Twelve questions for any inspection software demo

Does it work offline, and what happens when two people sync?

Question one: put the device in airplane mode now, then run the demo. Ask before anything is shown, because a demo that runs on the office network proves nothing about a pipe rack. Watch whether forms open, whether readings save, whether photos attach and whether the app puts a limit on how long it can stay disconnected. A time limit is a real constraint on a long outage.

Question two: have two people edit the same record offline, then sync both. Ask what the system does with the collision. The bad answer is that the last one wins and the other edit is gone. A good answer records the conflict at the field level, shows both values, and lets someone with authority pick. Ask to see the conflict record, not a slide about it.

• Airplane mode on before the first screen, not after
• Readings, photos and forms all save without signal
• No time limit on staying disconnected, or a stated one you can live with
• Field-level conflict record on sync, with both values visible
• Resolution by a named person, recorded

Is the record built on equipment, or on jobs?

Question three: show me one vessel and everything ever recorded against it. Some systems are organized around jobs or projects, so each inspection is a folder and the equipment is a field inside it. That works for a contractor billing by the job. It fails the owner, because history is scattered across folders and the next inspection date has no single home.

Ask for the equipment hierarchy: site, unit, equipment, component, CML. Ask how a piping circuit is represented and how a CML carries its own reading series. Then ask what happens when the plant reorganizes a unit. If the answer involves re-keying equipment, the record is built on jobs.

Can it show the math and the standard behind it?

Question four: show me a corrosion rate, a remaining life and a next inspection date, and show me the formula and the code that produced each. A number on a screen with no formula behind it is exactly what an auditor will refuse. Ask which standard governs the interval, how short-term and long-term rates are chosen, and how the interval cap is applied. Ask for the calculation record, not a dashboard tile.

Question five: change a form without a developer. Add a field, make it required for one equipment class, and put it on a device. If the answer is a change request and a release date, then every workflow change you make for the next five years is a vendor project. Configuration should be a settings task done by your own administrator.

• Formula and code basis displayed beside every rate and date
• Short-term versus long-term rate selection explained and shown
• Interval cap applied and visible
• A field added and required in the demo, by the presenter, without code
• The changed form appearing on the device in the same session

Who did what, and who is allowed to?

Question six: change a reading, then show me the audit trail. Ask what it records: who, when, old value, new value, and from which device. Ask whether the trail itself can be edited or deleted by an administrator. A trail that can be altered is a log, not evidence. Ask how the system proves the trail has not been changed.

Question seven: show me the roles, and log me in with your identity provider. Access should be by role, with a small set of defaults that match how a plant works and the ability to define your own. Single sign-on should be standard, not a professional services line. Ask which identity providers are supported and whether deprovisioning a user in your directory removes their access.

• Old value, new value, user, time and device on every change
• Trail is append-only and its integrity can be demonstrated
• Default roles that match inspector, engineer, reviewer and administrator
• Custom roles without a vendor ticket
• OpenID Connect or equivalent single sign-on, with directory deprovisioning

Can you leave, and can you trust what the AI says?

Question eight: export everything. Ask for a full export of the register, the readings, the findings and the attachments in a format you can open without the vendor. Ask how long it takes, whether it is self-service, and whether it costs extra. A system you cannot leave is a system that sets its own renewal price.

Question nine: ask the assistant a question and make it show its source. Any feature described as AI should be able to point at the record it drew from, and it should not be able to create or change a record without a person approving it. Ask what happens when the assistant is wrong. For reference, intelliSPEC's assistant, Spectra, cites the source record for each answer and requires approval before creating or updating anything.

• Full export, self-service, in open formats, on a stated timescale
• Attachments and audit trail included in the export
• Every AI answer cites the record it came from
• No record is created or changed by AI without a human approval step
• A clear answer to what happens when the assistant is wrong

Does it talk to your instruments and produce your reports?

Question ten: connect a thickness gauge and take a reading into the form. Retyping gauge readings is the single largest source of transcription error in thickness data. Ask which gauge makes and models are supported, whether the connection is direct or through a separate export, and whether the reading arrives with its method and calibration reference.

Question eleven: produce the report we hand to the owner or the regulator. Bring a real example. Ask whether the format is configurable by your own team, whether it exports to PDF and to a workbook, and whether a report is stored as a record so that the version issued can be reproduced later. A report that lives only as a download is not part of the audit trail.

• Named gauge makes and models with a live connection in the demo
• Reading arrives with method, date and instrument identity
• Your report format, not the vendor's sample
• PDF and workbook export from the same data
• Issued reports stored as records with a version

What does it actually cost over five years?

Question twelve: give me the five-year number. Ask for the per-user price, the modules that cost extra, the implementation and migration services, the integration work, the training, and the price of the export you asked about in question eight. Ask how the price changes at renewal and what the terms say about it.

Then add your own side: the internal owner's time, the parallel cycle, and the cost of every configuration change that requires the vendor. The cheapest license is often the most expensive system once those lines are filled in.

• Per-user price and billing term stated in writing
• Every module that costs extra, named
• Implementation, migration and integration services priced
• Renewal terms and any price change clause
• Your own cost lines: owner time, parallel cycle, vendor-dependent changes