Observations

Observations tracks anything on site that needs action: a hazard, a defect, or an inspection item that failed. Each site observation has an assignee, a due date and a close-out.

In the project sidebar, under Quality & Safety, select Observations. The register's columns are #, Type, Description, Status, Priority, Location, Assignee, Raised By, Date Raised and Photos.

An observation's status is one of:

• Draft: saved, not yet raised.
• Open: raised and waiting for the assignee.
• Assigned: sent back to the assignee after a rejection.
• In Progress: the assignee has started work.
• Resolved: the assignee has finished the work.
• Verified: the work has been checked.
• Closed: closed out.

Learn more about the register screen.

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1. On the register, select New Observation.
2. Choose the Observation Type and the Priority: Critical, High, Medium or Low.
3. Optionally, choose the Location.
4. Enter the Description.
5. Fill in any fields the type adds under Additional Information.
6. Under Assigned To Organisation, choose the organisation that will do the work. Optionally, choose a person under Assigned To Person, and set the Due Date.
7. Under Evidence Photos, select Add Photo to take or upload photos.
8. Select Save Draft to keep working on it, or Save & Raise to raise it now.

Observation Type and Description are required, and Priority starts at Medium. An observation takes its number, such as OBS-12, when it's first saved.

Raising an observation marks it Open and starts the workflow bound to its type. To raise a draft, open it and select Raise.

These tools raise an observation linked to the record it came from:

• an inspection item, with Raise Observation;
• an incident, from its Observations card;
• a permit, with Raise observation;
• a piece of equipment;
• a location's QR code page, with Raise observation here;
• a passive fire installation, with Raise defect.

Two of these links hold the record open. An inspection doesn't close by itself while an observation raised from it is open, and a passive fire installation can't be reviewed or finalised while a defect raised against it is open. An observation counts as open until it's Verified or Closed.

With the default workflow, an observation runs these steps:

1. Start work: the assignee selects Complete. The observation moves to In Progress.
2. Rectify: the assignee selects Complete, enters the Resolution notes, then selects Complete. The observation moves to Resolved.
3. Verify: a reviewer selects Verify or Reject. Verify moves it to Verified.
4. Close out: a reviewer selects Close or Reject. Close moves it to Closed.

Rejecting at Verify or Close out needs a note. It moves the observation to Assigned and sends it back to Start work.

Observations assigned to you or your organisation, and resolved ones you raised, appear in My Items.

On the observation, under Resolution Photos, select Add Photo. Resolution photos are kept apart from the evidence photos added when it was raised.

The assignee, host staff and anyone with Can manage observations can add them. A workflow step can require a resolution photo before it completes.

Open the observation and select Edit. Editing needs Can manage observations, and is available while the observation is Draft or Open.

1. On the register, open the observation's three-dot menu and select Delete Observation.
2. Select Delete Observation again to confirm.

Open the observation and select Export PDF.

Host staff see every observation on the project. A guest sees the observations:

• their own company raised;
• assigned to them or their company;
• sent to them on a distribution list;
• whose workflow they take part in.

No permission widens what a guest sees, Can manage observations included.

The settings are on the project. In the project sidebar, under Project Settings, select Tools, then Observations. The settings have two tabs:

• Observation Types: each type has a Name, a Description, a Workflow and a Locked switch. Types set up at organisation level are listed with an Activate switch. To add a type for this project only, select New Type.
• Workflows: the workflow templates observation types can use.

The same page at organisation level sets the types every project can activate.

Custom fields belong to organisation-level types.

1. In the organisation sidebar, under Organisation Settings, select Tools, then Observations.
2. Open the type's three-dot menu and select Custom Fields.
3. Select Add Field, enter its name, and choose its type: Text, Number, Date, Radio or Select.
4. Set it to Required or Optional.
5. Select Save.

Custom fields appear on the observation under Additional Information, and in its PDF.

Permission	Allows
Can view observations	Seeing the register, subject to what guests see
Can create observations	Raising observations and saving drafts
Can resolve observations assigned to their organisation	The Start work and Rectify steps assigned to you or your organisation
Can manage observations	Editing, and acting on any workflow step
Can permanently delete observations	Deleting observations

The Verify and Close out decisions go to people with Can start and complete inspections in the host organisation, the organisation that raised the observation and the organisation assigned to it. People with Can manage observations can also decide them.

Changing the tool's settings, including observation types and custom fields, needs Can manage project tools, which only host staff can hold. Learn more about how permissions work.

Each observation type is bound to a workflow, chosen in the type's Workflow field. An observation can be saved as a draft without one, but can't be raised until its type has one.

The default template is Observation close-out: the Start work, Rectify, Verify and Close out steps described above. Learn more about binding a workflow to a tool.