Description: What a control is, how controls get onto an inspection, and how to add, rename and remove them.
Overview
A control is a thing on site that has to be checked in its own right — a silt fence, an inlet protection, a wattle, a concrete washout. You'll also hear them called BMPs (Best Management Practices).
In ComplianceGo a control is more than a checkbox on your form. Each control is a small inspection of its own, nested inside the main one, with its own set of questions. Inspect ten inlet protections and you answer ten sets of questions, one per inlet.
That's why an inspection with controls is much longer than the form alone suggests.
Before You Begin
You need an inspection you have started. Controls are read-only on a completed inspection, or on one somebody else started.
The form has to define control types. If it doesn't, there are no controls to add and the entry point doesn't appear at all — that's a form setup question, not something you can fix mid-inspection.
Where Controls Appear
Open or start an inspection. At the top of the page, alongside the other inspection icons, is the controls icon — a square, circle and triangle grouped together. It appears only when the form has controls available; if the form has none, the icon isn't there at all.
Opening it lists every control type available on the form, and that's where you toggle them onto the report. Once toggled on, controls appear in the inspection as collapsible sections, grouped by control type and listed alphabetically, each with a count of how many there are.
Inside a type, each individual control is its own sub-section, titled with its type and its description — for example Inlet Protection-North gate. A control with no description shows as Inlet Protection-No description.
Expand one and you get its questions.
💡 The count on each group is the quickest way to gauge how much work an inspection is. "Inlet Protection 12" means twelve sets of answers.
How Controls Get onto an Inspection
Two ways, and it's worth knowing which applies to you.
1. From the form's defaults
A form can be set up with default control types, so inspections start with those already present.
2. By hand, during the inspection
Anything the defaults didn't cover, you add yourself — see below.
Adding Controls During an Inspection
In the inspection's toolbar, click the controls icon — a square, circle and triangle grouped together. The page it opens is titled Add Controls.
Each control type available on this form is listed with a number box beside it. Enter how many of that type you need — not one at a time.
What you've entered appears under Controls to be Added as a running summary, like 3 - Inlet Protection. Use the × beside an entry to drop it.
Click Add Controls.
The button stays grayed out until you've entered at least one number. While it works it reads Adding..., and the new controls appear in their type's section.
📝 The toolbar icon carries no label. Look for the square, circle and triangle grouped together rather than the words "Add Controls" — that phrase is the title of the page it opens, not the button. It only appears when the form defines control types and the inspection is yours to edit.
📝 You add controls by count, not individually. If you need eight, put 8 in the box — you don't repeat the process eight times. The box accepts up to 1000.
Naming Your Controls
A freshly added control has no description, so it shows as Type-No description. That's fine for one; useless for twelve.
Click the pencil beside the control's title.
Type a description — where it is, or what identifies it. Up to 254 characters.
Click the tick to save, or the × to cancel.
📝 Name controls as you go, not at the end. Twelve identical No description entries are impossible to tell apart, and the report inherits those names.
Removing Controls
There are two ways, depending on whether you want to remove one control or all of a type.
To remove a single control: expand it and click the bin icon at the bottom of its questions. Confirm with Remove on "Permanently remove this control?"
To remove every control of a type: at the bottom of that type's section, click Remove Controls. Confirm with Remove on "Permanently remove these controls?"
⚠️ Read which dialog you're confirming — one word separates them, and neither can be undone. "Permanently remove this control?" removes only the one you opened. "Permanently remove these controls?" removes every control of that type, along with all their answers. The two dialogs are otherwise identical.
Required Questions Inside Controls
Controls carry required questions just like the main form, and the requirement rolls up to the section heading. A control type showing a required marker means at least one control inside it still has an unanswered required question.
That's the fastest way to find what's outstanding on a long inspection: look for the marked group, open it, and find the marked control inside.
What Happens Next
Controls are completed as part of the inspection — they aren't signed off separately.
Their answers appear in the inspection report under their control names.
An action item opened against a problem you found on a control behaves like any other action item.
Because controls are part of the inspection, completing the inspection locks them too.
Controls and Copying a Previous Inspection
Copy and Edit Last Inspection brings control answers across as well as the main form's.
📝 If the control forms have changed since, you'll be warned specifically about it — "The prior controls use earlier version(s) of their form(s), please review after copying." Copied control answers deserve the same scrutiny as the rest. See Copying Your Last Inspection.
FAQ
Q: I can't find the controls icon.
A: It's an unlabeled icon at the top of the inspection — a square, circle and triangle grouped together — not a menu entry. It only appears if the form has controls available. If it isn't there, ask whoever manages your forms whether that form defines any.
Q: I only want to remove one control, not all of them.
A: Expand that control and use the bin icon at the bottom of its questions. Remove Controls at the foot of the type's section removes every control of that type.
Q: No controls appeared automatically.
A: The form has no default control types set up. Add the ones you need by hand with the controls icon, and ask whoever manages your forms about setting defaults for next time.
Q: Every control says No description.
A: They were added by hand and never named. Use the pencil on each to name it — and name them as you add them, since the report inherits those names.
Q: The controls don't match what's on the ground.
A: The count was wrong, or the site has changed since the form's defaults were set. Add or remove controls on the inspection to match what's actually there.
Q: Remove Controls deleted more than I wanted.
A: It removes every control of that type, and it can't be undone. Re-add them with the controls icon and rename them. To remove just one next time, use the bin icon inside that control.
Q: A control type is marked required but looks complete.
A: One control inside it still has an unanswered required question — the requirement rolls up to the group heading. Expand the group and look for the marked control.
Q: I can't edit the controls.
A: The inspection is completed, or it isn't yours. See Why Something Is Read-Only or Missing.
Q: The inspection is far longer than the form.
A: Each control is a full set of questions, so ten controls means ten sets. Check the count on each group to see what you're in for.
Related articles
Marking Up a Site Map
Completing an Inspection
Copying Your Last Inspection
Creating an Action Item