Smarter Maintenance - Notes Collation

Modified on Wed, 22 Apr at 1:14 PM

PIM can now automatically collate maintenance notes from across your inspection and bring them together into the Maintenance Required area. Choose which notes field to pull from, or let PIM's built-in AI assistant intelligently combine both fields into a polished, consolidated summary. Set collation to run automatically as you work, or trigger it manually whenever you need it. It is a simple change that removes a tedious step at the end of every inspection.

1. Setting Up Auto-Collation

Auto-collation is configured once in your PIM Administration Settings and then quietly does its work in the background every time you tick Maintenance Required in an inspection area.

From the main screen, tap Settings in the bottom toolbar, then tap PIM Admin to open your Administration Settings.
Scroll down to the setting labelled Auto Collate Maintenance Notes when Maintenance Ticked.

Choose which notes field PIM should pull from when collating.
Tap the dropdown and choose one of the four options:
1. Off — Auto-collation is disabled by default. You can still collate manually at any time (see section 2).
2. Collate from Inspection Notes — PIM will copy the content of the main Notes field from each area where Maintenance Required is ticked.
3. Collate from Additional/Maintenance Notes — PIM will copy the content of the Additional/Maintenance Notes field from each area where Maintenance Required is ticked.
That is it — no save button required. From this point on, whenever you tick Maintenance Required on an inspection area, the notes from your chosen field will automatically appear in the Maintenance Required section at the bottom of your Inspection Areas list.

Handy Hint: Most inspectors prefer Collate from Additional/Maintenance Notes because it keeps the main Notes field focused on the condition of the area, while the Additional/Maintenance Notes field captures the specific issue that needs attention. If your notes are spread across both fields, the AI-assisted option is a great way to bring everything together without any manual editing.

2. Triggering Collation Manually

If you have left Auto-Collation off, or you want to re-collate after making changes during the inspection, you can trigger it manually from the Inspection Areas screen.

Open the inspection and navigate to the Inspection Areas.
Scroll down to the Maintenance Required area at the bottom of the list. You will see a small collate icon () to the right of the area.
Tap the collate wizard icon and PIM will ask which notes field you would like to pull from.
Select from the available options:
- Copy Inspection Notes — copies the main Notes field from each area with Maintenance Required ticked.
- Copy Additional/Maintenance Notes — copies the Additional/Maintenance Notes field from each area with Maintenance Required ticked.
- Both Notes fields (AI-assisted) — PIM draws from both fields and uses its built-in AI assistant to produce a clean, combined summary.
PIM will gather the content from your chosen option across every applicable area and bring it together in the Maintenance Required section.

Handy Hint: Manual collation is especially useful when you are auditing an inspection you have already completed, or when you want to try the AI-assisted option to see how it presents the combined notes before committing to it as your default.

How It Works Behind the Scenes

Each time collation runs — whether automatically or manually — PIM scans every inspection area in the current inspection, identifies those with Maintenance Required ticked, and pulls the content of your chosen notes field into the Maintenance Required area. When using the AI-assisted option, PIM sends the notes from both fields to its built-in AI assistant to generate a single, coherent summary per area. The collated notes are labelled by area name so you can see at a glance which area each item came from.

If you update a note or untick Maintenance Required in an area, the Maintenance Required section updates accordingly the next time collation runs. Nothing is lost — you can always re-collate to refresh the list.

A Quick Note on Existing Content

If your Maintenance Required area already contains manually entered notes when you run collation, PIM will replace those notes with the freshly collated list. Before running collation on an inspection with existing content in the Maintenance Required area, take a moment to copy anything you want to keep into another field.

A Note on AI-Generated Content

The AI-assisted collation option is designed as a productivity tool to help you consolidate maintenance notes more efficiently. It is worth keeping a few things in mind as you use it.

AI-generated summaries are a suggested starting point. Before including any AI-assisted content in a final report, you should always review and confirm that the collated notes accurately reflect what you observed during the inspection. You remain solely responsible for the accuracy and completeness of any report you submit or share.

For full details on how the feature works and your responsibilities as a user, please refer to the AI-assisted note generation section of the PIM Terms and Conditions.

We Would Love to Hear From You

Smarter Maintenance Notes Collation is an evolving feature and your experience in the field is invaluable in helping us make it better. If you have suggestions, run into something unexpected, or just have an idea that would make the feature work better for you, please get in touch. We are always listening, and your feedback helps shape every update we make to PIM.

You can reach us via PIM Help Desk in the app, by contacting us via PIM Support, or through our PIM Help Centre.