Fire Alarm Inspection Reports

I am wondering if most fire alarm technicians doing inspections and new installation dislike having to do the reporting that is required. I know so far it seems a hodgepodge of fill-in PDF files, excel sheets, proprietary software. Now with the requirement to list every device it is getting more in depth. What are the thoughts of everyone?

Our guys use a proprietary tool that hooks into the panel and records everything as the system is being tested, spits out a nice clean report after. As for all of the other information, it’s largely copy/paste from last years inspection report.

It’s all part of the job. Comprehensive paperwork is critical these days as more and more fire departments and AHJs are actually starting to read the stuff we give them. We’ve taken jobs from other competitors from the paperwork aspect alone… when there’s is a crappy 3 page Word document that someone crammed together vs a professional in depth report.