge it to really harness technology and the TrueContext platform.

You’d think a simple dialysis machine maintenance would be boring, but you’d be wrong – at least when it comes to the data you can extract from just a couple simple readings. The typical machine maintenance would include things like replacing the motors, brushes, and lines every 4000 hours of usage, along with typical things like taking a couple readings, and replacing some batteries. When a $20B medical device manufacturer wanted to revolutionize their device inspections, they handed me a simple checklist – and revolutionize I did. Here’s what came of that….

The technician walks onto site, and pulls open their work order. It provides them all the machines that need inspecting today at that location. As they work through each machine they’re presented with a whole ton of information at their fingertips such as service manuals, or even watch a detailed video on how to complete specific tasks – all embedded into the workflow on their mobile device.

Once the technician scans in the barcode of the asset, they’re presented with past inspections results & readings, along with “expected machine hours”, a sneaky calculation that I embedded. Based on past history, I could calculate the average run hours per day and spit out realistic predictions that could determine if the asset had been used more or less than in previous periods.  

Should the run hours come within replacement thresholds for motors, pumps, or brushes, the technician is forced down workflows with embedded videos on how to complete these tasks. They’re led through ensuring all of the routine checks are also completed, and this data gets pumped back into the client’s CRM/ERP with all the readings, checks, and various parts that may have been used, with those parts automatically attached to service records and inventory adjusted as needed.

Not only this, but now that we have some predictive information about machine usage, we can anticipate when machines will need to be serviced, and to what extent. How valuable would it be if you have to send a technician across the country to service 100 machines at a health facility. Will they need to bring 100 spares of each part? What if we could determine that it’s likely only 40 of each part would be needed. Would that save on shipping, and especially inventory now being scattered everywhere as opposed to more localized? I did it all, and it was a massive success!

The oil & gas industry is filled with extremely important workflows that ensure the safety and security of both the people at these site, and also the environment as a whole. One wrong move, and it could be the leading story on every 6 o’clock newscast around the world, a situation that any organization wants to avoid at every conceivable chance.

Did you know that when drilling and extracting raw materials such as natural gas or crude oil, there’s a requirement to inject water and other liquids into the well to maintain it’s stability? I sure didn’t, and while I can’t explain the science or exact reasoning behind this, I certainly can ensure you have workflows and systems in place to keep this happening while also providing technicians predictive information to help them during service calls.

At each site there’s considerable tanks of these liquids, which are automatically pumped back into the wells. Ensuring these tanks are well stocked is critical, that’s why it’s critical to know if a pump is malfunctioning in any way. If it’s not pumping enough, that could mean there’s an issue in the lines or the pump – however if it’s pumping too much, that could also mean you’d have an empty tank far before you expect creating a new problem.

The system I build collected tank levels upon each inspection. Coupled with information such as the time since the last inspection, we can extrapolate the amount of liquid being pumped per minute on average, which can then be compared to acceptable levels. 

Technicians pull up the site they’re servicing, and are provided a history of prior inspections they can reference at any time. They’re then prompted for current tank levels, which they input. Immediately the application will notify Red/Yellow/Green to clearly indicate the status of the pumped volume. Is there a problem? Let’s fix it. The technician is guided through the appropriate remediation measures.

All kinds of tie ins occurred here, from launching a repair request when the problem couldn’t be rectified immediately, logging of all problems associated with pumps, and also giving insights into volume of liquids for analytical purposes. There’s so much more, but this is only a glimpse into how this workflow was super charged and provided considerable data previously unable to be collected!