General questions

Question:
Which coffee machines come with telemetry functionality as standard and which models can be upgraded?

Answer:
Input required – which models are compatible with CL?

Question:
Is there any charge for Schaerer Coffee Link? 

Answer:
In addition to free functionalities, we also provide charged features on the Schaerer Coffee Link platform. These are bundled into packages. 
In addition to the free "Transparency package", extended functionalities are available in the paid "Optimizer package". 

Question:
What is included in the different packages? 

Answer:

The Transparency Package is available to all customers with a coffee machine and built-in telemetry function. This means that you can benefit from our platform solutions free of charge, from the moment you start using your coffee machine and register on the digital platform. The Transparency Package is suitable for all customers who want transparency about their coffee business and an overview of the operating status of their coffee machine(s).

The Optimizer Package is specifically designed for customers with a large fleet of coffee machines. The Optimizer Package offers opportunities for deeper analysis and optimization of the coffee business. Please note that our Optimizer Package is a paid offer.

Access and account

Question:
How do I sign up for Schaerer Coffee Link?

Answer:
Sign up for Schaerer Coffee Link by visiting the Coffee Link portal (link to portal) and clicking on ‘Sign up for free!’ on the homepage. You’ll need to enter your email address, select your language and click on ‘Next’. A confirmation email will be sent to the email address you entered. Click on the confirmation button in that email. You’ll be taken to a page where you can enter your details and click on ‘Sign up’ to complete the process.

Question:
How do I log in?

Answer:
Log in using the email address you entered when signing up for Schaerer Coffee Link and the password you selected.

Question:
Which devices and browsers are compatible with Schaerer Coffee Link?

Answer:

Schaerer Coffee Link is optimised for smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktop computers and large screens. 

The portal runs on the following browsers and newer versions:

• Google Chrome 60
• Mozilla Firefox 55
• Microsoft Edge 14
• Safari 9.1
• UC
• Yandex

We make sure our portal is widely accessible and easy to use..

Question:
I’ve forgotten my password. What should I do?

Answer:
Head to the sign-up page (link to sign-up page) and click on ‘Forgot password?’. Follow the instructions to reset your password.

Question:
How do I delete my account?

Answer:
You cannot restore your account once it has been deleted. You’ll lose all access and data. If you’re sure about deleting your account, follow through the steps here (link to ‘Delete account’ page) and confirm by clicking on ‘Delete account’.

Connecting and accessing machines 

Question:
What happens after I sign up or log in?

Answer:
Once you’ve signed up or logged in, you’ll be able to access all the different applications and services on offer through this digital solution. Depending on your permissions, you can view the machines and data in ‘fleet status’ and access the analyses. You can take action remotely and make the most of other Schaerer Coffee Link features.

Question:
How do I arrange and organise my coffee machines on the Schaerer Coffee Link portal?

Answer:
After you’ve signed up, you’ll need to link your coffee machines to your account before they’ll be displayed. Log in, click on ‘My account’ at the top and select ‘Coffee machines’ from the menu.
The permissions you have will depend on whether you’ve been assigned the ‘Digital admin’ role (usually the owner of the machine) or you’re another user of the machine.
Click on ‘Machine management’ to view all the coffee machines and arrange them in an organisational hierarchy.

The coffee machine details include the machine name, serial number, software version, address and MAC address. 
If you’re the admin, you’ll be able to change the machine name and address and add any extra information. Any changes you make will be shown to any other users who have access to the corresponding machine.

Question:
What is the ‘Digital admin’ role for Schaerer Coffee Link?

Answer:
Before you can add the first machine to your account, you have to be assigned to the ‘Digital admin’ role in our source system. The Digital admin role is assigned to the account that starts off adding machines. Once you’ve been assigned this role, you’ll be able to give other users rights to the machines. If you haven’t been assigned to the Digital admin role yet, get in touch with your sales representative or our support team.

Question:
Which roles and permissions can be assigned for Schaerer Coffee Link?

Answer:
There are four standard roles that can be assigned to grant access to machines and machine data: Admin, Business manager, Technical manager and User.
The person who has been assigned the Digital admin role is saved in our back-end system as the owner of the machine. They can view all their machines and use the full functionality on their account as soon as they’ve signed up. This role has full access to all the features on the platform – the only exceptions are the online shop and spare parts catalogue because separate authorisation is required in those cases.
The person in the Digital admin role can also invite other users and grant them access to machines. The Admin role is largely equivalent the Digital admin role and so can be seen as a deputy position.

Besides the standard roles, users who are authorised to create and edit roles can create new roles and grant permissions as they see fit. 

Applications on the Schaerer Coffee Link portal

Question:
What Schaerer Coffee Link applications are available and why can’t I see them all after signing up?

Answer:
The applications available in the portal are fleet status, analytics, machine management, user management and remote management.

Most of the features are only displayed if a user has been assigned to an organisation. The relevant roles are required.

Question:
What remote functionality is available for Schaerer Coffee Link and can be applied to multiple machines?

Answer:
The following functionality is currently available remotely:

• Display management: Upload and remove individual images on your coffee machine displays and send a full media package containing several images (background images, screen savers, images to display while drinks are being made) for various offers to your machines.
• Price updates: Change the prices on your coffee machines.
• Drink management: Stop/approve drinks being made on your machines.
• Coffee machine restarts: Remotely restart a coffee machine that is already switched on.
• New menus and back-up uploads

Question:
What are the specifications for remotely uploading images to coffee machine displays?

Answer:
Display images have to meet the requirements.
They can be in PNG, JPG or GIF format and must not be larger than 500 KB. The resolution must either be 800 px (width) x 600 px (height) or 462 px (width) x 800 px (height) depending on the machine’s screen resolution.
This information will also be provided when you’re uploading an image. If the resolution is displayed as 0 x 0 px, your computer doesn’t support image uploads.

Question:
How do I update prices remotely?

Answer:
You can change your prices and add discounts in the price updates section. Prices are saved in the smallest unit of currency (e.g. cents).

Question:
What is ‘fleet status’ and how do I export data?

Answer:
Fleet status provides you with an overview of the current status of your coffee machines: 

• You can immediately see which machines have an error or if any action needs to be taken (example: replenishing beans).
• You receive notifications about pending tasks for your machines (example: cleaning).
• You receive notifications about other events being reported on your machines within no more than five minutes.
• You can see all the events being reported by your machines (examples: errors, tasks and information).
• The dashboard provides an overview of sales, machine status, usage and peaks.

You can export all the event data as a .csv file under analytics. 
Access this data here: Analytics  Export data  ‘Request new data export’. 
All events – not just the active ones – are exported in a .csv file.

Question:
Where is the analytics section, what reports are available and how often are these reports updated?

Answer:
You can access a wide range of reports in the analytics section. These will help you to gain a better understanding of your coffee business, putting you in a position to optimise it. 

Standard reports can be accessed by all users with the relevant permissions. The reports refer to any machines users have been assigned to. You can submit a specific request by clicking on ‘Request individual report’ under the ‘Analytics report’ menu. Please fill in the corresponding contact form.

The data in the reports is updated once a day. You can check when a report was last updated under the management overview (last data update).

Question:
Where can I find more top tips on how to use the Schaerer Coffee Link portal?

Answer:
We’ve collated more top tips for you in our tutorials. You can find these on our tutorial page (link to tutorials)

Question:
What are Schaerer Coffee Link integration solutions?

Answer:
Our Schaerer Coffee Link integration solutions are application programming interfaces (APIs) that allow you to seamlessly integrate our coffee machines into existing digital ecosystems. Get in touch with us to find out more to contact form.

Data security

Question:
How is my data processed and protected by Schaerer?

Answer:
We take data protection and security very seriously. That’s why we developed a state-of-the-art platform for Schaerer Coffee Link, with technical infrastructure, information security and data protection all in line with international regulations and standards.

Any data being transferred and stored is encrypted. When processing data, especially personal data, we follow stringent guidelines for information security and data protection in line with the German Federal Data Protection Act and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). We publish our rules and processes for processing personal data to ensure we are as transparent as possible for our customers.

We use non-personal, machine-generated data internally to improve the quality of our coffee machines and to guide our pre-emptive service and maintenance work with a view to optimising our internal processes and reducing costs.