Inspecting rail infrastructure networks & performing asset maintenance

Inspection challenges before Fulcrum

Paper-based inspections brought all the usual headaches, including the lag waiting for the results to arrive in the office, the need to get the information manually transcribed into our maintenance management system, complicated further by the need to match up photos captured on digital camera.

Spreadsheets were sometimes extremely complicated and subject to structure tampering by contractors. The result would be a lot of work to actually realise value from the information.

The Windows Mobile devices required docking in the office for synchronizing and were not necessarily intuitive. The requirement to dock them in the office to get data off them meant days or weeks of data collection was always susceptible to being lost whilst out of the office.

Streamlining VicTrack’s field inspections

A combination of demonstrated benefits of Fulcrum and the associated cool factor that comes from being able to use a device like a smartphone or tablet, has meant that people want to use Fulcrum over the older, traditional alternatives.

• Allowing us to code inspection checklists with pre-defined values used in our maintenance management system means that importing the recorded information into the system is now a lot more straight forward.
• Auto GPS logging of records has removed the need for a separate device, eliminating the risk of incorrect recording of location and risks associated with transcribing and sometimes transcoding that information.
• Collaborative development of forms between admins and field staff means that all parties have a real stake in the success of the application, leaving minimal risk of the software not being adopted for use.
• The ability for issues to be recorded and sent through in a structured report format to managers whilst out on site has significantly reduced the lag associated with addressing issues.
• Visibility rules and set required field options dynamically based on responses means that we are now able to design more intuitive and intelligent forms and can ensure inspectors complete them.

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Fulcrum is encouraging us to think of more creative ways of doing what we do

The introduction of GPS tracked video would have been perceived as something requiring expensive hardware and custom developed inspection software. Now it’s a reality that we can work with.

The automated capturing of GPS location is helping us to realize new benefits to having location data stored in our system. We have closer integration with our GIS system, plan future works more efficiently, and conduct more creative, spatially aware analysis of information.

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