About Inspections

If your technicians perform service inspections on equipment as part of service orders or contract maintenance, you can build sets of steps to guide them through inspections. Inspections of similar equipment often share steps that can be reused.

Set up structures for inspections using these forms:

  • Inspection Types: Categorize the inspection steps and associate multiple inspections to one item.
  • Inspection Measurement Types: Define the type of measurement reading for the inspection task: Specific List, Numeric, or Freeform.
  • Inspection Section Codes: Define and group the inspection tasks for readability.
  • Inspection Tasks: Define inspection tasks, which are reusable definitions of tests and expected results.

You can link inspection types to specific items on the Inspections Setup form. You can use the Inspections Setup Copy form to copy an existing set of inspection steps to reuse them for a similar type of inspection.

When service orders are created and an item or unit is specified with an inspection type on the SRO line, technicians inspect the item or unit as part of the service order. The inspection results for that inspection type and item combination are copied to the line. The values measured for each inspection task can be entered from a mobile device using the Service Mobile solution, or using the Service Order Line Inspections form in the back office.

After all inspection tasks are complete, click Finalize Inspection on the SRO line to verify that all tasks are complete. If they are complete, the current date is assigned to the SRO line as the Inspection Finalized date, and the Inspection records are locked down to prevent the data from being altered. You can produce an Service Order Inspection Report that lists each inspection task for the SRO item and inspection type, color-coding the data based on the level of completeness the task reached.

  • Blue: Incomplete
  • Orange: Adjusted failure
  • Red: Failure
  • Black: Complete, with no failures or adjustments

Inspection Types

Use the Inspection Types form to categorize inspections. Use inspection types to describe how often an inspection occurs, for example, annually or monthly. You can also use inspection types to describe the type of work performed, for example, electronic, mechanical, preventive maintenance, or legal compliance.

Inspection Measurement Types

On the Inspection Measurement Types form, define the types of readings that can be collected during an inspection task.

Response Type indicates the measurable information for which the technician tests. The valid Response Types are Numeric, Freeform, or Specific List. If the measurement type is Numeric or Freeform, the specific response values are set on the Inspection Tasks form.

If the measurement requires a specific list of responses, add the list of valid response options in the grid. For example, you might set up three response options for tire pressure: > 50, 50-65, and > 65. One, more than one, or no response can be marked to represent failure of the test. If the technician selects a response marked as Failure, then the task is marked as failed.

Inspection Section Codes

On the Inspection Section Codes form, group inspection tasks for report output and inspection preview.

The section code is associated with inspections on the Inspections Setup form.

You can preview section codes and inspection tasks on the Inspections Setup Preview form.

Inspection Tasks

On the Inspection Tasks form, define the inspection tasks. These tasks are reusable definitions of tests and expected results. They are the building blocks of inspections.

The tasks defined on this form are selected during inspection setup to describe each step of the inspection for the specific item, inspection type, and section code.

Inspection tasks can be generic, such as Pass/Fail. Tasks can be specific to the inspection that is performed, such as Check Oil Levels or Read Meters. Tasks can also be specific to the regulation that is checked, such as Environmental, OSHA, and Sarbanes-Oxley verifications.

Service Order Line Inspections

The Service Order Line Inspections form lists the SRO lines that have an assigned inspection type. The inspection tasks associated with the service order line inspection are displayed. Use this form to specify or change the measured values for an inspection task. Use the splitter bar to view more or less of the top and bottom of the form.

If the value you specify is not acceptable according to the values specified in the task setup, the task is considered Failed. For example, if you select a Measured Value from a list, and that option has the Failure check box selected on theInspection Measurement Types form, then the task is considered a failed inspection. If you specify a numeric result that falls outside the high and low readings defined on the Inspection Measurement Types form, the task is marked as failed.

The read-only Always Required check box inherits its value from the Inspection Section Codes form. When selected, the No Inspections Applicable button and the Inspection Applicable field are disabled.

When you open this form from the Service Order Lines form, the SRO lines grid is pre-filtered for the selected SRO and line.

The total count of failures for the SRO line is displayed by the Inspect Failed critical number.

For a failed inspection task, a corrective measurement can be leveraged using the Adjusted Value field. The system stores both the original Measured Value and the Adjusted Value. A task that fails initially, but is adjusted to a non-failure measurement, is flagged with a Warning status on the Service Order Inspection Report, indicating it may need future attention.

For auditing purposes, the partner associated with the user who specified the Measured Value and the date it was altered are included in the inspection task results. When the entire inspection is marked as finalized on the Service Orders form, the date of completion is also assigned to the inspection tasks.

A technician should select the Inspection Applicable check box if the inspection is applicable to their work. When finalizing the SRO, a warning is displayed for any task that is marked as Applicable but does not contain a Measured Value. You can clear the Inspection Applicable check box to finish an inspection.

To set all inspections as required, click All Inspections Applicable. To set no inspections as required, click No Inspections Applicable.