# Working in the field

> The phone-first workflows - scan a label to the record, work the queue at the machine, capture photos and forms where the work happens.

Source: https://app.assetlab.ca/docs/mobile/working-in-the-field

The payoff of mobile isn't reading dashboards on a phone - it's that the record gets updated *at the machine*, while the facts are in front of you. The [mobile app](/docs/mobile/install) is built around exactly these workflows; everything below also works in the mobile browser.

## Scan to the record

Every asset and location carries a [QR code](/docs/asset-management/qr-codes). Point the phone's camera at the label:

- **Staff** land on the full record - open work orders, history, documents, parts - and can act immediately: update a work order, add a photo, log a condition observation.
- **[Requesters](/docs/cmms/requester-portal)** land on a report form already tagged with that asset or location.

For back-to-back scanning sessions - audits, label rollouts, stockroom checks - use the in-app scanner instead of the camera app, so each scan returns you to the scanner.

## Work the queue at the machine

A technician's day in the [work order](/docs/cmms/work-orders) views, on a phone:

1. Open today's list (saved filters carry over from desktop). Infrastructure crews can open the [Map view](/docs/cmms/work-orders-map) instead: today's saved day plan shows the stops in order, and each stop's **Navigate** button hands the location to the phone's maps app.
2. At the job: status to in-progress, read the asset's history while standing next to it.
3. During: attach **photos straight from the camera** - before, during, after.
4. If a [form](/docs/cmms/forms-and-inspections) is attached: fill it at the equipment. Readings, pass/fails, and conditional follow-ups; partial progress saves.
5. Close out: actual hours, parts used, costs. Thirty seconds now versus reconstructing it at the shop later - this is where mobile earns honest data.

## Report where you see it

For everyone who isn't a technician, mobile means the [work request](/docs/cmms/work-requests) gets filed in the hallway, not "when I'm back at my desk" (never). A scan or a home-screen tap, a photo, a sentence - done. Requesters get status updates on the same phone.

## Practical notes

- **Plan for signal** - the app syncs live and there's no offline queue today. In dead zones, load the work order before heading into the sub-basement.
- **Photos are evidence.** The camera-to-work-order path is the cheapest documentation habit you can build into a crew.
- **Tablets in the shop** - a wall-mounted or bench tablet showing the [kanban view](/docs/cmms/work-orders) makes the queue ambient.