Viewing previous inspection results with Collector and barcode scanning?

[JosephRyan]

Hi,

New to Collector and currently researching it as a potential solution for routine utility infrastructure inspections. I haven't seen anything yet in the documentation, but curious if it is capable of recalling/displaying previous inspection reports while an inspector is using the app in the field. For example, if a field inspector is checking water valves, it will be essential for the inspector to not only record existing conditions, but to know if there were any conditions flagged during previous inspections that they would need to be aware of and update the status. I believe the current inspection database format is Access and hopefully that could be reformatted to be compatible with Collector if necessary. Again, I'm still in the preliminary stages of this, but before proceeding further I'd like to confirm this functional requirement since it would be a deal breaker for the client. Also wondering if it's possible to integrate a barcode scanner with Collector.

Thank you

[Kylie · Accepted solution]

Hi Joseph, and welcome to Collector

Yes, if you have configured your data so that there are related inspections that are maintained as separate records, in Collector you can view the older inspections. You'd want to follow the information about setting up your data to record current status and keep historical records (Design your layer—Collector for ArcGIS | Documentation). Then, when inspecting, your field workers would add a related report to record their inspection findings (Inspect—Collector for ArcGIS | Documentation). If you already have inspections, they'd be available to the user in the Related section (mentioned in step 3 of that doc on Inspect). 

What are you looking to do with the barcode scanner? In Collector, you can use a barcode to populate a field in the form being filled out (Fill out forms—Collector for ArcGIS | Documentation). You can also use one to find a feature you are interested in working with. 

[JosephRyan]

Hi Kylie, many thanks for the reply, this looks to be quite helpful. Regarding the barcode scanner, apparently some of the utility features have been barcoded so it would be the latter case of finding feature records with barcode scanning. Regards, Joe