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Documentation Index

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Calso is Novala’s inspection and compliance module, purpose-built for teams that perform OSHA-regulated equipment inspections. It gives coordinators a real-time view of every site’s compliance status, gives field technicians a structured mobile workflow for completing inspections offline, and automatically produces professional PDF reports the moment an inspection is reviewed.

Inspection lifecycle

Every inspection moves through five statuses, each with a clear owner:
StatusOwnerWhat it means
CreatedCoordinatorInspection is scheduled and assigned to a technician
In ProgressTechnicianTechnician has opened and started the checklist
SubmittedTechnicianTechnician submitted the completed checklist
ReviewedCoordinatorCoordinator approved or rejected the submission
CompletedSystemAI report generated and inspection closed

Setting up checklist templates

Before your team can run inspections, you need at least one checklist template for each equipment type you service.
1

Go to Settings → Checklist Templates

Navigate to Settings → Checklist Templates in the sidebar. This is where you create and manage all reusable inspection checklists.
2

Create a new template

Click New Template and select the equipment type the checklist applies to (for example, “Pallet Rack System” or “Forklift”). Give the template a descriptive name.
3

Add sections and checklist items

Organize the checklist into sections (for example, “Structural Components”, “Hydraulic System”). Within each section, add individual checklist items. For each item you can specify:
  • The inspection prompt text
  • Whether a measurement value is required
  • A pre-filled OSHA reference citation (for example, OSHA 29 CFR 1910.178(e))
4

Save and assign to equipment type

Save the template. It will now be available when scheduling inspections for that equipment type.
You can create multiple templates for the same equipment type — for example, a quarterly checklist and an annual checklist. When scheduling an inspection, you choose which template to use.

Performing an inspection (field technician)

Technicians complete inspections from the Novala field app on their mobile device. The workflow is the same whether the device is online or offline.
1

Open your assigned inspection

Open the Novala field app and tap Today to see all jobs assigned to you. Tap an inspection to open it. The checklist loads from the template assigned at scheduling time.
2

Work through each checklist item

For each item, mark the result as Pass, Fail, or N/A. You can add notes to any item. Some items may require a measurement value (for example, a load capacity reading).
3

Log a finding for any failed item

When you mark an item as failed, Calso prompts you to log a finding (deficiency). Fill in or confirm the AI-suggested:
  • Severity: Imminent, Serious, or Minor
  • Description: What you observed
  • Recommendation: Suggested corrective action
  • OSHA citation: Applicable regulation
You can attach photos and record a voice note for each finding.
4

Submit the inspection

Once all items are complete, tap Submit. The inspection status moves to Submitted and your coordinator is notified for review.
The AI finding assistant suggests a severity rating, description, and OSHA citation based on the failed checklist item and equipment details. These are suggestions — you can edit any field before submitting.

Offline support

Calso is designed to work in warehouses, industrial sites, and remote locations where connectivity is unreliable.
When you open the field app while connected, Novala pre-caches all inspections assigned to you — including the full checklist template and equipment details. If you lose connectivity mid-inspection, you can continue working without interruption. All responses, findings, and photos are saved locally on your device.
As soon as connectivity is restored, Novala automatically uploads your completed inspection data — including any photos and voice notes — and moves the inspection to Submitted. A sync indicator in the app shows the current upload status. If an upload fails, you can retry individually from the app’s pending items list.

Reviewing inspections (coordinator)

1

Open the submitted inspection

Go to Inspections in the sidebar. Submitted inspections appear in the Needs Review queue. Click an inspection to open the detail view.
2

Review checklist responses and findings

Review each section of the checklist. Findings are highlighted in the sidebar with their severity. You can click any finding to see the technician’s notes, photos, and voice note transcription.
3

Approve or reject

Click Approve to close the review and trigger AI report generation. Click Reject to send the inspection back to the technician with your comments.

AI report generation

Once you approve an inspection, Novala AI automatically generates a professional inspection report. The report includes:
  • Executive summary of the inspection outcome
  • Overall result (Pass, Fail, or Conditional)
  • Findings section with AI-enhanced descriptions, severity justifications, OSHA citations, and photos
  • General observations from the technician’s notes
  • Next inspection recommendation
The report is automatically exported to PDF with your company’s branding, logo, and contact information.
Report generation typically completes within a minute of approval. If generation fails (for example, due to a temporary connectivity issue), the coordinator can trigger regeneration from the report detail page. Reports that have already been approved or delivered cannot be regenerated.

Managing findings

Each finding logged during an inspection is tracked independently and can have a lifecycle of its own.

Flag for follow-up

Mark a finding as requiring follow-up. It will appear in the Findings list and can be assigned to a technician or work order.

Link to a quote

If the finding requires repair work, you can create a quote directly from the finding. The quote status is reflected back on the finding record so you always know whether the deficiency has been addressed.

Compliance dashboard

The Compliance section gives coordinators a site-by-site view of inspection health across all customers.
  • See which sites are compliant, have upcoming inspections, or are overdue
  • Drill into a site to see every piece of equipment and its current inspection status
  • Filter by customer, equipment type, or date range
  • Export compliance status reports for audits or customer reviews

Delivering reports

Once a report is generated, you can deliver it to the customer directly from the report detail page.
1

Review the report

Open the report from Reports or from the inspection’s detail page. Preview the PDF to confirm everything looks correct before sending.
2

Deliver to the customer

Click Deliver Report. Novala emails the PDF to the primary contact on file for the customer. The report status changes to Delivered and a timestamp is recorded.
3

Download for your own records

Click Download PDF at any time to save a copy of the report locally.