3. Run your first inspection loop
Create and manage templates
A template is the form your team fills in during an inspection. Good templates are the difference between a checklist and a system — they make every inspection consistent, capture exactly the right detail, and turn failures into action automatically. This guide shows you how to build one.
Last updated: August 2026
Before you start
Who can do this: building and editing templates requires a role with template management permissions (typically an administrator). Inspectors use the published templates you create.
It helps to have your existing paper or spreadsheet checklist on hand — building a template is often a matter of translating what you already do into a smarter digital form.
How templates fit together
A template has a simple shape:
- A template holds one or more sections.
- Each section holds questions.
- Each question has a response type — the kind of answer it expects.
Templates come in four kinds, so the right one is used in the right place:
| Kind | Used for |
|---|---|
| Asset | Standard inspections carried out against an asset |
| Audit | Audits, where failed answers raise flags |
| Incident | Incident report forms |
| SOP | Standard operating procedures executed from a task |
Create a template
Step 1: Open the template builder
- Go to Templates, or Admin → Templates to manage your organisation's full set.
- Choose to create a new template (or duplicate an existing one as a starting point).
Step 2: Name it and pick its kind
- Give the template a clear title and choose its kind (Asset, Audit, Incident, or SOP).
The short recording below walks the whole flow end to end — naming the template, turning on scoring, adding a section, adding a question, and choosing a response type:
Add sections and questions
- Add sections to group related questions — for example Exterior, Safety equipment, Operation. Sections keep long inspections organized and easy to follow.
- Add questions within each section, and write them as plain prompts the inspector will answer in the field.
- Reorder sections and questions so the form follows the natural path of the inspection.
Choose a response type
The response type decides what the inspector can enter. LambdaAssetCheck supports these built-in types:
| Response type | The inspector… |
|---|---|
| Text | Types a free-text answer |
| Number | Enters a number |
| Multiple choice | Picks one option (options can be colour-coded) |
| Checkbox | Picks several options |
| Date | Chooses a date |
| Media | Captures or uploads a photo |
| Location | Captures a location |
| Signature | Signs with a drawn or uploaded signature |
Reusable response types
Answer sets you use again and again — such as Good / Fair / Poor — can be saved as response types under Admin → Templates → Response types, with their own options and colours. Reuse them across templates for consistency, and override options on an individual question when you need to.
Add conditional logic
Conditional logic keeps inspections short and relevant by showing questions only when they matter. Full setup: Question logic and answer actions.
- Set a rule so a question appears (or hides) based on an earlier answer — for example, "Describe the damage" only shows when "Any damage?" is answered Yes.
- Each rule checks one condition (equals, not equals, is one of, is blank, and similar). You can add more than one rule on a question; rules can also reference answers from other questions.
Set up scoring
Scoring turns an inspection into a measurable result. How points, weights, and percentages work: How inspection scoring works.
- Assign a score to answer options (for example, Good = 10, Fail = 0).
- LambdaAssetCheck totals the score and the maximum automatically as the inspection is conducted.
- Scores are always zero or higher, so your results stay clean and comparable.
Turn answers into action
This is what makes a template powerful. Mark specific answers as actionable, and choosing one during an inspection can automatically:
- raise a flag for the issue,
- create a work request or work order to fix it, and
- notify the people responsible.
Set this up per question and option in the builder. From then on, a failed check becomes tracked work the instant an inspector records it. See Question logic and answer actions, Work management, and Flags.
Publish and start using it
A draft is not available to inspectors until you publish it.
- Bind the type (asset templates). In the builder header, choose the Asset Type this form belongs to. Publish stays disabled until an asset type is selected. Inspectors then start from an asset of that type — they don't pick the form.
- Select Publish.
- Confirm it is live: go to Inspections → Start inspection, pick an asset of that type, and check that the published form opens. An asset whose type has no published template shows No template published and can't be started.
See Start, conduct, and complete an inspection.
Versions and access
- Versioning — templates are versioned as you change them, and you can compare two versions side by side to see exactly what changed.
- Access — scope a template to the groups or sites that should use it, so each team sees only the forms relevant to them.
Translate a template
If your team works in more than one language, translate a template's content — its title, sections, questions, and options — into each content language your organisation has enabled. Inspectors then see the form in their own language. Manage this from the template's translations screen.
Tips and best practices
- Start from a real checklist. Translate what your team already does rather than designing from scratch.
- Use sections generously. Short, themed sections are far easier to complete in the field than one long list.
- Colour your options. Green/amber/red answers make scanning a completed inspection instant.
- Wire up actionable answers early. The automatic flag-and-work flow is the biggest payoff — build it in from the start.
- Publish, then iterate. Use versioning to improve a template over time without losing its history.
Frequently asked questions
Will changing a template affect inspections already completed? No. Completed inspections keep the version of the template they were conducted with. Versioning preserves the history.
Can I reuse the same answer options across many templates? Yes — create a reusable response type with its options and colours, then use it on any question.
Why can't an inspector see my new template? It must be published. For asset templates, bind an asset type before you publish, then check Start inspection on an asset of that type. Also check the template's access scope — if it's limited to certain groups or sites, only those users will see it.
What's the difference between a template kind of Audit and Asset? Both are inspection forms; audits are the kind whose failed answers feed the flags workflow. Choose the kind that matches how you want results handled.
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