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Zero Desk Documentation

website·Indexed 30 days ago

https://docs.zerodesk.app

Comprehensive guides for managing field work, including the Electrofishing (EFS) module for survey data collection and professional reporting, and the Pond Management module for biologists. Features documentation on customer and user management, job and invoice creation, catalog management, and offline data syncing.

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What's inside Zero Desk

  1. Overview of Report Templates and Snippets

    Templates are reusable text blocks used to streamline report creation. They are categorized into three types:

    • Snippets: Small text blocks for quick tailoring.
    • Page Templates: Pre-formatted pages with larger content.
    • Report Templates: Complete, multi-page reports.

    Snippets and Page Templates are accessed via the Template button in the Report Editor. Report Templates are managed via the Manage Templates button on the Reports page.

  2. Overview of Zero Desk Electrofishing (EFS) module capabilities

    The Zero Desk Electrofishing (EFS) module manages the end-to-end survey process from field data collection to professional client reporting. Key capabilities include:

    Field Operations:

    • Data entry for fish species, length, and weight with auto-calculated ratios.
    • Recording water quality metrics (temperature, visibility, alkalinity).
    • Offline data collection with later synchronization.
    • Automatic fetching of weather conditions.
    • Adding findings and recommendations.

    Office & Reporting:

    • Multi-page rich text editor for report creation.
    • Generation of length frequency charts, species comparisons, and relative weight plots.
    • Photo management with crop and rotate tools.
    • Use of templates and variables that pull directly from job data.
    • PDF export for professional delivery.

    Administration:

    • Creation of reusable templates (snippets, pages, and full reports).
    • Management of the findings and recommendations catalog.

  3. Understand the Zero Desk Report Editor layout

    The Zero Desk Report Editor is a rich text editor for creating electrofishing reports. It consists of three primary areas:

    • Top Navigation: Contains save, export, settings, and page controls.
    • Main Canvas: The primary area for typing and editing report content.
    • Variable Sidebar: Located on the right side, providing available template variables.

    Note: The editor auto-saves every 3 seconds; a save indicator is visible in the top corner.

  4. Manage multiple teams or clients with Multi-Org support

    ZeroDesk is multi-org ready, enabling a single tool to manage multiple teams, projects, or clients while maintaining strict role separation between them.

  6. Understand Findings and Recommendations in Electrofishing

    In the Electrofishing workflow, Findings and Recommendations are used to turn field observations into actionable client advice:

    • Findings: Observations made during a job (e.g., "Insufficient Structure Piles").
    • Recommendations: Advice provided to clients (e.g., "Add Structure Piles"). These typically appear in the final electrofishing reports.

    Findings and Recommendations are linked. When a finding is selected in the field, its linked recommendations are automatically added to the job and included in the report. This relationship is bidirectional; you can link multiple recommendations to one finding, or one recommendation to multiple findings.

  7. Manage equipment and targets via Catalog Management

    Use the Catalog Management section to organize and manage equipment and targets, which are required for creating jobs and generating invoices within ZeroDesk.

  8. Create custom workflows with Modular Jobs

    ZeroDesk provides a no-code system for building custom job types and operational flows to reduce clutter and tailor the tool to specific project needs.

  9. Use ZeroDesk with Offline Access and Auto-Sync

    ZeroDesk supports offline work, allowing users to continue tasks without a network signal. Once a connection is re-established, the application automatically synchronizes data.

  11. Record findings and recommendations

    Use the Findings/Recommendations card to log field observations. Searching for a finding (e.g., "Insufficient structure") automatically adds linked recommendations to the job. These pre-populated sets are used to accelerate the final report generation process.

  12. Use dynamic variables in templates

    Variables automatically populate job data during report generation. They are divided into two sizes with different placement constraints:

    • Small Variables: Can be used anywhere, including in-line with other text.
    • Large Variables: Only available in page and report templates. They must be on their own line with no other text on that line.

    If a job data field is empty, the variable will result in a blank or 'N/A' substitution.