CSS Field App: how to use

For warehouse and port surveys with Commodity Sampler Services: notes, photos, videos and measurements against the lots of a job. Each job has its own code; everything you save goes into that job's lot sheet and photo folder.

First time (2 minutes, do it where you have signal)

1. Open cssgreen.com/field in your phone's normal browser. No Google sign-in, no Incognito, any phone, tablet or computer.
2. Type the job code you were given and tap Open job. Your CSS contact gives you one code per job; it isn't written anywhere public.
3. Type your name. It goes on everything you save.
4. Add it to your home screen so it opens like an app:
   • Android (Chrome): ⋮ menu → Add to Home screen.
   • iPhone (Safari): Share button → Add to Home Screen.

Your phone remembers the job and your name, and after the first visit the app opens with no signal. Working on another job? Tap Use a different job code under the job's name.

The bar at the top

• Upload now sends everything immediately, including videos held for Wi-Fi.
• Hold videos for Wi-Fi (on by default): notes, photos and measurements go on any signal; videos wait for Wi-Fi or Upload now. iPhones can't tell Wi-Fi from mobile data, so on an iPhone tap Upload now when you're on Wi-Fi.
• Waiting on this phone: tap to see each item still to upload, with its job. ✕ removes one without uploading it; only use it for a mistake.

Pick a lot

• The lot list comes from the job's lot sheet, with a few details from the sheet next to each lot.
• Type part of a lot number, mark or reference in Filter lots to find it fast.
• Check the details shown with the lot against the warehouse paperwork before you start.

Each lot in the list has a mark: ✅ done, 🟡 started, ⬜ not started, and ❗ if a checklist answer is "No". A lot is done when it has photos, the job's measurement (if it has one) and every checklist question answered. The top line of the list counts the lots done.

Under the lot, each part shows ✅ done or ❌ still to do: photos, readings, checklist (how many answered), and today's scale check. Notes and video are extras: ✅ when there are some, ➖ when not. The marks include everyone's work up to when the job was opened, plus everything saved on this phone since, straight away, even with no signal. Reopen the job to see other surveyors' latest work.

Notes

Pick the lot, open the Note tab, type what you see, tap Save note. Notes appear in the lot's Survey Notes column with the time and your name.

Photos & videos

1. Pick the lot and open the Photo/Video tab.
2. Choose a Category; the job sets the list.
3. Optional: a caption. It goes on every photo you take until you change it.
4. Tap 📷 Take photo or 🎥 Record video (opens the camera), or 🖼 Choose from phone (pick as many as you like).

That's it: each photo or video is saved the moment you take it, under the lot and category showing at that time. There is no Save button. Keep shooting; change the category or lot between shots as you go. Saved one by mistake? Remove it under Waiting on this phone before it uploads.

• Set the phone camera to 1080p and keep clips short (under a minute). Videos go up at full quality.
• Every photo gets a dark band along the bottom with the lot, category, date and time, your name, the GPS location (if you allow location when the phone asks) and the job. It's part of the picture, so it stays on every copy.
• Photos and videos taken with the app's camera buttons are not saved to your camera roll. Until the bar says ✅, the only copy is in the app. For something you can't afford to lose, use the normal camera app and add it with Choose from phone.

Checklist

Some jobs have a checklist: the same questions for every lot (pallets dry? bags intact? …). The Checklist tab only appears for those jobs.

1. Pick the lot and open the Checklist tab.
2. Tap Yes, No or N/A for each question. Each tap is saved straight away.
3. On a No, a box asks what's wrong. Type it; it saves when you leave the box.

Changed your mind? Tap the other answer; the latest one counts. The phone remembers your answers for each lot, so you can see what's left.

Measurements

Some jobs measure each bag or item: tare weight, gross weight, moisture and so on. The tab is named after the job's measurement and only appears for jobs that have one.

1. Pick the scale / instrument at the top of the tab, or + New scale… to type its make and model. It stays filled in on this phone, for every job, until you pick another. Every scale you add stays in the list; ✕ removes the picked one.
2. Do a scale calibration check (the box under it; it starts open until you have done one today): pick the test weight in grams (100, 50, 20, 10, 5, 2 or 1, or Other… and type it), type what the scale reads, and the difference shows. The date and time fill in by themselves; change them if you need to. Tap 📷 Take photo or 🎥 Record video of the weight on the scale: each one saves straight away (photos get the scale, weight and reading stamped on them). Then tap Save calibration check. Checking more than one weight? Pick the next and do the same.
3. The Calibration box fills in from the check and goes with every reading.
4. Enter the bag / item # and the reading. Optional: 📷 Take photo of the reading (it saves with the reading; ✕ Remove takes it off), 🎥 Record video (it saves to the lot straight away, labelled with the item #) and a note.
5. Tap Save reading. The item number goes up by one, ready for the next.

The lot's summary column shows how many items were measured, min / average / max and how many were flagged.

Calibration checks go in the Scale Checks tab of the job's sheet (one row per check, with its photo and video links) and the photos in the job's Scale checks folder. Lot reports show the checks for the scale the lot was weighed on, with their photos; the job summary lists them all.

The lot report

A few minutes after you save anything, the office gets an updated PDF report for that lot: lot details, checklist, readings, notes and every photo with its caption. It sits in the lot's photo folder and is linked from the lot's row in the job's sheet. You don't need to do anything for it.

No signal

• Just keep working. Everything you save stays on the phone and uploads by itself when there's signal, even if you close the app.
• A video cut off halfway carries on from where it stopped next time.
• Upload within a day or so, and don't clear the browser's data or use a private / Incognito tab, or waiting items can be lost.
• Each item records when you actually saved it, not when it uploaded. The time on a photo's stamp is when it was taken.

If something goes wrong

• "That job code is wrong or the job has ended": check the code with your CSS contact.
• No lots: the first time, you need signal to open the job.
• Something stays in "Waiting on this phone": tap it to see the error under it, then tap Upload now once you have signal. If it still fails, screenshot it and send it to your CSS contact.
• Phone storage full: the bar says so. Keep the app open until everything uploads.