Ivan @ Jan 26, 2018 9:52:11 PM

Yeah, Excel and OneNote are useful, but I'd personally use them only if I had a ton of shops - the app itself is more than sufficient for several at a time - everything is already there, so I tend not to complicate with other programs if I don't have to :)

Ivan which app are you speaking of, it would be great if you should suggest to the scheduling staff to implement software that tracks the times, dates and locations of your requested and assigned shops, with one click.

Who is 360 INTEL, Is this a company that took over Goodwin Hospitality. I notice several changes in the last couple of days, including the elimination of the schedulers emails and names and replied with info@...

I'll throw in what I do. It won't be for everyone and may not be the most efficient but it works for me. I use Chrome as my browser. With regard to the companies and websites, I bookmark all the companies and put the dozen that I deal with the most on the bookmarks bar. I put the next 20 or so in the Other Bookmarks folder on the side. The ones I don't use too often are put in a folder under Other Bookmarks. When I go into a site, Google will ask me if I want it to save the password and I say yes. Once I'm set, I can be in a site with 2 clicks and no typing. I can check for new shops in my top 20 or so companies in about 5 minutes.

To keep track of my shops I just download a blank calendar template in excel each year that has all the months for the year on different tabs. The one I use has boxes with six lines for each day and you can add more if need be. I don't put all the addresses, just the shop and town. I put them on the date I think I am going to do them but can change them easily with copy and paste. I highlight the ones that are flexible and move them as I add more shops.

To keep track of my shops I use excel and create one spreadsheet for January and copy that in the same folder for the rest of the months. I have a $ total line underneath the spreadsheet and I link all of them to the January spreadsheet so they automatically total as you go through the year. I used to keep a lot of information but I have found over the years that the companies are really good so now all I put in is the Date, Company, Shop, Address, Pay, Reimbursement, Total Pay and Date. I keep all my receipts and if I did have a problem I have all the information I need.

I do almost exactly what Wendy does - with both the spreadsheet and bookmarks... I like the iSS records fine for iSS shops, but I find I need to have a single record for all my shops.

@FortheSMONEY - 360 Intel is Goodwin Hospitality, they just changed their name and seem to be doing some re-branding.

As for the app, the one I'm referring to is the iSecretShop app, full name: "iSecretShop - Mystery Shopping". For the purposes of shops on iSS, it keeps track of everything - which shops you have assigned, for which date, it can record the start and end time of the shops that you are doing, marks your location, gives you available shops near your current location (not just the listed address), you can track the status of shops that you submitted for review, which ones have you successfully completed and when, the status of the payments (if and when they were made), etc.

Of course, if you are doing a ton of shops and/or doing occasional shops with MSPs outside of iSS, you can do what Wendy and MFJohnston are doing, and use Excel spreadsheets to help you get a better overview of all of them (@Wendy & @MFJohnston - that's very organized and cool you guys, nicely done! )

I have an Excel spreadsheet for posting all of my shops for each year. I use Chrome as a browser and have all companies bookmarked. I use Wave receipts so that I can just take photos of my receipts for tax purposes. I take photos of the odometer on my vehicle each day before starting my shops and at the end of each day. I have found that mileage apps running on my phone take up too much of my battery.