Exporting permits: columns, grain, filters and saved templates

The Export tab gives you work permits as a table — for an audit, for a monthly report, or to keep the record in your own systems too. You decide what one row is (a permit, a person on a permit, a signature, a gas test…), which columns you need, and you filter. The preview and the download come from the same core, so you download what you see. A setup you use often can be saved as a template.

Before you start

• Permission: the right to view permits — ptw:view. A user with the request right only does not get the register.
• Filtering by person and issuer: needs a separate right — the “Person-level permit report” ptw:report_people. Names as columns (issuer, signers, workers) can be exported without it, as they are on the permit itself; the page says: “Filtering by person or issuer requires the person-level report right (names as columns can be exported without it).”
• Saving a template: anyone can save a personal template; a site- or organisation-wide one needs the permit management right — ptw:manage.

Steps

The column picker: you tick columns by group, and reorder the file’s column order below.

1. Open the Export tab in the Permit to work module. The introduction: “Tabular download of permits: choose what one row is about (grain), which columns you need, and filter.”
2. Choose a template and a grain on the “What to export” card. The “Template” can be “— custom selection —”, the built-in “Register (classic)” (the former 15-column export, with unchanged columns and order) or a template you saved. “One row =” is the grain: Permit, Permit × person, Signature / lifecycle step, Gas test, Isolation point, Certificate, Condition / preparation task or Checklist answer. The filter always selects permits; the grain says what rows the selected permits become (e.g. one row = one person on one permit).
3. Tick the columns on the “Columns” card (the classic template has no column picker). Columns are in groups — Permit, Place, Dates, Parties, People, Lifecycle, Hazard control, Details — and the “Search columns…” box filters them. The file’s column order is the order of selection; in the “Column order in the file” list you reorder with Move up / Move down. If you tick none, the grain’s default columns are used; “Back to the default columns” resets to them.
4. Filter on the “Filters” card: date axis (Issue date · Validity (overlap) · Close / cancel date), period, site, plant, type, status, outcome, hazard marker, company, location, work order, issuer, approver, coordinator, issue-block reason, person, medium. The “Period” can be fixed days (“Fixed days (or all)”) or relative: Last 7/30/90 days, This month, Previous month, Year to date, Previous year. A relative period always counts from the day of download.
5. Press “Update preview”. Until you do, the download is disabled: “The settings are not applied yet — download is available after updating the preview.”
6. Check the preview at the bottom of the page: “Preview: the first … of … rows.” Above it, the coverage line says how many permits are involved and what share has a plant, registered workers and normalised companies.
7. Download: “Download CSV” (one grain), “Download Excel (XLSX)”, or “Full data package (XLSX)” — the latter has one sheet per grain (permit, person, signature, gas test, isolation, certificate, condition, answer) sharing the permit number; the chosen grain uses the chosen columns, the others their defaults. The About sheet states the filter, the number of rows and — if it happened — the clamping by the cap.
8. Save it as a template (see below) if you will need it again.

Saved templates

The Saved templates card: name, scope, save.

1. Set up and update the export as above.
2. On the “Saved templates” card enter the “New template name” and choose “Who sees it”: personal · site · whole organisation. Press “Save as template”.
3. Using it: in the Template list the saved template reads “name · scope”; choosing it restores the grain, the columns, the filter and the period. You can overwrite an existing template with the current settings, or delete it.

A template saves the grain, the columns, the filter and the period. With a relative period (e.g. “previous month”) the template always counts from the day of download — so the monthly report needs no re-setup.

If it worked

The downloaded file has, by the chosen grain, one row per permit (or person, signature, gas test…), with the chosen columns; time columns are in the row’s site time zone, in a sortable format. The columns of the classic template: Number · Work · Type · Status · Site · Plant · Location · Company · Work supervisor · Work order · Valid from · Valid until · Signatures · Paper fallback · Created. Every download is logged (who, when, which columns, how many rows) — the file content is not.

Common problems

What you see	Why	What to do
“The output is capped (10,000 permits / 50,000 rows) — narrow with the filters for the full query.”	The filtered set is larger than the cap.	Narrow to a site, plant, type or period, and download in parts.
“The settings are not applied yet — download is available after updating the preview.”	You changed something but did not update the preview.	Press “Update preview”, or “Discard changes”.
“Filtering by person or issuer requires the person-level report right.”	You do not have ptw:report_people.	Ask your administrator, or filter on something else; names as columns can still be exported.
“A shared template cannot contain a person or issuer filter.”	A site- or organisation-wide template cannot hold a person filter.	Save it as a personal template, or remove the person filter.
“A template with this name already exists in this scope — choose another name or overwrite the existing one.”	The name is taken within the scope.	Choose another name, or overwrite.
“Someone changed this template meanwhile — reload it and try again.”	Someone else edited the template.	Reload it and make your change again.
“Too many failed attempts. Please try again in a few minutes.” on download	Downloads can be requested at most 30 times a minute.	Wait a little and download again.
You do not see the Export tab	Your role has no right to view permits.	Ask your administrator.

Related

PDF package: many permits in one ZIPThe permits’ PDFs and the manifest, with the same filter.

Module overviewThe list, the tabs and the statuses.

Paper check and evidenceChecking the signature chains, with a CSV and PDF report.

Break permits down: the permit reportSummaries by two dimensions, with drill-down to the permits.