Daily site diary Workflow

Why should we automate the daily site diary instead of using paper or spreadsheets?

Manual site diaries are prone to delays, illegible notes, and incidents or delays not being flagged to the right person quickly. This workflow captures the diary once through a form and automatically routes incidents to the safety manager and delays to the project manager, so nothing depends on someone remembering to forward information. Each entry also carries a status and timeline, making it easy to see what has been recorded, escalated and filed.

What is the ROI of using this workflow across multiple sites?

The main return comes from reduced administrative time chasing supervisors for diary entries and reduced delay in surfacing safety incidents or programme delays to the people who need to act on them. Because the workflow is ready to use immediately, a workspace can start running it on live projects within minutes rather than commissioning a custom system. Over time, the consistent record of diary entries also reduces time spent reconstructing site history when questions arise.

How does this compare to handling site diaries manually via email or paper forms?

Manually handled diaries typically sit in inboxes or site offices, with incidents and delays only surfacing when someone reads through them and decides to escalate. This workflow removes that manual triage step: the Check for Incident or Near Miss and Check for Delays branches automatically create tasks for the safety manager and project manager the moment a form is submitted. The record's status and timeline also give visibility that a stack of paper diaries or email threads cannot easily provide.

Who is responsible for recording incident details, and what happens if there is no incident?

If the supervisor marks 'Incident or Near Miss?' as Yes, the status is set to Incident Reported and a task is created for the safety manager, due in one day, to record what happened, who was involved and actions taken. The workflow waits for this task before saving those details to the record. If no incident or near miss occurred, the workflow skips this branch entirely and moves on to checking for delays.

What happens when a delay is recorded on the site diary?

If the Delays field is anything other than None, the workflow creates a task for the project manager, due in two days, to assess the impact on the programme and decide whether a delay notice is needed. The workflow waits for this task to be completed, then saves the impact assessment and delay notice decision to the diary record. If no delay is recorded, this step is skipped and the workflow proceeds to the client update check.

Can we customise which fields appear on the site diary form or add extra checks?

Yes, changes can be made by describing the desired change in plain English or by editing the steps directly in the workflow editor, and earlier versions of the workflow are kept. This makes it straightforward to add or remove form fields, adjust task due dates, or introduce additional branching logic as site requirements evolve. There is no development project required to make these changes.

Does the client need an account to receive progress updates?

No, the client is only contacted by email using the Client Email address supplied on the site diary form, and they do not need an account to receive it. When the supervisor selects Yes for 'Send Client a Progress Update?', the workflow sends an email summarising the date, work completed, weather and delays. If the supervisor selects No, this step is skipped and the diary proceeds directly to being marked Filed.

How is the site supervisor's daily entry actually submitted?

The site supervisor submits the diary through a request form covering fields such as site address, job reference, weather, workforce numbers, trades on site, work completed, deliveries, visitors, delays, hours lost, photos, and whether an incident occurred. Submitting the form creates the diary record and immediately sets its status to Recorded. No account or login is required to submit the form.

What does the Filed status actually confirm about a diary entry?

Filed status confirms that the diary entry has passed through all applicable steps in the workflow: it was recorded, any incident details were captured by the safety manager if relevant, any delay assessment was completed by the project manager if relevant, and a client update was sent if requested. The record's timeline shows each of these steps and when they occurred. Each business should confirm its own recordkeeping and safety reporting obligations independently of this status.

Can we see all site diary entries and their statuses in one place?

Yes, table views and dashboards display records by status, so a workspace can see at a glance which diary entries are Recorded, Incident Reported, or Filed. Each record also has a reference number and a timeline showing what happened at each step. This gives supervisors, safety managers and project managers a shared view of daily site activity without needing separate reports.