Your job is to write reports clearly, accurately, and with as much detail as needed. That requires a certain level of customization and attention to each report. But you also aim to be as efficient as possible so your company can increase profitability (without sacrificing report quality).
That’s where workflows come in. The existing processes at many companies often involve duplicating old information and subbing in the current project details. In other words, renovating an old report instead of writing a new one. This can be time consuming and leaves a lot of room for error. Systems like Microsoft Word™ make it difficult to enforce workflow processes, and sending reports to other people can complicate version control, potentially harming data standard compliance.
What if there was an easier way? What if your workflow could become more efficient and produce better reports?
About Report Writing Software
Report writing software can make that happen. By automating report creation and generation, you can keep your concerns about report structure in check while making your job easier.
Consider this: Every time you write a report, you gather data from various sources – research materials, photographs, maps, regulatory datasets, field notes, interviews, previous reports – and populate this data throughout your report. You may have to look at past reports to remember how you phrased something. And it can be frustrating to attempt to keep reports consistent and accurate when tools like Microsoft Word can easily get you off track. Doing it like that is time consuming and prone to errors.
With report writing software, you can automate the process. Of course, not every software product is the same (more on this later), but features may include:
- Template creation for standardizing certain report types
- A mobile app that facilitates gathering data in the field or from multiple sources
- Integration with other software and datasets
- Report generation in various styles
- Workflow management options to ensure reports are completed on time by the right people
- Editing features to mark where you need input (and where you don’t)
- Compliance features to ensure reports meet industry standards
Report Setup
Perhaps the best opportunity for ongoing time savings is in the initial setup of your report. Let’s say you frequently write Phase I ESA-ASTM reports. Typically, you might start by duplicating your last ESA report and replacing the old information with the new information. But this poses several problems:
- You could easily miss something and leave artifacts–yikes!
- Your older ESA may not be compliant with the new ASTM standard.
- You may have left out a common section in your previous report because you didn’t need it. Now, you’ll have to hunt through old reports for something to copy and paste (which can throw off formatting and report structure).
- It takes a lot of time.
In other words, the work doesn’t flow.
With the right report writing software, these problems can be solved with features such as:
- Templates that automatically populate data rather than relying on you to search
- Field data collection apps that stream your findings directly into the report
- Sections that you can quickly duplicate or hide.
Features like these can really streamline the most time-consuming parts of report creation.
Report Writing, Editing, and Collaboration
Then, there’s the rest of the process of making your report look and sound good.
That often requires multiple rounds of editing, which can get confusing and cumbersome when done in Word or other general-purpose writing software.
Report writing software is purpose-built for this task, with specific tools that support collaborative writing, editing, and review of your work. For example, you can:
- Earmark your copy for review so people know what to look at (and what not to touch).
- Eliminate version control issues by storing documents in a single place for collaboration in real-time.
- Check version history (and make sure everyone is on track).
- Collate and deliver reports quickly.
At least, you can do all of this with Quire. Quire ensures that writing a report is no longer a painful process that saps your productivity. Rather, it’s easy and efficient.
What’s more, Quire can help you with workflows and compliance, so you can be sure that all your documents are properly formatted and compliant with standards like Freddie Mac, or Fannie Mae and CLOSER™ report guidelines.
Quire Features that Support Workflows & Compliance
Quire has a number of innovative report writing Features that support your ability to create consistent, clean, and compliant Reports. In fact, our clients work closely with their Quire Account Managers to set up custom, repeatable Templates that encourage efficiency, and workflow rules that support and encourage your preferred Report creation process.
Workflows & Compliance Features from Quire include (but definitely aren’t limited to):
- Report Pinning (new!): Pinning allows Quire Clients to “pin” Reports to Users’ dashboards based on the Report Status. Report ready for review? Simply update the Report status and it will auto-pin to the member of your team in charge of reviewing.
- Workflow Status Triggers: You want the right actions happen at the right times. We’ll work with you to set up workflow status triggers that make sense for your team, such as auto-inserting resumes, signatures, and removing “DRAFT” watermarks.
- Robust User Permissions: Our five permission levels allow you to control which Users have access to which reports and editing capabilities, so no one has access to things that could disrupt the process.
- Interchangeable Integrations: Minimize the impact of changing environmental data vendors in your Phase I ESAs with a seamless User process and Report output – regardless of which vendor you choose.
- Toolkits for Compliance: Check out our Freddie Mac 1104 Toolkit as an example. Quire keeps Users up to date with the latest in Fannie Mae and CLOSER compliance, and we update our Templates to reflect the latest ASTM Standard.
Make your work flow. Contact Quire to learn more and get started with the best report writing software on the market.
