Paperless checklists

Kram

I am the founder/broker of a small service business - striving to provide the best residential property management in my market.  I have a small staff and we all wear a lot of hats and sometimes help out with each other's duties when needed.
 
We use checklists to keep track of necessary tasks related to things like brining on new accounts, putting a lease together on a property and moving the tenant in, performing a move-out inspection, preparing a property to be put back on the market, etc.
 
I really like using the ipad when in the field doing some of these tasks and I want to have the ability to monitor where things are at with various checklists in process.
 
We use Dropbox to share files amongst the team.  Ideally I would like to set up a dashboard that tracks our most critical open or pending processes (moving a tenant out and turning the property, for instance) together with perhaps easy to follow online checklists for these processes I can review at anytime to see where we are at with our work as a team.  
 
Does anyone have any experience or ideas about sharing multiple onilne checklists wihthin a team to manage work flow?  Or any ideas on another way to approach this?  I was thinking about creating fillable pdf forms then finding an app on the ipad that will allow me to check boxes from my ipad when I complete things.  Would need staff to be able to access same checklists and check boxes from their desktop computer.  Also would be great if something could let me know which checklists are not completed and who is checking boxes and when...
 
I appreciate your thoughts!!

thebizdude

First, with checklists I agree. I have read a book called, The Checklist Manifesto, which is a good resource when developing checklists. I also did some research on pre-flight or pilot checklists since they have made it a science. There are actually people who are experts as to what makes a good and valuable list... Now, onto the more techie side - Considering you are mobile, and also want to be able to use desktop applications I would propose using Google Docs and creating forms. Or some time or application like that which databases the information for extraction later. When looking at things like this I think of what else could it be used for later. So, I am a fan of databases with a GUI/interface for the users. This can be used later to filter - pivot tables - charts etc. PDF's unless you build in the export functions, are a one time deal. Sharepoint type services (Microsoft service) are good too. There are many out there which are not as expensive as Ms. though. You could probably find a code, throw on your internet/intranet and customize for your needs for less than paying Microsoft. Just some thoughts. Good luck.