This page describes how Efficio's can help streamline and simplify different kinds of events, no matter how you run them. You can get immediate benefits without changing how your operate, yet open the door to better ways of working, when you are ready.
Use Case: Clients Served as they Arrive, Lining Up as Needed
This scenario applies to events where clients are checked in and served in order, as they arrive, without issuing service numbers. This is ideal for events, like resource fairs, where there is no defined start time and clients arrive continuously. If clients arrive quicker than they can be checked in or served, then they line up until they can be.
Efficio enables this situation, with the following benefits:
- Desired client information can be captured electronically so it is accurate and legible and need not be transcribed later
- Client check in forms can be automatically translated into any major language, better meeting diverse needs
- Client forms can be styled/branded to match the service provider
- Clients can be checked in, in parallel, no multiple devices, if desired
- Event metrics, like start, end, client statistics, and service rate, are immediately available
- Works on any internet connected device, with nothing to install
In practice, serving clients as they arrive is also often used for timed events, like food pantries, with the inevitable consequence that clients wait in long lines before the event starts. This usually occurs because organizations do not have the resources or tools to manage the line any other way. Even in these cases, using Efficio still immediately provides the benefits above. Using Efficio also makes it possible to easily shift to even better approaches, when your organization is ready (see uses cases below).
Use Case: Clients Check in in Advance and Served Later in Order
This scenario is similar to the above, but it allows for advance check in to eliminates the need for clients to line up in order, for later service. Freeing clients from standing in line unnecessarily reduces physical and psychological stress while allowing them to use their time for other activities. It can also smooth out client arrivals. This scenario is ideal when clients should ultimately be served in order of arrival and where capacity exists to serve all clients eventually. Community medical services and charity restaurants fit this model.
Efficio enables this situation, with the following benefits:
- All the benefits of the prior use case
- Allows early check in in a standardized and automated way, making it possible even with limited staff
- Automatic tracking and issuing of service numbers in order, tied to check in information
- Supports one-time passwordless remote check in for clients, if desired, eliminating the need to visit the site until service time
- Tracking of time to service, available to clients on their own devices, without a login or download
- Built in "now serving" display board to display current service number and/or messages for clients
- Real time marking of clients as served, once service begins, with management for no-shows and real-time ability to verify client check in details
- Real time reports of check in and service statistics and estimated end time, for service management and resource allocation
- Additional event metrics, like check in to service times and attrition
As noted, this use case is best where service capacity is sufficient to serve all clients. If resources are constrained (as with food pantries, where the products available typically run out over time), this approach can inadvertently cause long lines to appear for check in as clients learn that early check in equates to early service. Even in these cases, using Efficio still immediately provides the benefits above. Using Efficio also makes it possible to easily shift to an even better approach, when your organization is ready (see uses case below).
Use Case: Advance Check in for Constrained Resources
This scenario is similar to the above, but it is tailored to events, like food pantries, that struggle with lines due to limited availability of served items. In such cases, some clients inevitably line up very early to check in, impacting the use of their time and affecting equity generally. A good practice in this scenario, eliminating these problems, is to issue service numbers randomly to all clients waiting at the time check in opens.
Efficio enables this situation, with the following benefits:
- All the benefits of the prior use case
- Automatically issues service numbers randomly, at check in, with fallback to sequential numbering after initial backlog of waiting clients is cleared
- On the fly configuration of randomization to address the backlog size, which typically varies from event to event
Other Use Cases
Efficio was designed to be able to accommodate a wide variety of use cases, and it is continually evolving. We are eager to discuss how Efficio can help you even if you feel your use case is different from the ones above!