Kashfia Site Survey: What It Is and How to Run It Well

A Kashfia site survey is the field inspection that follows work order registration and precedes any permit or execution. The survey team visits the site, records what it finds and settles three questions: does the survey match, do the materials match, and does the job need an excavation permit? The answers decide where the order goes next.

What is a Kashfia site survey?

الكشفية (kashfia) is the Arabic term Saudi electricity-network contractors use for the pre-execution site survey of a utility work order. It comes from kashf, meaning to examine or inspect. By default, ELX keeps the word "Kashfia" in its English interface too.

In the work-order journey, the survey is the second stage: the survey team claims the order, visits the site, records observations and measurements, then relays the order onward. It is the first point at which anyone checks that the job on paper can actually be built on the ground.

A survey ends with decisions, not just a narrative report — and those decisions send the order back to the work-order team, into permits, or straight to Projects or Connections. For the full sequence, see our guide to utility work order stages.

Kashfia

الكشفية: the field inspection of a work order’s site before permits and execution.

Survey matching

Yes/no: do the site and the requested work agree with the work order as issued?

Material matching

Yes/no: do the specified materials suit what the team found on site?

Needs permit

Yes/no: does the order enter the excavation permits stage?

Customer and source coordinates

Two points the survey team sets on an interactive map: the customer location and the source location. The customer location is saved to the work order.

Why does the survey come before the permit and execution?

Because everything after it relies on its data. A permit is requested for defined excavation routes, crews need a confirmed location and the right materials, and finance needs documented work that matches the order. A problem caught at the survey is easier to fix than one found with a crew already on site.

• Check before you commit: confirm the site and the job before crews are booked and materials issued.
• Build the permit file: the Ministry of Municipalities and Housing (MOMAH) requires, among other things, Shape files of the excavation routes, a site safety and security plan based on the traffic control guide, and a traffic plan when a road is closed. Preparing those files starts with knowing the route on the ground.
• Coordinate early: permits within city limits are issued after coordinating with other entities, so route details need to be clear early.
• Set the next stage: the survey’s decisions tell the system where the order goes next.

For context, MOMAH describes the "Request for Issuance of a New Excavation Permit" as an electronic service for utility entities such as electricity, telecom and water companies, used by their representatives in the municipal infrastructure project coordination offices and available only through the Balady portal and app. See our Balady excavation permit guide.

What does the survey team record on site?

A complete survey answers when, where, what work and along which route. The table lists the fields on the ELX survey screen and how each is used later.

Two good habits: name every photo for what it shows, such as "source point" or "route start", so the permits and execution teams understand it without tracking down whoever took it; and write work details for someone who has never visited the site.

When is a survey or material mismatch raised, and what happens next?

In general, a survey does not match when the site or the requested work disagrees with the work order as issued; materials do not match when the specified materials do not suit what the team found. Each company sets its detailed criteria from its contract with the utility and the utility’s instructions; the system records the yes/no decision and acts on it.

A mismatch does not leave the order stuck. In ELX:

1. Record the decision

   The team marks the survey or materials as not matching and attaches the evidence.

2. Generate the form

   The system builds a survey-matching or material-matching form from a template and fills it with order data such as number, name, contract number, branch, district, address and work description.

3. Email it

   The form is emailed to several recipients with the survey and work-order attachments; each template has its own default recipients.

4. Return the order

   The order goes back to the work-order team to resolve the cause.

5. Confirm material matching

   The work-order team confirms material matching and the order returns to the survey.

Every return therefore comes with a written form sent to named recipients, and the order goes back to a known team instead of getting lost in chat threads. Material reconciliation — comparing what was received from the utility with what was actually consumed on site — is a later, different step; see material reconciliation per work order.

How does the survey decide whether a permit is needed?

With both matches confirmed, one question remains: does the job involve excavation that needs a permit? The survey team answers in the "Needs permit" field:

The implementing agency on the work order decides between Projects and Connections, so the survey team does not have to choose. The permit decision depends on the nature and location of the work and on the competent authorities’ requirements, and should rest on what the team saw on site rather than on assumptions.

In the permits stage, the permits team sees the survey and work-order files on its own screen and records the license: request number and date, license number, start, duration, expiry and municipality. ELX fills an editable permit-application letter from a template and emails it to several recipients. For what follows, see our guide to excavation permit tracking.

How do you check existing infrastructure assets before digging?

An excavation site may sit above other networks — cables, pipes and telecom lines. A survey spots what shows on the surface, but a visual check cannot reveal what lies underground.

In this context, the Riyadh Infrastructure Projects Center launched a geospatial asset verification service that lets contractors and executing entities view the locations of existing infrastructure assets at a project site before excavation, according to the Saudi Press Agency.

On Riyadh jobs, the survey team can make that check part of its routine before recording drill types and lengths, then save whatever it produces with the survey files so the permits and execution teams can see it. The service is separate from ELX and not connected to it; the survey attachments are simply a sensible place to keep its output.

Pre-excavation duties do not stop at existing assets: MOMAH also requires a site safety and security plan with the permit request, and states that using subcontractors does not exempt the main contractor from liability for violations. See our guide to excavation safety requirements.

What should you check before relaying a survey?

• Survey and approval dates are recorded.
• Work details are clear to someone who has not seen the site.
• Customer and source coordinates are set on the map.
• Every drill type has its path length.
• Photos and files carry clear reference names.
• All three decisions are settled: survey match, material match, permit need.
• The no-objection number is on the work order, not in the survey notes.
• A delay justification with files is entered if the order is overdue and justification is mandatory.

In ELX, "Relay" first checks the relay permission and the notes and attachments the settings make mandatory for this stage, so the order cannot move on while any of them is missing.

How do you manage and distribute surveys in ELX?

ELX is a bilingual (Arabic/English) cloud (SaaS) system built for electricity-network contractors in Saudi Arabia. Matrix hosts and operates it, and it runs in the browser with no servers needed on the contractor’s side. The survey is a full stage with its own screen, queue, time limit and owner, within the site survey and excavation permits module.

The survey screen

It holds everything above: dates, work details and notes, customer and source coordinates on an interactive map, drill types with path lengths, files with reference names and the three decisions. The list filters by approval date, work order, type, district, work description, survey date and administrative office.

Assigning site surveys to engineers

• Direct claim: a user claims an order with "Open" and it is assigned to them; nobody else can open it without the "Show other users’ data" permission.
• Distribution queue: with manual relay, the order first enters the survey distribution screen, where a dispatcher assigns it to a user listed for the order’s district and stage screen. The user gets a real-time in-app alert and a browser notification.
• Status filters: the survey queue filters by four statuses — new, returned from permits, returned from disconnection and time limit exceeded — and overdue orders are colour-marked with a legend.
• Re-assignment: from the re-assignment screen, a supervisor can move a survey to another user or remove the assignment.
• Separate rights: viewing the queue and assigning from it are different permissions.

These tools belong to work order management, which provides claiming, distribution and re-assignment across the work-order stages from the survey to drawing.

Time limits, alerts and reports

• Time limits: each stage has a limit in days, counted from relay or receipt. An overdue order cannot be relayed without a delay justification and files when justification is mandatory. See stage time limits and delay justifications.
• Alerts: when an order reaches the survey, a Telegram message — and a WhatsApp message when enabled — is sent to users who can view the survey screen, have notifications on and a registered number. See instant notifications.
• Full report: the work-order report includes a survey section with status, material status, work details, drill types and lengths and permit need, downloadable as a PDF or opened in a print view.
• Unified attachments: survey files sit with every other stage’s files on one screen, downloadable as a ZIP named after the order.
• Field work: a mobile-ready API for field apps lets field staff receive survey tasks, save data, upload photos and files and relay under the same validation rules.

If your surveys still move between spreadsheets and scattered messages, request a demo to see the survey stage in ELX, from claim to relay. Matrix can also migrate your existing Excel data and train your team on the system.