The evidence that stops the clock
When the engineer finishes on site, Evidence captures the diagnosis, the work done, the parts, the time, the photographs and the signature, all against the ticket. That record supports checking the fix clock, audit review and review of any deduction dispute.
- Client
- Aldgate Borough Council · 42 buildings
- Contract
- NEC4 TSC · £2.4m / year
- Reference
- ALD-DSP-S05
- Period
- 1 to 31 May 2026 · Month 18
- Prepared by
- Sentinel FM Ltd · via BuiltAI
- Stage
- 05 of 6 · Evidence
Illustrative example: fictional project and parties.
The evidence that stops the clock
On a term maintenance contract the fix clock only stops when the job is done and proven. Evidence is where the field team records what they found, what they did and what they left behind: diagnosis, work completed, parts, time on site, photographs and a customer signature, all captured against the ticket before it can close. It is the fifth stage of the Dispatch Desk, taking the job on from Dispatch (Stage 04) and handing a complete, defensible record to Defence (Stage 06).
This example runs on Aldgate Borough Council's term maintenance contract, reactive and planned, across 42 buildings, managed by Sentinel FM Ltd and delivered via BuiltAI. In May 2026 (Month 18) the desk handled 180 reactive calls: 8 P1, 34 P2, 96 P3 and 42 P4, with all 8 P1 emergencies responded to inside the one-hour target. This stage follows one of those 180 calls, TKT-2026-03847, a P2 recurring roof leak at Aldgate Central Library.
Eight fields close every ticket
The field team cannot close a ticket until eight fields are complete. None is optional and none is a free-text afterthought: each one feeds a downstream deliverable, whether that is SLA reporting, deductions defence, the asset history or the monthly performance pack.
- Diagnosis
Root cause, not just the symptom, linked to the asset's history.
- Work completed
Permanent fix, temporary repair or escalation, with method and extent.
- Parts used
From van stock or ordered, with quantities, specification and cost.
- Time on site
Arrival to departure, GPS-verified, feeding the labour-cost analysis.
- Status
Complete, a partial fix with a follow-up works order, or escalated.
- Photographs
Before and after as a minimum, timestamped and geotagged.
- Signature
Customer sign-off on the tablet: name, role and timestamp.
- Follow-up
If the fix is partial, a works order is raised automatically from the diagnosis.
TKT-2026-03847 - the completed record
The same ticket runs through the whole Dispatch Desk workflow, from the call at Intake to the defence at Defence. Here it is completed on site: a recurring leak at Aldgate Central Library, the third reactive call in seven months.
- Asset and fault
- Aldgate Central Library, northeast roof valley gutter. Recurring roof leak, the third reactive call in seven months. Grade II listed building. P2
- Diagnosis
- Failed lead flashing at the northeast valley gutter. The January 2026 silicone sealant repair (TKT-2026-02891) has cracked and separated from the lead at the lap joint, and roughly 600 mm of the underlying flashing is corroded, letting water in during heavy or sustained rain. Temporary repairs no longer hold; the flashing needs full replacement.
- Work completed
- Temporary weatherproofing, inside and out. External: self-adhesive bitumen flashing tape over the failed lap joint, good for 4 to 6 weeks in normal weather. Internal: two saturated ceiling tiles replaced, standing water cleared, an extraction fan set to dry the wall, the socket back box confirmed dry and safe, and the reading lamp reconnected. Temporary fix
- Parts used
- All from van stock, nothing ordered. Flashing tape (self-adhesive bitumen, 150 mm) 1.2 m at £12.40; ceiling tiles (600 × 600 mineral fibre, Armstrong Cortega) 2 at £8.60 = £17.20. Materials total £29.60.
- Time on site
- Arrived 10:38, departed 13:15, so 2h 37m on site. Labour at the contract rate: £131.50.
- Evidence captured
- Six photographs, before and after, all timestamped and geotagged, stored against the ticket, plus the customer signature taken on the engineer's tablet. This is what an auditor or an adjudicator sees.
- SLA outcome
- P2 response target of 4 hours, met. The register records a fix figure of 6h 36m and a Met state; Dispatch shows the same 6h 36m as time remaining at arrival, so the achieved fix-clock basis is unreconciled. Recorded times and the temporary-fix status are retained. Response met Follow-up WO-2026-00847
Historical ID check pending: the October and January events use 2025/2026 year-prefix variants for 01204 and 02891 across the linked records. Dates, repairs and costs are retained; no canonical predecessor ID is established.
Thank you, much better. Please do get the permanent repair sorted - this keeps happening.Karen Whitfield, Branch Librarian, Aldgate Central Library, signed on the engineer's tablet at 13:12.
First-visit fix and evidence quality
The evidence-capture metrics for May 2026. First-visit fix is up to 78% from 64% a year ago; 103 of 108 planned (PPM) tasks were completed and evidenced, at 95.4%; and almost every reactive job closed with photographs and a signature attached.
A year ago the first-visit fix rate was 64%. Better briefs at Stage 03 and van-stock forecasting have moved it to 78%. Each point is worth roughly 1.8 fewer return visits a month; at £95 a visit, that is about £171 a month for every point gained.
The 4% of jobs without a photo are almost all P4 planned works where a photograph adds nothing, such as cosmetic repairs and signage. The 9% without a signature are unattended sites where the keyholder had left, and after-hours calls with no site representative present. Both are tracked and reported, not ignored.
Complete, signed off, and defensible
Every field is timestamped, geotagged where relevant, and stored against the ticket. Once the ticket closes the record is fixed, so the evidence an auditor asks for, or an adjudicator needs, is already in place and cannot be reconstructed after the fact.
| Sign-off | Name and role | Signature | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer | Karen Whitfield, Branch Librarian | Signed on tablet | 13:12 |
| Attending engineer | Recorded on completion | 13:15 | |
| Contract supervisor | QA review | Post-close |
TKT-2026-03847 closes as a temporary fix, with follow-up works order WO-2026-00847 raised for full lead-flashing replacement, subject to listed building consent. The evidence chain then carries into the SLA report and the deductions defence. For May 2026 the illustrative register records 175 SLA-met calls out of 180, giving calculated SLA compliance of 97.2% against the 95.0% target, with five recorded breach tickets and £800 deduction exposure: £550 accepted as valid and £250 disputed for the Parkside Library boiler, TKT-2026-03829. That separate ticket's response/fix clocks remain unreconciled. Evidence captured against each ticket supports its review; no reversal is recorded here.