Repair Reporting over the Internet
Housecall Refurbished
In the last few months we have added several new features to Housecall that add up to major improvements for both our customers and the increasing numbers of Housecall users.
New Languages Support
We are now offering support for six languages in addition to English. See the links in the sidebar to see how this works. All Housecall customers can display their sites in the different languages simply by adapting their existing link.
We selected the languages by polling our existing users for the ones that were most important to them. We will be extending the list of supported languages in the future so please let us know if there are any that are important to you.
Of course we have not translated Housecall content that has been customised to suit a customer's particular requirements so any additional or amended text will need to be translated separately.
Kiosk Support
If you are providing kiosks in your neighbourhood offices for customers to use that are equipped with touchscreeens and keyboards, then you may want to take advantage of the new kiosk option that ensures that all screens are navigable with a touchscreen. Contact us for further details.
Control Panel for Customers
Housecall customers can view statistics on repair reports made through the system and change their settings with the new Housecall Control Panel. They can instantly see what types of reports are being made and drill down to individual reports. User confidentiality is protected because Housecall does not store any of the personal identifying information that users enter - only the report information is kept.
The Control Panel is still under development and we expect to be expanding its capabilities.
Improved Accessibility
Our new text-only version complies with the most widely recognised accessibility standard. We decided to offer a text only version because it is the most helpful for those using screen readers. An extra benefit is that the text only version is more suitable for users accessing the internet on mobile devices.
We have also streamlined the look of Housecall and made it even faster and easier to use.
More signposts for users
We've been looking at how people use Housecall to find ways in which it could be improved. We analysed where users did not manage to find the right description of their problem and used the free text option instead. Now the free text screens offers selected links to other screens where the problem might be found instead. This is unobtrusive assistance just when the user needs it and helps to improve the accuracy of Housecall's reports.
Easier form filling
Housecall's aim is to make it as easy as possible for anyone to report a repair problem quickly and accurately. One way we have done that is to provide extra fields for users who are not tenants of the property but may be family members or staff. These users are presented with extra fields to identify themselves as well as the tenant and property.
Users also have a 'remember me' option that stores their name and address in a cookie on their computer so that the form can be filled in automatically on a subsequent visit.
Acknowledging Reports
When sending repair reports by email, Housecall can confirm to a user that a report has been sent but it cannot guarantee that a report has been received. Mail servers can go down and email addresses can be deleted or changed and Housecall does not know this until the email is returned.
There's a simple solution. Customers set up another email address which automatically responds with an acknowledgement to every report. When the user provides an email address Housecall will send the report to this address. The user will receive an automated acknowledgement and know that their report has been received.
Users are still not required to provide an email address (unless the customer wants to make this a requirement) but, if they do, they can have that extra reassurance of their report being acknowledged.
