Practical Guide to QC (Inspections)

  • Edouard B.

Overview & background

Fieldwire helps organize your inspections if you have specific quality control needs on your project.
You can use Fieldwire to seamlessly document each quality control item while online or offline.

All information is automatically shared in real time, so various project stakeholders have access to up-to-date data to help them to make more informed decisions. This reduces and optimizes your time spent in the Field doing QC; with constantly coordinated activities, all your QC issues can be easily identified, addressed, and verified before the schedule or budget are impacted. 

How does Fieldwire assist with quality control inspections?

  • Capture and document data in one location
    • Field teams can document data via tasks and custom forms directly from the field. The documentation from various teams is compiled in one easily accessible location, whether you're in the office or on a mobile device.

  • Easy handoff between teams
    • Various teams can contribute at different times on the same issue. Since teams can instantly access all QC history, transparency and ownership is improved across the entire project. 

  • Seamless historical overview
    • All information entered in Fieldwire is time-stamped and signed. Transparency and ownership of individual issues are both promoted through automatic notarization. 

  • Increase granularity
    • Plan and assign quality inspections for every single item of your project.

  • Handle and analyze data
    • Plan thousands of tasks on the project. Export this content into a .csv for more intricate analysis. 

How to use this guide

Imagine that we have a series of inspections to carry out on all fire alarms in a residential construction project. We want to create a template task to record the inspection of each device and replicate that task for every fire alarm in the building. Using this example throughout, we'll detail exactly how to set-up, execute, and report on your inspections like never before with the power of Fieldwire.  

Check out "How to create inspections in Fieldwire" for a shorter introduction to the core Fieldwire features for QC/inspections.

Table of Contents

1. Best practices: configure Fieldwire for inspections

   1a. Create inspection tasks to organize work

   1b. Create checklists to standardize inspections

   1c. Create multiple tasks at once with the task importer

   1d. Quickly duplicate tasks

   1e. Create custom forms to capture intricate quality control data

2. Document work in tasks

   2a. Use task status to signal inspection stages

   2b. Relate tasks to create workflows and connect teams

   2c. Use batch edit to manage task attributes in bulk

3. Monitor, report, and share your work 

   3a. Organize and schedule your inspections

   3b. Use advanced filters to view specific inspections

   3c. Keep everyone updated with scheduled reports

Case studies: how do real companies use Fieldwire for quality control (inspections)?

1. Best practices: configure Fieldwire for inspections

Example: We have over 100 rooms with several fire alarm inspections that need to be conducted in each area throughout our project. With 1000’s of tasks to manage, we need to be able to isolate information at the click of a button. 

1a. Create inspection tasks to organize work

Tasks are truly the heart of Fieldwire. They're the place the team will go to find out about the actual work that needs to get done on-site,  post progress photos, communicate with teams in the field, and leverage the long list of Fieldwire’s most field-friendly tools. 

You may have multiple inspections or general inspections for each room of a building.
You can quickly create a task, then duplicate it, or use the task importer to recreate it automatically. 
Tasks have many powerful, optional attributes.

For inspection tasks, leverage (at least) these attributes:

'Status' - Some inspections are more important or pressing than others.

'Category' - Be able to sort the inspection tasks by discipline, item to inspect, floor number, etc. Categories are fully customizable so you can make them completely pertinent to your project. 

'Assignee' - Ensure one person is responsible for the inspection. They'll receive notifications as soon as the task is assigned to them. You'll receive a notification when they update the task. 

'Start / End date' - make sure inspections are being completed on time.

 

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Tip: Choose a general title, such as 'Fire Alarm' as this can be used for other purposes throughout the project such as installation or maintenance.

Tip:  Add the alarm device model spec to the task so the team can access it during the inspection. To do so, click the paperclip icon in the bottom left corner of the task, then select "+Photo/File".

More information about creating tasks:

1b. Create checklists to standardize inspections 

Create checklists and save them as reusable templates. Checklists are integral to inspection tasks. Throughout your walkthrough, check each item off.  Fieldwire will automatically record what was marked off, who marked it, and when it happened. 

An example checklist for electronic devices

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More information about checklists:

 

1c. Create multiple tasks at once with the task importer

Use the task importer to replicate hundreds of inspection tasks for your project in one fell swoop.
Imported tasks can include attributes like:

  • Files: When you add files to the 'Files' tab of Fieldwire, you can choose to associate them with tasks in the task importer. 
    • Tip: Upload your specs to the 'Files' tab. This way the files can be associated with several hundred tasks at once. 

  • Checklists: you can choose to create the tasks with pre-populated checklists, which can be preloaded in your 'Project Settings.' 

  • Attributes: tasks can be pre-populated with all pertinent attributes filled out. 

Example: You have to perform inspections of +1000’s of fire alarms and smoke detectors on a large scale residential project. You can use the task importer to create all of these tasks in minutes, complete with all checklist information needed to complete quality control checks. 

More information about importing tasks:

1d. Quickly duplicate tasks 

You can quickly create copies of existing tasks using our duplicate function. Task attributes will be copied over from the original in each duplicated task you create.

When using Fieldwire on the web (as opposed to mobile), just right-click on the task and choose 'duplicate'.  
 
Tip: Hold down shift to click and duplicate the task multiple times throughout the plan.

Example: An updated plan is issued, which requires the installation of an additional Fire Alarm device. Simply duplicate the task to capture updated information. 

Duplicate a task on the web version of Fieldwire

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You can also duplicate tasks on the mobile version of Fieldwire. Locate the task that you want to copy, hold your finger on the task for a second, and the option to duplicate the task will appear.
Tap anywhere on the plan to drop a new copy of the original task. 

Duplicate a task on the mobile version of Fieldwire

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More information about duplicating tasks:

1e. Create custom forms to capture intricate quality control data

Fieldwire's custom form builder is another means to gather intricate, standardized data from the field. This data can be exported in a .csv format to run your own metrics. 

To add a form to a task, simply click the paperclip icon on the bottom left of the task window and select ‘Add existing form.’

Example: Use forms to record numerical values, such as fire alarm decibels in a room. 

Tip: To make use of Fieldwire’s custom forms feature in your task, your first checklist item could be:
“Add form [form name] to this task”. This way, your team can add and fill in a specific form to gather more data from the field.

Add a form to the task in Fieldwire

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More information about custom forms:


2. Document work in completed tasks

2a. Use task status to signal inspection stages

Task status is most effective when there is a consensus on what each priority indicates.
We recommend that this is transparent and communicated with the whole team. 

Tip: Display your own key for how you define P1, P2, and P3 priority levels for your Fieldwire app in the office or even attach it to the back of each mobile device.

Example: Establish a code that sets the significance of each priority such as the one below: 

Priority 1 = non conformity

Priority 2 = minor issue

Priority 3 = upcoming QC 

Completed = completed by subcontractor

Verified = approved  by GC

Fieldwire's two-step verification process ensures that deficiencies are completed and verified correctly, making it a breeze to finish your project on-time with a smooth closeout.  

More information on task priority: 

2b. Relate tasks to create workflows and connect teams

Relating tasks is most beneficial when tracking dependencies or managing subtasks.
The order-of-operations is effectively communicated via related tasks. 

Example: For our fire alarm installation, imagine that you have commissioning tests taking place on your project. Related tasks can be used to assign specific sets of checks to different teams. Without needing to change the assignee, you still have visibility over the original task, and the information inside the task will not become confused by communication between different teams on related, but ultimately separate, tasks. 

A related task added to an existing task  in Fieldwire
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More information about relating tasks:

2c. Use batch edit to manage task attributes in bulk

The batch edit function can be used to change the task attributes of a group of tasks at the same time.  Select the tasks that you would like to edit and then select 'Actions' and 'Batch edit'. 

Tip: Hold the 'Shift' key to select multiple tasks in one column at once. 

Example: Your fire alarm subcontractor has been through the site and selected the status, ‘complete’ on all of the fire alarm tasks that we set up. Now we are going to batch edit all of our fire alarm tasks so that we can change the assignee to our quality control manager, who will go through and verify all of the tasks. 

Batch edit tasks on the kanban view of Fieldwire

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You can also batch edit your tasks directly from the plan view.
Select the tasks from the sidebar and select "Actions" and "Batch edit". 

Batch edit tasks on the plan view of Fieldwire

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Tip: Another way to select tasks directly from the plan is to hold the WINDOWS (or COMMAND on Mac) key and click directly on the task pins on your plans. When you hold WINDOWS, you can select multiple tasks, then select Actions'  and 'Batch edit' to modify all of them at once. 

More information about batch editing tasks:

3. Monitor, report, and share your work 

3a. Organize and schedule your inspections

Fieldwire offers several powerful scheduling tools that enable you to further organize your QA/QC work on a project and coordinate multiple teams. 

You can use the calendar and Gantt views to schedule the work planned on your project. Use the drag and drop feature in either of these views to rearrange tasks, and adjust the time frames to better suit your schedule. 

More information about scheduling:

3b. Use advanced filters to view specific inspections

The advanced filters and categories features provide a way to keep track of the large volume of content that you and other users create in your Fieldwire projects.

Example: Imagine that we only want to view tasks in the fire alarm category for a specific subcontractor, on a specific plan. Using the advanced filtering options, we can quickly isolate the tasks we are looking for. 

Advanced task filter on the Kanban view of Fieldwire

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We can use the same filter to isolate tasks from the plan view: 

Advanced task filter on the Plan view of Fieldwire

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You can also filter tasks by category.  

Example: Even with 1000’s of tasks in our inspection project, we can simply click  “Fire Alarm” as the category on the left-hand-side to only view alarm device checks.  

 

Category task filter on the mobile view of Fieldwire

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More information about filtering tasks:


3c. Keep everyone updated with scheduled reports

You can add value to your inspections approach by sending detailed reports to all the stakeholders on your project. 

Example: Multiple defects are being identified in the fire alarms on site, so we will set up a report template to send a defect report back to the original contractor/subcontractor. They will be able to correct the issues and update them to ready for re-inspection. To fully automate this process, we are going to use the report scheduling feature to send out this report automatically once a week (or any frequency you desire).

Generate a report in Fieldwire

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Example of a generated report in Fieldwire

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More information about generating reports:

How do real companies use Fieldwire for quality control (inspections)?

Fieldwire enables several customers throughout Europe and America to handle all their QC inspections, be they for fire safety, HVAC, fiber optics, or preconstruction. Subcontractors are kept on track through tasks and checklists, and they are empowered to instantly document important items through photos and messages. The complete historical records created through Fieldwire provide invaluable information from start to completion on all of these projects, and our best-in-class issue tracking ensures that every phase of the project goes as smoothly as possible, all the way through inspection.

You can read more about these real-world use cases here: 

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