GB2416220A

GB2416220A - Managing survey workflow across a distributed system

Info

Publication number: GB2416220A
Application number: GB0415445A
Authority: GB
Inventors: William Ashworth
Original assignee: COUNTRYWIDE SURVEYORS Ltd
Current assignee: COUNTRYWIDE SURVEYORS Ltd
Priority date: 2004-07-09
Filing date: 2004-07-09
Publication date: 2006-01-18
Also published as: GB0415445D0

Abstract

A method of managing survey workflow across a distributed system comprising a central office system and multiple portable client systems. The method includes receiving a survey work instruction from a requesting party over a network into a central office system and creating a record for the instruction in a database at the central office system. In addition, an entry is created in an electronic diary for a user assigned to the survey work instruction. The entry includes a link to the survey work instruction in the database. The diary entry and work instruction are downloaded onto a portable client system for the user over a wireless data link. The user then enters information into the portable client system to complete the record for the work instruction, whereupon the completed record is uploaded from the portable client system over the wireless data link to the database. The completed survey work instruction can then be returned from the central office system to the requesting party.

Description

24 1 6220

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MANAGING SURVEY WORKFLOW

ACROSS A DISTRIBUTED SYSTEM

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to managing survey workflow across a distributed system, and especially to a distributed system including a central office system and 0 multiple portable client systems.

Background of the Invention

Performing a survey on a property is normally an integral part of any house purchase. The survey may involve assessing the state of repair of the property, its structure, environmental conditions, and so on, as well as making an estimate of the current market value.

An important objective of a survey is usually to determine whether the price of the property corresponds to its valuation. In making this assessment, the surveyor utilises a knowledge of current market levels, for example based on related or similar properties in the area that are also on the market. In addition, the surveyor confirms that the fabric of the building is sound, and that there are not any other relevant factors that are liable to significantly reduce the value of the property, such as potential subsidence.

The survey may be performed on behalf of any of various parties involved in a house purchase. For example, a mortgage company that is lending money against a property may have a survey performed to confirm that the property provides appropriate security for the house purchase loan. Likewise, a house purchaser may instruct a survey to ensure that they are paying a fair market price for the property. In addition, a prospective purchaser generally desires to know about any problems with the property that may not have a significant impact on value (e.g. blocked "uttering) but that may need to be remedied in due course should the purchase proceed. A vendor may also commission a survey of a property, for example to provide to potential purchasers.

A survey may also be performed at other times, apart from in relation to a house purchase. For example, the owner or occupier of a property may instruct a survey to identify any minor problems with the property that could develop into something more serious if left untreated. A survey may also be performed for insurance purposes, such as to provide an estimate of re-building costs, or if re-mortgaging against the property, to confirm the value of the property against which the loan is being made.

A surveyor organization will often offer a range of products to meet different market requirements. For example, in the case of a low loan-tovalue ratio, a mortgage company may be satisfied with a simple external inspection of the property, while a full structural survey would require instead a detailed internal inspection. The term "survey" will generally be used herein to cover the full range of such products. However, it will be appreciated that the quantity and type of information to be collected by the surveyor for any given property will be dependent upon the particular type of survey concerned.

A survey is normally performed by a qualified professional who attends the site of the property. Such professionals usually work within particular geographical areas, where they are most familiar with local valuations, building materials and techniques, environmental conditions (such as the potential for flooding and site contamination), and so on. Other surveyors may operate across a wider area, particularly if they specialise in a certain type of building, e.g. listed buildings of historical worth.

Figure 1 illustrates one known system for (partial) computerization of the workflow involving surveyors. Processing begins with a mortgage company 110 transmitting a request or new instruction for a survey to the central of lice system 120 of a surveyor organization. In one current implementation, this is performed over a dial up link 115 that is activated on a periodic basis. The central office system 120 may receive instructions from multiple different mortgage and financial institutions over different links. Figure 1 shows connections between central office server 120 and two mortgage institutions l lOA, l lOB, although system 120 may be connected to one hundred or more such institutions.

The information concerning the new instruction is stored into a database 121 that forms part of the central of lice system 120. Newly received instructions are allocated automatically to a local of rice of the surveyor firm on the basis of the post code of the property. The central office system 120 is connected to a computer system 130A, 130B lo in each respective local office. These connections are again implemented by dialup links 125A, 125B. Although Figure 1 illustrates the presence of only two local office systems 130A, 130B, in one implementation there may again be one hundred or more such systems (and corresponding local offices).

Administration staff at the local of fice monitor the incoming instructions, and allocate each instruction to a particular surveyor 200 (a typical local office will employ several different surveyors), based on availability of the surveyor and/or any other appropriate factors. The administration staff then enter the details of the property to be surveyed into a paper-based diary for the appropriate surveyor. At the end of each day, surveyor 200 returns to the local office to collect his or her updated diary, and also to sign off completed survey reports (as described in more below).

In general, each mortgage company 110 provides its own specific form for recording the results of a survey. The information to be collected on these different forms is largely the same from one form to another, such as number of bedrooms, the age of the property, the type of roof, and so on. However, the layout and precise requirements of the forms do vary from one mortgage company to another.

In one implementation, the surveyor 200 dictates the results of a survey over telephone 140 (often a mobile phone) into a voice mail system 145. The voice mail system is then accessed by a typing pool 150 that produces a transcript of the dictated survey entered into the appropriate form. This transcript is returned to the central office system 120, from where it is forwarded over dial-up link 125 to the relevant local office system 130. Thus one other task of the surveyor 200 each evening in the local of lice is to sign off completed reports that have been typed by the dictation pool, so that the reports can then be returned to the mortgage company 1 10 that originally requested the survey.

There are several drawbacks with this existing approach. For example, surveyor must visit the local office on a daily basis in order to collect instructions and also to sign offprevious surveys that have now been typed up. Depending upon the location of lo the last survey in a day and also the traffic conditions, which naturally tend to be worse at the close of business, this additional last visit to the of Lice may take a considerable time.

Another problem is the lack of responsiveness in the system, in that the use of dial-up links 115, 125 does not provide the fastest level of communication between the various parties. This can be especially important if there is considerable time pressure in relation to a prospective purchase. In addition, the combination of paper and electronic documentation for the survey at various stages can lead to confusion, while the existence of many different mortgage forms forces the surveyor to switch between one form for one property and another form for another property (assuming that the two properties are being handled by different financial institutions). This is time-consuming for surveyor 200, and also increases the risk of confusion and mistakes, especially if certain forms are poorly designed or are used only infrequently.

Summary of the Invention 2s

Accordingly, one embodiment of the invention provides a method of managing survey workflow across a distributed system comprising a central office system and multiple portable client systems. The method includes receiving a survey work instruction from a requesting party over a network into the central of flee system, and creating a record for the survey work instruction in a database at the central of rice system. In addition, an entry is created in an electronic diary for a user assigned to the survey work instruction. The entry includes a link to the survey work instruction in the database. The electronic diary entry and the survey work instruction are then downloaded onto a portable client system corresponding to the user over a wireless data link, so that the user can enter information into the portable client system to complete the record for the survey work instruction. The completed record for the survey work instruction is then uploaded from the portable client system over the wireless data link to the database, from where it is returned from the central office system to the requesting party.

Note that a record is regarded as having been completed when a surveyor has lo entered the relevant information from survey (it is not necessary that every field in the record has an entered value). In addition, a portion of the record may be entered using some mechanism other than the portable client system, for example via a dictation system and a typing pool.

The requesting party for a survey work instruction is typically a mortgage lender, but may also be any other interested party, such as a house purchaser or house vendor, an estate agent, and so on. The survey work instruction may be received automatically into the central office system over a suitable network connection between the requesting party and the survey provider. In one implementation, the same network may be used by the requesting party (and potentially anyone else associated with the instruction) to monitor progress of the instruction, such as via a web interface. The ability to perform such workflow tracking is an attractive feature of the system for clients.

The central of lice system may be implemented by one or more server computers.

Although these are typically co-located for ease of management, they may also be geographically distributed if appropriate. Likewise, the database may be implemented by one or more underlying database systems, which may also be spread across the one or more server computers as appropriate. The skilled person will be aware of a range of different architectures that are suitable for the central office system.

In one implementation, the record for a survey work instruction comprises a first portion and a second portion. The first portion is independent of the requesting party, while the second portion is dependent upon the requesting party. The database creates an appropriate record according to the identity of the requesting party. This therefore ensures that the desired information is collected for any given requesting party. The record may also be dependent upon the type of survey work instruction to be performed.

For example, the survey work instruction may be for a simple valuation, a full structural survey, and so on. The record is also structured to reflect the type of survey to be performed, again to ensure that the relevant information is collected during the survey.

In one embodiment, a local of lice client system receives a notification of the survey work instruction. The local of rice client system appropriate for any given instruction may be selected automatically, for example on the basis of post code.

Administration staff at the local of lice can then respond to the notification to create a is diary entry for the instruction in response to the notification. The allocation of the instruction to a particular surveyor and the date and time of appointment can be made on the basis of existing schedules, requests from the client, and so on.

In one embodiment, the electronic diary is maintained on a groupware platform, such as Microsoft Exchange, at the central office system. Downloading and uploading are then performed by synchronization within the groupware platform, which runs on both the central office system and also the portable client system. In one particular implementation, the wireless data link comprises a persistent mobile telecommunications data link such as a general packet radio service (GPRS) data link that is always active (albeit at a relatively low bandwidth). This ensures that updates in relation to instructions are transmitted to and received back from surveyor client systems as quickly as possible.

Different implementations may use networks other than GPRS.

In one embodiment, the user attaches an electronic signature to a survey work instruction when it is completed and the results are ready for return to the requesting party. This provides a control point for ensuring the validity and authenticity of the report. The report may be locked against further modification once the electronic signature has been applied. The system may also support various other workflow control measures. For example, survey work instructions resulting in valuations of a property above a certain threshold may be detected automatically and blocked against return to the requesting party unless reviewed and signed off by a second person (such as the manager of the original surveyor).

In one implementation, an additional data link is provided between the central office system and the portable client system (over and above the wireless data link). The lo additional data link can be routed via an office client system for use when the portable client system is located within an office, such as by using a wireless local area network.

The additional data link typically has a higher bandwidth than the first wireless data link, and so is especially suited to larger but less timesensitive communications. These may include software updates for the portable client systems, revised documentation for use in the field, certain photographs (especially if not being returned to the requesting party), and so on.

Viewed from another aspect, the invention provides a method of processing a survey work instruction from a requesting party on a computer. The method includes storing different format specifications, where a format specification provides an electronic definition of the contents and visual layout of a form to be produced for a survey work instruction. Each requesting party may have its own preferred or required format specification. However, the system presents a generic user interface that allows a user such as a surveyor to enter data into the computer to complete the record for the survey work instruction. Prior to returning the completed survey work instruction to the requesting party, the system transforms the data entered by the user so that it is in accordance with the format specification corresponding to the requesting party for the survey work instruction. Consequently, a surveyor avoids having to work directly with many different formats, but rather only has to become familiar with a single standardised user interface. The fact that different requesting parties may require results in different formats is therefore hidden from (i.e. transparent to) the surveyor.

Transforming the user entered data in accordance with a particular format specification may involve one or more of multiple different sorts of manipulations.

These may include manipulation of the visual layout and presentation of the data, as well s as some modification of the actual data values themselves.

Viewed from another aspect, the present invention provides a method of processing a current survey work instruction from a requesting party on a computer. The method includes providing a record having a plurality of fields. The record corresponds lo to the current survey work instruction. Previously completed survey work instructions are stored as existing records in a database. A user can then search the database for existing records that have one or more fields matching the record for the current survey work instruction, and select one or more of these existing records as a result of the search.

A permanent reference can be formed in the record for the current survey work is instruction to each of the selected existing records.

In one particular implementation, the records correspond to survey work instructions that include a valuation for a property. The ability to search for previous records allows a user to ensure consistency between valuations of different properties.

For example, a user can search for properties having the same or similar post codes as the property to be valued, since these are likely to prove helpful comparators. In addition, the inclusion of references between the property being valued and the comparators formalises the process, allowing a subsequent review and audit of the precise comparisons performed. This can be useful, for example, if there is ever a subsequent legal challenge to the accuracy of the valuation.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Various embodiments of the invention will now be described in detail by way of example only with reference to the following drawings: Figure 1 is a schematic architectural diagram of a prior art computerization of survey handling; Figure 2 is a schematic architectural diagram of a computerization of survey handling in accordance with one embodiment of the invention; Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of a central office system in accordance with one embodiment of the invention; Figures 4-7 are screen shots from a surveyor tablet computer in accordance with one embodiment of the invention; and Figure 8 is a flowchart showing operations performed in a distributed workflow lo system in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

Detailed Description

Figure 2 is an architectural diagram of an automated survey management system in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The main parties involved are similar to those of the prior art system shown in Figure 1. (Again, the number of the various parties such as mortgage companies is likely in practice to be much greater than shown in Figure 2) . However, the communications and technological infrastructure as well as the workflow in the embodiment of Figure 2 are significantly different from those illustrated in Figure 1.

It is assumed again that a new instruction for a survey is received from a mortgage institution 110 into a central of flee system 120. In the embodiment of Figure 2, this new instruction is received directly over an extranet 1 16, for example a TCP/IP communication over the Internet, rather than having to perform a specific dial-up connection (as in the implementation of Figure 1).

Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of various components included within the central office system 120 of Figure 2 in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. The components shown in Figure 3 may themselves be distributed across multiple systems if appropriate, and may or may not share the same geographical location, depending upon the circumstances of any given implementation.

(The skilled person will appreciate that for clarity Figure 3 omits certain details of s the central of fice system 120 that are not directly relevant for an understanding of the present invention. For example, the interconnections between the various components of the central of lice system are not shown, nor is the use of multiple replicated systems with load balancing to provide greater throughput and redundancy in the case of any single system failure).

As shown in Figure 3, the central of lice system includes a web site 122 that can be accessed via network 116 to receive instructions from a mortgage company I lOA, 1 lOB or other relevant party, such as an estate agent 111. The incoming instruction passes through firewall 123 and is received into relational database 121, which in one embodiment is implemented by the SQL server platform from Microsoft Corporation. A record is created in database 121 corresponding to the new instruction, and is allocated an appropriate identifier or reference number that can subsequently be used for tracking purposes. The record may be pre-populated with various information extracted from the incoming instruction, such as the address of the property covered by the instruction, the name and address of the institution requesting the survey, the type of survey product requested (e.g. valuation, insurance assessment, or full structural survey), and so on.

As previously described, the new instruction is then assigned automatically to an appropriate local of rice, based normally on the post code of the property to be surveyed.

However, this allocation might also take into account other factors, such as current workload at the local of lice, the nature of the property (e.g. whether it is an unusual type of property, such as having a thatched roof), and so on.

A notification of the new instruction is now provided over wide area network (WAN) 126 to the appropriate local of rice. WAN 126 may be implemented by any appropriate network, such as a corporate intranet, and again provides much more timely communication than the dial-up connections of Figure 1.

In one embodiment, the notification may be implemented by providing a status for each instruction - i.e. for each record in database 121. One setting of this status indicates that the instruction has been allocated to a local office, but is awaiting assignment to a particular surveyor. Administration staff in a local of lice therefore access database 121 via their local office system 130 and network 126, and have visibility in particular of records in database 121 that have been allocated to their local of lice. The 0 administration staff can then use the status indication (whether by searching or by using a predetermined view) to locate those records allocated to their office that need assignment to a surveyor.

The central of rice system 120 further includes a workgroup server 124, which in IS the current implementation is based on the Exchange platform from Microsoft Corporation. This platform provides diary and calendar functions that can be synchronised between server 124 and various surveyor clients as discussed below. The administration staff crease a diary entry in the workgroup server 124 for the selected surveyor. The diary entry represents an appointment to perform the survey, and contains a system link (e.g. pointer, handle, or some other form of reference) to the record for the instruction in database 121.

In one embodiment, the allocation and booking of an instruction into a surveyor's diary is performed by administration staff at the local of flee on the basis of various factors such as the availability of a particular surveyor 200, the geographical position of the new instruction (e.g. whether it is near to an already booked survey), and so on. One possibility is that the system could perform this allocation automatically if so desired, dependent upon the stored diary in the groupware server 124, some geographical database, and so on.

Returning to Figure 2, in one embodiment, each surveyor is equipped with a tablet personal computer (PC) 155, although any other portable computing device could be used. Tablet PC 155 has certain advantages compared to most portable computing devices (such as ordinary laptops) in that it is rugged and weatherproof, and hence better suited to being used in the field at various properties, both indoors and outdoors. The main form of input into the tablet PC is via a stylus (i.e. an electronic pen). Accordingly, in this manner the user interface is akin to traditional paper, such as the surveyor is accustomed to using. This is emphasised by the fact that the screen of a tablet PC can be arranged to operate in portrait rather than landscape mode, thereby giving an aspect ratio lo similar to normal office paper in its conventional orientation.

Tablet PC 155 is equipped with a general packet radio service (GPRS) receiver that allows a data link 156 to be maintained between the tablet PC and the central office system 120. This link is always open (rather than requiring specific dial up to initiate data transfer), thereby allowing a constant and immediate update and synchronization of data between the tablet PC 155 and the central of lice system 120. Since the bandwidth on link 156 is relatively low (approximately 20 kbits per second), only some of the communications between tablet PC and the central office system 120 are routed over this link (the handling of other communications is described in more detail below).

Tablet PC 155 further includes an Exchange client. The GPRS link 156 is used to ensure that the diary in the client is maintained in synchronization with the Exchange server 124 in the central office system 120. Accordingly, any new appointments arising from recent instructions are automatically downloaded from the server 124 to the tablet 2s PC 155, and will therefore appear in the surveyor's own (client) version of his or her diary.

The GPRS link 156 is also used to maintain a subset of database 121 on the surveyor's tablet PC 155. In one embodiment, this subset represents all those instructions assigned to the of flee to which the surveyor belongs, although other embodiments may adopt a different approach, such as downloading only those records that have been specifically allocated to the surveyor.

Note that the GPRS link 156 provides continuous two-way synchronization.

Therefore, not only are updates made at the central office system 120 downloaded onto client 155, but also any updates made on client 155 are uploaded back to the central of lice system 120 on an ongoing basis. It will also be appreciated that GPRS represents just one example of a network that may be used for data communications between the central of rice system 120 and tablet PC clients 15, and other embodiments may use other lo links, channels or networks for such communications (including networks that may be developed in the future as a supplement or alternative for GPRS) Figures 4-7 present screen shots of the client application on tablet PC 155 in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. Figure 4 illustrates the diary entry for a surveyor, showing booked instructions for a particular day. It will be appreciated that a user can view appointments for other days in accordance with standard diary functions (which in one implementation are provided by the Exchange client).

Beneath the diary pane in Figure 4 are various action items and status indicators.

For example, if the surveyor wishes to see any more information regarding an appointment, then the full record associated with a diary entry can be accessed by clicking the "Details" action bar.

The "Correspondence" action bar allows any correspondence associated with an instruction to be viewed. Such correspondence might include, for example, a letter to a house vendor confirming the appointment for the survey. The system stores templates for various standard letters, such as arranging appointments, which can be automatically merged with appropriate fields from the records, such as the address of the property concerned.

The "Associated" action bar allows a surveyor to access any associated information that may be considered relevant for the instruction. For example, if a survey has previously been performed on the property due to an earlier housing transaction involving the property, and this earlier survey is available in database 121, then this is detected by the system and associated with the current record.

As previously mentioned, the surveyor takes the tablet PC 155 on site and uses it as the main data recording device for the survey. This can be achieved by selecting an appointment from the diary screen of Figure 4, and clicking on the "Fieldsheet" action 0 bar. The system then accesses the record corresponding to the diary entry by using the reference contained in the diary entry. (Since this record is associated with the local of lice of the surveyor, it will have been downloaded onto the tablet PC as described above). The information from the record is thenused to pre-populate certain fields, such as the address and date of visit in the fieldsheet shown in Figure 5.

The tablet PC 155 supports handwriting recognition to allow textual input by a surveyor. In addition, the stylus can be used in a similar manner to a cursor, e.g. to select and mark particular boxes. One important advantage of the automated data collection facility provided by the tablet PC is that it allows for data validation. For example, the system can notify the surveyor if a required input field has been accidentally omitted.

Furthermore, consistency can be improved by providing a preselected set of menu choices for many of the fieldsheet questions. In addition, standard paragraphs relating to certain results can be provided for easy insertion, or automatically inserted if appropriate following certain menu choices.

One important aspect of the system is that the fieldsheet shown in Figure 5 represents a standardised user interface that has been defined and developed for use by surveyor 200. In other words, the screen interface format shown is common across all surveys performed by the surveyor, irrespective of the requesting mortgage company (or other client institution). Therefore the surveyor does not have to struggle with various unfamiliar forms depending upon the origin of a given survey request. The information collected within the standardised fieldsheet is saved into the database record, which has a set of standard fields. It will be appreciated that the fieldsheet and record information may vary according to the type of survey to be performed (valuation only, full structural survey, and so on), since this has a major bearing on the set of information to be collected. Nevertheless, within each type of survey, a commonality of user interface is obtained.

In practice, it can be difficult to accommodate completely the requirements of every client institution using a generic fieldsheet format. Accordingly, in one lo implementation, the final page of the fieldsheet presents a set of client specific questions that are particular to the institution that requested the survey in question. Nevertheless, the format and style of these client specific questions can be made as consistent as possible with the generic user interface.

A record in the database comprises two portions. The first portion of the record is fixed for all requesting institutions, while the information from the client specific questions is stored in the second portion of the record. This second portion varies in terms of fields and so on according to the requesting institution.

(Rather than having a client specific page of the fieldsheet, another possibility would be to have data fields sensitive to the institution that is requesting the survey. For example, a standardised interface could include a superset of information items to be entered, but certain of these information items might then be treated as optional or perhaps greyed out if they are not required by the institution that requested the survey in 2s question).

As part of the inspection, the surveyor may take photographs of the property.

This is most conveniently done using a digital camera, which allows the images to be immediately uploaded via a USB connection or other appropriate interface onto tablet PC 155. Clicking the "Photographs" action button on the screen of Figure 4 allows the uploaded image files to be associated with the record for the relevant property. In due course these photographs are uploaded into database 121 for storage as part of or in association with the corresponding record.

The surveyor may take photographs of a property for a variety of purposes. In some cases, the images may serve as a visual reminder as to the property for the instruction, while in other cases they may serve as evidence of particular problems or points of interest discovered during the inspection. In many cases, the mortgage company or other requesting institution desires or requires at least one photograph to be attached to the final survey report. Accordingly, the client software on tablet PC 155 lo provides a document template for a photosheet that can be attached to a survey report, and the surveyor can select one or more of the photographs to drop into this photosheet.

Prior to insertion into the photosheet, the images are resampled to reduce their size (in terms of number of bits), thereby facilitating the transmission of the photosheet over low bandwidth link 156 (N.B. this resampling does not affect the original versions ofthe images as stored outside the photosheet).

The tablet PC 155 also supports a comparison facility that can be accessed via the "Comparables" action bar (see bottom right of Figure 4). This brings up a search screen that allows the surveyor to search for existing records in database 121, or more particularly, the subset of those records that are available on tablet PC 155. The surveyor can search the records according to various fields or combinations of fields relating to a property or survey, such as the location of a property, the type or particular features of a property, the date of a survey, the valuation, and so on. For example, a surveyor may want a listing of all properties with a similar post code that have been surveyed in the past three months, are three-bedroom semi-detached houses, and that were built in the 1930s.

The search brings up a screen such as shown in Figure 6 that lists all properties that satisfy the search criteria. (N.B. Some of the fields in Figure 6 are empty since the screen is based on test data). The search results can be ordered as desired, for example by valuation, by survey date, and so on. The search can be further refined if appropriate by adding more search terms, etc. The main purpose of the search is to identify similar properties that have been recently valued. This then helps to ensure that the particular property being surveyed is given a valuation that is consistent with previous surveys of other properties in the area, and hence is in conformity with the current market rate.

Using the "Attach" action bar, the surveyor can pick one or more of the records 0 from the search results to be attached to the record for the property that is currently being surveyed. These are then shown as "Attached Comparables" at the top of the screen of Figure 6. A link is created in database 121 from the record for the property being surveyed to the record of each attached comparable. Note that it is a requirement of some institutions that one or more comparable valuations are specified in this manner on the final survey report. The formal linking of these comparables within database 121 provides an audit trail to support the valuation assigned to the current property, should the accuracy of the valuation be disputed at some future date.

At the top right of the fieldsheet (see Figure 5) is a box that the surveyor ticks when the fieldsheet has been completed. This can trigger validation to ensure that no required information item is missing. As previously mentioned, a survey may include longer passages of text, which may be relatively difficult to enter using the simulated keyboard or handwriting recognition of a standard tablet PC. Accordingly, there are various alternative input mechanisms available to a surveyor if so desired. One possibility is for the surveyor to connect an external keyboard to the tablet PC, and then use this for typing text passages directly into the tablet PC. Another option is to provide support for speech recognition on the tablet PC to allow the surveyor to dictate directly into the tablet PC, followed by automatic transcription into the fieldsheet.

Dictation can also be handled in a similar fashion to that described in relation to Figure 1, namely by using a (mobile) telephone 140 to recite dictated portions into voice mail system 145. (Rather than using phone 140 to provide the spoken input, an alternative possibility would be to create an audio file on tablet PC 155, which could then be uploaded via network 126 or link 156). A typing pool 150 transcribes the dictated portions directly into the appropriate parts of the fieldsheet as stored on database 121.

The updated fieldsheet containing these dictated portions is then automatically synchronised with the version on the surveyor's tablet PC l SS.

The fieldsheet contains a box (top right in Figure S again) to indicate when any relevant items for the fieldsheet have been dictated. This information can be used to 0 drive the set of status indications shown at bottom left in Figure 4. Thus once the "Fieldsheet complete" box of Figure S has been ticked, the fieldsheet moves to the "Awaiting Dictation" status, and once the "Report Dictated" box of Figure S has been ticked, the fieldsheet moves to the "Awaiting Typing" status. It will be appreciated that typing pool 150 has a view of database 121 that shows all instructions having an "Awaiting Typing" status.

Once the typing pool has transcribed the dictation (if any), the instruction moves into the "Awaiting Signature" status. The surveyor is then able to review the resulting report for return to the instructing party. An example of such a report is shown in Figure 7. As previously mentioned, various instructing parties (such as different mortgage institutions) typically specify their own particular report format. In the past, a surveyor has therefore had to enter information directly into the appropriate report format for the relevant instructing party. This has proved relatively cumbersome and prone to error.

However, as described above, the tablet PC lSS supports a generic fieldsheet that provides a common user interface irrespective of which particular institution originated an instruction. Accordingly, the surveyor only has to work with a single consistent format, which speeds data entry, and leads to more reliable results.

In order to generate the report shown in Figure 7 from the database record created from the fieldsheet entries, various transformations must be performed, given that the data was not directly entered into the report itself. In one embodiment, this transformation is performed using form generation software available from Formscape (see www.formscape.com). Apart from generating the physical layout of the report, this transformation may include various manipulations in order to present the data from the record in a suitable manner on the report.

In some cases this transformation is purely presentational. For example some reports might have separate boxes representing "YES" and "NO", and the software generates a tick for the appropriate box, while other reports may have "YES/NO" as the possible response, and the software generates "XX" characters to obscure the incorrect lo selection - e.g. if the desired response is "NO", the software overtypes "YES" with "XXX" Another type of transformation reflects a different field arrangement of the same underlying data. For example, one report may require an address in its entirety, while another report may have specific boxes for house number, street name, and so on. It will be appreciated that the standardised fieldsheet is generally designed to obtain the highest desired granularity of data, which then allows combinations of data to be readily formed as appropriate, such as by combining house number, street name, and so on into a complete address.

A further type of transformation may require some arithmetic processing or other type of data manipulation. For example, one report may require the date that a property was built, while another may require the age of the property. If the fieldsheet obtains the former piece of information (such as shown in Figure 5), then the latter can be generated automatically for a report based on this property build date, plus the date that the survey was performed. A further possibility is that a particular report may only require the decade of the building ( 1 950s, 1 960s, 1 970s, etc). This then requires transformation from a precise year to the corresponding decade. It will be appreciated that generating a report may require multiple types of transformation (even for a single data item within a report).

In one embodiment, a report is presented to a surveyor by a viewer in read-only mode. If the surveyor desires to change any information in the report, the surveyor clicks on the "Fieldsheet" button shown at the bottom of Figure 7. This then returns the system to the screen of Figure 5, thereby allowing the surveyor to amend the relevant information item(s) accordingly. One advantage of making amendments via the fieldsheet rather than directly into the report is that it avoids the need for supporting any reverse transformations - i.e. from report to record rather than from record to report.

When the surveyor is finally satisfied with the report, he or she clicks the "Sign 0 Off" button shown at the bottom of Figure 7. This attaches a digital signature to the record, which confirms that the report is ready to be returned to the requesting institution, and also locks the record against further modification. The instruction moves into the "Awaiting Authorisation/Distribution" status shown at the bottom of Figure 4.

In some cases the report is now ready for immediate return to the requesting institution, while in other cases, a further level of authorization may be required. For example, if the valuation of a property is above a certain amount, then additional management approval of the report may be needed before the report can be released. It will be appreciated that the policy or conditions (if implemented) for any such additional authorisation(s) can be specified within the system. This then allows the automatic identification of a report that needs such further approval(s).

Once the report has been signed off by the surveyor and is suitably authorised (if required), the report is returned from the central office system 120 to the requesting institution 11 OA, 1 1 OB. There are a variety of ways in which this can be accomplished.

For example, the central office system 120 can convert the report into a PDF format for faxing (or emailing) to the mortgage institution. This conversion can be performed using a similar transformation to that performed on the tablet PC for the surveyor to view the report (as described above). A printed copy of the report may also be provided, depending upon the particular requirements of the relevant mortgage institution. In other cases, there may be direct data transfer of relevant portions of the report over network 116 between the central of lice system 120 and the requesting institution 110A, 110B, thereby allowing the data to be readily incorporated into the computer systems of the requesting institution.

s Figure 8 presents a flowchart representing an overview of the workflow just described. Initially an instruction is received into the central of lice system 120 from a requesting institution 110 (805). This leads to the creation of a record corresponding to the instruction in database 121 (810). The instruction is then allocated to a local office and to a surveyor within this of lice (815, 820). In one implementation the first of these lo allocations is performed automatically and the second by administration staff, but other implementations may take a different approach. (One possibility might be to combine these two allocations into a single assignment of an incoming instruction directly to a particular surveyor).

A diary entry for the allocated surveyor is now created (825) to perform the instruction, and a link created between the diary entry and the record in the database. The diary entry and the record are downloaded onto a portable system for the surveyor (830).

In one embodiment, this download is achieved by database and diary synchronization between the central of lice system 120 and a tablet PC 155 of the surveyor over a mobile wireless data link.

The surveyor now performs the instructed survey (835), and enters the relevant data into a fieldsheet on a portable computer. In one embodiment, a common user interface is provided by the fieldsheet. Software is then utilised to transform the data 2s entered into the fieldsheet into a report format required by the instructing institution. In one implementation, the system also supports dictation via a voice messaging system.

The dictation is transcribed into the instruction record by a typing pool.

The surveyor electronically signs off the completed report (840), which is then uploaded back to the central office system 120 (845). In one embodiment, this upload is again performed as part of a database synchronization between the central office system and the tablet PC 155 of the surveyor over a mobile wireless data link. (It will be appreciated that this synchronization generally occurs on an ongoing basis, so the upload of the fieldsheet data need not be specifically triggered by the surveyor sign-off, and indeed may precede it). Once the surveyor has signed off the report, the system returns s the report to the requesting institution (850).

Note that the above workflow avoids any particular requirement for the surveyor to visit the office (such as to review and hand sign a completed survey). This represents a significant saving in time for the surveyor, which can then be used to improve productivity by performing more property inspections.

Although the surveyor no longer has to visit a local of rice on a daily basis as part of the core workflow, he or she is nevertheless likely to make occasional of lice visits for various reasons, perhaps once or twice a week. The architecture shown in Figure 2 IS exploits this circumstance by associating a wireless local area network (LAN) with each local office computer system 130A, 130B. Whenever tablet PC lS5 enters the local of rice, it automatically connects to this wireless LAN, thereby providing a link 157 between the tablet PC lSS and the local office system 130A. This link allows access to the central of flee system 120 via intranet 126, and has a significantly higher bandwidth than link 156. Accordingly, link 157 is used to perform larger but less time-sensitive transfers between central office system 120 and tablet PC 155.

Note that a local office computer 130A, 130B may act as a local cache for such a download. In other words, rather than different surveyors repeatedly pulling the same 2s material from central office system 120, the material may instead be first downloaded onto local of flee system 130A, 130B, where it can be accessed by all surveyors who use that of flee without further troubling central of flee system 120.

Examples of materials that are downloaded via link 157 are software updates to be installed on tablet PC 155. Digital images associated with instruction records are uploaded over link 157, although the photosheets mentioned above are uploaded over link 156, since they are more timesensitive (they are part of the report itself) and are also smaller in volume, having been re-sampled.

In addition, link 157 can be used to download various documentation to tablet PC 155. This can be considered as originating from download library 126 (see Figure 3) and comprises various instructions and guidance notes for use by surveyors. Some of this may be generated by the surveyor organisation itself, while other documentation may originate with specific instructing institutions, and give particular guidance on how they want their inspections performed. This latter category of information can be accessed on a tablet PC 155 by a surveyor via the "Lender Notes" action bar shown at the bottom of Figure 4.

Although the above description has concentrated on the receipt of instructions from mortgage providers, survey instructions may also be received from other parties, such as individual house purchasers and so on. One possibility is that an instruction could be received from a house vendor to produce a home condition report for inclusion in a home information pack. Such an instruction might typically be sent to the surveyor organisation by an estate agent 111 acting on behalf of the vendor (estate agents are more likely than an individual vendor to be integrated into the system architecture shown in Figure 2).

Irrespective of the source of an instruction (whether a mortgage institution or some other party), web site 122 may also allow the progress or status of an instructed survey to be monitored. For example, the web site could allow interested parties (e.g. the house vendor) to see whether the survey has been assigned yet to a local office or to a particular surveyor, whether the surveyor has yet visited the property, and so on.

The software components described herein generally comprise program instructions and any associated data structures for execution on one or more computer systems, and may be provided as computer program products. The program instructions may be held on some fixed, non-volatile storage such as a hard disk or flash memory.

These instructions and/or data structures can then be loaded into random access memory (RAM) for execution and use by a system processor. Rather than being stored on a hard disk or other fixed device, part or all of the program instructions and/or data structures may also be stored on a removable storage medium, such as an optical (CD ROM, DVD, etc), magnetic (floppy disk, tape, etc), or semiconductor (removable flash memory) device. Alternatively, the program instructions and/or data structures may be downloaded via a transmission signal medium over a network, for example, a local area network (LAN), the Internet, a mobile data network, and so on.

0 In conclusion, a variety of particular embodiments have been described in detail herein, but it will be appreciated that this is by way of exemplification only. The skilled person will be aware of many further potential modifications and adaptations that fall within the scope of the claimed invention and its equivalents.

Claims

Claims 1. A method of managing survey workflow across a distributed system

comprising a central office system and multiple portable client systems, said method comprising: receiving a survey work instruction from a requesting party over a network into the central office system; creating a record for said survey work instruction in a database at said central office system; lo creating an entry in an electronic diary for a user assigned to the survey work instruction, said entry including a link to said survey work instruction in the database; downloading said electronic diary envy and said survey work instruction onto a portable client system corresponding to said user over a wireless data link; entering information by the user into the portable client system to complete the record for the survey work instruction; uploading the completed record for the survey work instruction from the portable client system over the wireless data link to the database at said central office system; and returning the completed survey work instruction from the central office system to the requesting party.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein said record comprises a first portion and a second portion, wherein said first portion is independent of the requesting party, and the second portion is dependent upon the requesting party.
3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein said record is dependent upon the type of survey work instruction to be performed.
4. The method of any preceding claim, further comprising providing a notification of said survey work instruction to a local office client system, wherein said electronic diary entry is created via the local office client system in response to said notification.
5. The method of any preceding claim, wherein said electronic diary is maintained on a groupware platform at the central office system.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein said downloading and uploading are performed s by synchronization between the groupware platform at the central office system and the portable client system.
7. The method of any preceding claim, wherein said wireless data link comprises a persistent mobile telecommunications data link.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein said data link comprises a GPRS data link.
9. The method of any preceding claim, wherein said portable client system comprises a tablet PC.
10. The method of any preceding claim, wherein a portion of the work instruction is completed by dictation into a voice mail system, and is transcribed directly into the record at the central office system.
11. The method of any preceding claim, wherein the user attaches an electronic signature to the record when it is completed and ready for return to the requesting party.
12. The method of any preceding claim, further comprising providing an additional data link between the central office system and the portable client system, said additional data link being routed via an of fice client system for use when the portable client system is located within an office.
13. The method of claim 12, wherein said additional data link is provided by a local area network having a higher bandwidth than the first wireless data link.
14. The method of claim 12 or 13, further comprising downloading software updates from the central office system to the portable client system via said additional data link.
15. The method of any preceding claim, further comprising: storing different format specifications corresponding to different requesting parties; presenting a generic user interface for a user to enter information into the portable client system to complete the record for the survey work instruction; and prior to returning the completed survey work instruction to the requesting party, lo transforming the information entered by the user to generate a report that is in accordance with the format specification corresponding to the requesting party for the survey work instruction.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein said operations of storing and transforming are performed on the portable client system for a surveyor to view the report.
17. The method of claim 15 or 16, wherein said operations of storing and transforming are performed on the central of rice system to generate the report for return to the requesting party.
18. The method of any preceding claim, wherein the database stores previously completed survey work instructions, and said method further comprises adding a reference to one or more selected previously completed survey work instructions to said record.
19. The method of claim 18, wherein a record comprises multiple fields, and said one or more selected previously completed survey work instructions are chosen by matching one or more fields against the record being completed.
20. The method of any preceding claim, further comprising saving one or more images associated with the survey work instruction into the database, and including a link in the record to said one or more images.

s
21. A method of processing a survey work instruction from a requesting party on a computer, said method comprising: storing different format specifications corresponding to different requesting parties, wherein a format specification provides an electronic definition of the contents and visual layout of a report to be produced for said survey work instruction; lo presenting a generic user interface for a user to enter data into the computer to complete a record for the survey work instruction; and prior to returning the completed survey work instruction to the requesting party, transforming the data entered by the user to generate a report in accordance with the format specification corresponding to the requesting party for the survey work instruction, wherein said transforming comprises manipulating both the layout and contents of the data entered into the generic user interface.
22. The method of claim 21, wherein the user entered data is stored into a record having a first portion and a second portion, wherein said first portion is independent of the requesting party, and the second portion is dependent upon the requesting party.
23. The method of claim 22, wherein said transforming applies to user entered data in both the first and second portions of the record.
24. A method of processing a current survey work instruction from a requesting party on a computer, said method comprising: providing a record corresponding to said current survey work instruction, said

record having a plurality of fields;

storing previously completed survey work instructions as existing records in a database; searching the database for existing records that have one or more fields matching or corresponding to the record for the current survey work instruction; and selecting one or more of the existing records from the search, and incorporating a reference to each of the selected existing records into the record for the current survey work instruction.
25. The method of claim 24, further comprising allowing a user to specify the one or more fields to be used for matching the record for the current survey work instruction against existing records.
26. The method of claim 24 or 25, further comprising requiring the record for the current survey work instruction to contain a reference to each of a predetermined minimum number of existing records prior to completion of the record for the current survey work instruction.
27. A method of managing survey workflow across a distributed system comprising a central office system and multiple portable client systems, said method being performed at the central office system and comprising: receiving a survey work instruction from a requesting party over a network; creating a record for said survey work instruction in a database; creating an entry in an electronic diary for a user assigned to the survey work instruction, said entry including a link to said survey work instruction in the database; downloading said electronic diary entry and said survey work instruction onto a portable client system corresponding to said user over a wireless data link; uploading a completed record for the survey work instruction from the portable client system over the wireless data link to the database, wherein said completed record includes information entered by the user into the portable client system; and returning the completed survey work instruction from the central office system to the requesting party.
28. A set of one or more computer programs for implementing the method of any preceding claim.
29. A set of computer programs for managing survey workflow across a distributed s system comprising a central office system and multiple portable client systems, said computer programs implementing a method of: receiving a survey work instruction from a requesting party over a network into a central office system; creating a record for said survey work instruction in a database at said central lo office system; creating an entry in an electronic diary for a user assigned to the survey work instruction, said entry including a link to said survey work instruction in the database; downloading said electronic diary entry and said survey work instruction onto a portable client system corresponding to said user over a wireless data link; is entering information by the user into the portable client system to complete the record for the survey work instruction; uploading the completed record for the survey work instruction from the portable client system over the wireless data link to the database at said central office system; and returning the completed survey work instruction from the central of lice system to the requesting party.
30. A computer program for processing a survey work instruction from a requesting party on a computer by: accessing different format specifications corresponding to different requesting parties, wherein a format specification provides an electronic definition of the contents and visual layout of a report to be produced for said survey work instruction; presenting a generic user interface for a user to enter data into the computer to complete a record for the survey work instruction; and transforming the data entered by the user to generate a report in accordance with the format specification corresponding to the requesting party for the survey work instruction, wherein said transforming comprises manipulating both the layout and contents of the data entered into the generic user interface.
31. A computer program for processing a current survey work instruction from a requesting party on a computer by: accessing a record corresponding to said current survey work instruction, said

record having a plurality of fields;

accessing previously completed survey work instructions stored as existing records in a database; searching the database for existing records that have one or more fields matching or corresponding to the record for the current survey work instruction; and selecting one or more of the existing records from the search, and incorporating a reference to each of the selected existing records into the record for the current survey
32. A computer program for managing survey workflow across a distributed system comprising a central office system and multiple portable client systems, said computer program implementing a method at the central office system comprising: receiving a survey work instruction from a requesting party over a network; creating a record for said survey work instruction in a database; creating an entry in an electronic diary for a user assigned to the survey work instruction, said entry including a link to said survey work instruction in the database; downloading said electronic diary entry and said survey work instruction onto a portable client system corresponding to said user over a wireless data link; uploading a completed record for the survey work instruction from the portable client system over the wireless data link to the database, wherein said completed record includes information entered by the user into the portable client system; and returning the completed survey work instruction from the central office system to the requesting party.
33. A central of rice system for use in managing a distributed survey workflow, wherein said central office system is operable to: receive a survey work instruction from a requesting party over a network; create a record for said survey work instruction in a database and an entry in an electronic diary for a user assigned to the survey work instruction, said entry including a link to said survey work instruction in the database; download said electronic diary entry and said survey work instruction onto a portable client system corresponding to said user over a wireless data link; upload a completed record for the survey work instruction from the portable client lo system over the wireless data link to the database, wherein said completed record includes information entered by the user into the portable client system; and return the completed survey work instruction from the central office system to the requesting party.
34. The central of lice system of claim 33, wherein said wireless data link comprises a persistent mobile telecommunications data link.
35. The central of lice system of claim 34, wherein said data link comprises a GPRS data link.
36. The central of fice system of any of claims 33 to 35, wherein an additional data link is provided between the central office system and the portable client system, said additional data link being routed via an office client system for use when the portable client system is located within an office.
37. The central of lice system of claim 36, wherein said additional data link is provided by a local area network having a higher bandwidth than the first wireless data link.
38. A distributed computer system comprising the central of fice system of any of claims 33 to 37 and a plurality of portable client systems.
39. The distributed computer system of claim 38, wherein said portable client systems

comprise tablet PCs.
40. A computer for use in an automated survey workflow to process a survey work instruction from a requesting party, said computer including: stored different format specifications corresponding to different requesting parties, wherein a format specification provides an electronic definition of the contents and visual layout of a report to be produced for said survey work instruction; lo a generic user interface for a user to enter data into the computer to complete a record for the survey work instruction; and processing means for transforming the data entered by the user to generate a report in accordance with the format specification corresponding to the requesting party for the survey work instruction, wherein said transforming comprises manipulating both the layout and contents of the data entered into the generic user interface.
41. The computer of claim 40, wherein the user entered data is stored into a record having a first portion and a second portion, wherein said first portion is independent of the requesting party, and the second portion is dependent upon the requesting party.
42. The computer of claim 41, wherein said transforming applies to user entered data in both the first and second portions of the record.
43. A computer for processing a current survey work instruction from a requesting party, said computer including: a record corresponding to said current survey work instruction, said record having

a plurality of fields;

previously completed survey work instructions, stored as existing records in a database; a search facility for locating in the database existing records that have one or more fields matching or corresponding to the record for the current survey work instruction, and for selecting one or more of the existing records from the search; and processing means for incorporating a reference to each of the selected existing records into the record for the current survey work instruction.
44. A method of managing survey workflow across a distributed system substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.

lo
45. A system for managing survey workflow across a distributed system substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.
46. A computer program for managing survey workflow across a distributed system substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.