Schematics management form an integral part of most field service companies’ day-to-day operations. Whether it’s the layout of a kitchen ductwork network, a cold water storage tank diagram, or a comprehensive floor plan, technicians need to know what they’re dealing with when they arrive at a location.
That’s why schematics management – and more specifically, good schematics management – is so pivotal. In this article, we’ve detailed exactly what you need to know about schematics within reporting software, and why it makes such a big difference to have schematics capabilities that work for you, not against you.
The Historic Picture (to Present Day)
Traditionally, schematics would be taken as physical copies which were unwieldy, cumbersome and prevented an efficient workflow, especially if they required marking up in any way. Then, when digital reporting came along with advancements in rugged mobile hardware, devices could be loaded with the necessary schematics for a job. This still wasn’t perfect, however.
Now, though, the art of schematic management has been perfected (even if we do say so, ourselves). With Rugged Data, relevant schematics can be uploaded directly to The Hub (the centralised information store that the administrative team typically handles) and then that schematic automatically appears in their device when the technician selects the relevant job.
Markup in App, Image Generated in Report
Technicians will often need to annotate or mark up their schematics or diagrams in order to highlight issues or areas that have been flagged as needing work. With Rugged Data, technicians out in the field can annotate the schematic provided as part of the specific job and those changes will be carried over into the final, generated report that’s created in the hub.
There’s no need to download the edited image and send it separately alongside the report, it’s included within the finished product, so to speak. This optimises the reporting workflow and makes everyone’s lives easier and quicker; both for those out in the field and for those back in the office.
Vital for Compliance
In a time when compliance is more important than ever before, schematics constitute a big part of that compliance. When it comes to legionella risk reporting, for instance, schematic diagrams are required per the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) guidelines (ACOP L8). The specific guidance is as follows:
“As part of the risk assessment, take into account the individual nature of each site and consider the system as a whole and not, e.g. the cooling tower in isolation. In complex systems, a site survey of all the water systems should be carried out, including an asset register of all associated plant, pumps, strainers and other relevant items. This should include an up-to-date schematic diagram showing the layout of the plant or system, including parts temporarily out of use.”
As you can see, then, the ability to accurately include (and annotate) schematic diagrams within reporting software is absolutely paramount.
Final Thoughts
Whether you’re looking to manage your water systems, kitchen ductwork networks or high-rise fire risk assessment, schematic diagrams play a pivotal part and simply can’t be overlooked.
Rather than having your diagrams in physical form, and stored in fusty, old binders, it’s both safer and more practical to have them stored in the cloud in a centralised data hub like ours.
To find out more about Rugged Data, and how we can help with the management of your schematics, get in touch today. We’d love to hear from you.
