How Field Reporting Software Overcomes OOH Advertising Challenges

Take a look at how field reporting software helps reduce workforce challenges like time theft and inflated expenses in OOH advertising.

Out-of-home (OOH) advertising is dependent on field executives who operate in remote regions and can be challenging to manage. Managers face trouble due to improper visibility of field agents’ activities. That further leads to challenges like misreported attendance, time theft, inflated expenses, etc.

But how to overcome these field work compliance challenges? Well, you can do so with field force automation software for OOH agencies. It ensures a smooth and error-free workflow and uses GPS tracking to monitor your OOH advertising executives in real time. Dive in to learn in detail about field reporting software.

4 Common Field Work Compliance Challenges in OOH Advertising

Before we proceed further, it is important to know what common challenges in OOH advertising are and how they can affect your business. Read on!

1. Missed Ad Installations

It can be a hassle to manage the tasks of OOH advertising executives. Unequal task distribution and double task allocation can be quite common in advertising business. Employees can cite these issues as excuses for deliberately missed ad placements or delayed client visits. This practice not only drains your revenue but can also harm your business reputation.

2. False POP Reports

Proof-of-Performance (POP) reports are used to confirm that OOH ads were placed correctly. But it can be easy to falsify POP. OOH executives can use old pictures, attach fake timestamps and misreport their locations. Employees might take two pictures of the same ad and falsely present them as POP for two different ads.

3. Inaccurate Attendance & Time Theft

Without accurate surveillance software, field executives can try to misuse remote work. Employees can resort to attendance malpractices like buddy punching, late arrivals and early checkouts. They may also reduce their working speed to take advantage of overtime pay.

Time theft is another major issue in OOH advertising. Without proper tracking, field executives may indulge in unethical practices like:

• Taking too many or too long unscheduled breaks
• Performing non-work-related activities during work hours
• Inflating work hours or doing the bare minimum

4. Overreporting Field Expenses

Expenses are unavoidable in OOH advertising. However, executives often indulge in unethical acts like over-reporting field expenses to get unwarranted reimbursement. Here are common expense reporting malpractices in OOH advertising.

• Over-claiming or double claiming an expense.
• Taking unnecessarily long routes or showing fake GPS data to inflate expense claims.
• Not attaching invoices or uploading fake bill images.
• Rigging the odometer to show false readings.

Eliminate Workforce Challenges in OOH Advertising with Field Reporting Software – 5 Ways How

One of the primary jobs of field reporting software for OOH agencies is to manage on-field work-related compliance challenges. We have mentioned the common issues in the above section. In this section, we cover 5 ways how TrackoField tackles OOH advertising challenges.

1. Efficient OOH Field Tasks Management

We just learn about the problems OOH advertising managers face while managing their field teams’ tasks. But with field reporting software, you can say goodbye to unequal task distribution, task overlaps or repeat allocations.

The software uses GPS technology to assign tasks based on employees’ real-time location and availability. Managers can also assign specific tasks to specific employees or teams. Here is what efficient task management does for your OOH advertising business.

• Ensures timely client visitations and ad installations.
• Keeps record of every task activity and sends instant notifications.
• Prevents confusion by letting employees view detailed task descriptions and attached media files.
• Prevents fake ad placements.
• Streamlines POP process by allowing executives to upload geo-tagged media files confirming ad dimensions, location, lighting and error-free installations.

2. Accurate Expense Reporting

Expenses incurred by OOH field executives have to be reimbursed to them. But not without due diligence. To reduce workflow errors, field reporting software is a must. It allows managers to:

• Generate accurate conveyance reports using the synced distance calculator and odometer.
• Set up multi-level approval hierarchy for more accurate approvals.
• Put a cap on the monthly or team wise expense limits.
• Track the total expenses of the day along with their value.
• Create custom expense categories like food, marketing collateral, or stay.

Moreover, OOH ad executives can also easily upload invoices of their expenses on their mobile application.

3. Real-Time OOH Agent Monitoring

A constant problem for managers is monitoring their executives. As a manager, you need to know the exact location and activity status of your employees to assign them tasks, coordinate with them or track their performance.

Field reporting software for OOH agencies makes this possible thanks to its GPS tracking feature. The software can let you track important employee metrics like:

• Real-time location coordinates and exact address.
• Battery and network status.
• Activity status – on-duty, off-duty or unreachable
• Exact attendance logs with timings.
• Task status – in progress, completed, pending or rescheduled.

Another unique feature of TrackoField is offline tracking. It helps to monitor OOH field teams in remote areas with poor internet connectivity. This way managers can ensure an undisturbed workflow at all times.

4. Geo-verified Attendance Reporting

Field reporting software can foolproof attendance management in your OOH advertising business. The software uses GPS and geofencing technology to ensure accurate employee punch-ins and punch-outs. Here is how the process works.

• Managers set up a geofence around a location, usually the first task site of the day.
• Employees enter the geofence to punch-in.
• The task is unlocked only after successful attendance marking.
• Employees can upload geotagged and timestamped selfies while marking attendance for added accuracy.
• Employees carry on with their tasks and are auto logged out once their shift ends.

Geo-verified attendance prevents proxy attendance and ensures employees reach the correct task sites to start their day.

5. Factual Data Analysis and Reporting

Field reporting software for OOH stores a magnitude of employee data on secure servers. Managers can analyse this data to generate various insightful reports. These reports help you to:

• Analyse workforce productivity
• Perform historical data analysis
• Identify patterns of fraud
• Rectify hidden issues
• Spot any skill gaps in the workforce

Keeping this data handy also allows you to counter any dispute allegations easily. You can simply generate a report to check the location of your employee on any date and view what work he performed on that day.

Here are some useful reports offered by TrackoField.

• Target vs achievement reports to analyse employees’ performance.
• Unreachable reports to know why and where an employee wasn’t visible to assigned site.
• Distance travelled report to review the total distance covered by an executive. The best part? Managers can also play back the exact routes employees travelled on.

Conclusion

Automation is key to overcoming challenges in your OOH advertising business. You can manually keep track of tasks, expenses and activates of hundreds of your travelling staff.

You need a reliable software solution that can ensure transparency in the workflow and maintain accountability in your business. This can be achieved by using field reporting software for OOH teams.

It uses advanced technologies like geofencing, automated reports and real-time GPS location tracking to eliminate all OOH advertising issues. Using software like TrackoField, you can say goodbye to missed ad installations, false POP reports and time theft.

So, stop waiting and schedule a walkthrough of TrackoField today.

FAQs

• How to tackle OOH field work compliance challenges with field reporting software?

  Field reporting software can reduce workforce challenges by: -
  - Ensuring accurate geo-verified attendance management
  - Eliminating overreporting of expenses
  - Preventing time theft and proxy attendance
  - Ensuring timely client visits and hoarding installation
  - Providing proof-of-performance reports

• What are common challenges in managing OOH advertising executives?

  5 most common challenges in managing OOH advertising employees are:
  - Missed Ad Installations
  - False POP Reports
  - Time theft
  - Overreported expenses
  - Misreported attendance

• What is automated field reporting?

  Automated field reporting refers to the process of managing operations like attendance, task and expense management using a software solution. Instead of manually creating spreadsheets or calling employees to get updates, field reporting software can be used to streamline workflow.