Introduction

Electrical Inspector originally followed the model certificate formats given in BR7671:2001, ensuring that anyone familiar with Appendix 6 of that publication wiould have no difficulty in using the data entry screens.

The handheld program originally provided facilities for recording all the information required by BS7671...

• certificate details
• the names and addresses required for the Declarations
• Supply Characteristics and Particulars of the Installation
• distribution board and circuit details and their test results
• the Schedule of Inspections
• and Observations and Recommendations (for Periodic certificates)

Subsequently, the NICEIC 16th Edition certificates have been added to the handheld program as well as the variants of BS7671 used by other Organisations.

A further major enhancement updated the Electrical Inspector program which runs on a PC . It is now possible to edit certificates downloaded from a handheld - or, indeed, to enter all of a certificate's data on the PC alone!

A handheld can hold details of one or more certificates.

In the most efficient method of operation, all the data is entered into the handheld whilst still on site. The time required in the Office to download and print certificates then being measured in minutes.

Where the installation has not been visited before, a certificate can be created on the handheld without any preparatory work on the PC. The man in a van can therefore be directed to new sites without having to return to the Office.

Care has been taken to provide the user with aids to reduce the time taken to enter data.

One really neat facility allows the creation of a model of a distribution board's circuits, the model specifying the Wiring Type, Reference Method, conductor csa, BSEN and Type, Rating, Short Circuit capacity and Max Disconnection Time. When setting up a new circuit, tapping a single button sets all these values - any of which may then be amended, of course.

Electronic delivery of test certificates

A market-leading feature of Electrical Inspector, which will be copied to the other tap-it products in due course, is that every certificate is automatically saved as a PDF document. PDF is an international standard which is designed to allow electronic delivery of documents of all types. Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to display and print PDF documents and this is freely available from this page and also from Adobe Inc's web site www.adobe.com.

If you do not print test certificates before leaving site, impress your customer by emailing the certificate the very next day!

Sample Screens
To display sample screens, click the screen title below.

Sample Certificates
Samples of two certificates may be downloaded here: these are in PDF format. Acrobat Reader is required to display and print these documents: it can be downloaded using the link lower down this column.
Periodic (56 kbytes)
Minor Works (20 kbytes)

Features of Electrical Inspector

• Electrical Inspector consists of two modules, one running on a Windows PC and the other on a Palm OS handheld
• Data collected on a handheld may be downloaded to the PC by USB cable, by SD memory card or by email
• Before making a return visit to a site, a copy of that site's fixed information may be uploaded to the handheld, saving the re-entry of much information (Fixed information covers the site address and details, Supply Characteristics, Particulars at the Origin, Distribution boards and circuits
• The program prints fuse charts carrying the contractors' details
• Certificates may be created in PDF format for despatch by email and for storage in electronic format
• The Rule of Thumb may be set as required and is applied to the table of earth fault loop impedances
• Wherever possible, data is entered into the handheld using selectors, drop-down lists and tables of data - such as Observations and Report Reasons
• Printed certificates may carry the user's logo
• From Issue 7, it is possible to edit downloaded data using the PC module