Offline iPad Survery / CRM Data Collection

November 7, 2013 1:21 PM

Asking for a friend: I'm looking for the direction to go in regards to offline, iPad-based CRM/survey data collection.

My friend's non-profit has a bunch of iPads and needs to be able to collect CRM type data (name, phone, address, email, etc) while traveling on the road, so putting two and two together, they'd like to find an iPad app for data collection. Said app should work without wifi/internet access, but then be able to sync up to some sort of centralized server once they're back at the office.

I personally think they should use something web-based (HTML5 for offline?) so they aren't locked in to iOS, but at this point I think they'll take what they can get. They'd also like to be able to customize the UI with their branding, but as long as the app doesn't have ads or the developer's branding it can work.

Cheap's good, but spending money isn't an issue either. They don't want to get all used to a system that won't be supported in 6 months.

So far we've run across FileMaker Go, but I have to believe that there's something easier to use out there. Help?

posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug to Computers & Internet (2 answers total)

Best answer: There's an app called Tap Forms that will pretty much do everything you're asking for. It's not that cheap, but it is being actively developed and has a fairly large user community. I found it straightforward to set up forms, although not super pretty.
posted by viggorlijah at 6:20 PM on November 7, 2013

Response by poster: Tap Forms sounds pretty good, and while it's expensive for an app, I'd say it's very cheap for customizable data collection software. My friend is researching it a little more before purchasing, but as far as I'm concerned it's a solid recommendation. Thanks.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 8:17 AM on November 13, 2013