Setting Up Tagnet
After first-run setup (admin account, license, and your first site), Tagnet is running but empty. The Setup tab of the System page walks through what an installation needs before readers do useful work, and it stays there afterwards as a map of what you have.
The Setup page
Open the System page and choose its Setup tab. Administrators only. The first-run wizard ends there, and a Set up Tagnet bar at the bottom of every page links back to it while steps remain.
The page is a list of steps in the order things depend on each other. Each step shows:
- A status from live counts, for example "2 of 3 readers have reported" or "0 items, 2 item types".
- A short explanation of why the step matters and what happens without it.
- A button to the page where the work is done.
Steps complete themselves when the thing they describe exists and works. Nothing is ticked by hand, so the page always tells the truth about the installation, whoever set it up.
The steps
| Step | Complete when | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Create a site | An active access scope other than System exists. The wizard creates the first one on a fresh install; an installation upgrading to this version creates it from here. | Users, Access Scopes |
| Map your locations | At least one location exists in a site scope | Locations |
| Build the catalog | At least one item exists | Items |
| Decide what to track (optional) | At least one custom field exists. Items and inventory carry a small built-in set of fields; custom fields add what your process needs, such as serial or lot numbers, install dates or a supplier. | Custom Fields |
| Connect a reader | A reader has reported to Tagnet at least once. Adding a reader is not enough: the first heartbeat proves the network and credentials are right. | Devices |
| Tag some inventory | An inventory instance carries an RFID tag | Inventory |
| Automate with a workflow | An enabled workflow exists | Workflows |
| Route alerts to people (optional) | A routing rule beyond the shipped system rule exists | Alerts, Alert Routing |
| Invite your team (optional) | A user beyond the first administrator exists, or an invitation is pending (sent, not yet accepted, revoked or expired) | Users |
The six core steps drive the progress bar. The three optional steps are marked Optional and never hold it back, so an installation that only needs the built-in administrator alerts still reads as complete.
Why the steps come in this order
Each step depends on the one before it. Doing them out of order is possible, but you end up with forms that have nothing to offer in their pickers.
- A site first. Locations, readers, and inventory belong to a site, so there must be one before anything else can be created. Users are given access site by site.
- Locations before items can be placed. An inventory instance gets its position from a location, and a reader's read point is a location. With no locations, nothing has anywhere to be.
- Items before inventory can be tagged. An RFID tag is attached to an inventory instance, and every instance is created from a catalog item. The item's type decides how the instance and its tag are identified. Create any custom fields you want captured before you create instances, so required fields do not block you later.
- A reader reporting before tags can be read. Tagnet learns that a tag exists only when a reader reports it. That is also why Connect a reader comes before Tag some inventory: the instance form can offer the tags your readers saw recently under Recent reads, so you pick the tag you just scanned instead of typing a 24-character EPC.
- Read points before Move Inventory can place anything. A read point is the location set on a reader or on its device group, and it says where the reader stands. A Move Inventory action with the Read point's location target skips tags from a reader that has none. There is no separate step for it on the Setup page; you set it when you connect a reader or create its device group.
- Workflows last. A workflow refers to everything above it: readers in its conditions, locations as its move targets, and the transaction types it records. An enabled workflow also has nothing to act on until tagged inventory and a reporting reader exist.
To walk this path once with a single tag and see a move happen, follow Your First Tracked Item. For complete plans by use case, see the Use-Case Playbooks.
The setup bar
While core steps remain, administrators see a Set up Tagnet bar docked at the bottom of every page (except the Setup page itself, the first-run wizard, and the sign-in and account pages): the progress, the next step and its status, a Go to button straight to the page where that step is done, and an icon that opens the Setup page in a new tab. It stays out of the way of the page it sits on. The X hides it for you alone; other administrators keep it until they dismiss it too, and the Setup page stays reachable regardless. Once every core step is complete the bar says Setup complete and offers the optional steps until you dismiss it; with nothing left to do it is gone.
Joining a system that is already set up
If you are the second administrator, or the first has moved on, open the Setup page to see what exists: how many locations, readers, items, workflows and users the installation has, when each was last added, and where to find them. The Where to go next links at the bottom take you to the pages you will use day to day: inventory by location, reader health, alerts, and workflow runs.
For what each of these concepts means and how they fit together, read How Tagnet Works.