Example workflow Retail & Warehouse

How Staff Can Look Up Items in Your Own Product List by Scanning

Import your product list once, then scan an item's barcode to read its name, price, shelf and stock on the phone. The answer comes from your own data.

This page shows how DataScan can be set up for this task. It is an illustration, not a report about a specific customer. All codes and values on it are examples.

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Shop employee scanning the barcode on a product package with a phone in front of a store shelf

The problem

A customer asks what an item costs. A new colleague stands in front of a shelf and cannot tell which of three similar boxes belongs there. In the warehouse somebody holds a part with a barcode and no readable name. The answer is in your product list, but the list is on a computer in the office.

So people walk to the terminal, call a colleague, or guess. A printed price list is out of date soon after printing, and nobody likes to search a long printout for one article number.

If your items carry barcodes and your list can be saved as a CSV file, the phone can answer the question. DataScan keeps a copy of the list on the device and shows the matching row when a barcode is scanned. The list comes from a file or from a web address, and a list at a web address can be downloaded again every day.

The setup

Lookup Scan is the mode for looking things up: it shows the data of a scanned code on the screen. The product list is imported from a file or from a web address.

Scan mode	Lookup Scan
Product list	A comma-separated CSV saved as UTF-8 from your ERP, shop system or spreadsheet: column names in the first row, the barcode in the first column, then for example name, price, shelf and stock
Import CSV File	For a list that is saved as a file on the device
Import from URL	For a list that is saved at a web address the phone can reach
Auto-update daily	On, so the app downloads the list from that web address again once per day while it is open
View Lookup Data	Shows the imported list on the phone, with a search by barcode, field name or value
Enable Cross-Reference	Optional: when you record scans in Continuous Scan, a pop-up shows the item name (the second column of your list) after each scan
Cross-reference with Lookup Data	Optional: adds the columns of your list to the export of the recording modes

Step by step

Prepare the list Export your items from your ERP, shop system or spreadsheet as a comma-separated CSV saved as UTF-8. Give every column a name in the first row and put the barcode in the first column, exactly as it is encoded on the label.
Import it Open Lookup Scan and tap Import CSV File, or tap Import from URL and enter the web address of the file. In View Lookup Data you can check the result and search for a barcode or a name.
Scan an item Tap Start Lookup Scan and point the camera at a barcode. The phone shows the code and every column of its row: name, price, shelf, stock. This works without signal, because the list is stored on the phone.
See what is not in the list A code that is not in your list shows a message that no data was found. Scan one of your own labels first and compare it with the first column of the file: the code has to match character for character.
Keep the list current Save a new version of the list at the same web address whenever prices or stock change. With Auto-update daily on, the app downloads it again once per day while it is open.
Set up further devices Each device keeps its own copy of the list. The settings file from Import/Export Settings carries the web address and the daily update setting, so on the next device you import the settings file and then the list from the URL.

What you get out

Lookup Scan shows its result on the screen: the scanned barcode and every column of the matching row, under the column names of your own file. With the example list, a scan shows:

Column	Example value	What it holds
Barcode	`4006381333931`	The scanned code, the first column of your list
Name	`Cordless drill 18 V`	From your list
Price	`129.00`	From your list
Shelf	`A-12-3`	From your list
Stock	`14`	From your list

To keep a file of what was scanned, scan in Continuous Scan with Cross-reference with Lookup Data on. The export then holds Barcode and Timestamp, followed by the columns of your list.

Fits well if…

Your items carry barcodes, and your product list can be saved as a CSV file with the barcode in the first column.
Staff need item data where the item is: at the shelf, at the counter or in the warehouse.
You want the answer to come from your own list, with your own names, prices and locations.
Your list changes often, and you can save the current version at a web address.
You also work in places without signal.