Can you record a waste movement with no mobile signal?
Yes. Skiplog writes the waste transfer note to the device before it tries the network, so the record is made at the weighbridge whether the tablet has five bars or none, and the screens you have already opened are kept on that tablet so Skiplog still opens down in the dead patch. The note then carries a plain status while it waits, queued, syncing, synced, and it goes up on its own when the signal
Why this question comes up at all
Most yards have a dead patch. Behind the picking shed, down in a cut, inside a steel portal frame, at the far end of a transfer station where the only bars you get are the ones on the gate. The load still arrives, the weighbridge ticket still prints, and the driver still wants to be away.
Skiplog saves a transfer note to the device first, shows a status on it while it waits, and sends it on its own when connectivity returns, so the record is made the moment you press save rather than the moment the yard gets a bar back. The screens you have already opened on that tablet are kept on it as well, so opening Skiplog in the cut puts a capture screen in front of you rather than the browser's network error page.
The guide to recording a load when the yard has no mobile signal walks the whole sequence through, from the ticket to the synced note. This page answers the separate questions operators ask around it: where the note actually sits, how you know it has not gone missing, whose queue it is on a shared yard tablet, how a wrong weight gets fixed, and what the signal still has to come back for before a load's rows can leave Skiplog for Defra's spreadsheet.
What the device can promise, and what it cannot
Worth being plain about the shape of it before you put a tablet in someone's hands.
- The record exists from the second you press save, on the device, with every field the operator typed in: waste type, EWC code, weight, carrier and destination, along with the details of the load coming in that the waste tracking rules make your site keep.
- It stays on that device until connectivity returns. Until then the status on the note is what tells you where it stands: queued, syncing, synced. The note's own reference is given when it reaches the office, so a load written in the cut is numbered once it lands.
- Skiplog opens with no signal because the screens you have already opened are saved on the device. What it cannot do is conjure a screen that tablet has never seen, so a new device needs one trip within signal before it is any use in a black spot.
- The queue belongs to the device and to the person signed in on it. Signing out gives up that device's queue and clears the saved screens from it, so let anything waiting go up before a handover. A note saved on a tablet that nobody is signed into on is taken up by whichever account signs in next, so sign in first if the yard shares a tablet.
- Sending happens on its own when the signal returns, but not every browser will send for an app that has been shut and put away. A tablet that spent the night in a cab is worth opening at the start of the shift.
- Recording a load at your gate is not the same as reporting it to Defra. Skiplog gives you the receipt-of-waste rows ready for Defra's spreadsheet, and uploading that spreadsheet to Defra's service stays your yard's step. A note still sitting on a tablet is not in those rows yet, and the clock the regulations give you for reporting a load runs from the load, not from the sync.
- The weight, the EWC code, the carrier details and the destination still rest with the operator. Skiplog is built to help you meet the record keeping requirements, not to guarantee a compliance outcome.
Questions
Can I record a waste movement with no mobile signal?
Yes. Skiplog is built offline-first, which means the note is written and saved on the tablet or phone itself before anything is sent to a server, so no signal is needed at the moment you press save. The note carries the fields the Environment Agency expects, waste type, EWC code, quantity, carrier details and destination site, and it is made to be finished in under two minutes at the weighbridge. It then waits in a queue on the device and goes up when connectivity comes back. The only difference between a note written with five bars and one written with none is when it reaches the office.
Does Skiplog open in a black spot, or only if I left the tablet on?
It opens. Skiplog keeps a copy of the screens you have already opened on that device, so going down into the cut and opening it gives you a capture screen rather than a network error, and a note saved there joins the device queue like any other. What it cannot produce is a screen that tablet has never seen, so a new device, or one nobody has signed into yet, needs one trip within signal first. Signing out clears those saved screens from the tablet, which is worth knowing before a handover. There is a separate page on whether it will run on the Android tablet already in the yard.
Where does the note sit while there is no signal?
On the device that took it, with everything the operator typed in, and the record counts as made from the second you press save. Once the device is back in range the note goes up to Skiplog's database, which is hosted on Amazon Web Services, and that is where it picks up its reference and joins the register. From there it stays readable and exportable while the account is open, because waste records have to span quarters and inspections, and a lapsed trial does not lock the records away. A note you later remove comes off your register and your returns but stays on file for the two years the regulations require.
How do I know a note has not quietly disappeared?
Every note carries a visible status: queued while it is waiting on the device, syncing while it is going up, and synced once it has landed. Notes still on a device also show on the register as their own cards next to the office's rows, and the dashboard counts how many are waiting, so nobody has to remember which loads were taken in the dead patch. The one thing no office screen can see is a tablet that has not come back in range, which is why the status on the device itself is the number to go by until it has. The feature page on offline-first capture goes through those states and what each one means for the quarter's figures.
Does somebody have to remember to press sync?
No, sending runs on its own when connectivity returns. The device holds its own copy of what is waiting, so it does not depend on the form still being open on screen, and in practice the queue clears while the tablet comes back within range of the office. The honest caveat is that not every browser will send for an app that has been shut and put away, so a tablet left in a cab overnight is worth opening when the shift starts. The status on each note, and the count of notes still on a device, are what confirm the queue has gone through.
Can I fix a note with the wrong weight on it before it syncs?
A note still held on the device can be reopened from its card and rewritten, or discarded if it was never a real load, so a mis-tapped weight does not have to travel to the office. A note the office already holds is corrected on the register, where each row has a correct action, and that path wants a signal behind it. If you spot the mistake in a dead patch, fix the held note, or wait until the tablet is in range, rather than writing the load a second time and leaving the yard with two records of one skip.
If the weighbridge and the office share a tablet, whose note is it?
Each person on the site gets their own login, by email and password, so a note names whoever wrote it instead of the yard sharing one account; you add people on the site screen and send them an invite link. Offline, the queue of held notes belongs to the device and to the person signed in on it. Signing out gives up that device's queue and clears the saved screens from it, so at a handover let anything still queued go up first. And a note saved on a shared tablet with nobody signed in is taken up by whichever account signs in next, which is the practical reason to sign in before you start writing notes in a dead patch. The page on a login each for the weighbridge and the office covers the rest of that.
Does a note saved with no signal count as reported to Defra?
No, and the difference matters because of the clock. Saving the note makes your own record at the gate. Reporting receipt of waste is a separate step: Skiplog gives you receipt-of-waste rows ready for Defra's spreadsheet, and your yard uploads that spreadsheet to Defra's service itself. A note still sitting on a tablet is not in those rows yet, so the two working days the guidance gives you to report a load are running while it waits, which is the practical reason to open Skiplog as soon as the tablet is back in range. Skiplog is built to help you meet the record keeping requirements, not to guarantee a compliance outcome.