WeldTrace gives every account twelve starter templates for test reports and records (see the article "Report Writer"). They are drafts, so you can make them match your own procedures before anyone uses them. This article takes the Visual Inspection (VT) Report starter, changes a few fields, adds a section that only appears when the overall result is Fail, approves it, and then uses it in a project to record the final visual inspection of some welds.

To change templates you need Read/Write access to Reports; super users and account administrators always have it. Only super users and account administrators approve templates. Report Writer is available on the Projects, Projects +, Projects ++ and Enterprise plans.

Step 1 - Open a starter template

Open "Reports" in the main menu and click "Report Writer".

1. Choose a category to narrow the list, for example NDT;
2. The banner counts the starter templates still waiting to be reviewed;
3. Click the starter's name to open it, here "Visual Inspection (VT) Report";
4. To keep the starter as it is and work on a copy, click the copy icon instead. The copy opens as a new draft.

Step 2 - The template designer

The template opens in the designer. The form is built on the left and previewed on the right.

1. The template's name, revision and status. A starter is a draft at revision 0;
2. "Hide preview" closes the preview to give the designer the whole width;
3. "Delete" removes a template that has never been approved;
4. "Save" keeps your changes. It is greyed out until something has changed;
5. "Submit for approval" saves the template and sends it to an approver;
6. The template's details (see Step 3);
7. The sections of the form, each with its fields, in the order they print;
8. The preview shows the form as it will be filled in.

Step 3 - Change the template's details

The details describe the template and how its reports are numbered and printed.

1. The name, shown when a template is chosen for a new report and printed in the report's header;
2. The category, used to group templates in the list;
3. The prefix of report numbers, for example VT- gives VT-0001, VT-0002 and so on in each project;
4. A short description, shown under the name in the list;
5. The page orientation, portrait or landscape. Every report prints with the project's header and footer: logos, project number and page numbers;
6. "Unsaved changes" reminds you to save.

Step 4 - Change a field

Click a field to open it. Here the Acceptance standard becomes a dropdown, so the inspector picks the standard instead of typing it.

1. The arrow opens or closes the field;
2. The label shown on the form;
3. The type of field: text, long text, number, date, dropdown, checkbox, pass or fail, accept or reject, calculated, signature, photos, fixed text, acceptance criteria, or linked to WeldTrace;
4. Tick "Required" when the report cannot be submitted without it. A red asterisk then marks the field;
5. For a dropdown, the choices, one per line;
6. A help text, shown under the field when it is filled in;
7. The arrows move the field up or down, and the cross removes it.

Step 5 - Change the results table

A table section has columns instead of fields. In the Visual Inspection starter the rows are the welds being inspected: the Weld No. and Welder columns are linked to WeldTrace, and each row's Result is written to that weld's visual inspection when the report is approved.

1. The number of rows a new report starts with, for a table typed in. More rows can be added while filling it in;
2. Where the rows come from: typed in, filled from an NDE request, a pressure test pack or a PWHT pack (one row per weld), or "Rows from Welds for visual inspection", as here. Welds are not packaged for visual inspection, so the person filling in the report picks them: welds that are completed and not visually inspected yet, found by drawing, tag or weld number (Step 14);
3. The column written to the welds, here "Result", and the date it is written with, here the Date of inspection. The column takes only Passed, Failed or blank (not inspected), and a blank never stops the report being submitted;
4. The column's type, here "Linked to WeldTrace";
5. What the column links to. In a table you pick a drawing, tag, weld, WPS, welder, heat number, NDE request or pressure test pack;
6. The Welder column is linked to the welders in the same way;
7. Click "Add column" to add a column.

On templates in the NDT and Destructive / material tests categories, a Pass / Fail or Accept / Reject column in a table that does not write to the welds is saved as a dropdown of Passed and Failed, so reports use the same results as the welds. A dropdown column with your own choices keeps them, unless it is the column written to the welds.

Step 6 - Add a field and a section

To record an overall result, click "Add field" at the bottom of the Inspection details section, name the new field "Overall result" and make it a Pass / Fail field. Then click "Section of fields" at the bottom of the designer to add a section for repairs.

1. The section's title, printed above its fields;
2. How many fields sit side by side: one, two or three per row;
3. "Show" makes the section appear only when an earlier field has a given answer, here when the Overall result is Fail. Leave it at "always" for a section that is always shown;
4. The section's field, here a long text for the repair instructions. The arrows in the section's header move the whole section up or down, and the bin removes it.

Step 7 - The signature block

At the bottom of the designer, "Signatures" sets the approval block printed at the end of every report: the stamp and signature of the person who prepared the report and of the person who approved it, as on WPS and PQR. Every starter template has it switched on.

1. "Print the signature block" switches it on or off for this template;
2. The heading for the person who submits the report, "Prepared by" unless you change it, for example to "PT Level 2 Inspector";
3. The heading for the person who approves it, "Approved by" unless you change it;
4. "Stamp" and "Signature" print each person's own stamp and signature images, uploaded on their Stamp and Signature page. Untick one to print without it. Without an image, the name and date are printed;
5. The preview shows the Approval section as it appears on the report.

An approved template has no signature block until it is revised: click "Revise" on the template, switch on "Print the signature block", then submit and approve the new revision. Reports already filled in keep the revision they were made from.

Step 8 - Try the form in the preview

The preview shows the form exactly as it will be filled in, and you can try it. Nothing in the preview is saved.

1. "Clear" empties the preview;
2. Choose an answer to try a rule, here Fail;
3. The Repair section appears, because the Overall result is Fail.

Step 9 - Save and submit for approval

Click "Save", then "Submit for approval". A submitted template can no longer be changed.

1. The status is now Submitted;
2. An approver who finds something wrong clicks "Reject" and gives the reason. The template is then marked Rejected, and it can be corrected and submitted again;
3. Super users and account administrators see "Approve". Other users see that the template is waiting for an approver.

Step 10 - Approve the template

Click "Approve".

1. Add a comment if you like. It is kept in the approval history;
2. Click "Approve". The template can now be used in every project of the account.

Step 11 - The approved template

The approved revision is locked and in use.

1. The status is Approved;
2. To change the template later, click "Revise". The new revision is a draft, approved in the same way, while this revision stays in use;
3. Reports already filled in keep the revision they were made from.

Step 12 - Open Report Writer in a project

Open the project, click "Test Reports" and then "Report Writer".

1. The "Report Writer" button opens the project's Report Writer page.

Step 13 - Start a report

1. Choose the template. Only approved templates are listed, with their revision;
2. Click "New report". The report opens as a draft numbered from the template's prefix, here VT-0001.

Step 14 - Pick the welds

The Results table starts empty. Add the welds you are inspecting:

1. Search by Drawing No., Tag No. or Weld No.;
2. Type all or part of the number, or leave it empty to list every weld;
3. Click "Find welds". Only welds that are completed (they have a date welded) and not visually inspected yet are listed, and not those already on another visual inspection report that is not approved;
4. Tick the welds, or tick the heading to take them all. Clicking a row ticks it too;
5. The date each weld was welded, with its drawing, tag, item and welder;
6. Click "Add" to add a row for each weld ticked, with its weld number and welder filled in. Search again to add welds from another drawing or tag; a weld already in the table is not added twice. At most 200 welds are listed at a time: narrow the search to see the others.

Step 15 - Fill in the report

Fill in the form section by section.

1. The report number, revision and status, with the template and revision it was made from;
2. "Delete" removes a draft that has never been submitted;
3. "Save draft" keeps your work to finish later;
4. "Submit for approval" saves the report and sends it to the approver. Required fields must be filled in first;
5. Give the report a title, shown in the project's lists;
6. The Inspection details, as laid out in the template. The Acceptance standard is now a dropdown, and the Overall result is required. Here it is Fail, so the Repair section is shown;
7. The results table, one row per weld picked. The Result is Passed or Failed, or left blank (not inspected). For a failed weld, click "Defects" and tick the defects found, from the list of the weld's Inspection page (undercut, porosity and so on). Date Inspected is the Date of inspection unless you change it for a row. The icon at the end of a row copies its entries to the other rows; the cross removes the row;
8. The sign-off: each person's name or level and the date signed.

Step 16 - Submit the report for approval

Click "Submit for approval". A project user with edit access then approves it. There is no separate review step: the approver checks the report and can correct it before approving.

1. The status is now Submitted;
2. "Return to draft" sends the report back to whoever submitted it, with a comment;
3. "Edit" lets the approver correct the report. Click "Save changes" when done: the report stays Submitted, ready for approval, and is still prepared by the person who submitted it. "Cancel" leaves it unchanged. History shows the change as "Edited for approval";
4. "Approve" approves the report (Step 17).

Step 17 - Approve the report

Once the report is submitted, click "Approve". The approval lists what it will record on each weld: the failed welds with their defects, then the passed ones.

1. Add a comment if you like;
2. Click "Approve". The report is locked, printed to PDF with the project's header and footer, and listed in the project's test reports with a Report Writer badge. Each weld's final visual inspection is recorded at the same time, as its Inspection page records it: the result, the date inspected, this report as the VI Report and its number as the Inspection Report Ref. A failed weld gets its defects, with the penalty assigned to the welder on the row; it is locked and, when the project allows repairs, a repair weld is created (here SW-1002-R1). Nothing is overwritten: if a weld was inspected meanwhile with another result, or the date of inspection is before the weld was welded, the approval stops and lists what to correct. When the template has a signature block, the PDF ends with the stamps and signatures of the person who submitted the report and the person who approved it.

Read the next article: "Report Writer: create a new template".