ITP · hold and witness points
Inspection and test plans
A hold point is only a control if somebody is stopped by it. On paper it is a row in a spreadsheet that gets ticked afterwards.
How it works
- 01
Build the plan
Activities, references, acceptance criteria and the intervention level for each party — hold, witness, review, monitor.
- 02
Notify in time
A notice of inspection goes out with the notice period the contract requires, to the party that has to attend.
- 03
Stop where it says stop
A hold point that has not been released blocks the next step in the system, not just in the document.
- 04
Record the outcome
Attended, released, released with comment, or rejected — with who decided and when.
What it covers
Master and project plans
A template ITP becomes a project ITP without losing the link to what it came from.
Four intervention levels
Hold, witness, review and monitor, per party, per activity.
Notices and attendance
Notice of inspection, waivers, attendance records.
Release control
Enforced on the server, not by hiding a button.
Inspection reports
What was checked, against what, and what was concluded.
Client visibility
The client sees their own project, and only theirs.
The difference between a plan and a control
Most inspection and test plans are produced to satisfy a contractual requirement and then live in a document. The activities happen in the workshop; the plan is reconciled with them later. When the two disagree, the plan is usually the one that gets edited.
A hold point that is enforced changes the economics of the argument. Work does not proceed past it, so it cannot be quietly passed and papered over afterwards. That is uncomfortable the first time it happens and it is the entire point: an inspection regime that can be retro-fitted is not an inspection regime.