Patent ID: 8589256

Claim:
A method for recording a condition of a component of a railway infrastructure that is being observed by an inspector conducting an in-field inspection of the component, the condition representing a deviation from an operational requirement of the component, the method including: a) entering information at a computing device via a graphical user interface to identify the component; b) providing a database in data communication with the computing device associating each of a plurality of different components of the railway infrastructure with a respective set of predetermined condition choices that the inspector can select from, each condition choice describing a condition that can potentially affect the component; c) performing a search in the database on a basis of the information entered at the computing device to identify the set of predetermined condition choices associated with the component for which the information was entered; d) displaying to a user via the graphical user interface the set of predetermined condition choices identified by the search, the graphical user interface being configured for allowing the user to select a condition choice among the displayed set of predetermined condition choices that matches an actual condition of the component that is observed by the inspector; e) in response to selection of a condition choice by the inspector on the graphical user interface, creating a condition record that associates the component with the selected condition choice and storing the condition record on a machine readable storage medium.