Trouble spots

A trouble spot is a GPS-pinned report of something in the field that needs attention. A diseased vine, a broken dripper, a fallen post, a missed irrigation — anything worth coming back to. Trouble spots are short-lived: you report them, you work on them, you mark them complete, and they go away.

The lifecycle

1. Reported — someone in the field opens the report sheet on the Maps tab (tap the flag button in the bottom-right, or long-press the map), picks a category and a type (for example, "Trellis & Structure → Broken Post"), then taps the row at their current position. There's no pin to drag — the spot is logged where you are.
2. Pending — the spot sits on the map and in the portal's Spots list, waiting for someone to do something about it.
3. Completed — whoever does the work marks it complete. Most spots are completed with a single action, but a trouble-spot type can carry a multi-step resolution process — spots of those types show a step checklist and only count as resolved when the last step is done. Either way the spot leaves the pending view (you can still show completed spots on either map). See Completing trouble spots.

Categories and types

Trouble spots use a two-level taxonomy: a category (for example, "Trellis & Structure") and a type within that category (for example, "Broken Post"). The standard set is Trellis & Structure, Plant, Irrigation, Soil & Ground, Access, and General; your organisation can add its own types and categories, so what you see is the standard entries plus whatever your team has added.

Each type carries a short code (Broken Post is "P", Dead Vine is "D", Leak is "L", and so on) that appears on the map marker. Frequently used types can be flagged for quick access so they show up as one-tap chips at the top of the report sheet — if your organisation has set any up.

How trouble spots look on the map

Each category has its own marker shape and colour outline, so you can tell what kind of issue a spot is at a glance. With the standard set:

• Trellis & Structure — diamond
• Plant — circle
• Irrigation — hexagon
• Soil & Ground — shield
• Access — square
• General — circle

Inside each marker is the type's short code. When you zoom out, nearby spots cluster into a single count so the map stays readable; zoom in and they split out again. Completed spots are hidden by default and, when shown, look the same as pending ones.

Photos

You can attach photos to a trouble spot — either when you first report it or later by opening the spot and choosing Edit. The number of photos a spot can hold depends on your organisation's plan; if you reach the limit, the camera button stops you with a short message.

Where trouble spots are reported and worked

• Reporting happens in the field, from the mobile app. There's a work mode for when you're walking a row and logging many spots of the same type in quick succession: from the report sheet, pick a category and type, then tap Pin. A "Work mode active" banner appears on the report sheet and the chosen type stays pinned, so the map shows quick-log row buttons above the flag button. Each tap logs a spot of that type at your current position and bumps the "N logged" counter — no need to reopen the sheet each time. See Reporting a trouble spot.
• Viewing and triaging happens on both the mobile app and the portal. Field staff use the mobile map to find and work the closest spots; office staff use the portal's Spots lens on the Maps page to see everything for a site.
• Completing is done on both mobile and portal. In the field, mobile users open a spot and press and hold "Hold to complete". In the office, portal users select pending spots on the Spots lens and click Mark complete. Spots whose type carries a resolution process complete step by step instead of in one action.

Coordinating a team — work orders

When you need more structure than "someone finds a thing, someone fixes it" — grouping spots into a batch, assigning them to specific people, setting a deadline, and watching progress — use a work order. The portal organises work by type: the WORK section of the left-hand menu has one page per work order type — General, Spot Search, and Spot Fix. Two of them exist for trouble spots:

• A Spot Fix groups known pending trouble spots into one job. Create it from Work → Spot Fix — a wizard that starts with a filterable spot picker.
• A Spot Search sweeps chosen blocks row by row hunting for one specific trouble-spot type, with finds logged as new trouble spots.

Field users work both from the Work tab in the Archer app (the bottom navigation tabs are List · Maps · Work). See Managing trouble spot work for the full flow.

Pages in this section

• Reporting a trouble spot — mobile
• Viewing trouble spots — mobile and portal
• Completing trouble spots — mobile and portal
• Managing trouble spot work — coordinating a team using work orders
• Managing trouble-spot types — portal, enterprise
• Resolution processes — portal, enterprise