Object condition report app for museums and loans
An object condition report is a registrar’s or conservator’s record of a single item at a moment in time: what it is, how it is mounted or framed, and every scratch, loss, tear or flake that a borrower, a courier or an insurer might later dispute. Outgoing and incoming loan checks are the same report taken twice — at the lender’s store and at the venue on unpacking — and the useful output is the difference between them. SurveyThanks captures each check against the object’s stored record, so the arrival report can be read straight against the departure one.
Built for museums running teams of roughly 3–50 inspectors.
Sample Object condition report
An illustrative excerpt. The site, readings and findings are fictional; the layout is yours to set.
Object condition report
Incoming loan check — Object 2026.14.3
- Object
- Oil on canvas, gilt frame, 610 × 455 mm (fictional)
- Check
- Incoming — unpacked at venue, 22 May 2026
- Compared with
- Outgoing check, 18 May 2026
| Area | Outgoing | Incoming | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paint layer, upper left | Stable craquelure | Stable craquelure | Change: None |
| Frame, lower right corner | Gilding loss 5 × 3 mm | Gilding loss 5 × 3 mm; new loose flake adjacent | Change: New |
| Canvas tension | Even | Even | Change: None |
| Hanging fixtures | D-rings secure | D-rings secure | Change: None |
Fields captured on site
Your firm builds the form in-app, so these are a starting point rather than a fixed schema. Every field is captured on the device, with or without signal, and lands in the object condition report where your template puts it.
Object identity
- Accession or loan number
- Object type and medium
- Dimensions (framed / unframed)
- Overview photographs, front and back
Per observation
- Area of the object
- Type (loss, crack, flake, stain, tear, accretion)
- Size
- Detail photograph
- New since previous check (yes / no)
Handling and environment
- Packing on arrival
- Acclimatisation time before unpacking
- Handling recommendations
- Person carrying out the check
Standards the report works to
- Spectrum 5.1The UK collections management standard (Collections Trust)
- Its condition checking and loans procedures are widely used as a model for what an object condition record should hold.
Load the standards you hold into your reference library and the drafted prose is written against them rather than against a general model.
How the object condition report gets built
Capture it once, offline
Your firm builds the museum object condition report form in-app — 25 field types, nesting repeatable groups, compound AND/OR visibility rules, reusable modules and calculated fields. Field capture works with no signal: jobs, forms, photos, notes and audio all queue in an idempotent outbox that only clears once the server confirms receipt.
Link it to your fabric elements and spaces
Enter fabric elements and spaces once, as a register. Every one of your condition observations across inspection rounds then points at a stored row rather than a name somebody typed — and the links survive a disconnected device.
Render your own template
The object condition report renders into the Word template you already use — your letterhead, your section order, your clause library — with conditionals, loops over repeats, composable sub-templates and photo grids.
Reviewed before it leaves
You write the review framework: a checklist of what a object condition report must contain, plus the prose standards you would mark a junior against. Link it to a report template and it runs every time that template renders. Each finding comes back graded info, minor or major, quoting the sentence at fault, and a person accepts or dismisses every one.
Because the structured submission behind the report is held too, the review is a comparison rather than a proofread: The narrative says the verandah is stable; the condition record grades it poor and deteriorating.
Checks a heritage framework usually carries
- Every element in the schedule carries a condition grade and a photograph
- Change since the last inspection is stated element by element
- Recommendations are tied back to Burra Charter principles
- The significance assessment is consistent with the conservation management plan
Questions
- Can the incoming report show the outgoing condition beside it?
- Yes. Both checks link to the same object row, so the template can print the earlier observation, the current one and whether it is new, area by area.
- Can a courier fill in the check at a venue without our Wi-Fi?
- The job and its form can be loaded onto the device beforehand, and the check, its photographs and notes stay on the device until they reach the server. The report itself is produced once back online.
- Does the report carry the lender’s and borrower’s signatures?
- No — there is no signature capture. Teams that need a signed condition report typically sign the rendered PDF in their existing workflow.
- Can we produce reports for a whole exhibition at once?
- Each object is its own row and its own check, and a single job can hold many objects. The template can render one report per object or a combined schedule for the loan.
What this is not
Worth knowing before you book a demo, so neither of us wastes the half hour.
- Not field-service dispatch. No timesheets, no parts, no inventory. Scheduling exists to get an inspector to a site.
- No signature capture. If your deliverable has to carry a signed sign-off on the artefact itself, this is not the tool yet.
- Field capture is what works offline — jobs, forms, photos, notes and audio. Reports, chat, scheduling and the inbox need a connection.
- No client portal. Reports go out as a file or a password-protected link.
Other heritage work we cover
- Archaeological site monitoringSite monitoring report
- Ghost sign documentationSign documentation report
- Heritage building condition surveysConservation condition report
- Historic cemetery surveysGrave condition survey
- Indigenous heritage surveysCultural heritage report
- Rock art condition monitoringRock art condition report
- Shipwreck site inspectionsWreck site report
- Statue and monument auditsMonument condition register
Other disciplines
Rebuild your object condition report in SurveyThanks
Bring the Word template you already send clients. If you are coming off another field-forms tool, a filled report can be uploaded, read field by field, and re-rendered into your template.