Tagging records

Sometimes you need to know when a customer is a VIP or a ‘pain in the proverbial’. Or if a boat has dangerous goods on board, like pyrotechnics or bottled gas. Or share with colleagues that a mooring must be kept clear for the day.

You want to add the digital equivalent of a sticky note or highlighter pen to make these customers, boats or berths more quickly identifiable – and this is what tagging can deliver. 

How does tagging work?

Tagging isn’t new – it is a recognised way to identify or describe a piece of data. This article is tagged as ‘Smarter Working’ in our website news so that viewers can find similar articles.

Tags deliver:

  • Discoverability – they add an extra way to find information
  • Speed – they’re quick to add, change or remove from a record
  • Data quality – by making data more usable

And because tags are sort of digital highlighters or sticky notes, they’re easily used and understood. If you need to tell colleagues not to allocate berth B12 because the maintenance team need access, you might put a sticky note on the ops board. Instead, you can add a ‘Do not use’ tag to the asset and remove it when the work is complete.

Any user can add a tag without altering the intrinsic database settings – you’re not going to affect occupancy or income reporting by adding a tag.

Tagging scenarios

You can use tags to identify and search for information that is important to your business. They’re completely customisable, so what and how you tag is up to you. Some ways to use tags could include identifying:

  • VIPs or important customers
  • Bad debtors or customers you don’t wish to service
  • Members of particular yacht clubs
  • Charter or training boats with inexperienced crews
  • Priority tasks
  • Unpaid orders to be chased
  • Estimates for follow-up or workshop input
  • Checking contractors onto site
  • Berths needing a pre-arrival new customer inspection
  • Customers who need extra help with mooring

Tagging in Harbour Assist

Our latest enhancement to Harbour Assist delivers completely customisable tagging. 

Admins create tags in Administration settings by selecting the record type, then allocating a suitable name and colours, plus animation and icon if required. Record types that support tags include account, boat, mooring, order, task, occupancy, communication, payment, meter reading and tariff. 

Users add or remove tags on a record by clicking the pencil icon next to the record, then selecting from a popup list.

It’s as simple as that – the digital version of scribbling a sticky note.

Boat tags in Harbour Assist

There’s more

Unlike a sticky note, tags can be added to Smart List criteria, allowing users to search dynamically. The Smart List automatically updates as tags are added and removed from records. So if you need to send an email to all VIPs with 20m boats who live in Smallville, you can.

Other tagging tools include a Tag Browser for an overview of tag allocations and combinations and Tag History to show when tags are added and removed from records.

Top tips for tags

To make the most of tags, follow these top tips:

  • Standardise – think about scenarios where tags will be helpful, and create a suite of standard tags for everyone to use.
  • Moderation – don’t go mad and tag everything. If every boat needs the same tag, there is probably a better way of handling the information. Tags should help refine the data.
  • Review – use the Tag Browser and Tag History to evaluate tag usage. Are some redundant, or do you need additional tags to deliver enhanced detail?
  • Train – show your team how to look out for, search for and add tags. Use the scenarios that suit your business.

Tagging goes out to all Harbour Assist users in March 2022.

How can we help your business?

If you’d like to talk about how Harbour Assist can help you to highlight information and detail to your data, email Nick Gill to start a conversation.