Testing and inspection business operating system

An accredited field testing and inspection business, such as floor slip-resistance testing or materials and building compliance inspections, sends technicians to client sites across several regions and promises a signed report within a day of testing. Enquiries come by phone, email and the website, quotes are typed by hand, and the technician calendar lives in one person's head. Results are written up after the site visit, the technical check and signatory sign-off wait for whoever is free, and the turnaround promise slips without anyone noticing until the client calls. Calibration due dates sit in a spreadsheet, retest-cycle clients are only remembered when they ring, legal and panel work runs on separate deadlines, and audit evidence for the accreditation body is assembled in a rush before each assessment.

An illustrative operating system for a testing and inspection business, with views for the bookings coordinator, field technicians, report signatories, the quality manager and the director.

• Enquiry to quote to booking: website, phone, email and retest enquiries on one board. The AI prices each quote from the rate card with the next free day in the right region; larger quotes need the director. Accepted quotes are booked straight onto the schedule.
• Technician schedule by region: the week by technician across Region A, B and C, with clash detection, travel flags for out-of-region work, equipment check and proficiency testing blocks, and client notices drafted for approval when a booking moves.
• Test capture to issued report: results captured on a tablet on site against in-calibration equipment only, a draft report generated from the results, method version and equipment register, then technical check, signature by an authorised signatory and issue. A live 24-hour clock runs from the end of testing to issue, with warnings before turnaround is missed.
• Equipment calibration register: every instrument by region with calibration due dates, daily checks and slider replacement. Out of calibration means out of service automatically. Calibration bookings go to the calibration supplier and certificates are filed against the instrument.
• Client retest reminders: aged care, shopping centres, councils and strata on their own retest cycles. Issuing a report sets the next retest, and the AI drafts reminders for approval when they fall due, which become new enquiries.
• Expert witness and legal matters: conflict check against current clients, director acceptance, site test, expert report and court deadlines, hours logged against the matter, and covering letters drafted for the signatory. The opinion stays the signatory's own.
• Government and panel work orders: panel contracts with schedules of rates and renewal dates, work orders with purchase order numbers and service levels, scheduled into the same report flow and invoiced against the order.
• Accreditation document control and audit actions: controlled methods and procedures with versions and review dates, actions from internal audits, accreditation body assessments, proficiency testing and complaints with root cause and closure, and a staff authorisation matrix by method.
• Sales, lead to cash: issued reports create a draft invoice in the accounting system for approval, panel invoices quote the client order, payments are matched from the bank feed and overdue reminders go to the director.
• Staff: roster by region, leave and shift swaps, timesheets to payroll, licences and site checks such as working with vulnerable people for aged care sites, and a new technician onboarding checklist through to method authorisation.
• Purchasing: slider sets, reference plates, PPE and field kit from suggested order through director approval, purchase order to Supplier A to F, goods received with shortages, and the supplier bill matched as a draft in the accounting system.
• Guardrails: nothing goes to a client, court, panel or supplier without a person approving it; no report is signed before the technical check passes; every decision is logged with the role and time.