How to Use a Checklist

Every inspection — and many jobs — in Civic.ly runs off a checklist: the set of questions your team works through on the phone. You never build one. They're built into the platform and matched to your assets for you. The skill is simply getting the right checklist onto the right task, and two things trip people up: a checklist is tied to the asset type, and it always rides on a task (an inspection or a job) — never on its own.

A checklist is tied to the asset type

When you add an asset, Civic.ly matches it to the checklists for that type of asset. So the checklists you can choose from depend entirely on the asset's Asset Type. A fire extinguisher offers the Fire Extinguisher Check; a bench doesn't.

This is the single most common reason a checklist "won't appear": the asset is set to the wrong type. If the checklist you expect isn't in the list, open the asset, check the Asset Type field on the Overview tab, and correct it — either re-run AI Classify or set the type by hand. The checklist you want will then be available.

To see which checklists apply to which asset type at a glance, use the Checklist Index.

A building or room can offer two sweeps

For most assets the picker offers one obvious checklist. Buildings and rooms are the exception: a specialised type — a public toilet, washroom, library, sports pavilion, changing room and so on — offers two sweeps, and this is deliberate, not a duplicate.

The first is the general Building Sweep or Room Sweep: the fabric, services, security and safety checks that every building or room needs. The second is a shorter focused sweep for that type's own fixtures — the Public Toilet Sweep adds the basins, cubicles, hand dryers and accessible fittings; the Washroom Sweep adds the WC fittings inside another building. The focused sweep no longer repeats the fabric checks, so it's much quicker than it used to be.

Pick whichever the visit is for. A common pattern is to run the focused sweep often (a public toilet's fittings monthly, say) and the general sweep less frequently for the fabric — but the cadence is yours to set. One standalone exception is the Beach Hut Sweep, which is self-contained and isn't paired with the Building Sweep.

A checklist rides on a task, not on its own

You don't assign a checklist by itself. You create a task against the asset and pick the checklist on that task. There are two task types, and which one you choose decides which checklists you can pick:

An Inspection is "look at it, assess its condition, pass or fail". This is where the condition Checks and Sweeps live — including every compliance checklist: fire alarm, extinguisher, emergency lighting, legionella / water-outlet temperatures, CO alarm, playground, and so on.

A Job is "do something to it and record what was done". Jobs carry the usage checklists that capture data as the work happens — meter readings, how full a bin was, the grass or litter grade on a round.

The catch worth remembering: the compliance checklists are only available on Inspections. If you set a weekly fire-alarm or monthly legionella check up as a Job, you'll find there's no checklist to attach. The fix is to create it as an Inspection instead. This bites most often when building a routine of weekly safety checks — set the task type before you look for the checklist.

Three ways to add a checklist

1. On a standalone inspection (web app)

Create an inspection on the asset (see How to Create an Inspection), open it, and go to the Checklist tab. Use the template picker at the top right to choose the checklist — it renders straight away underneath, so you can see exactly what your team will be asked. You can fill it in here, but normally it's completed out in the field on the mobile app. This is also the easiest way to preview a checklist before you commit to it.

2. In a routine (web app)

A routine bulk-creates a task for several assets in one go (see How to Create a Routine). In the routine editor, each row of the Related Tasks grid has a Task Type and a Task Template column. Set the Task Type first (Inspection or Job) — that decides which checklists are on offer — then pick the checklist in the Task Template column, per row.

One thing to know: the routine grid doesn't render the checklist, so you need to already know which one you want. Look it up in the Checklist Library or preview it once via a standalone inspection (method 1), then come back and select it here.

3. On the mobile app (in the field)

When you create an inspection on an asset directly from the mobile app, you pick the checklist as part of setting it up. This is handy for something you notice while you're out that wasn't already scheduled.

Previewing a checklist before you assign it

There are two ways to see what's on a checklist without committing to it: browse the Checklist Library, where every checklist is shown exactly as it appears on the phone, or select it on the Checklist tab of a standalone inspection and read it there. The routine grid has no preview, so use one of these first.