Capturing variations

Capturing a variation on site with the mobile app

3 min read · Checked against the product 3 October 2026

How a supervisor or operative logs a variation on the phone in about a minute: photos, GPS, a voice note, the requester’s signature, the work-proceeded flag, and what happens with no signal.

The capture is the evidence. A variation logged on the day, with a photo, a location and the name of the person who asked for it, is worth more at final account than any reconstruction. The VariationFlow app is built so that a capture takes about a minute and works without signal.

It is free to download for iPhone and Android, and each person signs in with the email they were invited on. The app page shows the screens.

When to use it

Every time somebody asks for something that is not in your scope: a verbal instruction on the walkround, a “while you are there”, a drawing revision that changes the work, or an obstruction that stops you. Capture it before the work starts if you can. If the work has already started, capture it anyway and say so.

How to do it

1. Open the app, tap the VariationFlow card and go to the Submit tab.
2. Pick the project. The list is stored on the phone, so it is there offline.
3. Write the description: what changed, where, and against which drawing or instruction. This text becomes the evidence record, so be specific.
4. Fill in Requested By with the person’s name, role and company, for example “J. Okafor (Site Engineer, Marlowe Construction)”. It is required.
5. Tap “Capture signature” and hand the phone to that person to sign. It is optional, and it is the strongest proof the variation was asked for.
6. Check Location / Grid Ref. It fills itself from GPS; type over it with a room or grid reference if that is more useful.
7. Turn on “Work has proceeded” if work started without a written instruction. A commercial-risk warning appears and the office sees the variation flagged.
8. Add photos with the camera, as many as you need, and record a voice note of up to 30 seconds if typing is not practical.
9. Tap “Submit Variation”. Online, it goes straight into the register as a draft, and anyone with the dashboard open sees a “New variation captured on site” notice.

Working with no signal

Before sending, the app checks that it can reach the VariationFlow server rather than trusting the phone’s network status, because a VPN can make a phone report a connection it does not have. With no connection the button reads “Queue for Later”: the capture, photos and voice note included, is saved on the phone and uploads by itself when you are back in coverage. Each capture keeps the time it was taken, so a variation queued on Monday and sent on Wednesday still starts its notice clocks on Monday. Anything the server refuses stays on the phone until you retry or delete it; nothing is thrown away unasked.

The app in your crew’s language

The app speaks ten languages: English, Deutsch, Español, Français, Italiano, Nederlands, Polski, Português, Українська and 日本語. It follows each phone’s own language, so a Polish operative on an English job gets a Polish app. To change it, open Settings from the account menu and pick a language; “Use my phone’s language” is the default, and the choice is kept on that phone. Money always shows in your organisation’s currency, and the record the office sees is the same whatever language captured it.

What good looks like

• A description somebody else could price from, a named requester and at least one photo of the before.
• “Work has proceeded” switched on whenever the work started first. It is the flag the commercial team works from.
• Captures made on the day, not on Friday afternoon from memory.

Common mistakes

• Signing in for the first time on site with no signal. Sign in once in the office and the app stays signed in.
• “Extra work, level 2” as a description. Name the drawing, the room and the change.
• Assuming a capture failed when it is queued. If something seems not to send, open Settings on the phone first: it shows the connection state and what happened to the last capture.