Power outages become terror in emergencies like natural disasters or national crisis.

We can’t predict the future, but we can create solutions that increase speed, therefore effectiveness in critical emergencies.

The solution I will show you allows for rapid requests of specialized infrastructure workers.

My name is Justin Burchell with GridForce and I’d like to invite you to learn about our 2020 Quick Base Hackathon entry, Rapid Request.

The goal was to make one app able to hire numerous specialty contractors for emergency work.

Rapid Request provides utility companies and their contractors a secure, easy way to search for, book and manage emergency inspections, repairs and maintenance.

Here’s how it works:

1. The utility dispatcher requests specialized workers in a simple order form and provides show-up time and location.

2. As soon as the request is submitted, any contractors with skills specified are notified to confirm.

3. Contractor employees receive check-in requests and can confirm or deny by text message.

4. As the contactors staff confirm, they are provided the show-up time and location by text message.

5. The utility dispatcher gets real-time reporting and notifications, so they can verify help is on the way.

This incredible time saving means crews are mobilized quicker, thereby restoring power with greater scale and efficiency.

Rapid Request has a simple way to onboard contractors and workers.

1. The Utility Admin adds the contractor and invites them to Rapid Request.

2. The Contractor Admin adds workers, classifications and phone numbers.

3. Workers verify their phone number by text message to complete the setup process.

Rapid Request provides a simple user interface, capable of requesting and routing hundreds of employees across many contractors, in one single form.

Once a contractor confirms, Rapid Request uses Formulas and Automations to sort and allocate staff to available spots. If an employee does not meet a Classification required or denies the spot, Rapid Request will choose the next in line, until all spots are filled, or the request is kicked back to allow other contractors to take their spot.

To quickly recap, Rapid Request is built on the low-code platform Quick Base. The only other software used is Twilio, which hosts the phone number and provides Programmable Voice and Messaging services through a convenient API.

In a world that is rapidly evolving, Quick Base provides the flexibility, security, and potential to solve the world’s most pressing challenges.