A completion sign-off is not proof the job got done

A sign-off is only as good as the proof behind it

Between 2015 and 2021, a supplier called DRI Relays sold the Defense Department electrical relays and sockets it certified as meeting military specifications. The certification was the product: a signed statement that the required tests had been run and passed. They had not been. The parts shipped, the paperwork said tested, and the testing simply never happened. DRI’s parent company later disclosed the gap, and in April 2025 DRI agreed to pay $15.7 million to settle False Claims Act allegations. Strip away the defense contract and the dollar figure and what is left is ordinary: a sign-off said the work was done, and the proof behind the sign-off did not exist. Reported by the U.S. Department of Justice and Constantine Cannon.

A sign-off is a claim about work, not the work itself. The gap between the two does not care whether the job is a military-grade relay or a Tuesday service call. In field service the claim usually arrives as a tapped button. The technician marks the work order complete, and the dispatcher, the customer, and the adjuster downstream are all trusting the tap.

The button records a claim, not the work

Here is the mental model most field-service software runs on: a work order marked done means the job got done. It holds right up until someone disputes it, and then it comes apart in one step. The button does not record the work. It records that a person pressed a button. Nothing in a checkbox ties the claim to the site it was made about, the time the work was actually finished, or the condition it was left in. An e-signature does not close the gap; it adds a name to the claim. Proof has to come from the job, not from the record of someone asserting the job is finished.

How the record gets made

The alternative is to capture the finished job at the moment it is finished, in a way that is boring to produce and hard to change after the fact. Four steps, no app for the technician, and nothing typed in later.

1. Dispatch the job. The technician gets a text with a link. No app to install, no login.
2. The link opens the camera. Gallery uploads are blocked, so the photo of the finished work is taken on site, not pulled from a camera roll.
3. The record seals itself. GPS and a server-set time attach at capture, and a SHA-256 fingerprint makes any later change detectable.
4. You see it, and can share it. The completed job lands on your dashboard, marked done, late, or missed, and shares as one signed link when a customer asks.

What a completed job carries

• A live photo of the finished work, captured through the link (gallery blocked)
• GPS recorded at capture, checked against the site’s expected location
• A server-set timestamp the technician cannot change
• A SHA-256 chain of custody on every record
• A dashboard that marks each job done, late, or missed
• An Evidence Vault you can search by site, technician, or date
• A shareable signed proof link that expires after 7 days
• No technician app or login, in English and Spanish

Sign-off vs. proof

The two look alike in a dashboard. They are not the same the day a customer pushes back.

See a finished example in a sample verified record, or how it fits field service teams. And if a customer ever disputes a job, the proof is already filed, dispute-ready.