There’s a New Brew in the Questionnaire Kitchen

TrendSource OnSite Inspections have been around a long time. Proper questionnaire design is a key to the success of any OnSite Inspection. While some of our questionnaires are custom-designed using our QUEST process and with our Client’s objectives in mind, many of them start with questionnaires written in compliance and approved by other entities, such as government guidelines or Credit Bureaus. This places TrendSource in a unique position to improve upon what we are given. With 25+ years custom-designing questionnaires for our Clients and many advancements in technology that allow for more flexible and more effective questionnaire design, it’s time to take the lead in improving our OnSite Inspection questionnaires and guiding everyone in the right direction!

However, updating questionnaires is not as simple as just rewriting and rearranging a few questions. There is a method to the madness when it comes to brewing a fresh pot of questionnaires:

• 2 Parts Compliance: We must be in compliance – no matter which industry’s questionnaires we are updating.
• 1 Part Efficiency: Improve BOTH our Clients’ turnaround times for review, as well as our own.
• 1 Part Technology: Branching, dynamic questions, multiple methods of reporting.

Like a Good Coffee Bean, Compliance is the Key Ingredient

We hope to have all of our questionnaires updated by the end of 2015, starting with our Physical OnSite Inspections conducted on behalf of the Credit Bureaus. (We are now in the process of Bureau approval.) As we prepare to roll out, we will deliver adequate notice that the questionnaire format has been updated, allowing our Clients and their team members the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the enhancements and new formatting. Don’t worry! We will provide as much training as needed.

Often times our Clients have a need that is not directly addressed in the current questionnaire. They then have to take time out to submit an Inquiry to us. We have been documenting and analyzing these instances to ensure that these types of issues are addressed in the new questionnaires. Our goal is to remove any unnecessary steps to delivering the information quickly and accurately.

In addition, TrendSource has been internalizing our Clients’ comments regarding questionnaires: they can appear cluttered, question order could be edited, and some questions could be removed for ease of use. For example, if an Inspection takes place at a commercial location, the mandatory, unnecessary residential questions seem to just take up space. We want you to know…we hear you and are always taking your suggestions into account.

Efficiency is the Cream in our Coffee

With over 100 active questionnaires at any given time, efficiency is of utmost importance. While I pride myself on being the resident expert in compliance, it takes a team of experts in quality and design to ensure we are making the smartest, most efficient rewrites. We want the final product to reflect the very best of our collective abilities at TrendSource.

TrendSource is always looking for ways to shorten our turnaround times. Our initial focus is the post-inspection questions. Clients’ suggestions have helped us take this process to the next level, and we are so excited about this progression! We have collected an incredible amount of data over the years to support the changes needed to avoid delays sending completed reports to our Clients. These questionnaire rewrites are intended to eliminate this delay. We are confident that Clients will be pleased with the updates.

One Cube of Technology as Sweetener

Technology of course plays a part in all of this, and is a leading contribution to improved efficiency. Our Clients will easily be able to pair each photo to the appropriate question. They will also have multiple options on how they view a completed report.

The behind-the-scenes technology improvements will also improve the final product. Use of a number of new techniques to guide the Inspectors appropriately to answer questions in order and more efficiently will be used. While end users may not see these improvements directly, they will see an improved product based on these behind-the-scenes advanced tools.

By the way…are you looking for the best coffee in town? Stop by booth #224 at NAPBS between October 19 and 21, 2014 to enter a raffle for a state of the art espresso machine!