Frequently asked questions

Account Set up and Customer Support

Q. How do I get started?
You simply select the number of file credits you wish to purchase and sign up online. We will then process your payment and send you a user name, login and our user manual. You can then login immediately and start setting up your account. Your account set up should take about 1/2 hour.
Q. Do you have training?
Our system is very easy to learn and understand and it should take you no time to be able to get up and running. We will send you our user manual and you will also be able to access help online. We provide 2 hours of email or phone customer support for each new account. We also provide regular training phone conferences that you can dial up to and participate in. Additional onsite training is available at our standard hourly rate.
Q. Customer Support ?
We are contactable from 9-5 weekdays on phone and email. We undertake to get back to you within 48 hours on any questions you may have. As we grow we will continue to update our FAQs.

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Pricing and Billing

Q. How much does Buildaform Cost?
See our pricing page for an outline of our pricing model. Pricing varies per state and on file volumes. Contact us for a quote.
Q. Is there a contract or minimum commitment?
Once you have paid our setup fees and prepurchased 50 files you there is no ongoing commitment you can simply continue to use Buildaform until your file credits expire.
Q. Can I cancel?
You can cancel at any time and any unused file credits will be forfeited. You will be entitled to receive a copy of all of your finalized PDF files on disk.
Q. How do I pay?
We accept credit cards (Visa and Mastercard) and cheques. You are able to sign up online. You can sign up with us for a direct debit on your card and we can automatically purchase more file credits if you account is low. You will then receive a receipt via email.
Q. How do I know how many file credits I have left?
You will be able to look this up on your account details page. You will also receive an email notification from us once you have 10 left. You can then repurchase new file credits.
Q. Can I upgrade from Inspector to Backoffice?
Yes you can upgrade at any time and simply pay the difference in the cost of your purchased file credits.

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SECURITY

At Buildaform we understand the importance of keeping your data confidential. We have designed our technology and business processes to ensure your data is kept secure.

Q. Does Buildaform see or use my data?
The data you enter into the Buildaform software is your own: we will not view, share, distribute, or otherwise use your data, except to resolve a problem or support issue, to bill you for your usage of the system, or if we are required to do so by law. Your access to the system is protected by your password, which you must keep secret.
Q. How are Buildaform’s servers kept secure and reliable?
Buildaform’s dedicated servers are managed by one of Australia’s leading hosting providers, backed by a 99.9% uptime guarantee, and located in a world-class data centre in Sydney. This provides:

- Secure, firewalled Internet connectivity
- Redundant power, network, and hardware to ensure the best possible reliability
- Continuous system monitoring to detect problems before they cause outages
- Nightly backups of all Buildaform data
- 24x7 physical security

Q. How is my data archived?
Our system keeps your files online for 2 years, saving you the effort of managing and storing physical archives. If you also require an offline copy of your files and long term archiving , we provide several options:

  • Each document can be downloaded as a PDF to your local system
  • Entire projects can be downloaded in a single ZIP file, suitable for storing or burning to CD
  • We can send you a CD each month of your archived data, for a small fee
  • We can organise a daily or weekly data transfer to your existing computer system
  • We can offer a long term 2-10 years archive service for a small charge

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System Information

Q. What technologies are behind Buildaform?
Buildaform’s web software is built on Microsoft® ASP.NET 2.0, and runs on Windows Server® 2003 and SQL Server™ 2005. Our mobile software runs on Microsoft Windows Mobile® 5.0.
Q. Is there a limit on the number of users per account?
No you can have as many users as you want.
Q. What technology do I need to run Buildaform Back office and Inspector?
All you need is a PC running Windows and a Broadband internet connection the minimum speed we recommend is 512k. You will also need Internet Explorer 7 and Adobe Acrobat Reader 8. Both are free for download on the internet.
Q. Why can't I buy it as a desktop system?
We have designed Buildaform as an internet based application as it provides users with many more features and flexibility than traditional desktop systems (such as mobile device integration). It also enables us to easily keep the software up to date as legislation changes. However we do have an intranet version available that can be customized to suit your needs.
Q. Can it be customized?
You will have a limited ability to customize your certificates. However you are able to customize your lists of requirements and letters. Should you have specific customized requirements we can discuss this with you. Any additional software development will be charged at standard software development rates.
Q. Can data be integrated into other systems?
Yes we have purposely built Buildaform to enable easy integration into other systems. If you require copies of data or files to be duplicated into other systems this is possible and would be charged at standard software development rates.
Q. Can I allow third party's access to the system? (such as my inspectors?)
Yes you can set them up as a user and they can logon from anywhere and they can see all your files. Or you can set them up only to have access to certain files.
Q. What happens when the legislation changes?
Our online templates will automatically be updated once the changes have been updated. An email notification will be sent to advise you of what changes have been made.

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Mobile FAQs

Q. What Mobile Phone will I need?
You will need to purchase a Mobile Phone that runs Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket. The two brands we currently install and support are:

- IMate - JasJam:
  A small versatile phone sized Mobile Phone - currently available for free on Telstra business plans.

- Motorola – MC35:
   A more rugged industrial Mobile Phone available for purchase through Buildaform.

- Other brands can be installed and supported upon request.
Q. What connection will I need and how much will it cost?
You can choose to either:

-  Dock your Mobile Phone at the end of the day and transfer data. You will not need a data connection package, or

- Transfer data from the field. You will need to be able to connect to the Internet from your device using either GPRS or CDMA. We anticipate most data transferred should be covered on a basic plan ie $5-10 per month. However should you decide to send many photos per inspection then the data transferred cost could be higher than this.
Q. How do I set it up?
Once you have purchased your phone send it to Buildaform and we can install the application, test and sync to the Buildaform database and we will return it to you ready for inspection reporting.