Overview
Clean and concise task reports help Fieldwire users save time, show progress, and keep stakeholders updated. They can even be pre-configured once and sent out automatically every week or month, saving more time for report-makers. This Practical Guide will go through how to configure some common reports you or your team may want to generate in Fieldwire. It will also address how to properly set up tasks to ensure they capture the most relevant information that you'll want to display in reports for yourself, your team, your owners, and more.
Done properly, your task data can be captured directly in the field and then automatically distributed to various stakeholders via reports. This can happen without any post-processing of field notes or additional software.
How does Fieldwire assist with creating reports?
- Share progress reports, punch lists, and site observations/closeouts with all project stakeholders, displaying the particular tasks and task attributes relevant to each.
- Share reports with anyone, even if they are not on Fieldwire.
- Customize report templates and filter by the task attributes that stakeholders care about.
- Document information in your tasks, and categorize these through pertinent attributes.
- Schedule automatic report delivery on a daily or weekly basis.
Table of Contents
1a. Configure Preset Task and Report Resources
2. Create and Complete Great Tasks
3a. Create a Punch List Report
Find out how other companies are using Fieldwire for Reports
1. Leverage Tasks
Tasks are the keystone means to track how work progresses through Fieldwire. Tasks can take the place of emails, texts, and even phone calls, to be the one source-of-truth and messaging/updates onsite. Fieldwire tasks are used in a variety of ways, and are a catch-all way to document:
- QA / QC issues
- Inspection observations
- Punch items or deficiencies
- Safety issues
- RFI’s and change orders
- Work progress
- Delays
- Design and pre-construction coordination
- Variations
- General communication and instant messaging between teams.
This section will outline some commonly utilized task resources and attributes to help provide ideas on the variety of ways your team can use Fieldwire tasks.
1a. Configure Preset Task and Report Resources for Huge Time Savings
Before you begin to create tasks, we suggest creating some resources on the web version of Fieldwire to organize and standardize the information you'd like to track in tasks and eventually report on.
Set up some Categories to organize Tasks:
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Categories are completely customizable for each of your projects, and they should be used to sort tasks into disciplines, trades, teams or other primary groups. They can be added throughout the duration of your project on an as-needed basis, but it's useful to create at least a couple to start. For example, when planning your punch list Tasks, consider adding an 'Inspections' category. |
Create Checklist Templates to standardize and streamline workflows:
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Checklist Templates should be utilized throughout all of your Punch List Tasks to save time and ensure consistency. These are fully customizable lists of to-do items you can save for each type of checklist list you want your team to generate on each type of task you have in mind. When you add the template, the checklist title is added as a tag. This allows you to quickly filter for tasks that have this checklist. Create several pre-populated checklists at once under the 'Settings' tab to standardize your punch list process, ensuring the same actions are taken and best practices are followed every time, no matter who is assigned the task. |
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Create Locations to track where work is Completed:
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The task pin indicates a specific position on your plan, but Locations can be used to identify zones, floors, complexes and other areas of your site for more precise sequencing of teams and work dependencies onsite. You can import several locations under the 'settings' tab to standardize your location inputs for everyone using Fieldwire. Locations are the best way to specifically assign and track where inspections take place once relevant work tasks are completed in those areas. |
Add Tags for another layer of Task organization within and across your Categories:
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Add a set of Tags at the beginning of your project through the 'Manage Tags' feature from the Settings tab. The tags you create as you go will also be tracked here to help standardize your process. Think of Categories as your main Task sections, and Tags as additional search filters you can use to identify and track groups of similar tasks within different Categories. For example, create tags for tasks that need review (ex: 'needs review') or need to be closed out (ex: 'closeout'), no matter what the Category. You can remove tags from tasks if they are no longer pertinent at any point. |
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Add Your Own Logo under Settings:
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Project Admins can personalize elements of reports from the Settings tab. Update your Project Address, upload a company logo, and adjust the color of the report banner. In addition, Project Admins can import and manage lists of relevant Tags, Checklist templates, Locations, and Report templates. |
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1b. Leverage Key Task Attributes
Each task attribute can be set by the creator of the task and adjusted by the people completing the work at any time on an as-needed basis; any changes made to the attributes and exactly who made them are both automatically tracked in the comments section of the task.
Set Task Status to indicate Priority:
| Task Status signifies the priority of the task versus other outstanding work items. It helps determine how to allocate and sequence labor onsite. As tasks are finished, your field workers update them to "Complete", and then change the Assignee to (or add as a "Watcher") whoever is best suited to "Verify" that work is done. Task Status is leveraged throughout your project and can be used as a filter in Task Reports to capture the progress of groups of tasks within each level of urgency. |
Set Assignee and Watchers to notify the people who need to work on the Task:
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Use the Assignee field to automatically notify the person who needs to start the task in real-time. If there are multiple people you want to be involved, add them as Watchers. You can edit (add/remove) Watchers on multiple tasks at once by using the 'Batch edit' feature in the 'Tasks' tab. Both the Assignee and all Watchers will receive automatic notifications whenever the task is updated. You can change the assignee at any time, as different parts of a task need to be completed by different teammates. Any individuals who were ever the Task Assignee are automatically made Watchers, so they will receive updates when new content is added to the task. |
Set and Update Start and End Dates to track the Duration of Tasks:
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Start and End Dates are the primary way to set your task schedules and coordinate work onsite. Add your desired dates to your tasks as you create them to ensure schedules are adhered to. As the project progresses, leverage locations in conjunction with Start and End Dates to coordinate the comings and goings of various material deliveries, trade workers, and inspectors in a safe, seamless fashion. |
2. Create and Complete Great Tasks in the Field
The Task Resources, like checklist templates, inspections, locations, etc. you have created in your project on Fieldwire web are available in your project for anyone using our Mobile Apps in the field. The more information you enter in tasks, the more robust your reports will be. Similarly, the more task attributes you leverage, the more parameters you can use to sort and configure more granular reports.
How to Create and Update Tasks on Tablets and Mobile Devices on the Fly:
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1. Drop a task pin down on your Plan. If your plan already has tasks that you want to edit or update, simply select that task pin. 3. Enter the Category, Location, Start and End Dates, and Assignee. You can also adjust the task status here. 4. To add a Checklist, select the + option. Then choose 'Checklist'- all the templates you created on the web are available to add in a single click on the task. Keep in mind that you can adjust all of these attributes throughout the duration of the task. So be sure to update things like the end date along with the task status. |
3. Create Great Reports
You can generate reports from the 'Tasks' tab. Select 'Generate Reports' and 'New Report', then enter and save a report title:
Report Templates: Fieldwire will save each report you create as a fully-configured template so you can run it again at any time with a single click. You can always come back and adjust your template. You can also duplicate reports within a project, and clone them from existing projects in your account whenever you create new projects.
In addition, you can use the 'Include' section of the Report popup to choose to display only the task contents you think are pertinent (plans, photos, files, videos, messages, start and end dates, etc.) for the particular report you're creating. All of the content you choose to include is accessible through hyperlinks to the aforementioned content when you view the Report in a PDF viewer. Ex: Acrobat Reader.
Report Sorting: Fieldwire reports allow you to sort and group the tasks you're reporting on by three different attributes in the 'Sort by' section of the Report popup. The first attribute you choose will be the primary groups your tasks will be sorted into on the report. The second attribute will be used to further sort the tasks within the first attribute grouping, and the third attribute will group like tasks within the groupings determined by your first two attributes.
For example, sorting by 'end date, category, and priority', in that order, it generates a report where my tasks are listed in order of most recent end date first, with tasks that have the same end date then listed in groups of like category. Within each day section and category sub-section, the tasks are grouped in order of priority, with P1 first, P2 second, and P3 third.
By contrast, when I sort a report by 'priority, category, and end date', in that order, it generates a report where my tasks are listed in order of highest priority first, with tasks that have the same priority then listed in groups of like category. Within each priority section and category sub-section, the tasks are grouped in order of end date, with the most recent listed first.
Make sure that you and your team members are diligent in filling out those Task Attributes so that you can use them to generate exactly the report you want ,at the end of the day.
3a. Create a Punch List Report
Punch lists are a staple part of closing out your projects. These help ensure that your team delivers their best work. Fieldwire Tasks can be set up with specific attributes, pertinent to your project and team, to ensure that nothing falls through the cracks when generating a Punch Report.
There are a few parameters that are especially effective to leverage when you generate a punch list report:
- Type: 'PDF Detailed', this selection will give you the option to select exactly which Task attributes and content (ex: 'Checklists', 'Messages', etc.) you want to include in your report.
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Include: 'Checklists', 'Messages', 'Photos'. Any information you've chosen to add to your punch tasks themselves can be selected to be shown on your report.
- This section is totally customizable for your Report. For example, you may want to leave 'Messages' out of reports that are being sent to the client. You may want to include 'Files' if something needs to be replaced and you want the person to have the submittal package. Or, you want to include the 'Plans' because the person you are sending this report to does not have access to Fieldwire.
- Sort By: This report is sorted by 'Category', 'Location', and 'Task Number'.
- Categories: Select the pertinent category that your Punch List tasks fall under.
- Statuses: You can isolate or sort tasks by category. For example, you may send your subcontractor their “Open items” but an architect “Completed tasks” while you await their verification. The “Verified” report could go to the client.
The following report is on one Task, so the report itself is somewhat sparse. The more information you add to your tasks, the more robust your reports will be. You can even include copies of the referenced plans at the end of your reports.
In the preview above, we removed some references to different plans. Feel free to download the full report to see all of the omitted content. You can see the attached plans and open the attached photos when the report is opened in a pdf viewer.
Download the sample punch report here.
As an added note, when generating Detailed Reports, please be aware that there are limits to how many tasks, photos, and related forms that can be on these reports. If your report includes more than these limits, you'll see the "Report limit exceeded" message as shown in the screenshot below. In addition, if you try to email the report, you'll receive the same "Report limit exceeded" message in your email. As the message states, in order to generate the report successfully, you'll need to reduce the size of the report by splitting it into several parts using report task filters.
3b. Create a Progress Report
The owner or owner's representative needs to know how everything is progressing without necessarily being physically on the job site. Fieldwire's PDF reports will give snapshots of progress, filtered by category, status, assignee, and/or other task attributes pertinent to the particular types of work progress you want to report on (by location, for example).
When it comes time to creating your Progress report, be sure to leverage certain parameters:
- Type: "PDF Summary" is a quick digest of tasks; the information displayed is not as detailed as the other report types, so it is perfect for a high-level progress report.
- Sort By: 'End Date', then 'Priority', and 'Category' will list the tasks in order of completion date (actual or predicted), then priority, and then category so that your trades are grouped together. This is a great way to see what has already been completed, what is going to be completed soon, and what needs to be re-prioritized and completed sooner.
- Task Filters: For a Progress Report, you can choose to focus on outstanding tasks to be completed (P1, P2, P3 Statuses), or those that have been executed ('Completed' and 'Verified' Statuses). Cater which status you'd like to report on to your audience; you could even create two separate reports to report on the progress of 'Open' and 'Completed' tasks. You may also want to sort by different Task 'Assignees' in conjunction.
- Time Filters: Choose to include all tasks that were 'Modified' in the 'Last...week' for a weekly progress report. This will give an overview of all tasks that were adjusted in the last week, but you can use the other options in this filter to generate progress reports monthly, daily, or even for a specific date range.
- Schedule Report: Fieldwire allows users to automate sending reports. In this instance, you can send a progress report at the end of each week to show the overall progress of tasks from the previous week, or schedule a report to send on the same day each month if you prefer a monthly progress report.
The sample Progress Report below gives an overall view into all of the tasks that were modified in the last week, the end dates of those tasks and the current end dates of the tasks. Again, the more fields you fill and items you add to each task are, the more robust your reports can be. You can see the attached plans and open the attached photos when the report is opened in a pdf viewer. Download the full report here.
3c. Create a Closeout Report
At the end of a project, you can export a complete history of it with all of your documentation in one fell swoop. Displaying photos, task information, markups and more from all the relevant tasks throughout the project, Fieldwire .CSV reports give you an incredibly easy way to generate a holistic overview of everything that happened to get the job done.
Ideally, your closeout report should include all of the pertinent content that you have added throughout the duration of the project. Ensure that you and your team standardize your usage of Categories, Statuses, Locations, etc on tasks from day 1 to rest assured you'll be able to report on everything that matters for your organization when the job is done.
Closeout Reports are generally very quick and easy to configure, as they should summarize all of the important information added to your tasks throughout the project. This makes configuring the report to fit your preferred method of listing out task data paramount, so be sure to leverage specific parameters when you're defining how you want to sort your CSV.
- Type: The 'CSV' report type is essentially a data dump of all pertinent project information, with your tasks listed in rows and all your task data organized into columns. It will contain the task information, links to pertinent plans, photos, and files, and more. It allows for a lot of customization and manipulation once exported since it is a .csv file you can load into Excel or other programs to further analyze.
- Sort by: These are the most important parameters to leverage when creating a closeout report. We suggest sorting by 'Plan', then 'Category', and 'Task #'. That will ensure that you can view all tasks associated with each of your plans, grouped by category. Task # will keep each task within those groupings in order of the chronological history when they were created. If you prefer listing in order of when the tasks were completed rather than created, swap out 'Task #' for 'End date.'
- Hashtags: Here you can choose the specific tags that you would like to report on. If you choose 'All', Fieldwire will pull all tasks, regardless of the tag. So, depending on how your team has utilized tags, add granularity to your report by leveraging tags.
- Time Filters: Choose some robust, longitudinal entries for your time filters. Select 'Last Modified' and 'All Time' to show the complete history.
Download and view the report here.
Note: If your reports contain information that you do not want to share with your recipients, we recommend using a PDF editing software to remove any extra text.
Find out how other companies are using Fieldwire for Reports
Fieldwire empowers several customers throughout Europe and America to stay up-to-date with reports. Take a look at some Customer Stories that go into how tasks, and consequently, reports were leveraged effectively:
- EllisDon - Providence Care Hospital
- Losinger Marazzi - Les Jardins du Couchant
- TekWorks - Data Center Installation
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