How do you document tickets?

[headcipher]

I was wondering what everyone does for ticket documentation.

Do you do sketches? Pics? Something else?

I would appreciate hearing all the different methods everyone uses.

By the way, I'm not looking for proprietary info, just what in general you have to do.

[locator007332]

I was wondering what everyone does for ticket documentation.

Do you do sketches? Pics? Something else?

I would appreciate hearing all the different methods everyone uses.

By the way, I'm not looking for proprietary info, just what in general you have to do.

USIC does screen shots of ticket text, screen shots of all prints with all pages used and of course, plp's of actual locate and address

[Dave72]

We always have a 'meet' , so the person signing for the locate has met the locator, and hopefully there's no problems there..
For paperwork, we give either a copy of the cable drawing, or we draw out our own.
Then we take photos of the locate.. thats our 'prime' evidence in the case of a hit/damage.
The photos are all stored on a network drive, arranged by Locate dispatch number.

[Mke]

This sounds weird, but we usually don't document any information on the tickets. No pictures, no sketches, no screen captures, no nothing. We are trusted enough (Knock on wood) that we don't have to prove our innosence. We are given the respect of knowing what has to be done, and doing as such. With that comes alot of responsibility. For example, on a typical one-call request, we will clear for our utilities, but advise the excavator of any other utilities that are in or near the excavation area. In actual construction projects, we not only mark all of our utilities, but we facilitate all access for Public locators, as well as double check all marks in the proposed excavation area.

With that being said, we are thinking about using a camera that can Geotag the pictures, and taking some pictures of the excavation areas. This is a self imposed idea, and management could careless.

Mke

[beenthere]

that "trust" will fly right out the window when you get the $1 million dollar hit . . . .

[TheCableVine]

We still do it the old fashioned way. We have paper tickets that we draw a picture on.

[FiosKing]

all about good photos

[3phase]

It's true...good pics are the key to getting out of a damage or damning yourself. I've heard of contractors pulling and moving flags to get out of paying for what they hit. I snap away if I see a contractor digging prior to the locate. I'ts all about covering your butt out there. The blame game is not a game you want to play without proper documentation.

[dirt fisher]

Photos are inexpensive and are generally accepted as proof if there is a problem.

[headcipher]

How do you store the photos? Do they get attached to the ticket and stored by the ticket logging company, or a third party?

[daman1]

There's several billing programs available that allow you to attach as many pics as you want to the original ticket. It depends on what system you use to recieve and bill them.

[overspray]

Try Wintac pro. It is a all in one software program made for the field industry. You can run your entire business with it. It has dispatching, that you can add photos, drawings, and notes for each ticket, stores it all on a backup drive so when you get a locate at the same address in future your tech can pull the history and see all the info from the previous locate. The company will build the program any way you like for extra cost.

[TMO]

Pics, pics , and more pics. Our D.I.'s use the video feature on our cameras for high profile investigations quite a bit. Works well.
FYI , we do sketch , but the battle gets won by the pics and thier timestamps.

[Dave72]

Each of our locates has a unique ID#, so we store the pics on a network hd in subfolders with the same #.
I made a util that creates folders like C0001 to C1000 or whatnot.
Our dispatch database holds the searchable info on location and contractor attached to locateID.
We keep a ncr copy of the signed meet sheet in a cabinet.

So, on a hit.. we can find the location or contractor in the db.. which finds the locate #.. which then finds the copy of the
meet sheet (cabinet) and also the photos ( locators photo backup drive).

[HalfTracK]

We use a ticket manager: Polaris. Uploads our pics and lets us draw a detailed manifest.. kind of like paint but the programs own little version.