Seals come in many shapes, colors, and codes, making them hard to handle and track. We know having the correct seal number on site is really important to you. How about automating the process of capturing the in-place seal and recording its unique reference?
In this article, you will learn how to include a step in your workflow that will help you digitize the seal reference in your file.
To use the seal feature, you need to configure:
a seal field: what is the name of the field you want to store the seal value under
a workflow, with a step capturing this seal
Sounds easy enough, doesn't it? Let's get on it!
Create a Seal Field
Go to "Global Settings" and select the "Fields" tab. Now click the + sign to create a new Field.
This will open the create field, where you can give the field a friendly name (a fancy color, if you like) and select the "Seal" as its type:
Click "create" and you have the possibility to add this field to files. Moving on!
Add the seal to a workflow
Now, again in "Global Settings", move on to "Workflows" and create a new workflow (or add a step to a workflow).
Also see this article for more input on how to create workflows.
Once this is in, you are able to use the seal feature! On the App, once you get to the step of the seal, you will just make a picture; but on the platform you will see the seal captured in both image and reference:
And because this Field is a regular field, you can use this field to find files. So, know a seal number, but not the file? Just add a search on the field and you'll find it! Sweet!
Important: do you have a seal that does not get scanned?
We took a lot of care to work with many different types of seals and structures, but there may be times when a particular seal is formatted in such a way that our solution does not pick up the right code. Please send us a couple of images of such cases (just hit the support button in the right lower corner and start a chat). We may be able to tweak your configuration!
Seal best practices
Use a QR code instead of a barcode. We have seen with stamps that the ink sometimes runs out; a QR code is much more robust than a barcode. Perhaps this will enable the older devices to be scanned more quickly.
Make sure there is always sufficient contrast. Think of a standard white stamp with black print
Font: Choose a font in which there is a clear distinction between a 0 and an O
Consistent format of coding,
E.g Truck/trailer: T12345678
Container: C12345678
If you want to take it a step further: use a "check digit" as the last digit, e.g. T12345678-9 where the 9 is a calculated value based on the previous values. It allows you to check the seal reference itself, without having to compare it with what you have in a file. It prevents typos and also scan issues. A shipping container has such a check digit with an excellent algorithm and therefore we are always confident of the scan (and it is fast), where, for example, a license plate does not have this and can therefore occasionally cause some headaches. If you can provide your own number sequences, an excel function can suffice to generate the numbers.