Tutorial: Building Your First Template

This tutorial walks you through building a simple site inspection template from scratch. By the end, you will have a published template that your team can use to create inspection reports.

Before You Start

Make sure you have:

• A Pasco Cloud account with a verified email address
• An organisation set up (for scoping the template)
• Your team invited (so you can share the template with them)

Step 1: Create a New Template

🚀 Let's go!

1. Navigate to Templates in the sidebar
2. Click the Create Template button
3. Enter a name — for example, "Site Inspection Report"
4. Select the type — choose Inspection (this gives your reports the INS- prefix)
5. Choose the scope — select your organisation so it is associated with your company
6. Click Create

The template is created in draft status and you are taken to the template builder.

Step 2: Set Up Page 1 — Site Details

The first page is created automatically. Rename it and add your first section:

🚀 Let's go!

1. Click the page name at the top (it defaults to "Report Details") and rename it to "Site Details"
2. A default section is ready for you — rename it to "Project Information"
3. Add the following fields by clicking the + button in the section:
   • Short text — label it "Project Name"
   • Date/Time — label it "Inspection Date", set mode to "Date only"
   • Person — label it "Inspector"
   • Multiple choice — label it "Weather Conditions", add options: Clear, Overcast, Rain, Wind, Extreme Heat

You now have a basic header section that captures who, when, and where for every inspection.

Step 3: Add an Inspection Items Table

Now add a table section for the actual inspection checklist:

🚀 Let's go!

1. Click Add Section below the Project Information section
2. Choose Table layout
3. Name the section "Inspection Items"
4. Add these columns (fields):
   • Short text — label it "Item"
   • Multiple choice — label it "Status", add options: Pass, Fail, N/A. Mark "Fail" as flagged (this will allow automatic issue creation when an inspector records a failure)
   • Short text — label it "Notes"
5. The table section is automatically repeatable — your team can add as many rows as they need

💡 Tip

Flagging the "Fail" response on the Status field means that when an inspector selects "Fail" for any item, the platform can create an issue automatically. This is a powerful way to ensure defects are tracked without extra manual steps.

Step 4: Add Page 2 — Sign-off

Add a second page for the inspection sign-off:

🚀 Let's go!

1. Click the + button in the pages panel (left side) to add a new page
2. Name it "Sign-off"
3. Add a section named "Additional Comments"
4. Add a Long text field — label it "Comments" and set it as optional
5. Add another section named "Inspector Sign-off"
6. Add a Signature field — label it "Inspector Signature" and mark it as required

Your template now has two pages — the inspection content on page 1, and the sign-off on page 2.

Step 5: Preview Your Template

Before publishing, check how your template looks:

🚀 Let's go!

1. Click the Preview button in the builder toolbar
2. Switch between Form preview (how it looks when filling in) and PDF preview (how the printed report will look)
3. Check that pages, sections, and fields appear in the right order
4. Verify the table section displays correctly with column headers
5. Close the preview when you are satisfied

Make any adjustments in the builder if something does not look right. The auto-save will preserve your changes.

Step 6: Publish the Template

A template must be published before your team can create reports from it:

🚀 Let's go!

1. Click the status indicator in the builder header (it will show "Draft")
2. Change the status to Published
3. Save the template

Your template is now live. Anyone you share it with can create reports from it.

Step 7: Share with Your Team

Finally, make sure your team can see the template:

🚀 Let's go!

1. Navigate to the template's detail page (click the back button from the builder)
2. Click the Share button
3. Add your project's linked group or a general group like "Site Supervisors"
4. Save the sharing settings

All members of the shared groups can now see the template and create reports from it.

💡 Tip

If you are creating a template that your whole organisation should use, share it with your organisation's linked group. This means every current and future member of your organisation will automatically have access.

What You Have Built

Your completed site inspection template includes:

• Page 1: Site Details — project information (name, date, inspector, weather) and an inspection items table with pass/fail tracking and automatic issue flagging
• Page 2: Sign-off — additional comments and inspector signature

This is a solid starting point. As you get comfortable with the builder, you can add more fields, use conditional logic, attach reference images, and create more sophisticated templates.

What's Next?

Now that you have a published template, your team can start using it:

• Complete your first report — fill in the template and submit it
• Learn about approval workflows for adding review and sign-off steps
• Explore document numbering to understand how reports are numbered automatically