Reporting of Field Testing

[LKS93]

This question is in regard to field testing performed for Special Inspections, Construction Materials Testing, etc.

Does anyone know of a program that can be purchased that can be used to generate reports that can be mailed/emailed/faxed to clients with the details of the site visit. The program would probably be some sort of datebase.

Reports would typically pertain to, but aren't limited to:
-compaction testing
-field testing of concrete (slump, temp., air content, etc.)
-proofrolling
-footing inspections
-structural steel
-masonry inspection

Thanks for any information.

 

[boffintech]

I just use MS-Word. I have templates for all of the reports you mentioned. You just do a save-as, change the particulars such as job name/number, date, client, etc. and you are half done. Then you just put in the locations, change the particulars on the inspections as far as resolved vs. unresolved discrepancies and the report is done. My signature is already inserted on the electronic doc. I have another program that will convert the ms-word doc into a PDF doc and simultaneously make it an attachment in an email.

 

[iandig]

It depends which country you are in. GINT is pretty international, American based but concentrates more of Ground Investigation work.
In UK there are a couple on the market, GINT, Keylab and GeoDasy which seem to be able to do this. Our labs operate Keylab, which is all based in microsoft excel so that it can also produce all data in AGS format, but because of the simplicity in the set-up, it uis very easy to add/modify reports, templates etc...

 

[LKS93]

Boffintech: We use a Word based program now, but it's just too inefficient given the number of technicians generating reports every day. We have a secretary type them and save them to a "To Be Reviewed" file, then I review them and make corrections, then save them to the appropriate job file.

I'm looking for a program that actually acts as a data base also. I'd open this one program, input the job number, and all the information would come up (obviously, it would have to all be input for the first field report or during project set up).

I changed companies last year and my old company had a program like that, but they wrote it themselves. My new company doesn't have a program like it and I'm having a hard time finding a commercial product to do what I want. And I don't think the IT guys at my company have the chops to write it.

Iandig: I'll look into gint, keylab and geodasy.

Thanks to both of y'all for the input.

 

[DarthSoilsGuy]

LKS93,
forgive me, i don't have help for your question, but i'm intrigued by the post. in the company i used to work at, we would toss around this idea in lab every other month.

in your previous company, was your field staff using work-ready laptops or datapads? did they get electronic signatures from the contractor like when you get fedex package? how did the contractors take having to wait for paper copies?

our reports had a terse 1-2 page summary followed by an even more terse test results appendix. at the end we included photocopies of the original field reports. (i just heard somebody's teeth gnash). at a different branch of that company, the same would go out with no attached field reports. (i just heard somebody else's teeth gnash). i prefer the orig field report over none or a retyped myself, but i can see the benefit if it was never in pen to start with.

cheers
dsg

 

[bones206]

My company uses a program called Geosystem. It keeps track of all the individual jobs, samples, and tests. It also generates reports.

 

[LKS93]

Darth:
Originally, the field technician would write a field report on carbonless copies while in the field. One copy would go to the contractor on site. The process then went:
-technician turns in field report to secretary
-secretary types it and gives it to the project engineer
-project engineer reviews it, edits it, makes sure it sounds professional and technicially correct and that all the supporting data (concrete summary, compaction results, DCP results, etc.) and sketches are correct and attached.
-report goes back to secretary for corrections, then is re-checked by the project engineer, who approves it and sends it to the Principal Engineer, who stamps it. Secretary then mails it out. It usually took 5 to 8 working days for this to happen.

Later, the company went paperless, more or less. The technicians were issued PDA's that could wirelessly upload the field reports into the company's mainframe. All support data was input into the PDA and the field report was written on the PDA. Sketches were faxed to a dedicated number that automatically converted the fax to .pdf format and attached it to the correct report. The project engineer would then check it on the computer, edit it himself, check the support data, then forward it to the Principal. He'd review it, an electronic stamp was affixed and the whole package was emailed out. This would take 8-19 hours to complete.

It was a great system. Now that I don't have it, I feel like a monkey rubbing two sticks together to get fire when I used to walk around with a flamethrower strapped to my back.

The problem I'm having now, as noted above, is that my old company wrote all these programs themselves and I can't find a commercial equivalent. I just find it hard to believe that when more and more companies are going paperless that there isn't a system out there for this that people are using.

Bones: I think we tried the Geosoft, but it's not flexible enough for us. We want one program to generate any type of field report, whether it's concrete testing, compaction, footing inspection, proofrolling, masonry, structural steel, etc, but it was a year ago. I'll check again and see how it looks. Thanks.