How do you run a pilot that ends in a company rollout?
A pilot is how a cautious company says yes. Done well, it is a short, paid test with written success criteria and a decision date. Done badly, it is months of free use that nobody owns. This page gives a pilot template, success criteria for field and operations apps and a site-by-site rollout plan.
What makes a mobile app pilot succeed?
A successful pilot has a narrow scope (one or two sites, crews or lines), a named sponsor, three to five success criteria agreed before the start, a fixed length of 30 to 60 days, a price, and a decision meeting booked from day one.
The aim is not to prove that the app works in general. It is to prove that it works for this company's people, on this company's jobs, well enough that the sponsor can defend a rollout to the budget owner.
Pilot progress · Day 22 of 45
When does a work app need a pilot?
Not every company sale needs one. A team of five can start on a monthly plan and cancel if it does not work. Pilots are worth the effort when the rollout touches many people, changes a process with records or safety consequences, or needs IT to deploy devices.
| Situation | Pilot? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Small team, card payment | No, use a monthly plan | Low risk; the plan itself is the test |
| One department, under 30 users | Short pilot or first-month discount | Manager wants proof but the decision is local |
| Several sites or crews | Yes, one or two sites first | Habits and conditions differ by site |
| Safety, quality or compliance records | Yes, with auditor or QA lead involved | Record quality must be checked before switching off paper |
| Managed devices and SSO | Yes, including IT setup | Deployment problems show up only in a real environment |
If you came here from a champion request, the pilot proposal belongs in the kit described on internal champions. For buyer requirements that must be met before the pilot, see company purchasing.
What should a pilot plan include?
Keep the plan to one page. It should say what is being tested, by whom, for how long, how success will be judged and what happens next in each outcome.
- Scope: which sites, crews or lines, and how many users.
- Sponsor and budget owner: names, and who makes the final call.
- Success criteria: three to five, each with a target, a data source and a person who checks it.
- Length and dates: start, check-in and decision meeting.
- Price: pilot fee and whether it is credited to the first year.
- Support: who on your side answers questions, and how fast.
- Outcomes: the rollout offer if criteria are met, and how data is exported if not.
| App type | Criterion | Data source |
|---|---|---|
| Construction reporting | Share of daily reports filed the same day | App report timestamps |
| Field service | Work orders closed with signature and photos | Work order records |
| Operations checklists | Checklists completed on time per shift | Checklist completion log |
| Safety and compliance | Inspections with full evidence, accepted by the auditor | Inspection records, auditor sign-off |
| Manufacturing QA | Non-conformances logged at the line with photo | QA records vs paper count |
| Engineering tools | Calculations reused from shared templates | Template usage events |
What does a 45-day pilot look like?
Northline Builders, a fictional general contractor, agreed a pilot of SiteSnap Field Notes on two of its eight sites with ten supervisors. Criteria: at least 80% of daily reports filed the same day, an average of five or more photos per report, and the project coordinator no longer retyping reports. The fee was credited to the first year if they rolled out.
| Phase | Days | What happens | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agree | Before day 1 | Success criteria, scope, price, decision date and named sponsor written down | Your team and sponsor |
| Set up | 1 to 5 | Accounts, sign-in, report templates, devices; admin trained | Customer admin, your onboarding lead |
| Start | 6 to 10 | Two sites begin; supervisors file first reports on site | Site supervisors |
| Check-in | Day 15 | Usage review against criteria; fix blockers | Sponsor and your team |
| Run | 16 to 40 | Normal use; weekly summary to the sponsor | Everyone |
| Decide | 41 to 45 | Results meeting, rollout proposal or a clean stop | Sponsor, budget owner |
At the day-15 check-in, one site's supervisors were filing reports at night because the trailer had no signal. Turning on offline drafts fixed it. That fix is the reason the pilot met its targets, and a reason pilots should include a check-in rather than waiting for the end.
Agree on what success looks like before anyone installs anything.
If the customer cannot say what result would make them roll out, the pilot will be judged on feelings at the end. Write three to five measurable criteria, who checks them and where the numbers come from.
How do you roll out after a successful pilot?
Roll out in waves, not all at once. Each wave reuses what the pilot learned: templates, training, the admin's runbook and the people who became local experts.
Wave 1 · Pilot sites
Wave 2 · Next 3 sites
Wave 3 · All sites
Retire the old process on a set date. If paper logs stay optional, many people keep using them, and the app looks half-adopted at renewal. Device and sign-in steps for later waves are on managed distribution.
Why do pilots fail to convert?
- No written criteria. The decision is made on opinion, often by someone who never used the app.
- Too broad. A pilot across every site at once spreads support thin and hides which problems matter.
- Free and open-ended. Nobody owns it, and it drifts until the budget cycle passes.
- No baseline. Without knowing how long reports took before, a time saving cannot be shown.
- Sponsor leaves or goes quiet. Name a second contact and keep the weekly summary going.
- Trade-off: a longer pilot gives better evidence but loses momentum; 30 to 60 days is a compromise most work apps can live with.
What should you measure during a pilot?
| Metric | Question it answers | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| Users active each week | Is everyone in scope using it? | Product analytics by account |
| Each success criterion vs target | Are we on track to the agreed result? | The data source named in the plan |
| Support questions by topic | What blocks people? | Help desk or chat tags |
| Old process still in use | Has anything been replaced? | Sponsor's check, paper counts |
| Pilot to rollout conversion | Do our pilots end in purchase? | CRM, across all pilots |
After the rollout, the account moves to the retention and renewal measures.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a mobile app pilot be?
ShoutEx view: 30 to 60 days, long enough to cover real work, short enough to keep the sponsor's attention.
Should pilots be free?
Small trials can be. For pilots with many users or IT work, a fee credited to the first year gets more commitment.
How many success criteria should a pilot have?
Three to five, each with a target, a data source and a person who checks it.
Who should sponsor a pilot?
A manager who owns the process the app changes and can recommend the rollout to the budget owner.
What if the pilot misses its targets?
Review why. If the cause was fixable, agree a short extension with the fix; if not, stop cleanly and export the customer's data.
How many sites should a pilot include?
One or two sites or crews is usually enough to learn without overloading support.
When should the old process be switched off?
On a set date after rollout, agreed with the sponsor, so the app becomes the standard.