QEST Platform 5.7 Documentation
Applies to QESTLab

This article explains how to access and use QESTLab's report review mode that makes the process of report review, correction, signing and distribution very efficient.

Contents

Overview

QESTLab's Report Review Mode has been specially developed to make the process of reviewing reports efficient. The mode allows a reviewer to:

Move from one report to the next using a simple list.
Add comments, modify the distribution list and change the publishing medium without moving away from the report itself.
Sign and publish the report with a single click.
Bulk print, sign or publish all reports in the list with a single click.
Load the report's work order with a single click to make corrections.

QESTLab's Report Review Mode is intended to be used by project managers, report reviewers and signatories. A user will have access to Report Review if the QEST Administrator has assigned the user a Role with permissions to Report Review Mode as explained in Managing Roles. Actions within the mode are controlled by the same user rights that the traditional QESTLab Tests/Document search filter views use.

Enabling Report Review Mode

The Report Review Mode is accessed through the View menu of the QESTLab Client labelled Report Review.

If the user enabling the Report Review Mode has access to more than one laboratory, the user will see the Select Laboratory dialog the first time the Report Review Mode is enabled:

The Select Laboratory dialog window allows the user to:

Select the laboratory to show reports for, including an option of (all) laboratories that they have access to.
Set a laboratory as the Default laboratory for Report Review Mode.
Elect to launch Report Review Mode immediately when launching QESTLab.
Click OK to enter Report Review Mode or Cancel to go back to the traditional QESTLab tree view.

Users with access to only one laboratory will not see this dialog window. Instead, they will be taken straight to the Report Review Mode for the laboratory to which they have access.

Default Laboratory

Users with access to more than one laboratory are able to set a default laboratory for the Report Review Mode. Setting a laboratory as a default will mean the Select Laboratory dialog will not be shown in future when entering Report Review Mode.

It is possible to set (all) laboratories as the default.

Report Review at Login

Each user can elect to launch QESTLab in Report Review Mode upon logging into QESTLab. This setting is useful if report review is the user's primary responsibility in QESTLab.

The ability to enable this setting is available in the Select Laboratory dialog when Report Review Mode is initially launched. Users can also enable this setting in the QESTLab Tools menu under Options.

Report Review Mode

The Report Review Mode is pictured below and has been designed to be usable on devices with resolution as low as 1366 x 768, this is the pictured resolution. The window in Report Review Mode is made up for the following main elements, each explained in the sections below.

The Report List (left column) is made up of reports that require review and provides tools for undertaking bulk actions. The lower section of this column provides search filter(s) to return reports and the ability to load a work order for a report by using the Load Work Order feature.
The Report Panel (middle column) displays the report currently selected in the list and allows signing and publishing of the report.
The Report Details Panel (right column) allows the user to set options for the report to be published without moving away from viewing the report, as well as providing the options for printing and exporting the report to PDF.

Report List

Filtering for Reports

If filters have already been enabled for Report Review Mode, the first filter available in this mode's filter list will be selected and ran with its default criteria in order to populate the list of reports to review. Although the first filter is automatically selected, multiple filters can be available for selection in the Report Review Mode allowing users to use different filters. The filters used for Report Review Mode can differ from one organization to the next as these are configured by system administrators or Spectra QEST to meet the business processes and requirements of each organization.

Filter Availability

In order to edit or create filters to be available in Report Review Mode the Edit Data Filters/Exception Filters general right is required. User rights are set by system administrators.

The Data Filter's filter builder has a Report Review tab for allowing users to enable the filter for Report Review Mode and whether signed reports will be automatically unsigned in report review mode.

In order to make a filter available for use in the Report Review Mode, the Available in Report Review Mode checkbox should be checked in this tab.
In order to have reports automatically unsigned the Automatically Unsign Test Reports Signed on Previous Days checkbox should be checked in this tab for the desired filter. As an example, when this feature is enabled for a concrete review filter this feature will reduce the number of clicks required to review concrete test reports. Careful consideration should be taken when users enable this feature to ensure the filter does not return any signed test reports that should not be automatically unsigned. See the Unsigning Feature in Report Review Mode section below for more details on how this feature works.

In order to set a default Search Criteria that will run when the filter is selected in Report Review Mode, the filter's Search Criteria will need to be set, labelled and saved as Default:Default while in the traditional QESTLab view.

The example below shows the saved Default:Default search criteria set for a filter, now when this filter is selected in Report Review Mode it will automatically run a search with the Work Date Between set for the [Last 30 days].

Filter Considerations

Only filters appearing under the Tests/Documents node can be made available to the Report Review Mode. Care should be taken to ensure the filters used only return report objects. If desired, the friendly Spectra QEST Service Desk team is available to assist with the filter builder process for creating an appropriate filter.

Selecting Reports

Once a set of reports is present in the report list, clicking on a report will load it in the Report Panel and its related details will show in the Report Details panel. The report list can be navigated by using the mouse arrow to click on the desired report, by using the arrow keys on the keyboard to move from one report to the next, or by clicking the home/end key to move to the top or bottom of the list.

Report List Information

The text next to each report on the report list shows the project code followed by the report name and report number. The ordering of the list is controlled by the filter used to populate the list.

Reports shown in red and followed by an asterisk (*) are flagged as out of specification.

Unsigning Feature in Report Review Mode

If the Automatically Unsign Test Reports Signed on Previous Days option has been enabled for the filter being used, when selecting a report that has been signed on a previous day to be signed for the current date (with a minimum of six hours prior to the current time to allow for report review occurring late at night) will automatically unsign the report before displaying it to the user. This behavior accounts for compressive strength test reports that have been previously signed for earlier test results but now need to be re-signed for subsequent results being available. It will not be necessary to unsign the reports manually and wait for the report to redraw in the Report Review Mode as a result.

An example of QESTLab's traditional review for reports requiring a secondary review for new test data added to a report versus the Report Review Mode automatic unsigning feature is as follows:

QESTLab's traditional tree view

The concrete test report shown below has been signed and set to Read Only prior to the review of the October 3rd's test data. Since the report has been previously reviewed and signed for the earlier test data, the new compressive strength data for October 3rd is not yet visible to the report reviewer until the report is unsigned. The report reviewer will have to uncheck the Signed box to have the report refresh with the new test data.

Report Review Mode

Selecting this same report in the Report Review Mode using a filter enabled with the Automatically Unsign Test Reports Signed on Previous Days feature will immediately display the report as unsigned. The unsigning action takes place immediately upon loading the report and will display the new test data requiring review.

If the user has the signatory rights to sign/unsign reports the audit trail will record the unsigning action as occurring when the report is loaded by the user that selected the report.

If a filter does not have the Automatically Unsign Test Reports Signed on Previous Days feature enabled, users can unsign individual reports using the Unsign button described in the Report Panel section below.

Filter Considerations

Filters used in the Report Review Mode that have the Automatically Unsign Test Reports Signed on Previous Days feature enabled should only return reports that need to be signed or re-signed as a result of the automatic unsigning behavior described above.

Bulk Actions

The Report Review Mode allows the user to perform a number of actions on all of the reports in the list in bulk.

Sign All

If all of the reports in the list have been reviewed and corrected, the signing action can be completed in one step through the use of this button. Upon clicking the Sign All button, the following will occur:

The user will be asked whether to raise the issue number for all previously signed reports, the response will be applied to all reports.
The reports will all be loaded in turn and a progress bar will be shown for the bulk action.

Important

The signed reports will remain in the list unless the filter is refreshed.

Publish All

Intended to be used immediately following the Sign All action, this button will publish all of the reports in the list, one after the other, according to the selected Publishing Medium. If there is only one publishing medium available, then the batch publish process will start immediately after clicking the button. Similarly to the signing action, each report in the list will be refreshed and published in turn with a progress bar shown to the user.

Email Batch Publishing

It is recommended that the batch publishing operation is used with Construction Hive rather than Email publishing. Batch publishing with Email will send an email for each report in the list which may result in some recipients receiving many emails within a short time frame.

Print All

Intended to be used immediately following the Sign All action, this button will print all of the reports in the list, one after the other. Immediately after pressing the Print All button, the user will be asked to select a printer to print all reports to. Once a printer has been selected, the reports will be sent to the printer sequentially with a progress bar shown to the user.

Report Panel

The Report Panel shows the report selected in the list and allows the user to carry out a number of actions on the report.

Sign and Publish

In report review mode, the Sign and Publish actions can be performed with a single click, or be presented as two separate buttons, depending on the value of the Separate Sign and Publish in Report Review Mode system-level option .

System Administrator Access Required

The value of this option is set in the QEST Administrator Console under Options → Test Reports. System Administrator rights are required to set the value of this option.

The Sign and Publish button in the Report Panel will undertake both of these actions on the report at once if the user has the appropriate rights to perform both actions. Alternatively the Sign and Publish buttons will be unlocked if the user has appropriate rights. There will be no dialog presented to the user upon pressing these buttons, with the assumption that the values for the Distribution List and Publishing Medium are set correctly in the Report Details Panel.

When using the combined button, if the user accessing the Report Review Mode does not have rights to both sign and publish the test report that is selected, the button text will change to reflect the action that will be taken. The button will be labelled either Sign only, Publish only, or the button will be disabled if the user does not possess either right.

If the current report is signed users will still be able to Publish the report.

Unsign

The Unsign button in the Report Panel will appear when reviewing a signed report. This button will only be enabled if the current user has the appropriate rights to unsign the report.

Other Controls

The other controls on the Report Panel function identically to when a report is opened in QESTLab's traditional view.

Report Details Panel

The Report Details Panel allows the user to set all the necessary options and values in order to publish the report without the need to navigate elsewhere. Each section is described below.

User Comments

Moved from the Options tab of QESTLab's native reports. This text box allows users to set comments on these report types and makes use of the Report Comments list.

This element does not apply to (and is therefore disabled for) non-native and non-QESTLab test reports, namely the following:

External Test Reports
Forms
Daily Summary Field Report

Contact Addresses

Also moved from the Options tab of QESTLab's native reports and replaces the Distribution button on other report types. Recipients can be selected or deselected here and will be used when publishing the report via either Email or to Portal (Construction Hive).

Test Compliance

This section will only show if the Allow users to remove the compliance statement is enabled (set to True) in the QEST Administrator Console, a user with permissions to access the QEST Administrator Console can find this setting under Options → Test Reports.

Checking the box will allow the report's custom footer to suppress the compliance statement from the report if it is not needed.

Custom Configuration

The compliance statement functionality is paired with the custom report footers developed by Spectra QEST to allow special formatting of pass/fail information on report footers related to the compliance of the materials tested. This functionality is most often used in California, USA.

Save Button

The save button will be enabled if the user adds a comment, changes the distribution list or changes the test compliance value (where this is visible). Clicking the button will force the report to redraw and present the changed information.

Publishing Medium

The publishing medium will initially be set to the value defined in the Default Publishing Option in the QEST Administrator Console when the report view mode is first loaded. It is possible to change the publishing medium for the report being reviewed through this drop down. Navigating between reports will retain the last value selected for the publishing medium between reports.

Other Actions

The Other Actions available in the Report Details Panel allows the user to Print or Export to PDF for the currently loaded report. These two actions are only available via the QESTLab toolbar in the traditional view. The toolbar is not present in the Report Review Mode in order to maximize the available vertical space.

Corrections and Loading Work Orders

One of the biggest time saving features of QESTLab's Report Review Mode is the ability to load the work order with a single click for the current report being viewed. If it is discovered that a correction is required when viewing a report in the Report Details panel, clicking the Load Work Order button will:

Collapse the Report List vertically and replace this with a Load Report List button
Use the vertical space to show the structure of the work order of the report
Automatically expand the work order and select the parent document of the report

Example

As an example, the weather was found to be incorrect in the report below:

Pressing the Load Work Order button in this case will load the work order and show the bulk entry screen such that the relevant correction can be made.

Once corrected, the Load Report List button will reload the report list and reselect the same report such that the changes can be reviewed and the report subsequently signed and published.

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