App-Based Sign-In and Managing Distributions

App-Based Sign-In and Managing Distributions

Managing Distributions

When it’s time to deliver your products, GrownBy has many options to help you keep tabs on the process. 

GrownBy offers a couple of different options for managing Sign-in sheets/record keeping during your distributions. Our app-based sign-in sheet makes it super easy to track your distributions: simply swipe as your customers come to pick up their orders! We also support paper sign-in sheets (see below for details about ways of using paper sign-in sheets and exports).

This feature will allow drivers to check off when an order has been delivered; market managers to check off when a pre-order is picked up; and CSA distribution managers to clearly track who has picked up in real-time and communicate that back to the farmer. Tracking who actually received orders is especially important if you will need to make refunds for unclaimed orders, like with EBT.


How To Use App-based Sign-in


Note: We are providing a lot of screenshots for this feature. These screenshots are shown in the mobile app because we assume most farms or distribution managers will be signing in customers on a mobile device. You may even want to dedicate a device to sign-in sessions, depending on your business model.

      1. Navigate to upcoming Sign-in Sheets from the main Dashboard page:




You can also access sign-in sheets from your Distributions page. You will need to use this path to edit past sign-in sheets.


Choose the location and date for the sign-in. This is also where you can edit past sign-in sheets if needed.



      2. Start Sign-in session by selecting date and location of the distribution


On the first page you’ll need to either select an existing sign-in session or create a new one. To start a new session, select the date and location of your distribution. Then click “Next.”

      3. Review Location Summary


On the next page, you’ll see a summary of all orders at this location on this day. This information is the same information that you would see on the PDF sign-in sheet cover page.  Note that if you have different schedules for the same location on the same day, they will all be shown together. Tap on “Continue to Sign-in.”



      4. Sign-in your customers


Picking up versus Received
You will see a list of everyone who has an order on your chosen day. At the top of the screen, you can toggle between viewing a list of those customers who have yet to pick up, “Picking Up” and those who you have already marked off, “Received”. As you mark orders “received” they’ll move off of “Picking up” list and onto the “Received” list. This view is sorted by the last name of the customer; all of their orders are consolidated under their name. 

Search for customer name, item, or order number
You can search by customer, item, or order number, if needed. 

Swipe to mark received
Swipe left to show your options. You can mark all items for a customer as received, not received, or donated. When the items are marked as received or donated, they move to the received list. 

Click to see order details
To see all items in the order, tap the carrot on the right. In this view, you can view and/or mark each item individually. 

Once you’ve expanded a customer’s details with the carrot, there is a link at the bottom to contact the customer and see the order details. 

Status Options

Items are labeled with “Active,” “Cancelled,” or “Vacation.” If a customer created an order for this week but the entire order is cancelled, they do not appear on the sign-in sheet.

Payment Due
If there is a payment due that is associated with the order for today, “Due” appears in red. 






If you have a customer who needs to pay an invoice associated with this pickup, you can do that right at the distribution! Use the carrot to expand invoices, open the invoice to be paid, and send them the URL to pay the invoice online. Or, if they hand you payment on site, you can mark the invoice as paid offline.

 

      5. Ending your Sign-in Session


Once the distribution is over, tap “Continue.” 

Donations
If there are items that have not been received, GrownBy will ask if you have donated them or not. Some distribution locations have a relationship with a food pantry or other food provider and this allows those farms to track donations. 

Notes Screen
The next screen allows you to send a message to the farmer, which can be used simply to remind yourself of follow-ups to the distribution or, for distributions/deliveries that are not managed by the farm itself, it can be used by volunteers or staff to let the farmer know about any issues that arose. 

For example, this note could be used to communicate about missing or incomplete orders, a problem with the distribution site, a particular compliment, or anything you or the farmer might need to know. Tap “continue” after you’ve typed your message.



End Sign-in
The next screen shows that the sign-in is almost done. To close and complete, tap “End Sign-in.” This step is important as it is when the Sign-in session report will be sent to the farm Owner and admins. 



Congratulations! Your Sign-in session is complete and GrownBy will take you back to your main sign-in sheet page.

Reviewing and Editing past Sign-ins
You can access your past sign-in sessions to review them and to make edits via the sign-in sheet page. 

Sign-in Sessions FAQ



Where do I find Sign-in data? 

Once you’ve completed a Sign-in session, the status of the distributions show on the sign-in sheet export and on the HTML version of the sign-in page, and on customer detail pages. Using this data, you can track and follow up with customers who are missing pickups. You can sort customers by their status to see who has missed an order, taken vacation, cancelled, or received an order on a specific date or range of dates.



From the customer’s detail page, you can see their future and past pick ups. 

Do I have another option? How about a PDF Export?

You can still print the PDFs of the sign-in sheets. If you wish, you can later edit the past sign-ins in the app to match your paper sign-in sheets. 

If you choose not to create a sign-in session on GrownBy, the distribution status for customers at that distribution will be updated to Complete after the end of the distribution.  

How about a .csv Export?

Alternatively, you can export your sign-in data to a CSV. You may want to use one of these exports if you need to manipulate the sign-in data/add it to an external app (like a routing program)

What if I don’t have WiFi at my distribution site or lose it partway through?


You can use a physical printed pdf version of the sign-in sheet to track who has received an order. Then after distribution, you could open the sign-in sheet process and record which members did not show up.

As long as there's internet, you can use Grownby for sign-in. If you lose connectivity you will not be able to update a customer’s distribution status, but any changes made before that point will be saved. 

Does this trigger notifications?

Customers who pick up at at the farm, a farmers market, or a community location don't get a notification. If the customer had a home delivery, they'll receive a notification that their order was delivered. If they had a shipped order, they'll receive a notification that their order was shipped. Farm Owners and Admins (but not distributors and accountants) get the notes left in the next to last page of the sign-in process as well as a summary report linking to the sign-in status of each customer emailed to them after the process is ended. 

Still have questions?
We have answers. Email GrownBy support directly at support@grownby.app, or schedule a one-on-one call with one of our team members. A real human with farming experience will get back to you as soon as possible!

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