How ProTag Works

Set up a site

A site is one building or address you service. You record the address, who to call there, and the things a tech needs before they arrive: where the roof hatch key hangs, which stockroom ladder gets you up there, what time the alarm arms.

The address field suggests real addresses as you type and drops a map underneath so you can confirm you have the right building. Rural and new-build sites that no map knows about can be typed in freehand, and they save exactly as entered.

Tag the equipment

Add each piece of equipment under the site. Choose a category and ProTag asks for the specs that actually matter for that kind of unit:

• A rooftop unit asks for tonnage, refrigerant, voltage, MCA and MOCP, filter sizes and belt size.
• A furnace asks for input, AFUE, stages, ignition type and vent category.
• A split system asks for capacity, refrigerant, line set and condenser model.
• An air handler asks for airflow, coil capacity, electric heat and blower type.
• A panelboard asks for voltage, phase, main or MLO rating, spaces and feeder conductors.

Anything the preset does not cover can be added as a free field, and Other equipment is always there for the odd one out.

Rather not type it? Tap Snap the nameplate, take a photo, and ProTag fills in the make, model, serial and specs it can read. Each field it filled is marked, so the tech checks it before saving.

While you are adding a unit you also pick what feeds it. That single field is what builds the feed chain. You can also record the install date, the warranty, and put the unit on a maintenance schedule.

Tag the rooms, too

The people who work in a building never go up on the roof, so a sticker on the RTU is for your techs. For everyone else, put one on the thermostat. In ProTag that wall is an area: the room as the people there know it (“Back office and break room”) and the units that serve it. When someone scans it, their request names the room, and if one unit serves it, the request lands on that unit.

Print and stick

Every tagged unit gets a QR tag. Print them on 2 inch square label stock (twelve to a US Letter sheet) or 1.5 inch (twenty-four to a sheet), or one per page on a thermal label printer. Each label carries your company name, the equipment name, the code, a human readable tag ID, your dispatch number and the portal address, so a sticker too scuffed to scan can still be typed in.

You can also generate blank tags in bulk, print the sheet, and keep the roll in the van. A tech sticks one on a panel, scans it, and sets the equipment up on the spot.

What happens on a scan

The same sticker behaves differently depending on who scans it.

A customer sees a page branded as your company: your name, your color, your dispatch number. One tap calls you. The alternative is a short form that already knows which unit and which building it is, with room for a photo of the problem. No app, no account.

Your technician, signed in, goes straight past that to the service record: nameplate, specs, open requests, every logged visit with photos, and the feed chain above and below.

Someone in the room, scanning a thermostat tag, gets the same branded request page, naming their room and building.

A blank tag scanned by your technician opens your branded setup screen, which puts it into service. Scanned by a customer, it simply says it is not registered yet.

Log the visit

After the work, the tech records what they found: parts used, what the next person should know, and photos. Photos are resized on the phone before upload, because the signal in a mechanical room is usually poor.

The visit form also asks for the readings that matter for that kind of unit, like superheat and subcooling on an RTU or amps per phase on a panel. Next time, each number shows how far it moved, and a failed check shows in red at the top of the history. On units with a refrigerant circuit the tech records what was added or recovered and any leak work, and ProTag keeps the leak rate. Everything on the form is optional, so a quick callout is not held up by a form built for a full PM.

Ticking one box while saving the visit also closes any open request on that unit, so dispatch stops seeing it. If the unit is on a schedule, another box marks the visit as its maintenance and moves the next due date.

Calls that don’t come from a scan

Plenty of customers will still just call the office. Dispatch logs those as requests too, against the unit or the room, with how it came in and whether it is urgent. It ends up in the same queue and the same unit history as a scan.

Report and plan

Open a site and download its equipment report: a PDF with your branding for the building owner, listing what needs attention, what is due, and every unit with its warranty and last service.

ProTag also watches each unit’s age, repair calls and repair spend, and marks the ones worth replacing with a plain reason. When one is ready, send the customer a replacement proposal from the unit. They open it on their phone and tap Approve or Call me, and an approval drops the job into your request queue. Reports, replacement planning and proposals are on Pro and up.