How ORS will affect the way agents work
By and large, the way that agents conduct COF inspections and key these into LATIS will not change, but accuracy of COF information is critical to the integrity and fairness of the ORS. Therefore, decisions made at COF inspections will now be subject to a lot more scrutiny, and any data entry errors will be more likely to be picked up by operators. NZTA will also be monitoring errors more closely and striving for greater and greater accuracy at the input stage, so that operators find less to object to at the output stage. As a testing agent you must ensure that the data collected from operators is accurate. Agents should be aware of the following issues:
Data entry errors
Data entry errors occur in a small proportion of cases and some human error is to be expected, but staff need to be extra vigilant with their data entry. In a recent trial we found that approximately 1% of the COF inspections entered into Landata for the trial set had data entry errors. The most common types of errors are shown in the table below.
| Error type | Example | Why is this important? |
|---|---|---|
| TSL number miskeyed | Numbers transposed eg 12345 keyed as 13245 Numbers misread eg 0 entered as 6 |
The event is assigned to the operator by way of the TSL number so if this is wrong, the event gets included in the wrong operator’s rating |
| Completely wrong TSL number entered | All previous and subsequent COFs were under TSL 12345 entered but one COF was under TSL 45678 Vehicle sold but previous owner’s TSL used in COF |
The event is assigned to the operator by way of the TSL number so if this is wrong, the event gets included in the wrong operator’s rating |
| COF results entered late | Checksheet confirmed that the inspection took place on 01/01/10 but the record in LATIS showed the date as 08/01/10 | Events are aged so that older events have less impact on the rating. Entering the wrong inspection date will give the wrong age and could unduly increase the rating score |
| Duplicate COF entries | The same vehicle, result and faults appear in LATIS twice, perhaps because the form has been double-handled and accidently keyed in twice | Every event counts in ORS so double-keying a COF could unduly increase or decrease the rating score |
Although this was not found during the trial, there is also potential for a fault code to be miskeyed, and this is important because the component code (first two letters of the code) determines the score for the fault and impacts on the overall rating score.
Disputed results
Staff may also find that operators will question or dispute inspection results more often than they currently do, because their rating will be affected. Inspectors must still be able to apply their knowledge and judgement when inspecting vehicles, and the ORS team will not second-guess these decisions, but it’s important for agents to keep good records of any discussions that they have with operators, especially where an original decision is changed, and make sure that the relevant changes are made to LATIS. The ORS team is working with agent head offices and our contact centre to ensure processes are in place for this and we will give you more information shortly.
Capturing TSL numbers
Capturing the correct TSL number is crucial as events are assigned to the operator by way of the TSL number, so if this is wrong, the event gets assigned to the wrong operator. If a TSL number is not recorded then the event will not make it into ORS at all. Therefore agents need to be especially careful in recording the TSL number on COFs for vehicles subject to a TSL. For prime movers, the TSL number that should be used for the COF should be the one displayed on the TSL label in the vehicle in the first instance, unless the driver advises that a different TSL number should be used. For trailers, the driver must advise the inspector of the TSL number that the COF should be recorded under. Refer to section 15-1 of the VIRM for more information about collecting the TSL number.
TSL numbers on failed COFs
The current rules around TSL at COF only require a TSL number to be presented when a certificate is issued, ie, when a vehicle has passed COF. However, for the ORS to be effective we also need to include failed COFs in the rating so it’s important to try and capture the TSL number regardless of the result of the COF – ideally this should be recorded at the start of the COF process. Because all passenger service, vehicle recovery, and heavy goods vehicles (except trailers) must now display a TSL label, it should be possible to record a TSL number in most cases and agents will be helping to improve the overall system if they can capture TSL numbers as often as possible.
