Modernizing Shift Scheduling with PowerApps: Advance Electric’s Success Story

Client Background

Advance Electric is one of our long-standing clients, engaged with us since the beginning of our company in 2016. They are a rapidly growing electrical contractor serving the Santa Barbara area, including Montecito and Goleta. They specialize in providing innovative electrical solutions through quality materials and superior craftsmanship.

Challenge

Managing employee shifts and accurately tracking work hours were significant challenges for Advance Electric. The manual processes in place led to inefficiencies, errors in payroll, and difficulties in scheduling, especially with the variable workloads typical in electrical contracting. Factors such as emergency repairs, weather-dependent installations, and seasonal fluctuations further complicated shift management.

Solution

To address these challenges, a custom shift management application was developed using Microsoft PowerApps. This solution provided a centralized platform accessible from their mobiles or tablets , allowing employees to log on to their commuting and actual work hours, update the real-time status of the job, directly from jobsites. The application integrated seamlessly with Office 365, storing data in the cloud for real-time access by the administrative team, where they can get the updates through email and MS Teams in case of any changes to their shift timings or sudden unforeseen cancellation of their shifts.

Implementation

The development process involved creating a user-friendly interface tailored to the needs of field electricians and administrative staff.

Key features include:

• Shift Scheduling: Employees could easily get their schedule for the week. The app allowed dynamic scheduling to accommodate variable workloads and last-minute changes, a common occurrence in the electrical contracting industry.‍
• Real-time shift updates: Employees can get real-tile updates through email and MS Teams in case of any changes to their shift timings or sudden unforeseen cancellation of their shifts.‍
• Color coded for easy visibility : Client also wanted the ability to project the entire day schedule on a big screen where employees can take a look at the color code assigned to them and easily view their slots.‍
• Multiple assignments per shift: The app also provides a facility to add multiple people per shift.‍
• Overlap check: Incase an employee has an overlap; the app warns the admin that the employee is not available for that particular timeslot.‍
• Real-time status updates:  Employees can update the status of their shifts like "Complete", "Partially Complete", "Rescheduled / Cancelled" , right from their jobsites.‍
• Copy Shifts: Ability to copy an entire week shift for another week or as per need.‍
• Extended to External Vendors:  The app also has an ability to add external vendors to the shift management app and enable them to be apart of the shift on a need basis.‍
• Add / remove new Team members or Clients: Ability to add or remove team members or clients from the shift app.‍
• Mobile Accessibility: The application was optimized for tablets & mobiles enabling on-site data entry and real-time updates.

Results

The implementation of the PowerApps-based shift management system led to significant improvements:

• Operational Efficiency: Automating time tracking and scheduling reduced administrative tasks, allowing staff to focus more on core responsibilities.
• Accuracy in Payroll: Real-time data entry minimized errors, ensuring employees were compensated correctly for their time.
• Enhanced Flexibility: The dynamic scheduling feature allowed the company to better manage unexpected absences and adapt to project demands efficiently.

Conclusion

By leveraging Microsoft PowerApps, Advance Electric transformed its shift management process, addressing the unique challenges of the electrical contracting industry. The custom application not only streamlined operations but also positioned the company to better handle future growth and increased project complexity.