Qr code

Question

Hi

I hope you are doing well.

We are a solar energy company currently using Trello to manage our projects. Our workflow looks like this: when one of our salespeople brings in a project, they create a Trello card with all the relevant project details. Our installers and electricians then access the card, move it to their own sections, and use it to track what needs to be installed, which products to use, and follow a checklist of specific guidelines.

Throughout the installation process, they update the Trello card by checking off tasks and uploading photo documentation. Once the work is completed, we compile the documentation and save it both digitally and on a USB drive.

We are now looking for a solution to streamline this process even further. Ideally, we would like to generate a QR code for each Trello card right from the start. This QR code would then be attached to the installed products. When the project is complete, the customer could simply scan the QR code and immediately access their specific project card in our Trello portal, allowing them to view all the related documentation and installation details.

Would this be possible to set up?

If so, we would love to hear more about how it could be implemented and what solutions you might recommend.

Thank you very much for your time and support — looking forward to hearing from you!

smallerik · Answer

Hi @Elias,

As suggested by @Nikola Perisic you can use my Card QR Code power-up in your use case. This will generate a QR code containing the card’s address, so each card would have its individual QR code. This can then be printed (e.g. on a label printer) and attached to the installed products.

However, consider what mentioned by @DiMaggio Tucci, because your customers will have to interact with the actual Trello card (and the Trello interface), which they will not be familiar with. My power-up is better suited for use by internal staff, rather than by the clients directly.

I hope this helps!

DiMaggio Tucci · Answer

Hi, Elias!

This is just my opinion on the matter. There could be context about your use case I'm missing, so take it as you will.

According to what's shown to me, it looks like you're using the Free plan for Trello. My answer would still remain that what you are asking to do is, in my opinion, not a good business practice, for so many reasons. If you're using the Free version, it's even more so the case.

The most Trello-friendly way would be to generate a report of card activity and send it to the customer, and/or export the data into another tool, which your QR code would link to. You said in your post "When the project is complete". This makes it sound like to me that you are sending documentation to the customer that does not change. If I'm mistaken about this, and you want the customer to see information as it updates, that does change my answer.

* Trello cards show an interface that may not be familiar to the customer, and the information on the card is not easily storable on the customer's end if they don't use Trello regularly. If giving the customer access to the card is meant to give them a permanent record, it makes more sense to send them something they can view and store on their end without learning your tool. I see this as easier and safer for you AND the customer.
* Without a dedicated board, there's no way for you to restrict the customer to access only their own card. You're limited to 10 boards in the free version, and, even in the paid version, creating a board for every client can quickly get tough to manage. If you WERE going to go this route, you need a board for every customer, whether you use card mirroring or not. Even if this isn't a risk, this can be confusing for the customer who does not know what Trello is and may end up looking at some other person's card.
* If you use Trello, customers may not download the information contained in a card and now they are relying on you to store the information in Trello forever, and you are relying on Atlassian to store the information on the link you give the customer forever. There's extra risk here, especially since permanence of information on cards or even the permanence of the existence of cards is not a core idea behind their design.

I think if the information is for documentation purposes, you should just send the customer a copy. If you want to do the QR code thing, that's fine, but you should still be linking them to documents or a page that can be easily downloaded as a document, not an internal project management tool.

Nikola Perisic · Answer

Welcome @Elias

This is possible with the usage of a Trello power-up. That one is https://trello.com/power-ups/5fc619cb10dccd367459b819/card-qr-code - which is a free power-up that you can install. For the part where you want to set this for each card, that won't work. You would need to do this manually for each card.