Issue
There are a limited number of soil moisture sensors in the field that are not compatible with Baseline R boards. Please review this document to learn how we are going to manage this issue.
Support Strategy
Failure scenario: Customer calls in because their moisture sensor “does not work”.
1. Review basic configuration questions:
- Is the controller ON?
- Is the wire path connected to the controller and energized?
- Can the customer measure the current where the moisture sensor is installed?
- Did the customer search for the moisture sensor at the controller? If the search was done through BaseManager, can the customer verify their controller is connected and online?
2. If the customer can validate power and networking (if applicable) determine whether the installation is 2-wire or conventional wire.
- If the installation is 2-wire, move forward with the standard moisture sensor troubleshooting process.
- If the installation is conventional wire and the moisture sensor is connected to an R-board, proceed to step 3.
3. Ask the customer what the serial number is for the moisture sensor.
- If the soil moisture sensor has a serial number that begins with SB, ST, or BY, move forward with the standard moisture sensor troubleshooting process.
- If the soil moisture sensor has a serial number beginning with BX and is in the range of BX00100-BX00783 then it will not be compatible with the R-board. Indicate to the customer that you will be in contact with their Regional Sales Manager. Their RSM will follow up with the customer directly to resolve.
- If the soil moisture sensor has a serial number beginning with BX and is beyond BX000783, move forward with the standard moisture sensor troubleshooting process.
Channels
We do not want to directly engage channel partners to return inventory. The logic is that we want to avoid collateral damage by having channels return additional "EE" inventory and diminish confidence in Baseline technology.
End-user
The sales team will coordinate with manufacturing to identify where the new sensors were shipped. The sales team will be able to identify which shipments correlate to a retrofit site where the moisture sensor would be installed with the R-board.
The customers who would be affected by the incompatible sensor will be able to issue a RMA (no questions asked) and we will ship them the updated sensor with the v5.15 firmware.
Timeline to Resolution
As of Sept. 15, we are able to replace all sensors that have been identified.
Based on the number of sensors that are unaccounted for we will know what the estimated support load will be to resolve imminent customer calls. This should be a relatively small number.
We will track the number of support tickets that have been created for this issue. As the tickets are created and resolved we will continue to mark-off the number of sensors.
Overtime (it could be many months) we will be able to cross-reference the number of sensors on the Baseline server that are 2-wire installations and set that number against the total number of units we RMA'd and/or created a support ticket for. Once we hit 683 between the two, we will be done.
- Example scenario: 546 units have been installed and can be located in BaseManager, 100 units were RMA'd immediately by the sales team, and 27 support tickets were created from September through April of 2021. The target of 683 has been reached.
Sales Strategy
For new opportunities:
Follow standard sales story for moisture sensor technology. Business as usual moving forward.
For customers who purchased a moisture sensor but have not installed it:
Coordinate with the customer to issue the RMA through the channel partner. Please do the following:
1. Provide the customer with the RMA number.
2. Have the sensor shipped back to Boise. Cross shipping is OK because we know the sensors are compromised. Cross shipping could also help mitigate overnight shipping due to reduced cost.
For customers who purchased a moisture sensor and installed it:
1. They know it doesn’t work and called Support. If it is possible, see if the customer can install the sensor on the 2-wire path instead.
2. If the customer does not know the sensor is not working and we know it is not working, contact the customer.
Management
Escalations
There are 683 units that have been shipped to channel partners. We estimate that approximately 15% of these units would be installed with the R-board configuration (~102 units). There are 32 units that were shipped to Addison Reserve and have not been installed.
As of September 15, 2020, the new firmware is ready and units are being built and shipped.
There are 520 new units that can be updated with the new firmware. We will have more than enough to replace the estimated pool of compromised units.
What has shipped and with what controllers:
Shipped with 2-wire controllers
- 197 sensors
- 23 different channel locations
- No action needed since the sensor will work with 2-wire installs
Shipped with R-board controllers
- 88 sensors
- 9 different channel locations
- Immediate follow-up required to issue RMA
- The RSM associated with each channel location will manage the RMA process
Unknown Shipment
402 sensors. It is estimated that about 60 of these unknown sensors will be associated with a retrofit job. There are 50 different channel locations.
Will need to work with the RSM team to narrow down known retrofit sites in each channel location where a soil moisture could be installed with the R-board.
This process will take place immediately, with the goal of nailing down as many known retrofit sites as possible so we can issue the RMA. Any remaining unknowns will be managed and tracked through support.