A project's Test Reports hold the reports of every test made on its welds: NDE, pressure tests, PWHT, hardness, PMI and the like. A test report has a number and a revision, and is cited wherever a result is entered, so each weld shows which report its result came from.

There are two ways to add a test report:

• Upload it. Add a report made outside WeldTrace, for example a PDF from the testing contractor, with its number, date and revision (Step 2). Many can be imported from a spreadsheet and their files uploaded together.
• Write it in Report Writer. Fill in a report from one of the account's templates, then review and approve it in WeldTrace. On approval the report is printed to PDF and added to the project's test reports.

A Report Writer report can do more than record the test. When its table is filled from an NDE request, a pressure test pack or a PWHT pack, approving the report enters the results in that request or pack, as "Enter Results" does. Each weld gets its result, the test date and the report as its test report. A pressure test or PWHT pack also takes its details, such as the test times, pressures, witness and comments, and is completed once every weld has a result. So the report is written once and the results never have to be typed twice.

Steps 3 to 10 follow a Pressure Test Report from a pressure test pack. Steps 11 and 12 show the same for a PWHT pack, and Steps 13 and 14 for an NDE request.

The starter templates "Pressure Test Report" and "PWHT Record" are set up to fill their rows from a pack and write the results back. The NDE starters can be set up in the same way, with the NDE method and the result column chosen in the template designer (see the article "Report Writer: create a new template"). Report Writer is available on the Projects, Projects +, Projects ++ and Enterprise plans.

Step 1 - The Test Reports list

Open the project and click "Test Reports".

1. "In Report Writer" lists the project's Report Writer reports that are not approved yet, with their status and who last changed them. Click "Open" to continue one;
2. "Report Writer" opens the project's Report Writer page, to write a report from a template (see Step 3);
3. "Add Report" adds one test report with its file (see Step 2);
4. "Import as CSV File" adds many test reports at once from a spreadsheet: report number, title, date, revision and comments;
5. "Bulk File Upload" adds the files of reports already listed, up to 50 PDFs at a time. Name each file with the report number and revision, for example RT-104_0.pdf;
6. "Export" downloads the list as a spreadsheet, or the data of the reports made from one Report Writer template;
7. The arrow shows the welds whose results cite this report;
8. A "Report Writer" badge marks a report written and approved in Report Writer. Click it to open the report and its history;
9. Click the paperclip to view the report's file.

Step 2 - Add a test report

Click "Add Report" to add a report made outside WeldTrace.

1. The report number, for example the contractor's report number. A number and revision can be used only once in the project;
2. A title, shown in the list;
3. The date of the report;
4. The revision. A new revision of a report keeps the same number;
5. Upload the report's file, usually a PDF;
6. Comments, if any;
7. Click "Save". The report can now be picked when results are entered in an NDE request, a pressure test pack or a PWHT pack.

Step 3 - Start a report in Report Writer

On the Test Reports list, click "Report Writer".

1. Choose the template, here "Pressure Test Report". Only approved templates are listed, with their revision;
2. Click "New report". The report opens as a draft;
3. It is numbered from the template's prefix, here PTR-0001, and listed here and under "In Report Writer" until it is approved.

Step 4 - Fill the rows from a pack

The table "Welds and components tested" takes its rows from a pressure test pack of the project.

1. Choose the pack, here PTP-2. The project's packs are listed, newest first;
2. Click "Fill rows". The table is filled with the pack's rows;
3. One row for each weld, with its tag;
4. One row for each component in the pack, such as a flanged joint or a valve;
5. The result of each row: Passed or Failed. A row left as "Not tested" writes nothing. The test date follows the report's Test Date until it is changed.

A failed weld is locked and gets a repair weld when the report is approved, as in the pack's "Enter Results".

Step 5 - Record the test

Fill in the details of the test. Numbers are shown in the project's units, here psig and °F.

1. The Test Date, written to each weld as its test date;
2. The pressures, in the project's pressure unit;
3. The fields of the Test record section are written to the pack when the report is approved, as "Enter Results" would record them;
4. The start and end of the test, with the time;
5. The pressure at the start and at the end of the hold, followed by the ambient temperatures and the gauge or recorder serial numbers;
6. The equipment used, picked from the account's equipment library. Several can be picked.

The Readings table, between the details and the welds, records the pressure and temperature during the hold. It is printed with the report.

Step 6 - Attach external reports and images

1. Observations, written to the pack as its comments;
2. Who witnessed the test: a name, or a project user picked from the list. A pressure test report cannot be submitted without a witness;
3. The attachments: up to 3 PDFs or images per report, for example the pressure chart and a photo of the gauge. Click a file's name to open it, or the cross to remove it;
4. Click "Add PDF or image" to attach files. Each file must be within the size your plan allows for a file and the account's storage left, and a PDF must not be password protected.

Sign the report in the Sign-off section, then click "Save draft" or "Submit for approval". A project user with edit access then approves it; there is no separate review step. The approver can click "Edit" to correct the report first, and after "Save changes" it stays submitted, ready for approval (see the article "Report Writer: adapt a starter template", Step 16).

Step 7 - Approve the report

Once the report is submitted, click "Approve". Before anything is written, the approval shows what it will write.

1. The test, the number of welds and components, their results, the test date and the report;
2. The pack the report writes to, whether it will be completed, and how many of its details are filled in from the report;
3. The welds and components and their results. "Already recorded" lists those that already have the same result: this report is added to them;
4. Add a comment if you like. It is kept in the report's history;
5. Click "Approve".

Nothing is overwritten. When a weld already has a different result, a weld is not in the pack, the pack is already completed, or a pack detail is already set to something else, the approval stops and lists what to correct. Edit the report or return it to draft, or correct the pack, then approve again.

Step 8 - The approved report

1. The report is approved and locked. To change it later, click "Revise": the new revision is approved in the same way;
2. Click "PDF" to download the printed report;
3. The results and this report were added to the welds and components;
4. The pack was completed, with its overall result;
5. Click "Show welds" to see each weld and component written to.

The report is now in the project's Test Reports with a "Report Writer" badge (Step 1).

Step 9 - The printed report

The report is printed with the project's header and footer.

1. The attachments are listed in the report, with their page counts;
2. The attachments follow the report's own pages, in order: a PDF page by page, an image on a page of its own;
3. Each attached page is stamped with the report number, its revision and "Attachment n of N".

Step 10 - The pressure test pack

Open the pack from "Pressure Test". There is nothing left to enter.

1. The pack is completed;
2. The report is cited as the pack's test report;
3. The pack's result, with the test record from the report: start and end, pressures, temperatures, gauges, witness and comments;
4. Each weld's result. The components' results are in the Components list below.

The pack's "Enter Results" is still there for packs tested without a Report Writer report. A pack partly tested by one report stays in progress, and a second report can take the remaining rows.

Step 11 - A PWHT record

The "PWHT Record" template works in the same way with a PWHT pack. Choose the pack above the "Joints treated" table, click "Fill rows", and record the cycle: procedure, date, heating and cooling rates, soak temperature and time, chart number and thermocouples.

1. On approval the PWHT pack is completed, with its result;
2. The rows came from the PWHT pack PWHTP-1, one per weld;
3. The result of each weld: Acceptable or Rejected, as in the pack's "Enter Results".

The Comments and Equipment fields are written to the pack too.

Step 12 - The PWHT pack

1. The pack is completed;
2. The overall result, with the date it was completed;
3. The report is cited under Reports;
4. Each weld's result.

Step 13 - An NDE report

An NDE report template, for example the Radiographic Test (RT) Report, can take its rows from an NDE request (a test pack). The template names the NDE method and the column that holds each weld's result. Defects are picked for each failed weld.

1. The report's method and the NDE request its rows came from;
2. On approval each weld got its result, the test date and its Weld Test Ref, and this report as its test report;
3. A repair weld was created for the failed weld, as the project allows repairs;
4. The failed welds, with their defects, then the passed welds.

Step 14 - The NDE request

Open the NDE request from "Test Packs".

1. "Enter Results" is still there for results from reports made outside Report Writer. For the welds in this report, nothing is left to enter;
2. Each weld's status follows the results written by the report;
3. Expand a weld to see its result for each method, with the date and the test report.

Read the next article: "Report Writer".