How to Assign a QR Code to an Equipment | Latner Software Documentation

Assigning a QR code links a printed label on a machine to its equipment record in Latner, so anyone who scans the label lands on the right machine.

Overview

A QR label is only useful once Latner knows which machine it belongs to. That's what this job does: you scan the sticker once, in the office or standing next to the machine, and from then on the code is that machine's.

Codes are assigned one at a time from the equipment record, under Options › Assign QR Code.
Each code has a Type - Portal opens the customer equipment portal, Pre Start opens a public pre-start check for the operator.
A machine can carry more than one code, so a Portal label and a Pre Start label can live on the same machine.
Codes are unique across your whole system - one code can only ever point at one machine.
The code is captured by scanning the label with your device camera. There's no keyboard entry for it.
Once assigned, you can find the machine in Latner by searching for its code, and the code shows on the equipment record under QR Codes.

Before You Begin

You'll need these in place before you start.

Requirement	Where to Find It
Assign Equipment QR Code permission	Security › Configuration › Permission Groups - Equipment module, under Option. The same permission also controls Unassign QR Code.
Printed QR labels	Any durable-label supplier. Latner doesn't supply labels - you choose what each one encodes, so settle on a scheme before you order.
A device with a working camera	A phone, tablet or a laptop with a camera, and permission for the browser to use it. The code can't be typed in.
Pre-Start checks enabled (only for Pre Start codes)	Pre-start operator checks are switched on for your account by Latner. Portal codes need nothing extra.

The Assign Equipment QR Code permission sits in the Equipment module under Option, and covers unassigning as well

What each label encodes matters. For a sticker to work when someone points a plain phone camera at it, it has to carry a link in the form https://<your Latner web address>/qr-codes/<your code> - Latner then stores just the <your code> part. Labels that encode anything else can still be assigned, but they'll only be recognised when scanned from inside Latner.

Assigning a QR Code

Step 1 - Open the equipment record

Go to Equipment › Equipment and open the machine you're labelling, then click Options at the top right.

Assign QR Code and Unassign QR Code sit at the bottom of the equipment Options menu

Step 2 - Choose Assign QR Code

Select Options › Assign QR Code. The Assign Equipment QR Code window has three fields:

Current QR Codes - leave this blank to add a new code. Select a code here only when you're replacing one that's already on this machine. The list only offers codes belonging to the machine you're on.
Type - Portal or Pre Start. Defaults to Portal. If you pick a code in Current QR Codes, this switches to that code's type automatically.
New QR Code Text - required. Captured by scanning, using the QR button beneath the label.

The Assign Equipment QR Code window - note there's no text box under New QR Code Text, only the scan button

Step 3 - Set the Type

Choose what the label should do when it's scanned. Portal takes a customer to that machine's documentation, inspection history and service history. Pre Start opens a public pre-start check for an operator to complete before using the machine. The type belongs to the code, not to the machine, so a machine with two labels can have one of each.

Type decides what the label does when scanned - it doesn't change where the code is stored

Step 4 - Scan the label

Click the QR button under New QR Code Text. The Scan QR Code window opens with a live camera view - allow camera access if your browser asks. Hold the label in frame; as soon as it's read, the window closes on its own and the code appears next to the button. Cancel backs out without capturing anything.

The scanner reads QR codes and common barcodes (Code 128, EAN-13, EAN-8, UPC-A, UPC-E, Code 39, Code 93, ITF and Codabar), so an existing asset barcode can be used as the code just as well as a QR sticker.

The captured code appears beside the scan button - this label carried a link, so only the part after /qr-codes/ was kept

Step 5 - Save

Click Save. Latner confirms with QR Code Updated, and the code appears on the equipment record under QR Codes in General Details. That field is read-only - codes are only ever changed through the Options menu.

The record after assigning - QR Codes lists every code on the machine, with the Public Portal URL below it for testing a scan from a desktop

Assigning a Code from a Phone

Labelling usually happens in the yard rather than at a desk, so the same action is on the mobile equipment record. Open the machine from Search Equipment, tap the + button and choose Assign QR Code. The fields and the scan step are identical to the desktop window.

On a phone, Assign QR Code sits behind the + button on the equipment record

Replacing or Removing a Code

When a sticker is damaged or peels off, replace the code rather than adding a second one. Open Options › Assign QR Code, select the old code in Current QR Codes, then scan the new label and Save. The existing code record is updated in place, so the machine doesn't accumulate dead codes.

Selecting a code in Current QR Codes replaces it in place instead of adding another one

To take a code off a machine entirely, use Options › Unassign QR Code, select the code and Save. Latner confirms with QR Code Unassigned. The picker only lists codes belonging to the machine you're on.

Unassign Equipment QR Code offers only the codes currently on this machine

After Assigning

The code is listed under QR Codes on the equipment record, comma separated when there's more than one.
You can find the machine by typing its code into the search box on the Equipment list. On a phone, the Search Equipment screen has a scan button that fills the search box from a label.
Scanning a Portal label while signed in to Latner opens the internal equipment record; scanning it signed out opens the customer portal instead.
Scanning a Pre Start label opens the public pre-start check for that machine, signed in or not.
The change is recorded in the machine's audit history as QR Code Assigned (or QR Code Unassigned), with who did it and when.

Unassigning a code deletes it rather than parking it, so its history goes with it and the machine no longer answers to that label. If a machine is simply getting a new sticker, replace the code through Assign QR Code instead of unassigning and starting again.

FAQs

There's nowhere to type the code into New QR Code Text. How do I enter it?

You don't - the field is scan-only. Click the QR button beneath the label and scan the physical sticker. This is deliberate: it means the value stored in Latner is exactly what the label produces when scanned, so a typo can't quietly break every future scan.

Latner saved something different from what's printed on my label. Why?

If the label carries a link in the form https://<your Latner web address>/qr-codes/<code>, Latner keeps just the <code> part - that's the tidy result. If it carries anything else, Latner stores a short fingerprint of the scanned content instead. The fingerprint still works when the same label is scanned again, so the assignment is sound, but it won't look like the text on your sticker.

The label works inside Latner but a plain phone camera doesn't open the machine.

The label isn't encoding a Latner link. A phone camera can only open what the QR code actually contains, so for a sticker to work without opening Latner first it must encode https://<your Latner web address>/qr-codes/<code>. Labels that encode something else still work for scanning from inside Latner. To check a machine's link, use the Public Portal URL on its equipment record.

I get "QR Code already assigned to another piece of equipment". What now?

Codes are unique across your whole system, and this one is already in use. Paste the code into the search box on the Equipment list to find the machine holding it. If that machine genuinely no longer carries the label, unassign it there first, then assign it here.

Can one machine have more than one QR code?

Yes. The usual pairing is one Portal label and one Pre Start label, since a single code can only do one of those two jobs. The QR Codes field on the equipment record lists them all.

Can I reuse a code after unassigning it?

Yes. Unassigning removes the code from Latner entirely, which frees the text to be assigned to another machine. Nothing is retained from the old assignment beyond the audit entry on the machine it came off.

Assign QR Code isn't in the Options menu.

Your permission group doesn't have Assign Equipment QR Code. It's in the Equipment module under Option, at Security › Configuration › Permission Groups, and it hides both the assign and unassign actions when it's off.

Which type should I use?

Use Portal for customer-facing labels - documentation, inspection history and service history for the machine. Use Pre Start for operator checks before the machine is used, which is a separate feature Latner enables for your account. For how the portal and pre-start checks are set up, see How to Set Up Equipment QR Codes, the Customer Portal and Pre-Start Checks.

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