Frequently Asked Questions

Introduction
Q: What is the mission statement of EZ Inspections?
Our goal is to be the most user-friendly field service automation platform.
Q: What benefits does EZ Inspections provide me?
Through technology and careful product design, EZ Inspections automates your manual routine, and streamlines your business process so that you will be more organized and productive, and can focus on growing your business.
Q: In a nutshell, how does EZ Inspections work?
EZ Inspections platform consists of three parts: a web site for process management, a mobile app for field data collection, and integration services to connect to your other software systems.

A typical process is illustrated below.

(1) Orders are created either by you, your client, or by EZ automation based on your rules, and are auto dispatched to your field staff.

(2) Field staff uses the mobile app to complete work and send result back to the office.

(3) Office admin monitors the progress of field staff, examines completed work, and closes out the order. Results can be automatically sent to your client or other software system.

(4) You can share job reports with clients, and run invoices and payments.

Many other tools are provided to you including custom form builder, automated workflow, inventory control, bidding and invoicing, field staff issue reporting, docs and alerts, and management reports.
Q: What industries does EZ Inspections support?

With the capability of creating custom forms and customized business processes, EZ is set up to support virtually all kinds of field services.

We currently serve industries including long term rental (single or multi-family), vacation and short term rental, mortgage or insurance inspection, property preservation, BPO / REO management, site inspection, janitorial service and more. Contact us if you are looking for a solution for your industry.

Q: How long do you keep my data and photos? Can I back them up locally?

We keep your data, photos and documents for up to seven years with no additional charge. Yes, you can back up data to Excel files and save to your local storage, together with photos and documents.

Q: How do I get started?

Call 1-866-931-9719 or email sales@ezinspections.com. You can also set up a trial account yourself on the web site.

Customer Support and Training
Do you provide phone, email or online chat support?

Yes. Phone support is provided to company admins only. Phone and online chat support are from 8 am to 8 pm Eastern Standard Time. Email support is 24/7 with a maximum turn-around time of 12 hours.

Do you provide live training to new and existing users?

Yes. We typically give two trainings to a new customer, one to the admin staff, and one to the field staff. We also hold monthly admin and field rep training webinars.

Do you have online training manuals and videos?

Yes. Training manuals and videos are available under Help section in your EZ account.

User Management
Q: Does each field rep have an individual account?

Yes, each field rep has an individual web account with unique login and password. Each field rep only has access to the jobs dispatched to his or her account.

Q: Is my field rep information kept confidential?

Yes. Only your administrators have access to your field rep information. Your clients and other users do not. EZ Inspections does not share your field rep information with anyone.

Q: Can my contractors manage their subcontractors using EZ Inspections?

Yes. Your contractor can create a separate administrator account to manage subcontractors; that account links to your account so orders can seamlessly flow up and down.

Q: Can multiple people log into one account at the same time? If so, how many?

Yes. There is no limit on how many people can log into one account at the same time.

Q: Can I create account for my client to issue orders and view results?

Yes.

Q: Can I create user accounts myself?

Yes.

Mobile App
Q: Where do I download EZ Inspections mobile app?

For mortgage field service users, download EZ Inspections mobile app from link www.ezinspections.com/app or go to Help -> Downloads in your EZ web account.

For all other users, such as rental or vacation rental users, download EZ Inspections mobile app from either iOS Appstore or Google Playstore.

Q: Why do you have two app versions, one downloaded from web site, the other in AppStore / Playstore?

Our downloadable app is specifically designed for mortgage field service users who need frequent and rapid updates. This app is developed under Apple's Enterprise Developer license program and Google's downloadable program.

Our Appstore / Playstore app is used by all other EZ users.

Q: Is EZ's mobile app an offline iOS or Android app, or just a mobile web site?

EZ's mobile app is a 'native' and 'offline' app for either the iOS or the Android platform. As opposed to 'apps' being merely mobile web sites that require network connection to be functional, the EZ app has its own local storage on the mobile device and works 'offline' in the field. This means that the app is always fast regardless of network connection. The other important benefit is that data loss will not happen when network is lost in the field; data is automatically synced to the cloud when network is reconnected.

Q: How are photos attached to jobs? Are they automatically resized and date/time stamped?

Yes. Photos are automatically resized, and can be auto date and time stamped. On EZ's mobile app, photos can be taken within the job, or added from the gallery. Photos can also be uploaded to the job on the web site.

Q: Can photos be edited?

Yes and no. Generally, photos can be edited on both the mobile app as well as the web site. For certain types of field services where original photos must be attached, photo editing is disabled.

Forms, Reports and Documents
Q: Can I build custom forms with rules and arbitrary answers?

Yes. You can use EZ's custom form builder to build forms that are much more powerful than the typical Yes/No checklists. You can create conditional rules to display certain questions based on the property attributes, work type or user-input.

Q: Can I create custom forms myself?

Yes. You can create and maintain custom forms using our web pages. No programming is needed.

Q: Do you have management reports? Can you create custom reports for me?

Yes, and yes.

Q: Is there a scorecard report to rank the performance of my contractors?

Yes.

Q: Can I store my company documents and share them with my contractors?

Yes.

Quality Assurance
Q: Are data and photos validated when entered by the field rep?

Yes. Whenever data is entered, whether it is on laptop, smartphone or web, field rep is required to pass the validation logic imposed by each client, and upload the required number of photos and documents into their proper attachment buckets.

Q: Can office staff examine results before sending to clients?

Yes. Company admins can create their custom exam buckets, such as jobs with inconsistent data, bad address, or jobs completed by a new field rep. These jobs will be examined by admin before submitting to clients.

Q: Can the system block old, duplicate or cropped photos?

Yes. As a customizable option, old, duplicate or cropped photos can be either blocked from being uploaded, or flagged for office examination.

Property Management
Q: Does EZ support property-centric work order tracking?

Yes. For units that you manage on a continuing basis, you can create or import units into your EZ account, and create jobs from units. You can search units and their jobs.

Q: What attributes can I add for my properties?

You can add property attributes such as location, complex, rooms, pool, spa etc. You can also add amenities, property note and photos.

Q: Can property photos be displayed on the mobile app?

Yes.

Mapping, Location and Routing
Q: Does EZ track and report field rep location?

Yes and no. When the option 'Job Arrival & Departure Reporting' is turned on, field rep's arrival at and departure from the job site are reported to the admin web site instantly. This allows admin to monitor field rep's progress. We do NOT report field rep's location away from job sites.

Q: Can I use your system to map, route and geocode my jobs?

Yes. You can map and geocode your jobs, and route them using EZ's auto route feature. You can also use 'ad-hoc' routing on the mobile app where your active jobs are all displayed on a map; pressing any job can start navigation on the device right away.

Q: Can I send routed address list to my GPS navigation device?

Yes.

Q: Can I enter my map address if client gives me incorrect address?
Yes. Map address is used in routing and dispatching, and is carried over to the next job on the same property.
Communication Between Office and Field Staff
Q: Can I post a news or event alert to my users? Can I mass email to users?

Yes. For news or event alert, it is posted to your contractor company account as well. You can email to all or selected users in batch.

Q: Can office and field rep exchange job note, and also write private note?

Yes. Notes can be written between office and field staff, among office staff only, or as a private note.

Q: Can notes about a property be carried from job to job?

Yes. Property note, which is carried from job to job, can be written by field rep for everyone to view, or by admin for office viewing only.

Accounting Features
Q: Can I create client invoice and track client payment in EZ system?

Yes. You can create client invoices and credit memos, and import client payment information.

Q: Can contractor payments be automatically created?

Yes. Contractor payments can be automatically created by the system at the end of each pay period.

Q: Do contractors have access to their billing information and payment stubs?

Yes. Contractors, field reps or QC workers, can run billing reports, and receive payment stubs both in their emails and web accounts.

Q: Is EZ integrated with QuickBooks?

Yes. You can export invoices and bills from EZ and import them into your QuickBooks.

System Reliability, Performance, Security and Backup
How reliable is your system? Was there any extended downtime in the last six months?

System downtime has been minimal outside of our system maintenance period which is typically between 3 to 5 am Eastern Standard Time. There has been no extended downtime during working hours in the last six months.

Does your system become slower with increasing job volume and user base?

No. Being a cloud-based system, we have access to unlimited computing and network resources. More capacity can be quickly added to handle more users and larger job volume.

What is your disaster recovery strategy?

We have built backup infrastructures at a different geographical location from the production infrastructure. Production data is transferred in real-time to the backup servers. All files are stored in redundant media shared by the production and backup servers. In the rare case of a disastrous event, we can rapidly switch production to the backup infrastructure with minimum or no data loss.

What security features are used to protect my data?

EZ Inspections utilizes a multitude of security measures to protect your data:
- End-to-end SSL (Secure Socket Layer) 128-bit data encryption during web access and data synchronization
- Digital Certificate for secure access
- Strong password protection for your web account
- Session control on every web page, and session timeout after a sustained idle time
- Password checking on mobile device
- E-commerce grade firewall

What software platform do you use?

We are based on Microsoft .Net and SQL server platform, which is widely used in large scale e-commerce web sites such as Dell, Microsoft, and Bank of America.

Will we be 'locked in' once we use your system? Can data and attachments be backed up locally?

No, you don't need to worry about being locked in. You can back up data into Excel and download attachments to your local computer.

Customer Billing
Q: How often does EZ Inspections bill me? Can I pay with credit card online?

EZ Inspections bills customers every month. Yes, you can pay with online credit card which is automatically charged monthly.

Q: Do you require a contract? Can I cancel my account anytime?

No, we do not require a contract, although we can sign a contract with you if you prefer. You can cancel your account anytime.

Mortgage Inspection
Q: Where do I download EZ Inspections mobile app?

For mortgage field service users, download EZ Inspections mobile app from link www.ezinspections.com/app.

Q: How are orders created?

Orders can be created in various ways, by you, your client or by system automation based on your rules. Orders can be imported from files (PDF, Excel, CSV etc), or automatically downloaded by EZ from your client or other software system. Your clients can create orders in their EZ account and dispatch them to you.

Q: When orders are created, can they be prefilled with previous job data?

Yes.

Q: How does your automated order import and data entry work? What is the turn around time?

Our automated order import and data entry services are performed by software programs but are closely monitored by experienced human workers. Orders are typically imported from your client system every 2 to 3 hours. Results are uploaded to your client system continuously, prioritized by the urgency of each order. Data entry turn-around time is from several minutes to a few hours, but generally within 24 hours from the time results are uploaded to our servers. Some client jobs can be submitted in real-time with just one click. We can handle rush jobs any day as our data entry service is running 24/7.

Q: Do you automate loss draft inspections?

Yes, We have developed a streamlined process to help you handle the normally labor intensive loss draft inspection (LDI). Our LDI form is optimized for the entire process of making call attempts, appointments and completing the LDI. For certain mortgage national clients, call attempts, appointment and inspection results are automatically submitted to the client, In addition, LDI job name is updated after every step to give admin clear indication where the inspector is in the process. The EZ automated LDI process will save your employees many hours a week. Contact us for more details.

Q: Do you support Aspen Grove check in? How does that work?

Yes. We support Aspen Grove check in. You need to set up individual Aspen ABC Number for each of your inspectors doing work that need background check. Once that is set up, the check-in process is transparent to you and your inspectors. Your inspectors don't need to go through any extra step to complete check-in. EZ Inspections mobile app and cloud system do the job for you by recording and transmitting the required check-in information to Aspen Grove, saving your inspector valuable time in the field.

Q: On the inspection side, which mortgage nationals do you support?

We can perform automated order download and result upload for the following clients: A2Z, Altisource, Aspen iProperty, Assurant, Auction.com, Brookstone, Cyprexx, Equator, Five Brothers, IMS, InspectQ, MCS, M&M, MSI, NFN, NFR, Reliance, ServiceLink, Spectrum, and Wolverine. Contact us if you don't see your client on the list.

Q: Can signed vacancy certificate be automatically generated?

Yes.

Q: Can I quickly find out how many jobs were completed on a given day by an inspector, and know which inspector is falling behind on job completion?

Yes. We have a Crew module to let you quickly identify which inspectors are falling behind.

Property Preservation & REO
Q: Where do I download EZ Inspections mobile app?

For mortgage field service users, download EZ Inspections mobile app from link www.ezinspections.com/app.

Q: Can contractor send an update with estimated completion time from the mobile app without completing the job?

Yes.

Q: Can EZ create recurring jobs?

Yes.

Q: How do I do cost estimation in EZ?

You can conduct cost estimation on an estimation provider's web site, and upload the PDF report to the job in EZ.

Q: Do you support Aspen Grove check in? How does that work?

Yes, we support Aspen Grove check in. You need to set up individual Aspen ABC Number for each of your contractors doing work that need background check. Once that is set up, the check-in process is transparent to you and your contractors. Your contractors don't need to go through any extra step to complete check-in. EZ Inspections mobile app and cloud system do the job for you by recording and transmitting the required check-in information to Aspen Grove, saving your contractor valuable time in the field.

Q: On the preservation side, which mortgage nationals do you support?

We support PCR form and order import from many national mortgage firms, including Altisource, Assurant, Cyprexx, Five Brothers, IMS, MCS, M&M, NFN, NFR, Reliance, Servicelink, Spectrum and Wolverine.

Among the above, we can automatically import orders from Altisource, Assurant, MCS and Servicelink. Orders from other companies are imported from the order files exported from their web sites or received from their emails.

Automated data entry is performed for Altisource pre-foreclosure, preservation and REO orders, MCS and MSI grass cuts. We are adding more automation capabilities. Contact us for more details.

Q: Can we create bids and invoices? Are previously created bids available for the new job?

Yes, and yes.

Q: Can users drag and drop photos to re-order them or put them in photo buckets?

Yes.

Insurance Inspection
Q: Can my clients issue orders and view completed results? Can they see my company logo in their account?

Yes, and yes.

Q: Do you support commercial as well as residential insurance inspection?

Yes, we support both commercial and residential insurance inspections, such as General Liability, Fire, Builder's Risk, plus all the supplements.

Q: Do you support custom PDF reports?

Yes, we can create custom PDF template for your client with merge data and photos to produce job reports.

Long-term Rental
Q: Can I create or import rental property inspection orders?

Yes, you can create orders manually or import orders from Excel / CSV format. We also support auto order import from property management systems. Contact us for details.

Q: Can recurring orders be automatically generated by EZ system?

Yes. You can specify whether orders are monthly, bi-weekly or weekly.

Q: Can I email custom PDF reports to my clients through the system?

Yes. You can set up your clients emails and send them PDF reports by just one-click.

Q: Can I create my own move-in and move-out inspection checklist?

Yes. You can use EZ form builder to create any custom form, without the need of programming. Or you can use our pre-build move-in and move-out inspection templates.

Q: Are move-in move-out reports automatically created by the system?

Yes. All PDF reports are automatically created by the system, including move-in move-out inspections, regular property condition checklists, and other inspection and maintenance tasks.

Q: Can I set up my properties in EZ system?

Yes. You can set up your rental properties in EZ Inspections and create work orders from the properties.

Q: Can tenant sign the inspection report?

Yes. We support tenant signing on the mobile app.

Vacation & Short-term Rental
Q: Does EZ support all back office services such as cleaning, inspection, repair and inventory control?

Yes. EZ supports cleaning, inspection, repair & maintenance, and inventory control.

Q: Can inspection be automatically created after cleaning is completed? Or after both cleaning and linen stripping are done?

Yes and yes. You can set up automated workflows to create a new job based on the result of another job.

Q: Can property note and photos be viewed on the mobile app.?

Yes. Housekeeping and maintenance notes can be viewed on the mobile app. Property photos of each room are displayed in-line with the questions of that room.

Q: Can I customize my properties in EZ?

Yes. You can customize properties with attributes, amenities, notes and photos.

Q: Can EZ create recurring jobs?

Yes.

Q: Can EZ notify the front desk when a property is ready for check-in?

Yes. The system can send email or text to the front desk upon completion of all tasks at a property. EZ can also update your PMS's clean status.

Q: Does EZ support contract labor or temp user who does not use the web account or the app?

Yes. You can send jobs to temporary users who receive email or text notification with a link to complete the job. There is no need to use the mobile app or even log into the EZ system.

Q: Does EZ support multi-language forms?

Yes.

BPO / REO Management
Q: Can you help processing high-volume BPO orders?

Yes. The EZ system specializes in helping high-volume BPO management companies to streamline their processes and efficiently process high-volume BPO orders.

Q: How are BPO orders created in the EZ system?

BPO orders can be created manually in your EZ web account, or imported from Excel / CSV files.

Q: Can you auto download client orders?

Yes, EZ can auto download client orders from some client accounts. Contact us for details.

Q: Can you auto upload results to my client systems?

Yes, EZ can auto upload results to some client systems. Contact us for details.

Q: What is the workflow to process BPO orders in EZ Inspections?

The following is the workflow for BPO management in EZ.

(1) You add BPO orders from multiple BPO company sites to an Excel file, and import into EZ periodically. One import file can contain orders from multiple BPO sites.
(2) EZ creates two jobs per BPO work order: one comp job and one inspection job, and can auto dispatch to your comp pullers and inspectors.
(3) Comp puller receives job and process comps from MLS to BPO company site.
(4) Inspector receives job and takes photos on EZ's mobile app and uploads them to the EZ cloud account.

     Comp puller and inspector work independently to save time.

(5) Your data entry staff monitors completed BPO and inspection jobs, and uploads inspection photos to BPO company site and closes out the BPO order.
(6) (Optional) A reviewer can QC comp and inspection results before closing out the BPO order. Jobs can be auto dispatched to the reviewer by EZ system.
(7) (Optional) EZ can auto import BPO orders from BPO company sites and/or auto upload photos and comp results to BPO company sites (for those sites that EZ automates).

Q: How does data entry staff know that both comp and inspection jobs are completed?

The comp and inspection jobs of the same BPO order are linked together. When inspection photos are uploaded, they show up on the comp job. Data entry staff can simply monitor completed comp jobs with photos to know which jobs are ready to upload photos to and close out on the BPO company sites.

Other Field Services
Q: Does EZ inspections support other field services?

Yes. EZ Inspections is built to serve all kinds of field services. We have a robust and flexible platform for you to create custom forms and report templates, manage jobs and contacts, and do accounting. If you have a need, please contact us at sales@ezinspections.com, or call 1-866-931-9719.

 

 
 




SecurityMetrics Credit Card Safe     NARPM   
VRMA    
NAMFS: National Association of Mortgage Field Services     Download EZ inspection iPhone / iPad software     Download EZ inspection Android software Download EZ mobile Android from Google Play Store     www.Cmobo.com | Cmobo - find contractors and inspectors



Use of EZ Inspections constitutes acceptance of the EZcare Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
Copyright HarmoniSoft,Inc., owner of EZinspections.com, leader in field service automation.