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24www.cadc.caFallWinter2013featurebeused.Ihaveknowninspectionstobetranscribedfromarecordingmadethroughouttheinspection.Thismayseemtobeconvenientfortheinspectioncrewbutalsoposestoomanychancesforerrorsmissedinformationandmisunderstandingsduringthetranscriptionprocess.Alsothereisnothingtopresenttotheclientuponcompletionoftheinspectionandinmyexperienceclientsgenerallywantthereportalmostimmediately.Whenmoresensorsarebeingusedonagivenprojectdigitaldataentryandmanagementisabouttheonlywaytohandlealloftheinputsandstillmovetheinspectionalongatareasonablerate.Wherethiscanbeautomatedsomuchthebetterbuthumaninterfaceisalwaysneededforqualitycontrolandtoadjustoraltertheinspectiontocaptureanomaliesorprovidemoredetailwhenwarranted.Agoodstartingplaceisasimplespreadsheetorwordprocessingprogramthatusesatemplatefordataentry.Asmentionedautomationisgreatandtheinternetisfullofusefulroutinesthatcanbeusedtoautomatetimestampsorloggingofserialdatainputsintospreadsheetsorwordprocessingdocuments.Templatesareverysimpletosetupwithrowsandcolumnsforspecificdataentryintoatableandtheygiveaprofessionalappearancethroughtheuseofcompanylogosfreezethetoptitlerowsandnecessarycolumnssoyoudontlosetrackofwhichcolumntousefordataentry.Typingintheobservationnotescertainlykeepsthetextlegibleandthespellcheckfunctionalityinmostwordprocessingandspreadsheetprogramshelpstheinspectorgenerateapresentablereportalmostimmediately.Whenthedataneedstobesortedorfilteredaccordingtomultiplecriteriasuchasthelevelofdefectlocationortypeofdefectitmaybetimetotakethenextsteptoanactualdatabaseprogram.Whiletherearespecializeddatabasesystemsthataregearedfortheoffshoreindustryandbridgeinventoriestheexpenseofthesesystemsandthetechnicalsavvyneededtoproperlyusethesesystemsisonlywarrantedbythosecompaniesspecializinginthoseservices.Usingoff-the-shelfgenericdatabasesoftwareformscanbereadilydevelopedtoautomaticallyenterrepetitivedatalogfilenamesofphotographsperforminteractivefunctionswithexternalsensorsusingprogrammedgraphicalbuttonsandtocheckforcompletedataentrypriortomovingontothenextblankrecord.AtruedatabasetiestogethermultipletablesofinformationthatDatetimelocationdescriptionthosearethebasiccomponentsthatneedtobedocumentedalongwitheveryobservationphotographorsensorreading.