Temperature control - a checklist to help you

Temperature monitoring checklist - help with self-monitoring of temperature

With theSeemoto Temperature Control Checklist, you can ensure that Seemoto serves you in the best possible way.The contents of the Temperature Monitoring Checklistare described below by main points. We recommend that you take the Temperature Monitoring Checklist with you so that Seemoto is open in your browser while you are browsing through the checklist. This way you will get the most out of it. You can also download and print the Seemoto Temperature Control Checklist via the link at the bottom of the page. We recommend you get started with the right practices Temperature controlan!

Temperature control - a checklist to help you (click on the list below for instructions)

Seemoto training

You can train to Seemoto when it suits you best. Seemoto consists of an introduction to the training, four different training videos and a test to assess the content of the training. The training will enable you to carry out temperature monitoring (self-monitoring) independently and in compliance with regulatory requirements. We will send you an e-mail with a summary of the certificate of successful test results on Fridays.

You can take the training videos and test in one or more sessions. Once you have submitted your answers, the system automatically recognises your email address. The test can be taken once from a single email address, so please be sure to answer all questions before submitting your answers. The introductory section of the training contains more detailed instructions on the training.

See more information onSeemoto training.

Getting started and logging in for the first time

You have received an email with your account details. The message contains your username, password and a link to the login page. The password must be changed on the first login.

When you log in to Seemoto, the first thing that opens is the "Destinations" view. From the top bar you can switch between the two views. The options are Targets, Alerts, Map, Reports and Maintenance. You can also move between views via the links on the screen. For example, in the Target view there is a link to "Measurement Report". Clicking on it will automatically switch the view to the report view.

Monitoring sites (Main view)

The destination view lists all your destinations. An object can be a single sensor or a group of sensors under similar conditions (e.g. Refrigerators, which includes sensors JK1, JK2 and JK3). Grouping sensors into targets makes it easier to monitor readings and set alarms. For example, a common alarm can be defined for all refrigerators, which will be triggered if one of the refrigerators goes outside the permissible limits (+2 to 8 C for refrigerators).

All your items are displayed on the left-hand side of the screen. In the centre of the screen, the last measurement results of all sensors at the selected location are displayed. If there is an unprocessed alarm on any of the sensors in the target, a warning triangle will appear at the edge of the target list to indicate this.

A single measurement result does not tell you very much. Clicking on the "Measurement Report" link above the measurement values will take you to the report view. This will open a report for your chosen site from midnight onwards.

Watch the video below for guidance on this topic

All Seemoto related videos can be found on theSeemoto Youtube channel

Temperature monitoring reports

There are many different reports in Seemoto. Not all reports are active for all users, because for example a pharmacy has no use for vehicle reports. For each customer, only the reports that are useful to them are activated, so that additional reports do not unnecessarily clutter the view.

If you came to the report view by clicking on the "Measurement report" link on the home page, this report is now open. If you accessed it by clicking on "Reports" in the top bar, you can select the report you want from the menu on the left. Click on "Sensor Reports" to open a list of available reports. The main report for Seemoto is the Measurement Report. Here you can see all the sensors for one item (e.g. Room temperature) at a time.

The report opens today. The measurement report consists of a graphical part and a numerical part below it. By hovering the mouse pointer over the report, you can see the time and result of the individual measurement. Below the graph, you can see the minimum, maximum and average of the selected time interval for all sensors at the site.

At the top of the report, there are checkboxes for Date Started, Date Ended, Target and Sensor Type. If you want to check the measurement results from yesterday, just change the "Date Since" field to yesterday and then click the "View Report" button in the top right corner. If you want to see the temperature monitoring report for the previous week, you select Monday of last week in the "Date from" field and Sunday in the "Date from" field. You then click on the "View report" button again.

If you have now viewed Refrigerators, you can move on to view Space Heating by selecting Space Heating from the list in the 'Destination' section of the window. And then "View report" again.

For example, if you have 4 refrigerators and 3 of them have behaved normally, you want to focus on the one that has behaved abnormally. Click on the "Sensor Type" dialog box and deselect the other refrigerators that are not of interest to you. Click View Report and you will see only the temperatures of the refrigerator you selected. This makes it easier to view the measurements.

Each Seemoto report can also be downloaded to your computer in PDF or Excel format. For this purpose, there are small icons below the date from window, which you can click on to go further.

Watch the video below for instructions on how to download the report

All Seemoto related videos can be found on theSeemoto Youtube channel

Alerts

We usually pre-define the basic alarms for the customer. It is possible for the user to create new alarm configurations or modify existing configurations. This may be necessary, for example, when an employee changes and temperature alarm notifications are to be removed from the outgoing employee.

If you have unprocessed alerts, they will appear as a warning triangle in the list in the target view. You have also probably received an alert notification by email or SMS on your phone.

On the left side of the screen, you will see a list of unprocessed alarms and recently processed alarms (processed alarms are shown in grey). Above the list, there are links to "Alarm settings" and "Alarm report", but we will return to them below.

Select an unprocessed alarm configuration from the list and its details will open in the middle of the screen. The information will show you the following:

Target: which sensor in which target has caused the alarm (e.g. refrigerators)

Sensor: which sensor has caused the alarm (e.g. JK3)

Start date

Closing date

Duration in minutes: time from the first out-of-bounds measurement to the last out-of-bounds measurement.

Alarm status: not processed/ Processed

Below you can see the min/ma./max values for the duration of the alarm and any comments entered by the user. In the middle of the view there is a button "Update status". Clicking on it will allow you to process the alarm and add a comment on the reason for the anomaly. When you change the status of an alert to "Processed", it will turn grey in the list on the left. A processed alert will remain in the list for about 24 hours. This is because another user may have received an alert in their email and would be surprised if there was no longer any record of the incident in the list. In the top right-hand corner of the screen there is a link to "Open PDF", where you can download the alert with comments if you wish.

If you need to view the processed incident reports later (for regulatory inspections), you can access them by clicking on the "Alert report" link in the top left corner. This will take you to the report view with the alarm report open. By default, it shows alerts received in the last month, but by editing the Date From and Date To fields, you can retrieve older alerts. Remember to click on "View Report".

By clicking on the link of the alarm name in the alarm list, you can see the detailed information of the alarm with comments. On the right-hand side of the list you will again see a PDF icon, from which you can download the alert notification if you wish.

The video below illustrates how the alarms work

All Seemoto related videos can be found on theSeemoto Youtube channel

Alarm settings

By clicking on the "Alarm settings" link in the top left corner, you will see a list of the alarm settings that have been created. From the "+ New alarm configuration" button at the top of the list, you can create a new alarm configuration. If you want to edit an existing alarm configuration, select the alarm you want to edit from the list and its details will appear in the middle of the screen. The first tab defines the details of the alarm and the second tab defines to whom the triggered alarm should be reported.

Click the "Edit" button at the bottom of the configuration. The following information is available in the configuration:

Name: you should give a descriptive name, such as "Fridge Alarm"
Level: this affects the colour of the warning triangle displayed when an alarm is triggered

Going above +8 C is not as serious as the temperature going below freezing

Active: If, for example, a refrigerator is being serviced and the sensor is lying on the table, you can uncheck "Active" for the duration of the service. However, remember to change it back when the cabinet is in use again.
Message: here you can enter a short message that will be sent to you when you receive an SMS alert.

Usually the name of the alarm and the name of the sensor automatically displayed in the message are enough and a separate message is not needed.

The next screen shows the conditions for an alert, i.e. "Alert occurs if":

Condition: you can select that the alarm in question concerns

All your sensors: we do not recommend a normal customer to use this
Target group: only large customers have a need to group items
Destination: this is usually the best option. E.g. Refrigerators - Now one alarm configuration will monitor the measurements of all sensors in the target.
Single sensor: this is mainly if you have configured the service to put sensors at different operating temperatures at the same location (e.g. a fridge sensor and a room temperature sensor at the same location). In this case, of course, different alarm limits must be set for sensors in different operating temperatures.

Value: select the type of sensor to monitor (usually Temperature) and the limits. The options are:

Value is not between: enter lower and upper limit
The value is lower than: An alarm is triggered if the temperature falls below the set limit
The value is higher than: An alarm is triggered if the temperature rises above the set limit.

Location: this is only necessary for monitoring rolling stock
Time: By default, the alarm is always valid, but it is possible to create an alarm that is valid e.g. only Mon - Sat; 7:00 - 19:00
Alarm: Immediate/ Delayed

In general, it is not appropriate to be notified of a short-term temperature alarm limit exceedance that will self-correct.
For example, the fridge door is kept open for a while while you organise your things and the temperature returns to below +8°C when the door closes. There is no need to alert the user to this situation
Therefore, a delay of 20 minutes is usually set for the +8 degrees Celsius crossing.
If a delay is set, the system will start a timer when the first temperature above +8°C is measured. If the temperature returns below +8°C before 20 minutes have elapsed, the alarm is rejected and the user is not unnecessarily informed.
If no temperature within the limits is measured within 20 minutes, the alarm is triggered
Immediately: if the fridge temperature drops below +0.5 degrees Celsius, for example, the situation will not usually correct itself. In such a case, we want to be notified earlier. If no delay is defined for the alarm, the alarm will be triggered as soon as the first measurement is below the limit.
Another option is to set a delay of 20 minutes for the upper limit (+8) and 6 minutes for the lower limit (+2) (the sensor measures the temperature every 5 minutes, so even two measurements below the limit will trigger an alarm).

Handle automatically: this is also a feature mainly for fleet tracking (arrival notifications)

The second tab defines who and how to notify when an alarm is triggered. The "Add contact" button brings up a menu with options:

Contact person: the person for whom a Seemoto account has been created (includes the person's email address)
Contact group: if Seemoto is used in several locations and there are many users in all of them, it is easier to create a user group than to add visibility for each user separately.
Email: it is also possible to send an alert notification to an email address that has not been created as a Seemoto user account. For example, the pharmacist's own @gmail address.
Phone: text message alerts - Enter your phone number in international format (+358401234567)
Select one of the above and click save
When you select ContactSeemoto account), it is possible to set the display of the notification to.

Web: this determines whether this user will see the notifications of this alarm configuration in the Seemoto interface

For example, a pharmacist wants to be informed of the alarms in all branches, but there is no point in showing the staff at the side pharmacy the refrigerator alarms of the main pharmacy.

Email: if checked, the email address for which the Seemoto account has been created will be notified when this alert is triggered.

If you select the "All users" column in the "Web active" row, notifications of this alert will be displayed to all users in the Seemoto interface.

The tutorial video below will help you learn how to set up alarms

All Seemoto related videos can be found on theSeemoto Youtube channel

Regulatory inspections

Fimea does not require a valid calibration certificate for measuring instruments, only an annual periodic verification. In addition, Fimea carries out pharmacy inspections for all pharmacies from time to time.

Periodic confirmation

For more information on the requirements for periodic verification, see the Periodic verification page.

Calibration

Fimea does not require a valid calibration certificate for measuring instruments involved in temperature monitoring, but a valid calibration certificate indicates that the measuring instruments have been properly checked, as evidenced by a measurement report with the inspector's details (calibration certificate).

Seemoto are battery-powered. The average battery life of the sensor is three years. As a full-service customer, you have a warranty on your equipment for as long as you remain our customer. If you notice that the battery is discharged, you should report it to support@seemoto.com. We send you a new sensor to replace the empty one and you send the old one to us. The battery life is about three years, and if you have, for example, five sensors, their discharges may be several months apart. Eventually, however, the battery will die unexpectedly. The device will not stop working, it will work fine until it stops working altogether.

During calibration, the customer will receive new sensors with new batteries and a new calibration certificate for each sensor, valid for two years. Each sensor is labelled with the name of the current sensor to be replaced. You remove the old sensor from its backing plate and put the new sensor in its place. With Seemoto , measurements will continue uninterrupted through the replacement and the replacement will have no other effect on the service user.

We know when the calibration certificates for each customer's sensors are about to expire and we contact the customer well in advance. If the customer decides to take a calibration service from us, they practically don't have to worry about the batteries running out. Our calibration also covers the requirement for periodic verification for that year.

For more information on calibration, see the Calibration page

Inspection visit by the supervisory authority

Before the inspection, Fimea will say that it wants to see, for example, the temperature monitoring and anomaly reports from the previous July.

The reports can be displayed to the authority from Seemoto directly on the computer screen or, alternatively, the necessary reports can be taken from the service in PDF format and printed out on paper before the inspector arrives.

Temperature reports: select each of your items in turn (e.g. Refrigerators, Cooling cabinets, Space heating) and click on the "Measurement report" link. In the report, change the starting and ending date fields to the correct dates (in our example, 1.7.20xx - 31.7.20xx) and click the "View Report" button. The PDF was obtained by clicking on the red PDF icon in the icon bar above the graph.
Exception reports: if there have been anomalies during the requested period, select "Alarms" from the top bar and click on the "Alarm report" link. In the report that opens, again change the dates and you will get a list of all temperature anomalies that occurred during that time period. The familiar PDF icon is again on the right-hand side of each line.

Watch the video below for instructions on how to check your measurements

All Seemoto related videos can be found on theSeemoto Youtube channel

Problem situations with temperature control

Seemoto communicate wirelessly with the base station. Usually, this connection remains active after the devices have been installed in good locations and according to our instructions. However, it is possible that the connection will be lost momentarily or sometimes for a longer period of time. There can be several reasons for this.

The sensors measure the temperature every five minutes, send it to the base station and, after receiving an acknowledgement from the base station, go back to sleep for another five minutes. If the sensor does not receive an acknowledgement from the base station, it will start storing measurements in its internal memory every five minutes. Every half an hour, the sensor asks if there is a base station in its coverage area. Once it is connected to the base station, it sends all measurements from its internal memory and returns to the mode where it sends each measurement as soon as it is measured.

In the main view, each item shows how long it has been since the last transmission from that device. If it has been less than an hour since the last transmission, then no action should be taken. Most likely the sensor will come back online on its own.

The wireless short-wave signal does not pass properly through liquid, metal or heavy structures. It travels primarily by reflection through walls. From room to room, it is likely to pass through a doorway. Humans are primarily fluids and if, for example, two people are left chatting in a convenient place in front of a fridge, the sensor's connection to the base station may be momentarily lost. If you notice from the main view that a sensor has been out of line for two hours, for example, you should check whether there is an explanation for this. The first thing to check is that:

the sensor is not detached from its backing plate
stuck in the back of the fridge
the products are not packed into the sensor (it is always a good idea to leave a few centimetres of empty space around the sensor)
the base station is connected to the electricity and no goods are packed in front of it

If you find an explanatory factor for the disconnection, please fix it. At the same time, you should also remove the sensor from its backplate for a while. This should be done even if you can't find any clear cause. The sensor does not have a separate power switch, but there is a magnet on the backplate that acts as a "power switch". When the sensor detects that the magnet has left its back, it goes to sleep. The sensor checks for the presence of the magnet every minute. So if you disconnect the sensor from the backplate and immediately reconnect it, it will not notice that it has been disconnected at all. The sensor will flash a red LED in the upper right corner of the sensor when it detects disconnection from the backing plate. Then, when you push the sensor back onto the backplane, it will flash a green LED within 15 seconds if it is connected to a base station or a red LED if it is not receiving a response from any base station. This disconnection from the backplane is also worthwhile as it will cause the sensor to immediately start searching for a base station instead of waiting for half an hour.

Note that the sensor takes a while to send all the measurements stored in its internal memory. Especially if the sensor has been off-line for a longer period of time. So if you see the sensor flashing a green LED to indicate that it is connected, do not worry even if the measurements do not appear in Seemoto immediately afterwards.

Watch the video below for troubleshooting instructions

All Seemoto related videos can be found on theSeemoto Youtube channel

Couldn't find the answer to the topic you wanted, or did a new topic come to mind that you need help with? You can contact Seemoto for help with using Seemoto, or for example, with pharmacy transactions.

Contact Seemoto

Seemoto temperature control checklist to help you use the system

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Temperature control - a checklist to help you​

Temperature monitoring checklist - help with self-monitoring of temperature