What is a digital multi-point inspection (MPI)?

Technician workflow

Test VIN and repair-order selection, inspection templates, measurements, media capture, recommendations, labor and parts linkage, and completion time on shop devices.

Customer workflow

Review clarity, accessibility, language, authorization, declined work, questions, reminders, payment and records. Avoid treating video alone as proof of informed approval.

Operational integration

Confirm how recommendations, approvals, declines, pricing and payments update the DMS repair order and reporting.

What a technician needs from the tool

Technicians work with dirty hands, tablets and limited time, so the inspection form has to be quick to complete on the shop floor. Test the tool with the people who will use it: how many taps to record a finding, how photos and video attach, whether it works where wireless coverage is weak, and whether a partly finished inspection saves. A workflow that slows technicians will be skipped, and skipped inspections produce no data.

What the customer sees

A customer typically receives a message with the findings, photos or video and a request to approve or decline work. Check that the wording is plain, prices match the estimate, approval is recorded with a time and a person, and declined work is kept for follow-up.

Confirm that the customer can ask a question and that the answer reaches the advisor. Clarity here matters as much as the video itself.

Connecting to the repair order

The value of an inspection depends on what happens to the findings. Ask how a recommendation becomes a line on the repair order, how an approved item updates the estimate and the technician's job, and how declined items appear in later reports.

If advisors re-key recommendations by hand, adoption tends to fade. Test one inspection from start to a closed repair order before deciding.

Common mistakes with digital inspections

Measuring the number of inspections started instead of completed, approved recommendations and resulting hours is one. Another is treating a video as informed consent without a clear estimate.

A third is ignoring retention: decide how long photos and videos are kept and who can view them. Finally, roll out with a pilot group of technicians and advisors, and adjust the form based on their feedback.

Signs the rollout is working

Technicians complete inspections on every vehicle, advisors present findings consistently, customers approve or decline within a reasonable time and repair orders show the approved work without re-entry. If completion rates are low, ask technicians what slows them; the form or the device often needs a change more than the people do.