INTRODUCTION 

The DigTix "Follow Ups" system provides a way to create and manage work orders after the locate request has been completed. Some examples of follow ups include, but are not limited to:

• Utility Locate Audits: Evaluation of the pre-excavation locate request by the locator.
• Critical Asset Patrol: The patrol and inspection of critical assets during and after excavation. Also known as as "Watch and Protect".
• Adverse Excavator Patrol: The patrol and inspection of excavation performed by contractors which have demonstrated subpar safety practices.

Implementing follow ups such as the examples listed above can be paramount to organizations' damage prevention efforts and achieving safety goals.

As of v2.23, DigTix provides the ability to define many different follow up types and trigger the appropriate follow up workflows during and after the locate request is performed.

FOLLOW UP TYPES

The first step in leveraging follow ups within DigTix is to define what types of follow ups your organization will perform. Defining follow up types can be done in the "Follow-Up Types" section of the Administration page. This section lists the follow up types which are currently defined and allows DigTix administrators to create, modify, or remove follow up types.

Figure 1: "Follow-Up Types" Administration

Creating a new follow up requires a few basic pieces of information, listed below.

• Name: The name of the follow up type. This must be unique across all follow up types.
• Abbreviation: A short name identifying the follow up type. This abbreviation is used in generating the ID of the follow up e.g. "AUDIT-XXXXXXXX-XXX" and must be unique across all follow up types.
• Description: A more detailed description of the follow up types.
• Follow Up Statuses: The statuses in which follow ups of this type may be placed in. These operate very similarly to Ticket Statuses and Incident Statuses.
  • It is possible to require certain conditions to be met in order for the status to be applied to the follow up. For example, a status with "Attachment Required" may only be applied to follow ups with at least one attachment.
  • Certain statuses may be limited for use by non-field i.e. office personnel.
  • "Unassigned", "Pending", and "Cancelled" are required statuses for all follow up types.

Figure 2: Defining a Follow-Up Type and Statuses

TRIGGERING FOLLOW UPS

Now that your follow up types are defined, DigTix users are able to trigger follow ups from received locate requests! Provided, of course, that they have the permission to do so (see "Permissions" section below for more information). Follow ups may be triggered individually via the locate request window by clicking on the appropriate button(s) in the follow ups section of the "Service" tab.

Figure 3: Triggering Follow-Ups from the Locate Request Window

When multiple locate requests warrant follow ups, follow ups may be created in bulk by selecting the appropriate locate requests and clicking on the bulk update tool. From there, select which follow up you'd like to create for the selected locate requests and click the "Submit" button.

Figure 4: Triggering Follow-Ups in Bulk

Follow ups are initially not assigned to a user, but they can be assigned and completed via the Follow-Ups page, detailed in the next section.

Within the Locates grid, the "Follow Ups" column lists the types of follow ups exist for each locate request. This can be used to keep track and manage what follow up(s) have been triggered for each locate request. This column can be filtered, sorted, hidden, shown, or moved, just like any other DigTix column.

Figure 5: "Follow Ups" Column Lists the Types Triggered for Locate Requests

FOLLOW UPS PAGE

Follow ups may be viewed, managed, and completed via the "Follow-Ups" option in the DigTix main menu. Selecting the appropriate follow up type from the menu items will load the follow up page for the selected follow up type.

Figure 6: Accessing Follow Ups Page via Main Menu

The follow ups page is very similar to the Locates and Incidents pages. An interactive grid lists the follow ups in the top half of the page while a map displays the geographic location of each follow up. A control panel on the left side of the page provides various convenience functions and data visualization options.

Many of the same capabilities available for Locates and Incidents are available for follow ups:

• Grid column toggling, filtering, sorting, and re-ordering.
• Quick filters.
• Custom views.
• Drag and drop assignment.
• View locate request information for which the follow up is being done for.
• Coloring follow ups by their current status.
• Overlaying of geospatial layers (i.e. infrastructures), fleet tracking, and map notes.
• Intelligent driving directions with optimized visit ordering.
• Map extent filtering.
• Excel export.
• Reviewing completed follow ups.
• And more!

Figure 7: Follow Ups Grid and Map

Opening a follow up will display the follow up window. This window provides the ability to prioritize, assign, annotate, and complete the follow up. Additionally, users can:

• Open the ticket which the follow up has been triggered for via the ">>" button to the right of the Ticket ID.
• Modify the scheduled start and end times for a follow up. When a new follow up is created, the follow up's scheduled start time defaults to the associated locate request's "work starts" time. The scheduled end time defaults to one hour after the scheduled start time.
• Take and attach photos with an integrated device camera.
• Drag and drop files from their local device to be attached to the follow up.
• Create and attach interactive diagrams (regular and map).
• Fill out and attach custom forms.
• View the history of all changes made to the follow up.
• View additional follow ups for the same locate request.
• Create an additional follow up for the same locate request.

Figure 8: Follow Ups Window

FOLLOW UP PERMISSIONS

All permissions within DigTix are managed through the "Group Permissions" section of the Administration page. By default, the ability to manage (create, edit, delete) follow up types is reserved for the "Administrator" permission group.

The ability to trigger follow ups from locate requests is granted or revoked by the "TicketFollowUps -> entity -> Create" action.

Figure 9: Triggering Follow Ups Permission

A new permission group "Damage Prevention Specialist" has been added to DigTix. The completion of triggered follow ups is granted to this permission group, by default. Adding a user to the "Damage Prevention Specialist" permission group will provide that user the appropriate permissions for viewing and completing triggered follow ups.

Figure 10: Damage Prevention Specialist Permission Group (New)

As with all permissions within DigTix, they may be modified from their default values by Administrators to provide their DigTix users the exact capabilities they need.