Key concepts

Archer uses a small set of core objects that show up everywhere in the app and portal. Understanding how they relate is the fastest way to make sense of the rest of these docs.

Organisation

Your top-level account in Archer. Everything you do happens inside an organisation — vineyards, users, devices, configuration. It's called a management group in the mobile app (where you choose one via Select management group at login and Switch Management Group from the menu) and an organisation in the portal — they are the same thing.

A company can contain multiple management groups. When you log in to the mobile app, the management groups you can access are grouped by company, and you pick the one you want to work in.

Vineyard

A single physical site. A vineyard contains blocks and any map features that belong to that site. Most users work with one or two vineyards day-to-day.

Block

A subdivision of a vineyard — typically a single variety planted together, with consistent row layout. Blocks are the main unit for mapping and for most field work. Each block has:

• A boundary — the polygon drawn on the map (usually captured via GPS/RTK in the field).
• A variety and other attributes.
• A status (see Block versioning).

Field feature

A map annotation that isn't a block — things like irrigation headers, frost fans, gates, pump sheds, hazard zones, or any other point/line/area worth marking. Features are organised into categories and types, and each type can carry its own custom attributes.

Trouble spot

A GPS-pinned report of an issue in the field — for example, a diseased vine, damaged infrastructure, or anything that needs attention later. Trouble spots have:

• A category and type (for example, "Disease → Powdery mildew").

• A location — latitude/longitude, and usually a row and distance down the row.

• A status — either pending (not yet complete) or complete. The portal shows these as "Pending" and "Complete" trouble spots; the mobile app uses the same wording.

  Some trouble-spot types carry a resolution process — an ordered list of steps (defined in the portal under Settings) that a spot of that type goes through before it counts as resolved. Spots of those types show a step checklist instead of a single complete action, and the spot completes when its last step is done. Spots of types without a process are simply pending or complete as described.

• Metadata: who reported it, when, and (once resolved) who completed it.

See Trouble spots for the full workflow.

Work order

A named job assigned to one or more users, created in the portal and worked in the Archer app from the Work tab. In the portal, the left-nav WORK section has one page per type of work, and each page's New button creates that type. There are three types:

• General Work — a standalone task for the team, optionally with a checklist of field features to tick off. Progress counts features.
• Spot Fix — a group of trouble spots to resolve, assigned as one job. Progress counts spots.
• Spot Search — a row-by-row sweep of chosen blocks hunting one specific trouble-spot type, with finds reported as new trouble spots. Progress counts rows.

Whatever the type, a work order has:

• A name and optional description.
• Optional assignees (users in your management group).
• An optional deadline.
• Progress — tracked as completed / total of the type's unit (features, spots, or rows). A work order completes itself when its last unit is done, and can be reopened from the portal.

See Work orders for the full workflow.

Row

Blocks are made up of rows. When you record a trouble spot or feature near a row, Archer can "snap" the location to the nearest row based on the block's mapped geometry. This makes it easier to find the spot again later.

Platform vs organisation configuration

Some configuration in Archer — like the default list of trouble spot categories and types — is provided at the platform level and inherited by every organisation. You can extend this with your own organisation-specific entries, and those get merged with the platform defaults when field devices sync.

You don't usually need to think about this, but it's useful to know when you see trouble spot types you didn't create yourself.