App configuration: Data collection

Data collection sets the organisation-wide floor for which wizard modules and report sections can ever appear, which sections every survey must have filled in before it can be finalised, and what a surveyor sees on a sealed record’s on-site summary screen.

What it is

Four checklists, in order: Data collection modules (Survey Details, EPC, Weather & Orientation, Soil & Drainage, External Analysis, Room Analysis, Psychrometrics, Condensation & U-value, HHSRS Scoring, Floor Plan, Scope of Works & Costs); Report sections (the report’s own building blocks — Legal Disclaimer, Scope of Survey, Definitions, and the rest); Required before finalising, the sections a survey must have filled in before it can be finalised; and Sealed-record overview (field app), which controls only the read-only summary screen a surveyor sees after finalising, separate from the editing wizard.

Required before finalising offers every data collection module except Survey Details (which is always filled in) and Scott Schedule, plus Executive Summary and Final Sign-Off. Only sections shown in the two lists above can be ticked, and hiding a section unticks it. A section counts as filled in once it holds something, for example at least one room for Room Analysis, a reading for Psychrometrics, or a signature for Final Sign-Off.

How to do it

1. Open Settings → App configuration → Data collection.
2. Uncheck a module or report section to remove it from every hazard type at once — this is an org-wide floor, not a per-hazard decision.
3. Tick a section under Required before finalising to stop any survey being finalised while that section is empty.
4. Uncheck a row under Sealed-record overview to hide that section from the on-site summary screen only — the portal’s own Evidence detail view always shows staff the complete sealed record regardless.
5. Click Save changes on the App configuration card once you’re happy with every tab’s changes.

How it integrates

This tab is the floor every hazard type’s own configuration (the Hazards tab) sits beneath: unchecking a module or report section here removes it for every hazard type, and no per-hazard or per-person setting can ever add it back — the Hazards tab renders anything hidden here as unavailable rather than pretending it can still be toggled. Client Instructions was removed from the field app platform-wide and replaced by case notes on the work order, so it no longer appears in this list at all. Two sealed-overview rows (Floor Plan and one legacy Soil & Drainage id) have no overview counterpart in the current field app build, so toggling them has no visible effect — they’re left in for a consistent list rather than a second, subtly different set.

Required sections apply to every survey your organisation performs. A section only counts for survey types that have it, so an asbestos survey is never held up by Weather & Orientation, and a section your Hazards tab removes from a survey type isn’t required for it. Surveyors see each required section marked Required on the survey dashboard, amber while it’s empty and green once it’s filled in. If they tap Generate Report with one still empty, the field app names it and the survey stays a draft.

The server makes the same check whenever a survey is finalised, so the list applies from the moment you save, including surveys already in progress and surveyors on an older version of the field app. A survey that was already open when you saved shows the new Required marks once it’s reopened; until then, the field app shows the server’s message naming the empty sections. Scoped overrides for a person, contractor or work order can’t change the list or hide a required section. A contractor-performed survey follows the contractor organisation’s own list, as it does for the rest of its app configuration.

Common problems

• A section is hidden and the Hazards tab won’t let me turn it back on for one hazard type. That’s by design — this tab is the org-wide floor; a narrower scope can only remove further, never restore.
• I unchecked a sealed-overview row and staff in the portal still see it. That’s expected — this only affects the field app’s own on-site summary screen, never the portal’s Evidence detail view.
• A section I want to require isn’t in the Required before finalising list. It’s hidden in one of the two lists above. Show it there first.
• A surveyor says Generate Report does nothing. If they’re on an older version of the field app, a required section is probably still empty: the server refuses to finalise, but older versions don’t say why. Ask them to update the app, which names the missing sections.
• The disclaimer still shows even though I hid “Legal Disclaimer” in Report sections. The disclaimer also has its own dedicated on/off switch on the Survey content tab — both need to agree for it to disappear entirely.