Clear scope of work

[mannyb]

Sorry for long story I just wanted to give you guys a back story.


We recently had a project to wire from an existing fuel dispenser to a new fuel management system that will be used to monitor fuel. The SOw involved wiring from dispenser to pedestal. The wiring diagram was pretty clear and simple. The Super onsite wanted to verify installation by activating system on last day of project. He discovered that the fleet management didn't sync with dispenser. He then proceeded to insinuate that we wired system incorrectly and this iss why system didn't operate as expected. To make Super happy. We picked a couple of dispensers to take apart and retrace wiring and couldn't find anything wrong. Long story short he still wasn't satisfied and demanded we come back next day to test each wire from dispenser to fleet management system. In the end 9 out of the10 FMS didn't perform as expected not due to wiring issues.

My question is, is this a reasonable request by customer for us to take apart all the work that we felt completely confident was performed as expected just so Super onsite can feel better about it. He pretty much blamed us for system not working but after it was determined it wasn't our wiring but FMS. We spent an extra day just troubleshooting something that wasn't our fault.

 

[zbang]

(Maybe reasonable on the first day to help troubleshoot the entire setup, coming back probably ought to be billed since it was someone else's issue.)

Along with the statement of work should be "acceptance criteria"- how you show that the work you've done is correct, both with and without inputs from others. For example, if the dispenser needs a working FMS to function, that needs to be spelled out in the AC and if the customer can't show that the FMS is working they need to deal with that before even checking your work. Granted this can be hard to write when you don't know the entirety of the setup.

(This is along the same lines as certifying network & low-voltage cabling, or even calling out that you can't test the light fixtures if there is no site power. Should be obvious, but....)

 

[jaggedben]

No, it doesn't sound like a reasonable request. Not after you confirmed the correct wiring on 2 out of 10. At that point the Super should have been checking internal equipment setup or contacting manufacturer support or whatever. And not put it back on you without a better explanation, such as manufacturer says a mistake on one can effect the rest.

Sometimes you have to accede to unreasonable requests, up to a point, to avoid further trouble.

 

[brantmacga]

No, at that point, it’s on them and the FMS provider to figure it out. I had a very similar experience last month where I wired pulsers into an FMS control pedestal and they said it didn’t work. The FMS company actually told them I had it connected wrong, so I drove back over to test it out and everything was working absolutely fine. No idea what was going on but likely something in software they figured out before I got back.


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