Reporting a trouble spot

Platform: Mobile (Archer Setup app)

Reporting a trouble spot is the main way field staff put an issue "on the list" for someone to deal with. There are two flavours:

• Single report — you open the Report sheet, pick a category and type, choose the row, and the spot is logged. Notes and a photo are optional.
• Work mode — you pick a type once and pin it, then walk and tap the on-map row buttons to log multiple spots of the same type without reopening the sheet. Great for scouting walks.

Before you start

• You're signed in to the mobile app and in the correct management group.
• Your GPS position is healthy.
• You're standing near the spot you want to report (or you're about to walk a block in work mode).

Single report

1. Open the Maps tab (the home tab in the bottom navigation).

   📷 Screenshot: Maps tab with the map, current position, and the flag button bottom-right.

2. Tap the flag button at the bottom-right of the map. (Alternatively, tap-and-hold at the exact point on the map where you want the pin, if you're not standing on it.) The Report sheet slides up.

3. On the Report step, pick a category, or tap one of the Quick chips at the top to jump straight to a common type. Archer shows the categories and types configured for your organisation.

   📷 Screenshot: Report sheet showing the QUICK chips and the CATEGORIES list.

4. If you picked a category, choose the type on the Select Type step.

   📷 Screenshot: Type step showing the type chips for the chosen category.

5. On the final step, tap the row button for the row you're in (labelled by row number, e.g. Row 12). Tapping the row button logs the spot immediately — there is no separate Save.

   📷 Screenshot: Row step with the large Row buttons, the Notes / Photo / Pin actions, and an "Also nearby" row option.

   On this step you can also:

   • Tap Notes to add free-text notes — use them to describe exactly what you saw, especially if the type is generic.
   • Tap Photo to capture one or more photos.
   • If GPS is ambiguous between adjacent rows, pick one of the Also nearby alternatives instead of the main row buttons.

6. A confirmation snackbar appears, e.g. "Powdery Mildew · Row 12 · logged". If you're offline, the spot is queued and the snackbar reads "… saved locally" — it uploads automatically when you're back online.

The spot is automatically tagged with:

• Your GPS location (lat/lon).
• The block you're in, if you're inside one.
• The row you confirmed (and the distance down the row, if the block has row geometry).
• Any notes and photos you added.
• Your user name and the current timestamp.

Work mode (bulk reporting)

Work mode is for when you're walking a row and seeing the same issue repeatedly — for example, scouting for powdery mildew. You lock in one type, then log spots straight from the map.

1. Open the Report sheet from the Maps tab (flag button), pick the category and type just as you would for a single report.

2. On the row step, tap Pin. This pins the chosen type and closes the sheet. A Work mode active banner shows at the top of the Report sheet whenever you reopen it.

   📷 Screenshot: "Work mode active" banner with the pinned type and the Unpin button, plus the on-map Row quick-log buttons and the "N logged" counter.

3. Walk the block. The map shows Row quick-log buttons for the row(s) you're next to (labelled by row number). Each tap logs a trouble spot of the pinned type at your current position — no extra prompts. A "N logged" counter above the buttons tracks how many you've added.

4. When you're done, reopen the Report sheet and tap Unpin in the Work mode active banner to leave work mode.

To add notes or photos to a spot you logged in work mode, select it on the map afterwards and tap Edit (see below).

Adding notes or photos after the fact

If you need to add to a spot you've already reported:

1. Select the spot on the map to open its detail card.
2. Tap Edit, then add a note and/or capture photos and tap Save.

📷 Screenshot: Trouble spot detail card with the Edit action.

Edit is unavailable until the spot has synced to the cloud. A spot you just logged offline (or moments ago) won't show the Edit option until it has uploaded.

Tips

• Quick chips skip the category step. The Quick row at the top of the Report sheet jumps straight to the type's row step.
• Be specific with types. "Disease → Powdery mildew" is much more useful downstream than "Other → Notes". If the type you want isn't there, ask your admin to add it.
• Use work mode when it fits. Pinning a type and logging from the map is significantly faster than the single-report flow for scouting walks.
• Reporting works offline. Spots are queued locally with a "saved locally" confirmation and upload automatically when you're back online.
• Row buttons need a mapped block. If you're not inside a block with row geometry, the row step shows a single Log at current position button instead of numbered rows.
• Reporting is cheap. If you're not sure whether something's worth recording, record it. It's much easier to ignore a spurious trouble spot than to remember something you saw three hours ago.