How to Audit Utility Infrastructure Efficiently — And How Software Makes It Easier

When a utility needs to perform an infrastructure audit, such as checking gas meters or water pipe materials, proper planning is essential. Professional associations and consultants have established industry standards for what information should be collected during audits. However, the bigger challenge today is deciding how to store and utilize this data effectively.

‍
At Fieldman, we’ve witnessed that one of the most common practices is delivering audit results to a utility as a spreadsheet with detailed records, along with all collected photos stored on a hard drive. While this method is intuitive and promises to preserve records, it is inefficient for analyzing audit results - especially for audits with more than 500 records and numerous images. How can you efficiently search through 30,000 photos taken during 5,000 gas meter audits?

‍

There are better solutions with advanced tools that help utilities maximize the value of their infrastructure inspections. However, to make audit data truly usable, you need to plan the entire project with the end goal in mind: how will the collected data be analyzed, when, and with what tools?

‍

Why Do Utilities and Municipalities Need Audits?

‍

Audits are essential for utilities and municipalities to maintain accurate records, ensure regulatory compliance, and identify potential issues before they become costly problems. Infrastructure audits help verify asset conditions, detect leaks or inefficiencies, and improve overall system reliability. They also play a crucial role in financial planning, as accurate data allows for better budgeting, maintenance scheduling, and resource allocation.

‍
By conducting audits, utilities can make data-driven decisions that improve both their operations and the communities they serve. For example, after a gas meter inspection audit, a utility can determine how many gas meters need to be replaced and budget accordingly.

‍

How to Plan an Audit and Key Inspection Criteria

‍

A well-planned audit ensures accuracy, efficiency, and compliance with industry standards. The first step is to define the audit scope—what assets will be inspected and what data needs to be collected. Establishing clear objectives, such as verifying asset conditions, detecting malfunctions, or ensuring regulatory compliance, helps streamline the process.

‍
Next, utilities must determine what specific data points need to be gathered. This begins by identifying the audit's purpose—whether it’s to verify equipment functionality, assess infrastructure conditions, or meet regulatory requirements. Engineers and consultants collaborate to develop detailed checklists and data collection standards, ensuring consistency and completeness.

‍

Typically, utility consultants and engineers already have predefined criteria for audits. When setting up a Fieldman work order and asset management platform for an audit project, we usually receive documents outlining the scope of work and the specific information to be collected. For example, we recently configured a platform for USG Water Solutions' water meter audit project. We received a two-page Word document with highly detailed audit requirements for both commercial and residential meters, specifying necessary data points, photos, and inspection criteria.

‍

How to Collect Required Information During an Infrastructure Audit

‍

Collecting mandated information during an audit requires a structured approach to ensure accuracy and completeness. In the past, field workers relied on pen and paper. Nowadays, the common practice is to use a mobile app for data collection.

‍

‍
The more advanced and capable a field service app is, the higher the audit quality. With an accurate workflow, a mobile field app can guide field workers, ensuring that even a first-day technician knows what to check and how to capture the data.

A basic field app should meet several key criteria, including:

1. real-time data entry
2. instant data verification in the field
3. barcode scanning
4. GPS tracking
5. photo/video documentation
6. online mode and offline data collection

How do You Align a Mobile App Workflow with Audit Criteria?

‍

Infrastructure may seem similar at first, but the deeper you go, the more differences emerge. For example, municipalities often have meters from various manufacturers, each with unique specifications. They may also use different billing software, requiring distinct sets of field data. As a result, audit parameters don't often match pre-configured workflows in work order management systems.

‍
This means that workflows must be tailored to capture the specific details relevant to each system.

‍
At Fieldman, we use a no-code builder approach, allowing us to create workflows for all types of audit projects, even the most complex ones, in just one business day.

‍

‍

For common audits, we start with a basic workflow and tailor it to the specific project. If it's an audit we haven't handled before, our team builds a new workflow from scratch — without affecting our delivery timeline.
For example, when creating a workflow for a water meter audit with a two-page criteria, the Fieldman team completed it in three hours. This is an outstanding speed compared to solutions that require coding, which can take weeks to roll out a new workflow.

‍

Ensuring Data Accuracy and Preventing Technician Errors

‍

Any incorrect audit information can lead to mistakes in future decision-making. How can you prevent errors when technicians audit gas meters or water hydrants? Typos and human errors can occur in any project. The solution? Use a mobile app that verifies data entry in real-time.

‍
This feature is available in some work order and field service management solutions. For example, the Fieldman app can instantly verify meter readings, asset numbers, and locations as soon as the technician finishes typing. If there are any issues, the app will prevent the submission of the work order and prompt the technician to re-enter the data until it is verified.
‍

Real-time verification saves time by reducing repeat visits, which often happen when a manager later discovers an error in the collected data. This practice also ensures that all information entered into the system is accurate, leading to better budgeting and more precise planning.

‍

How to Turn Audit Data into Actionable Insights

‍

The purpose of an audit is to help utilities understand their infrastructure and make informed decisions on how to improve it. But how can they take the next step without the tools to analyze the data?

‍
The outdated approach is to hand over a spreadsheet and a hard drive full of photos. At the end of an audit, utilities often ask the Fieldman team for all photos and information to be downloaded for later use.

‍
The problem? Utilities can’t efficiently analyze audit results this way. They can’t easily determine which meters need replacing when they’re stuck with 100,000 unsearchable photos in a folder. The moment you export a spreadsheet and download photos from a work order management system, the audit program has already failed.

‍

The right way to deliver audit results is to keep everything in a work order management platform. Some WOM solutions include an asset management module designed to analyze data and track asset lifecycles. For example, the Fieldman app has an asset module widely used by municipalities and utilities after completing AMI deployment projects. As soon as the last smart meter is installed, the system becomes a metering-as-a-service solution, continuously tracking meters without requiring additional data migration.

‍

There’s no need to move audit data to another module. All that’s required is granting utility employees access to the software. This takes just 10 minutes, plus another 20 minutes for onboarding. Instead of dealing with scattered files, utilities can explore audit results in a searchable, organized system.

‍

And the best part? When the utility is ready for the next phase, they won’t have to start from scratch. They can seamlessly continue managing the project within the same system. This is the most efficient, smart, and advanced way to use the results of any audit program — create your asset management ecosystem and manage contractors, vendors, assets, and technicians in one platform.