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Where can I get the latest installer for IA-Desktop?
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Federal Inspectors: Please request the IA Desktop installer by emailing 5-Help and copying PHMSA Field Support.
State Inspectors: Coordinate with your organization's IT department. Depending on your organization's policy, actual installation of the software may need to be performed by IT staff.
Installers for state inspectors may be found here.
IA-Desktop will typically prompt on startup if there are pending updates.
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Where can I get the latest installer for IA-Mobile?
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Federal Inspectors: Please visit CompPortal on your DOT iPad. From there you should see a blue "IA Mobile" icon as an option to download.
State Inspectors: IA-Mobile installers for state inspectors may be found here.
IA-Mobile will prompt on the login screen if there are pending updates.
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What do I do if an IA Desktop update fails?
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IA-Desktop will typically prompt on startup if there are pending updates. Occasionally these updates can fail. This is typically a result of a connection failure during the update process
or an attempt to update from a deprecated version of the IA-Desktop software. When this happens, it is necessary to re-install the desktop client. The installer instructions can be found above.
In order to preserve any unsaved data that may exist on your machine, it is highly advised to re-install the software without first removing the old version.
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Can I do a mixed-system type inspection in IA?
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No. The IA question content is organized by system type.
A multi-system type inspection would have to be done as two separate inspections in IA.
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Can inspection configuration be changed after inspection is set up?
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Yes, but there are some things to be aware of. Some things like OPID, asset lists, and team configuration can be altered,
but the PRS/question dataset cannot be altered after an inspection has been created.
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Will I get the latest question set when I set up an inspection in IA?
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Yes, IA automatically offers a list of the most current PRS/question data sets (from Federal and State organizations) for selection during the inspection creation process.
Inspectors should be cautious about creating the inspection in IA far ahead of the actual inspection because
the question content is set at the time of inspection setup and is locked thereafter.
Inspection set up too early could result in an out of date question data set when the inspection takes place.
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Can an inspection participant that is added after an inspection begins see all of the inspection information,
or just the information added after the person is added?
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Once a participant is added to the inspection team they will have access to all of the information.
Upon initially entering into the inspection the new participant will notice the IA may take a longer
time to load all of the information. This is due to the complete (larger) set of information being
transferred to their computer.
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Why am I able to add more than one OPID when configuring an inspection in IA?
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Some inspections such as II inspections can involve more than one OPID, so IA provides the flexibility to accommodate those situations.
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Where is gas IM Field Verification form, I don't see it in my list of directives?
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When an inspection is first created, IA asks what system type/content type the inspection will be for (example: GT (gas transmission), GD (gas distribution)).
If the inspection is set up other than a GT inspection, questions associated solely with GT will not appear in the planning directives list.
Inspectors should be careful to select the correct type of inspection being done. In addition, directive names can evolve over time.
For example, the previous GT "IM Field Verification" directive was revised to be the "GT IM Implementation" directive.
IA provides hover-over help text to clarify each directive.
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How does an inspector plan site-specific, or asset-specific topics that are only to be covered in field
locations (e.g., emergency plans, public awareness)?
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The IA "Plan Implementation" interface provides the mechanism to assign respective portions of the inspection
plan to as many implementation activities as needed by the inspection team.
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If an inspection team is not sure of which Implementation Activity a topic will be covered, can the topic be
added to more than one Implementation Activity?
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Yes. "Over-implementing" an inspection is acceptable in IA. Regardless of where/when a question is answered,
IA applies the answer to the applicable asset(s) specified by the user. If a question has already been answered in one
Implementation Activity and appears in a subsequent Activity, the user will see the previous answer and not have to
re-answer and/or search for the previous answer.
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Can there be more than one Standard Issue (SI) per question?
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Yes, but only if the question is "Unsat" for more than one reason. If this should happen,
inspectors should note which SI goes with each Unsat reason in the Issue Summary notes.
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Can there be more than one Severity Score per Standard Issue (SI)?
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Each SI is tied to a particular Unsat reason and can only be assigned one Severity Score.
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What things cannot be done when IA is off-line?
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IA can generally do all inspection-related functions off-line, to accommodate situations when internet
access is not available or severely limited. Once a connection is reestablished, all information gathered while
off-line will be synced with the IA server (see next question). While off-line, server-supplied items will not be available. These include the
creation of new inspections, opening an existing inspection for the first time, "On Line" reports, inspection Overview screen updates, and real-time access to team member inspection updates.
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What should I do after working offline in IA-Desktop or IA-Mobile?
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If any offline/disconnected work is done in IA-Desktop or IA-Mobile, when a connection is restored/available, please log in again and open all inspection(s) you worked on during the offline period
and allow all records and files to sync (see the bottom left corner in IA-Desktop and Mobile for syncing status).
This will ensure that any work you've done and files you've added will be saved to the server.
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Who can alter the IA inspection plan?
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Primarily the team Lead. If you assign a Director and Supervisor(s) to the team they also have the ability to modify the inspection plan.
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If an OQ Protocol 9 evaluation is documented in IA, do I need to also submit that information to OQDB?
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No. IA retains and archives all inspection information, and will ultimately be available via normal PHMSA
pipeline data reporting means. Therefore, the IA "PROT9" inspection information does not need to be separately copied to OQDB.
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Does Integrity Management inspection information need to be submitted to IMDB?
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No. IA retains and archives all inspection information, and will ultimately be available via normal
PHMSA pipeline data reporting means. Therefore, the IM-related inspection information does not need to be separately copied to IMDB.
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Are code cites shown in IA updated automatically?
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Code cites are updated at the time the current question set is established.
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Can pictures, documents, and other documentation be "attached" to specific IA questions?
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Yes. Attachments can be linked to Questions, Results and Forms. Attachments can also be made at the inspection level with no links to other entities. See the "Attachments" tab in IA.
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What are the "Sat+" and "Concern" question results for?
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Sat+: Indicates an operator approach that goes beyond compliance and is evidence of exemplary performance in that specific area. Selection of Sat+ does not necessarily indicate that a "best practice" has been identified. Details of the exemplary performance are to be provided on the inspection form.
Concern: Indicates an item that is not unsatisfactory but for which the inspector desires to highlight as an area of recommendation and/or that should be given additional attention by the operator to prevent future compliance issues.
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What is meant by the P, R, and O suffixes on IA questions?
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Procedure (P) - Questions that involve process oriented reviews such as programmatic and/or procedural requirements.
Records (R) - Questions that specify the review of operator records, regardless of where the records may be maintained.
Observation (O) - Questions that involve the observation of operator personnel performing various tasks and/or observing various locations of the pipeline and associated facilities.
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How often is question content changed in IA?
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Similar to historical PHMSA practices with paper inspection forms, the IA question set is reviewed on at least an annual basis to incorporate recent
code changes, address feedback from IA users, and implement general question set improvements. Annual federal question set updates are issued in the January
time frame of each year, and in March for state question sets.
In addition, updates may also be issued as-needed to incorporate major content revisions such as adding new types of inspections to IA, significant updates
to how a particular topic area is inspected, etc. [Note: The particular question set version ("Protocol Revision Set ID") is shown on the inspection
Configure screen in IA.]
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What should I do if an inspection within IA is cancelled?
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If the inspection has only been planned and no results have been recorded, you may simply delete the inspection.
If the inspection already has one or more results, add an "NC" result and result note to all planned questions that do not yet have a result. From there, finalize the inspection via the normal workflow.
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