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Papertrail terminology explained
Papertrail terminology explained

A glossary of our commonly used terms.

Charlotte Cannon avatar
Written by Charlotte Cannon
Updated over a week ago

Account

An account is where your records are kept and managed within folders. You can find a list of the accounts you have access to by clicking the Papertrail logo in the top left hand corner of the screen in the web app, or by clicking Accounts on your dashboard in the mobile app. You can have multiple accounts within a subscription.

Activity

An activity shows any changes regarding a record, folder, task, inspection or certificate which have been made in an account. You can see the last 6 activities on the dashboard, or the full list in the Activities tab on the left, where it can be filtered by activity type, folder, user and date range.

Admin

Admin is a permission level given to a user so they can make changes to the account settings. Admins are able to add other users to the account, deactivate the account and export all of the account’s data.

Allowance

The total number of records and users you can have in your accounts, depending on the type of subscription you have signed up for.

App

Papertrail software application can be accessed via a website using a desktop computer or laptop, or downloaded as a mobile application to use on an iOS or Android device. The Papertrail app can also be used to add inspections offline from a mobile device. 

Archived

A record can be archived when it is no longer in operation and therefore doesn’t require inspecting. The history of the record can still be accessed but it is not included in inspection schedule notifications. Archived records are only visible in your account via the archived filter in the web app.

Certificate

A certificate is a document generated to prove the equipment has a current inspection and therefore compliant with regulatory standards, such as a LOLER certificate. Papertrail offers customised certificates for companies to report on the information that they need.


Dashboard

The dashboard is the starting page on an account where you can see a snapshot of recent activity, how many records apply to each filter and which future inspections are coming up.


Due

'Due' refers to the fact that the date is coming up when a record is due to be inspected. Once a record has gone past its due date for inspection, it becomes 'overdue' and is not compliant.


Field

An individual bit of information that can be populated for a record, such as: weight, colour, date manufactured, barcode, product number etc. We can add custom fields to an account.


Filter

A filter can be applied to show only the records in your account that match a particular inspection state, for example everything that is 'Overdue' or 'Missing'.


Folder

Folders are locations for records - the structure to keep them organised and in a suitable place to find and carry out inspections. You can customise your folders and nest subfolders underneath top-level folders.

Import (account data service)

The Customer Support Team can import your existing data from a spreadsheet into your Papertrail account to help get your records set up.

Import (Product Directory)

Importing a record into your account from the Product Directory saves you time instead of finding and adding the manufacturer details manually. You will still need to add any unique information such as the serial number, date of first use etc.


Inspection

An inspection is a digital log of a physical check that has been carried out on a record. You must assign a state to the record, e.g. 'Checked Good', 'Quarantine', and you can add comments, set a quantity, upload a file and also use a checklist to show further detail.

Note

A written comment or upload attached to a record. Notes do not affect the record's inspection state or next check date, and are purely to provide additional information.


Notification

A message received when an inspection on a record becomes due or overdue. You can also receive a notification when a task has been assigned to you or completed. If you are an admin on an account, you will receive a notification if a state has changed during an inspection.


Overdue

A record shows as 'overdue' if it passes the date when the next inspection was due, without that inspection being carried out.


Owner

The subscription owner. Owners can view invoice details in Papertrail and authorise changes and upgrades to accounts and allowances.

Permissions

The levels of access given to users in an account. The permission levels can be 'View only', 'Add' or 'Edit' for inspections, records and folders (admins automatically get 'Edit' permission for all). Permissions can also be set for users to only see certain folders in an account.


Product Directory

The Product Directory is a list of equipment that has the manufacturer information and guidance pre-populated within Papertrail. Many of the products will include supporting documentation, such as the declaration of conformity, and checklists.


Record

A record is a digital representation of an item that you use and want to create a log for and maintain. It can apply to many items, e.g. a piece of equipment, infrastructure or a staff certificate.


Report

A report is a file generated to show any information on a record or multiple records. Reports can be in pdf or csv format and you can choose which fields and inspection history to include on the report.


Retired

Retired is an inspection state given to a record when the item needs to be taken out of service. Retired records are archived in your Papertrail account.

Revert

Revert refers to changing a record's inspection history back to its previous state, if it was done in error or needs to be un-archived. Reverting an action won't delete it from the history, but will override it.


State

A condition assigned to a record when carrying out an inspection. The standard states are 'Checked - good', 'Monitor', 'Missing', 'Quarantine' and 'Retired'. We can add custom states to any account.


Subscription

The type of Papertrail plan you sign up to based on the account templates and user and record allowance you require. For more information see our pricing page.

Task

A task raised when corrective or preventative action needs to be done. Tasks must be attached to a specific record and can be viewed and filtered in the Task Manager section of an account.


Template

Papertrail have different account templates available for different use cases, such as managing PPE equipment or staff certifications. These templates have different blueprints (set of record fields), states and certificates based on their purpose. We can create completely customised templates.

Upload

You can upload an image or file to a record, inspection, note or task to provide further detail or inspection evidence.


User

An individual who has login access to an account to manage records, folders and inspections. The user who inspected or made changes to a record will be shown in the record history. Each user has a separate email address and counts towards the user allowance for the subscription.

View Only User

An individual who has login access to an account to view records and inspections carried out. A view only user will not be able to carry out any activity on the account. Each user has a separate email address and counts towards the view only user allowance for the subscription.

If you need help with any of our other terms, please contact us.

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Still can't find the answer you need? We'd love to help!
Contact our Customer Support Team via the chat button in the lower right corner of the screen, on +44 (0)1248 719270 or at support@papertrail.io.

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