InfoTown™
Priya's journey · Assurance · Lesson 5

Fixed, but nobody wrote it down

Before you start

In the story

Fixed by lunch. Investigated for a fortnight.

Back to the story

The right way

That morning

Site spots the wrong opening and stops. The defect is logged that morning: what, where, with photos.

Agreed, done, drawn

The fix is agreed with the designer in writing before anyone picks up a drill. Then it's done, inspected, and the drawing is revised to show it.

Closed

The log is closed with its evidence: the agreement, the inspection and the new revision. At final inspection the Clerk of Works reads it and moves on.

"Sorted"A patch nobody can explain, and a certificate held for a fortnight.
Logged, agreed, closedA fix with its evidence, and a drawing that matches.
Think like Priya

The fix is only half the job. Who agreed it, what changed, and does the drawing say so now? Close it with evidence, not with "sorted".

Continue Priya's journey

Story 6: The dress rehearsal

Priya books a rehearsal four months before the real audit. The project keeps moving it.
The right way, explained

The right way, explained

When a street is dug up and relaid differently, the town map gets redrawn. Otherwise the next person to dig there is working from a story that stopped being true.

If you're the site manager

If you're the site manager

Fix fast, but log first. Ten minutes of photos and a note saves a fortnight of cores. And nothing permanent changes without the designer saying yes, in writing.

In the town See it in the town: fixed by lunch. So why the fortnight?

Priya's view: a fix is a new parcel. It goes back through the checkpoints like any other before the map is redrawn.

Not working in the CDE. Your team works in its own system, and the four checkpoints happen there. Approved, the parcel crosses the hoarding into the CDE, and Goods In checks it at the gate: is it labelled right, in the right format, going to the right place? Only then does it reach the shared table. Your project decides which way it works. Either way, the four checkpoints still happen.

Four checkpoints between the Design System and the shared table A road runs from the Design System to the shared table in the Site Office. Along it are four checkpoint booths: originate, check, review and approve, each with a person and a barrier. A parcel stops at each one. Above the road hangs a noticeboard called the rulebook: the project's standard and step-by-step procedures. A padlock on the Site Office asks who can see it. A hoarding marks where the CDE begins: just past the approve booth, with a fifth check, Goods In, at its gate; or, when the team works inside the CDE, around the whole road. DESIGN SYSTEM SHARED TABLE in the Site Office: the CDE Who can see it? THE RULEBOOK 1. Who checks what2. What "right" looks like3. Who can approve it4. Who can see it THE CDE 5 GOODS IN labelled right? right format? going to the right place? Can it come in? THE CDE The CDE checks the label as you save your team's room in the CDE 1 ORIGINATE2 CHECK3 REVIEW4 APPROVE Is it finished?Is it made properly?Does it do the job?Can it be shared?
Pick a checkpointOn the road out

Originate

On the drawing
IM calls it
Watch out for

This is a Non-Conformance Report!

What went wrong, who agreed the fix, and the evidence that closed it, with the drawing changed to match.

Sam's Heads Up Not every fix needs the designer

InfoTown good practice: A change to the design goes back through the checkpoints.

On your job: Some fixes are like for like and change nothing on the drawing. Fine, as long as someone decides that, and writes down who.

For the audit What the auditor will ask
  • Show me your open and closed non-conformances, and the evidence behind one fix.
  • How do you make sure the drawings change when the work does?
For the audit What good evidence looks like
  • A log of each defect: photos, the cause, the designer's agreement, the inspection, the revised drawing and the date it closed.
  • Revised drawings that match the fixes in the log.
From the standard
ISO 19650 When the design changes

Non-conformance reports belong to your quality system, not to ISO 19650. ISO 19650's part is the change: a revised design travels the same route as any other information, checked and shared through the CDE.

Based on the ISO 19650 series: the ideas come from the standard; the plain-English wording, examples and advice are InfoTown's. ISO 19650 is © ISO and BSI. You'll hear the same language across the industry. Read more for free in the Information Management Initiative (IMI) Framework guidance from BSI and nima. For the full requirements, use the standard itself.