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

See Trouble spots for the full workflow.

Work order

A named group of trouble spots assigned to one or more users, used to coordinate the work of resolving them. Work orders are created in the portal (by filtering pending trouble spots) and consumed by field users in the mobile app. They have:

• A name and optional description.
• Optional assignees (users in your management group).
• An optional deadline.
• Progress — tracked as completed / total spots, and updated automatically as the underlying trouble spots are marked complete.

A work order doesn't change what a trouble spot is — it's a container that groups spots together, gives them an owner and a deadline, and provides a shared view of progress. 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.