Articles · 2026-09-01
How to calculate a number and flag it as pass or fail
Your technician takes two readings, averages them in their head, then reads a chart to decide whether the answer is in tolerance. Stratum Track lets you put both of those on the form instead. A Calculated field calculates the answer from the fields beside it, and a Badge field shows a coloured label when a rule you set matches.
This takes about five minutes per field, and you do it once for the template.
What you need
- A manager login. Field types are set on the template, and only a manager can open Manage Templates.
- A step that already carries the numbers you want to calculate from. A calculation reads from its own step, so add the readings first.
The example below is a bearing clearance. The technician takes two readings, the Calculated field averages them, and a red Badge fires when the average falls below the minimum the job allows.
Step 1: Add the field and set its type
Open Manage Templates, open your template with Actions, then Review. Find the step, add a field, and set Field Type to Calculated.
An amber block appears on the card, headed Formula, with a Configure button. The formula is built there, and Stratum Track will not let you save the field without one.
Step 2: Build the formula
Press Configure. You build the formula by tapping the fields and the operators you want.
Press Average, Sum or Difference under Start with to pick the kind of calculation, then tap the fields from the row of keys underneath. The keypad is + − × ÷, brackets, and a 123 key for typing a plain number.
Stratum Track switches off any key that would produce a formula it cannot calculate, so you cannot build an invalid one. Under the formula strip it shows the same formula in words, with an Undo that removes the last thing you tapped.
Step 3: Set the decimal places
Decimal places is 0, 1, 2 or 3, and it starts at 2. This is the number your client reads on a signed record, so set it to the precision your procedure requires. Press Done, then Save the field.
Done does not save. It returns the formula to the card, and the field's Save stores it, so cancelling the save discards the formula too.
Step 4: Add a Badge field and write the rules
Add a second field and set Field Type to Badge. Press Configure on the amber block, which this time is headed Badges.
Each row is one badge. Give it a label, pick one of the eight swatches, and build the rule that fires it: the field, the comparison, whether you are testing against a value or another field, and the number or field to test against.
Tick Use when nothing above matches on the last row to make it the catch-all. Stratum Track shows the first badge that matches, so put your worst case at the top.
Step 5: Check it on a job
Open a job that runs the template and go to the step.
The average appears as soon as both readings are in, and the badge follows it. Until then the field reads Waiting..., so nobody mistakes an empty answer for a zero. Change a reading and both update.
Neither field accepts typing, so the number on the record is always the one the formula produced.
Worth knowing
- Everything a formula uses must be on the same step. A field two steps back cannot be included. Stratum Track warns you when you try, and never stores a calculation that will not resolve.
- A badge can test one field against another. So the limit itself can be a field, filled from a lookup table when the technician picks the size. The acceptance criteria stay in the lookup table, and the badge reads them from there.
- Neither type can be placed in a repeating section or a repeating table row. Those hold as many copies as the work needs, and one answer cannot apply to all of them.
- Neither can be marked required, because nobody fills them in.
- Both print in the report. The number prints at the decimal places you set, so 0.30 stays 0.30. A badge prints its label, and the report can shade the cell in the badge's colour, the same way a coloured dropdown answer does.
Common questions
What can a formula actually do?
Add, subtract, multiply and divide, with brackets, over the number fields on that step. That covers an average, a total, a difference, a percentage, a rate and a conversion. It is not a general engineering calculator and it does not reach across steps or jobs. If your limit comes from a specification, put that specification in a lookup table and point the badge at it.
Can my technician change a calculated value?
No, and that is deliberate. The field shows the answer and accepts no typing, so the number on a signed record always matches the readings printed beside it. If a technician disagrees with the answer, they correct the reading and the calculation follows.
What does the field show before the readings are in?
Waiting... in grey italics, in the same place the answer will appear. It never shows a zero or an empty box, because both of those read as a recorded result. As soon as every field the formula names has a value, the answer replaces it.
How many badges can one field have?
As many rows as you need. Stratum Track tests them in order and shows the first that matches, so a three-band scheme is one row for the reject case, one for the repair case, and a catch-all at the bottom for accept. Only one row may be the catch-all and it has to be last.
Do I need to ask you to switch this on?
No. Calculated and Badge are in the field type list for every company, so you can add one to a template today. If you would rather we built the step with you, send us the form you use and we will set it up and hand it back for you to approve.