Counts by Scan

A count checks what is really at a place against what Sporeline thinks is there. You pick a place, scan every lot and block you find there and in the places under it, and hand the count in. A Manager then reviews the differences and approves them. Approving fixes the records: lots are adjusted or moved, and blocks are moved or discarded, as the Manager chose.

Counts cover lots and blocks. Lab items and materials aren’t counted yet.

Who can do what

Turn counts on

1. Open Settings in the sidebar.
2. In the Optional features card, turn on Counts.
3. To start every new count blind, also turn on Blind counts.

You can also do this under Configuration > Lifecycle, in the Counts card: tick Turn on counts (and Start new counts blind if you want), then click Save Counts.

Once counts are on, Counts appears in the sidebar on the web.

Start a count

1. Open Counts and click New count. Or open a location and click Start a count; the place is filled in for you.
2. In Place (and everything under it), choose the place. Everything under it is counted too.
3. Optionally give it a Name (optional).
4. Under Count, tick Lots, Blocks, or both.
5. Tick Blind: hide expected quantities until it is submitted if the people counting shouldn’t see what is expected.
6. Click Start count.

The count opens with every lot and block Sporeline expects at that place and the places under it.

Print a count sheet

To count on paper first, click Print count sheet at the top of the count. It lists each item with Expected, Counted and Initials columns, and a line to sign.

Scan and record

1. Check Counting at shows the place you are standing in. To switch, scan that place’s location label, or pick it from the list.
2. Scan each block’s label. The block is recorded as counted at that place.
3. Scan a lot’s label, or a barcode that holds just the lot code. Sporeline asks How many of lot … are at …?. Enter the number of units and click Save. Scanning the same lot again at the same place adds to its count.
4. To fix a lot’s number, click Enter next to it in the Counted column, type the right number, and click Save. This replaces the number, it doesn’t add to it.

Record a count with a USB or Bluetooth barcode scanner on the count page, with a paired phone, or in the Sporeline app on a phone or Zebra handheld. The computer’s camera doesn’t record counts, and the Scan page only opens items; it doesn’t add them to a count. To use a phone’s browser, see Scan with a paired phone below. To count in the app, even where there is no signal, see Count on the phone, with or without signal.

You can’t type a new item into a count by hand. A lot already on the list can be corrected with Enter; anything else has to be scanned.

Scan with a paired phone

This way the phone uses a page in its web browser, not the Sporeline app, and needs signal the whole time. Use Chrome on Android. To count in the app instead, see Count on the phone, with or without signal.

1. On the count page on the computer, click Pair a phone. A QR code appears.
2. Scan that QR code with the phone’s camera and open the link. The phone shows Connected to Sporeline and its camera view.
3. Point the phone at each label. When Sporeline has the scan, the phone shows Sent: and the item. The computer then records it on the count at the place shown in Counting at. Scan a location label to switch places, as with a barcode scanner.
4. For a lot, answer How many of lot … are at …? on the computer and click Save. The lot isn’t counted until you do. Cancel drops that scan.
5. Click Unpair on the computer when you are done.

Scans from the phone are handled one at a time, in the order you scanned them.

When the phone shows “Not sent”

If a scan isn’t accepted, the phone shows Not sent: with the item and the reason, and keeps that scan. It sends nothing new until you deal with it.

• Tap Retry to send the same scan again. It is only counted once, even if it was sent before.
• Tap Skip this scan to let it go. It isn’t counted. Scan the item again if you still need it.

If the reason is The desktop hasn’t caught up with your scans, the computer has 200 scans it hasn’t read yet. Check that the count is still open on the computer, then tap Retry.

When the computer can’t record a phone scan

A phone scan only counts once the computer has recorded it. If recording fails, the computer keeps trying, and the scans after it wait their turn. The count page then shows A scan from the paired phone couldn’t be recorded, with the item and the reason.

1. Wait a moment. If the problem was the connection, the scan goes through on its own and the message goes away.
2. If it keeps failing, click Skip this scan. The scans waiting behind it then go through in order.
3. Check the count before you scan that item again. The scan may already have been recorded even though it reported a failure.

Each line shows a status:

Blind counts

On a blind count, the Expected and Difference columns are hidden, and lines show only Not counted or Counted. The numbers appear once the count is submitted. A Manager can tick Show expected to see them while the count is open.

Count on the phone, with or without signal

The Sporeline app counts on its own, on a phone or a Zebra handheld, with no computer. It keeps working where there is no signal: everything you record is saved on the phone and sent, in the order you scanned it, as soon as there is signal again.

Counts are started on the web. Open each count once in the app while you have signal, so the phone has a copy to count against.

1. In the app, open More and tap Counts under Data. You only see it once counts are turned on for the farm.
2. Tap the count. Without signal you see the counts saved on the phone, with how old the list is.
3. Check Counting at shows the place you are standing in. To switch, scan that place’s location label, or tap Change place and pick it.
4. Scan each block’s label with the trigger, or tap Use camera. The block is counted at that place.
5. Scan a lot’s label, or a barcode that holds just the lot code. The app asks How many of … at …?. Type the number of units and tap Save. Scanning the same lot again at the same place adds to its count.
6. To fix a lot’s number, tap Enter next to it, type the right number, and tap Save. This replaces the number instead of adding to it.

Each line shows what was counted, and what was expected unless the count is blind. A line that says waiting to send is saved on the phone and not yet on the count. It sends on its own when there is signal. Even with signal, every record goes through the same queue, so nothing is lost on weak wireless. If a record went out but the phone never heard back, the count waits to show it until Sporeline confirms it, so it is never counted twice; you may see A record from this phone is waiting for Sporeline to confirm it until then.

To hand the count in from the app, tap Submit count. You need signal, and every record on the phone has to have sent first. Until then the app says Submit when you have signal. or how many records are still waiting. You can also submit on the web once the app’s records have gone.

If Submit count went out but the phone never heard back, for example because the connection dropped, the app can’t tell yet whether the count was submitted. It says A Submit of this count went out, but the phone never heard back and won’t record anything more on that count, even if you close the count or restart the app. Tap Retry Submit when you have signal. The count is only submitted once, so retrying is safe. If the retry finds the Submit already went through, the app says The server says this Submit already went through. Checking the count; nothing more can be counted on it. and reads the count again. Once Sporeline answers, or the count shows as submitted, the message goes away. If the Submit went through but the phone couldn’t save the submitted count (for example, when its storage is full), it says The count was submitted, but this phone couldn’t keep it with Retry Submit, and the message stays, even after a restart, until a retry or a fresh read of the count is saved on the phone.

If a record can’t be sent (for example, the count was submitted or cancelled on the web in the meantime), it shows under Sync on the More tab, and the count says how many didn’t send. Submit count waits until those are sent again or deleted there. The records you made after it for the same lot at the same place, or the same block, wait with it and show there too, so they still reach the count in the order you scanned them. Tap Retry failed there to send them all again.

Everyone on the team can see counts in the app. Scanning, Enter and Submit count are for Workers, Managers and Owners.

Submit the count

When everything is scanned, click Submit count.

Anything expected that wasn’t counted becomes Missing. If nothing at all was counted, you see Nothing was counted, so every expected item is missing. Nothing can be scanned after a count is submitted.

Review and approve (Manager or Owner)

1. Open the submitted count. A line above the buttons says how many lines differ, and how many are missing or unexpected.
2. In On approval, check what happens to each line that differs:
   • A lot with a different count: Adjust the lot or No change.
   • A lot found at a place it wasn’t expected: Move it here or No change.
   • A block found at an unexpected place: Move it here or No change.
   • A block that is missing: Discard it or No change. Missing blocks start at No change. If the same block was counted at another place in this count, its missing line stays No change; the line where it was found moves it.
3. Optionally add a Note (optional).
4. Click Approve.

Approval works through the count one whole lot or block at a time. A lot counted at several places is posted as one. While it runs you see how many lots and blocks have posted so far.

After approval, each line shows how its lot or block came out:

• Posted — the change was made.
• Recount — the change couldn’t be made, so nothing was posted for that lot or block. The reason is shown beside it.
• Skipped — a Manager skipped it.

Recounts

A lot or block is marked Recount when what was counted can’t be posted as it stands. Common reasons:

• The lot was moved, sold or adjusted after the count started, or the block moved or changed stage.
• The lot changed while it was being counted, so its places were counted against different versions of it.
• A block was counted at two places.
• The lot no longer exists, is no longer open, or was counted at a place that no longer exists.
• The lot has units allocated to orders, and the count would lower it below what is promised.
• Units at one of its places are reserved for another order, and the count would take some of them away. The reason names the order.
• The count would put units In transit that are promised to orders, leaving too few to sell.
• The farm is at its plan’s unit limit, so a lot’s extra units can’t be added.

There is no retry. A recount is what this count found. To finish the count:

1. Click Skip these … to skip every lot and block marked Recount. Sporeline skips them and carries on approving the rest.
2. Count those lots and blocks again on a new count, after fixing the cause (for example, shipping or releasing the reserved units).

Cancel a count (Manager or Owner)

1. Type a Reason to cancel.
2. Click Cancel count.

You can cancel a count that is open, submitted, or being approved. Cancelling doesn’t undo anything: lots and blocks already posted stay posted, and the count says how many were posted before it was cancelled.

Limits

• A place with more than 300 places under it, or more than 2,000 items, is too big for one count. Count a smaller area.
• A count can post a lot on at most 31 places that differ. Count fewer of its places per count.
• Only one count can be open at a place at a time.
• Skip these … skips up to 100 lots and blocks at a time, and repeats until all are skipped.
• In the app, a count can be counted without signal only if it was opened once in the app with signal. Starting, approving and cancelling a count stay on the web.
• In the app, the camera reads Sporeline labels only. To count a barcode that holds just a lot code, use the Zebra trigger or a paired barcode scanner.

When something goes wrong

• A scan does nothing — the barcode scanner must type like a keyboard and end each scan with Enter. Keep the count page open and in front. Scanning the same code twice within 2 seconds counts once.
• The phone shows “Session Expired” — the pairing ended. Click Pair a phone on the computer again and scan the new QR code.
• The phone shows “Browser Not Supported” — open the link in Chrome on Android, or use a barcode scanner on the computer.
• The phone shows “Not a Sporeline label” — the code wasn’t sent. Scan the item’s own label.
• The phone shows “Not sent” — tap Retry, or Skip this scan. See When the phone shows “Not sent” under Scan with a paired phone.
• The phone stopped sending scans — a refused scan is waiting. Tap Retry or Skip this scan on the phone.
• “A scan from the paired phone couldn’t be recorded” on the computer — click Skip this scan if it keeps failing, then check the count before scanning that item again. See Scan with a paired phone.
• “That place is not in this count” — the location label you scanned isn’t the counted place or under it.
• “That isn’t something this count counts” — for example, a block on a count of lots only. “Lab items aren’t counted yet” for cultures, plates and liquid cultures.
• “That isn’t a Sporeline label or a lot code” — scan the item’s own label.
• “No lot has the code …” — check the lot code and scan again.
• “Count … is still open at this place; finish or cancel it first.” — open the existing count from Counts.
• “This place has more than … places under it” or ”… items to count” — start the count on a smaller place.
• “Lot … is counted on … places; a count can post a lot on at most 31 places at a time.” on submit — cancel the count and count fewer of that lot’s places per count.
• “Approval is stuck on …; try again in a moment.” — another change to that lot was happening at the same time. Click Approve again.
• “This count is no longer being approved (it was cancelled)” — someone cancelled it while you approved. What was already posted stays posted.
• “This count was started before approval was redesigned” — cancel it and start a new count.
• “These settings were changed since you opened this page.” when you turn Counts or Blind counts on or off, or click Save Counts — someone else saved settings first, and nothing was changed. Reload the page, check the switches, and make your change again.
• Counts isn’t in the sidebar — counts aren’t turned on. Ask a Manager to turn on Counts under Optional features.

With an AI assistant

If you have connected an AI assistant (see Connect an AI Assistant), you can ask it about your counts in a normal chat, such as “which counts are still open” or “how far along is the count of Grow Room 1”. It reads them with count_list, which lists your counts newest first, and count_get, which shows one count with its totals and lines. Everyone on the team can ask, as in the app.

On an open blind count the assistant never sees expected quantities or variances, whatever your role, so a blind count stays blind even when a Manager asks. Once the count is submitted it shows what the count page shows. If counts are not turned on for your farm, the assistant says so and reads nothing. Starting, recording and approving counts are still done in the app.