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Questionnaires and Defect Monitoring

Defect monitoring allows technicians to record defects discovered during work and flag them so they remain visible on future jobs involving the same asset. This gives the workshop a running record of known issues and ensures nothing is overlooked across service visits.

Creating a Defect Questionnaire

Defect questionnaires are created from within a work order. They are available on work orders of the following types: PM Service, Repair, and Pre/Post Hire Inspection.

  1. Open the work order.
  2. Ensure a Repair Type is selected (not required for PM Service work orders).
  3. Scroll to the Questionnaires panel.
  4. Select the Add New Question dropdown. The options shown depend on the repair type and the questionnaires configured for it.
  5. Select Defects or General Monitoring as appropriate.
  6. Complete the questionnaire fields:
  7. Select any applicable Primary Defect and Secondary Defects from the predefined list.
  8. Tick Monitoring Active to flag this item for ongoing visibility.
  9. Enter a summary and any supporting notes.
  10. Attach any relevant photos or files.
  11. Save the questionnaire using the save tick.

Monitoring Active

When Monitoring Active is ticked, the defect appears on other work orders related to the same asset, giving the next technician who works on it visibility of the known issue. It also surfaces in the Special Monitoring panel on the Workshop Dashboard, giving supervisors and technicians a single place to see issues that need attention across the workshop. Only items related to assets managed by the loaded workshops appear there.

Untick Monitoring Active when the issue has been resolved and no longer needs to be tracked — the item then disappears from both the work order and the Special Monitoring panel.

Special Monitoring Panel

The Special Monitoring panel is one of the collapsible panels on the Workshop Dashboard. Expand it to see the current list of flagged items. Select an item to open the questionnaire where it was recorded.

Whether the panel is visible depends on your dashboard configuration. See Workshop Dashboard Configuration if the panel is not showing.

Other Questionnaire Types

In addition to defects, the questionnaires panel supports:

  • Inspections — Tyre Inspection, Brake Inspection, Oil Sampling
  • PM Service Check — manual recording of service checks and failures
  • Risk Assessment — carry out a risk assessment on an asset. See Risk Assessments.

Viewing Questionnaire History

Defect and General Monitoring questionnaires with Monitoring Active checked appear on related work orders for the same asset. Risk Assessment and Oil Sampling questionnaires are accessible from the asset's History panel under Risk Work Orders And Questionnaires and Oil Samples respectively.

Configuration

The questionnaires available on a work order depend on:

  • The Repair Type selected on the work order
  • The Asset Group Mapping for the asset's group
  • The questionnaires configured for that repair type

For PM Service work orders, all questionnaires are available unless the service has been removed.

Administrators can configure which questionnaires are available for which repair types and asset groups. See Repair Types.

Defect Tags can be configured to provide a predefined list of common defects, reducing manual entry and improving reporting consistency. These are managed in the Repair Types and Questionnaires configuration area.

Updated: August 2026 · Formbird FLEET 4.2.8