Temperature Loggers (beta)

OpenBoxes Lift reads the files your temperature loggers already make, and the readings some sensor platforms send by themselves, and shows each fridge or freezer beside the OpenBoxes location it is in. You work in the customer portal under Devices & sensors > Sensors, and Lift shows the readings, the excursions your chosen rule finds, and a summary of each month. It can alert your team about excursions by email, Slack, Microsoft Teams or PagerDuty.

Lift shows a copy of your logger's record. Use your logger's own record for decisions about your vaccines and medicines, and for inspections. Lift is not a validated system.

It is in beta, on every plan (Shared, Dedicated and Enterprise), and included at no extra charge during the beta. There is no add-on and nothing to turn on. Beta means it works today and we may still change how it looks or works as we learn from customers.

Which files Lift reads#

Logger The file to upload
Berlinger Fridge-tag 2L (now sold by Sensitech) The TXT file the logger writes when you plug it in
Fridge-tag readouts made with the free Varo app The zip file the app makes, just as it is (Lift reads the Fridge-tag file inside it), or the Fridge-tag TXT file from inside the zip on its own
LogTag loggers A CSV or TXT file exported from LogTag Analyzer
Any other CSV file of readings (beta) A CSV file whose columns you map once, as below

Lift reads the daily highs and lows and the alarms from a Fridge-tag file, not each reading.

You can upload up to 20 files and 16 MB at a time. Lift checks the files first and shows you what it found (the logger, the number of readings, anything it could not read) before anything is stored.

Lift does not read yet: the files a fridge with a built-in monitoring system makes itself (manufacturer EMS files), PDF reports, Excel files, zip files other than the Varo app's, or Berlinger Q-tag files. A file from another brand of logger can be read only as a CSV file you map. Readings older than three years are not taken.

Mapping a CSV file Lift does not recognise (beta)#

When Lift does not recognise how a CSV file is laid out, it shows you the first rows and asks:

  • which column holds the date and time (or a date column and a time column, or Unix time in seconds or milliseconds);
  • which column holds the temperature;
  • which logger the readings are from: a column that names each logger, one name for the whole file, or one of your loggers chosen after checking.

Other columns, such as humidity, are ignored. If the file does not say whether it is in °C or °F, or which time zone its times are in, Lift asks before anything is stored. A file can have up to 64 columns and 50 loggers.

The account owner or an Admin can save the columns for files with the same headings, so the next file of that layout is filled in for them to check. Lift never saves the unit, the time zone or the logger: it asks again whenever the file does not say. Other teammates map the columns for that one upload.

Sensor connections (beta)#

A sensor connection lets a sensor platform send readings to Lift by itself, so you do not upload files. The account owner or an Admin adds one under Devices & sensors > Sensors > Connections. Four kinds are in beta, each built to the vendor's published format:

Kind For Setup guide
Monnit (iMonnit webhook) Monnit Temperature and Thermocouple sensors Monnit
The Things Stack LoRaWAN devices whose payload formatter decodes a temperature The Things Stack
ChirpStack LoRaWAN devices on ChirpStack v4 whose codec decodes a temperature ChirpStack
Lift JSON (signed) Your own script, gateway or system Lift JSON
  • Each connection has its own web address and secret. Lift shows the secret only once.
  • Lift does not store readings from a device until someone accepts it under the connection's Devices.
  • Make a new secret keeps the old one working for 24 hours. Turn off stops a connection at once.
  • Sensor connections and loggers can't be deleted. Turning a connection off cannot be undone, and a turned-off connection stays in the list, below the active ones. A logger stays listed with its readings.
  • An account can have up to 10 connections, each with up to 200 accepted devices. Readings more than 35 days old are not taken.

Not supported yet: humidity, Monnit sensors other than Temperature and Thermocouple, the WHO EMS push from a fridge's own monitoring system, other sensor vendors, and connections to a logger maker's cloud.

Getting the file off each logger#

  • Fridge-tag 2L: plug the logger into a computer's USB port. It appears as a drive; copy the TXT file from it.
  • Varo app: read the Fridge-tag with the app on your phone, then upload the zip file the app makes just as it is. Lift reads the Fridge-tag file inside it. If you have already unzipped it, upload the Fridge-tag TXT file on its own.
  • LogTag: read the logger with LogTag Analyzer, then export the readings as CSV or as text (TXT). We suggest setting Analyzer to show times in UTC/GMT before you export. If Lift cannot tell the time zone or the date order from the file, it asks you before anything is stored.

Placing a logger at a location#

On Locations, place each logger at one of your OpenBoxes locations. When a logger moves to another fridge or site, record the move: Lift keeps the logger's history at each location.

Choosing the alert rule#

Lift flags an excursion only against a rule. The account owner or an Admin chooses one in Settings, for the whole account or for a single logger:

  • the WHO PQS refrigerator, freezer or mobile rule;
  • any reading out of range (the CDC style), for a refrigerator (+2 to +8 °C) or a freezer (-50 to -15 °C);
  • a custom rule with your own limits.

Until a rule is chosen, Lift does not check a logger's temperatures, and every page says so. It still alerts you if a logger on a sensor connection stops sending readings. A rule applies from the moment it is chosen; readings before that keep the rule they had.

Lift can apply the WHO PQS rules to your readings, but Lift itself is not a WHO-prequalified product.

Temperature alerts (beta)#

Who hears about excursions is set in the customer portal under Integrations, in the stock alert destinations panel, in the Temperature alerts section: switch alerts on for each Slack, Microsoft Teams or PagerDuty destination, and tick the people who get emails. Nothing is sent until someone chooses there. Without an alert rule, Lift does not check a logger's temperatures, so it flags no too warm, too cold or out of range excursion and sends no alert about one, but it still alerts you if a logger on a sensor connection stops sending readings.

  • Readings from a sensor connection are checked as they arrive. Lift alerts once your chosen rule is met. Under the WHO refrigerator rule, that means 10 hours at or above +8 °C. Under the any reading out of range rule, one reading outside the range meets it, so the alert goes out after Lift receives and checks that reading, if the newest reading is still outside the range then. How soon that is depends on how often your sensor sends readings. Each destination switched on gets one alert while the excursion lasts, and each person ticked gets one email, at most 50 a day each. Slack and Teams get a message when the temperature returns, and the PagerDuty incident resolves.
  • Late readings. If readings arrive late, for example after a gateway was offline, Lift alerts only when the newest reading is less than an hour old. An excursion that started and ended within late readings shows in Lift without an alert.
  • No readings. If a logger on a sensor connection sends nothing for an hour, or for three of its usual intervals if that is longer, Lift alerts the destinations switched on (not by email) and tells them again when readings resume. Lift holds this alert back while Lift itself had trouble receiving readings.
  • Uploaded files. When an upload finds new excursions, Lift posts one summary to each Slack or Teams destination switched on and emails the people ticked, at most 10 summaries a day for each, then one message saying there were more. Upload summaries never go to PagerDuty.

Alerts are a second channel, not a replacement for your device's own alarm. Keep relying on your logger's or sensor's alarm.

What you see#

  • Loggers: each logger with a chart of its readings, the band of its rule, daily highs and lows, and the alarms the logger raised.
  • Excursions: too warm, too cold, out of range, and no readings (a gap in the record), each with its start, end, peak and duration. You can add a note to an excursion. A note is a note in Lift; it is not a record in OpenBoxes and not an electronic signature.
  • Monthly summary: each logger's month, including how long it was out of range and how long it had no readings, and the WHO functional status for loggers on the WHO refrigerator rule.
  • Downloads: a logger's readings, or the monthly summary, as a CSV file.

Temperatures are in °C. For an instance in the United States, °F is shown beside them, and each person can change that in Settings.

Who can do what#

  • The account owner, Admins, Managers and Users can see the pages and upload files. Viewers can only look.
  • Only the account owner or an Admin chooses rules and changes settings.
  • A teammate limited to some locations sees only the loggers placed at their locations, and uploads files only for those loggers. Adding a new logger needs the account owner, an Admin or a teammate who is not limited to locations.

Where the data lives#

Temperature data lives in Lift's own platform database on every plan, not in your OpenBoxes database. It is not part of your instance's backups and is not covered by the Dedicated backup add-ons.

  • Readings and daily highs and lows are kept for three years.
  • Excursions, alarms, notes and monthly summaries are kept for as long as you have the account.
  • Everything is deleted when the account is closed. Download your readings before closing.

What it does not do yet#

These are coming soon: we are building them, they are not available yet, and we do not give dates.

  • The WHO EMS push from a fridge's own monitoring system, and other sensor vendors.
  • Connections to a logger maker's cloud.

Lift stores temperatures only. Humidity is not supported.

Lift does not put stock on hold, or mark stock as affected, after an excursion.

OpenBoxes itself does not record temperatures. Its Cold Chain flag on each product marks the products that need refrigeration and shows on pick lists and delivery notes.

Guides

From the blog