Checklists: repeating the same checks across the network

Some checks always come back: at season opening you go over signage, culverts, drainage and hazard trees again — on every trail. A task is the wrong tool for that: it describes a one-off problem, not a routine repeated identically across twenty trails.

That is exactly what checklists do. You define the list of points to check once, you run it on the trails concerned, and everyone ticks as they go — on the web or in the field with the mobile app.

Where: left navigation bar, under General → Checklists.

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Four words of vocabulary

An item is a point to check: "Culverts", "Waymarking", "Hazard trees". It carries an icon, which acts as a visual anchor in the matrix. An item is ticked, or measured along the trail when the work moves forward in pieces (brush clearing on a long trail, for example).

A checklist is a run: "Season opening 2026". It applies the same list of items to a set of trails. Each trail gets its own copy — ticking "Culverts" on La Coulée ticks nothing anywhere else.

A template is a list of items saved to be run again. It is optional: you can perfectly well create a checklist by typing the items directly. A template becomes useful in the second season, when you want to run exactly the same list again.

A series groups a checklist that repeats: each relaunch is an occurrence (#1, #2, #3…). A monthly inspection from May to October is a series of six occurrences.

The Checklists page

This is where you start: every checklist of the place, the ones in progress first, then the completed ones.

The two sections. In progress gathers what is left to do, with a progress bar. Completed gathers the archives: the row tells you how long it took to complete them, for example "Completed in 16 d".

The year picker shows the checklists active during the chosen year: a checklist launched last year and still open shows up in both years, but not one launched later. All years shows everything. For a series spanning two years, the row keeps the total and states the year's share, for example "5 occurrences · 1 in 2026".

A series fits on a single row, so the list stays readable even after months of weekly inspections. Click its arrow to see its latest occurrences as a tree, each with its number, its state and its items done; click the row itself to open the series page.

If the page is empty, it suggests getting started in three steps: prepare a template (optional), launch a checklist, tick in the field.

Creating a checklist

The New checklist button opens a panel on the right. There are no steps to work through: the name and the content are in front of you as soon as it opens, and the rest fits in three lines you only open if you need them.

Here is each field, in order.

Name. Required. Pick a name that says the season or the sector: "Summer opening 2026", "North sector brushing". A repeating checklist keeps that name at every occurrence; the number (#1, #2…) tells them apart. To change the name of the whole series at once, see Renaming a series.

Content. Two tabs, which only appear if the place has at least one template:

• Template — pick a template from the list; its items and their Measured settings are used as they are. To change the list, edit the template first, or switch to the next tab.
• Custom items — type your items. For each one: the icon (click the round button to pick another one), the name, and the Measured chip if the work is measured along the trail (see Measuring what is done along the trail). Drag the handle to change the order: it is the order of the matrix columns and of the list on mobile.

Read your items over before creating: once the checklist is launched, the list no longer grows and the names no longer change. You will only be able to set an item aside on a trail or bring it back.

Trails. By default, every trail is selected. Uncheck the ones the checklist does not concern; the search and Deselect all help on a large network. As soon as the checklist has items, every checked trail carries a counter such as 3 / 3: that is where you set that trail's items (next section).

Repeat. Leave Does not repeat for a one-off checklist, or set a frequency so it comes back on its own: see Having a checklist come back on its own.

Responsible and assignee. Optional, one of each: a person or a group. The responsible person answers for the checklist; the assignee does the work. They show as avatars in the list and in the checklist header.

The bottom of the panel keeps a running summary of what you are about to launch: how many trails, how many items. Create checklist stays greyed out as long as a name, a content or at least one trail is missing. The checklist starts as soon as it is created.

If you close the panel halfway (the ✕ or a click outside), Sentinel asks whether you want to create the checklist; Cancel, at the bottom, discards the draft. The panel always starts from a blank page.

Setting a trail's items

A trail's counter opens a small menu: the list of items, for that trail only.

Each box applies right away: there is nothing to confirm. Click outside to close the menu. A trail always keeps at least one item. If you change template or content tab, or add, remove or reorder custom items, these settings start over, since the list of items changed.

Why it helps, and how it counts: see When an item does not concern every trail.

Having a checklist come back on its own

A monthly inspection, a weekly culvert round: set the repetition once, and Sentinel relaunches the checklist at every due date, on the same trails, with the same settings. The new occurrence shows up for everyone without reloading the page, on the web as on mobile.

A series has only one occurrence in progress. When the next one starts, the one in progress is completed automatically, even if not everything is ticked: its progress stays visible in the series history.

The checklist you create is occurrence #1. Each occurrence's header then shows the exact day and time of the next one, for example "Repeats: monthly · on day 1 · next on 1 Oct 2026 at 8:00 a.m.". Once the end is reached, it shows Repeat ended.

What the relaunch carries over: the trails of the latest occurrence, its items, the items set aside trail by trail and the measured items. Everything starts from zero: nothing is ticked, no part is done.

Changing or stopping the repetition: a checklist's ⋯ menu, then Repeat. The same form opens in a window; pick Does not repeat to stop. On a series page, ⋯ then Edit the repetition sets the same thing without having to find which occurrence holds the repetition.

Following a checklist

A checklist's view comes in two parts: a header that sums everything up, and the matrix of trails.

The matrix

Below the header, one trail per row, one item per column.

This layout answers the question that matters at a glance: where do we stand? A full row is a finished trail. An empty column is a point nobody has tackled anywhere yet — often a sign that the equipment or the skill is missing.

The Time and Discussion columns stay visible when you scroll a checklist with many items.

The ⋯ menu

The menu only shows what your role allows, and what still makes sense for this checklist.

• Edit checklist — the name, the trails, the items per trail, the responsible person and the assignee. See Editing a launched checklist. On an occurrence of a series, the name changes for that occurrence only: for the whole series, see Renaming a series.
• Repeat — set it, change it or stop it.
• Duplicate — a blank copy, with the same trails and the same settings. See below.
• Export to Excel… — see Taking the checklist out to Excel.
• Share… — a public link to follow progress without an account. See Sharing progress with a public link.
• Mark as completed — after confirmation, the checklist moves to Completed. It can't be reopened afterwards: to pick the work up again, duplicate it.
• Delete — after confirmation, the checklist disappears with all of its content: checked items, logged time (which no longer counts in the dashboard) and trail discussions. It cannot be undone: to keep the history, mark it as completed instead.

A completed checklist becomes an archive. Nothing can be ticked, no time can be added or changed, and it can't be edited anymore: Edit checklist disappears from the menu, and no new repetition can start from it. One exception: if it still carries an active repetition (you completed the last occurrence before the next one was due), Repeat stays there to adjust or stop it. To relaunch a finished checklist, duplicate it.

Duplicating

Duplicate creates a new, blank checklist, on the same trails, with the same items, the same items set aside and the same measured items. It is the right move to relaunch season opening the following year.

If the duplicated checklist held the series' repetition, the repetition carries on from the copy.

Editing a launched checklist

A checklist isn't frozen once it's launched. In the ⋯ menu, Edit checklist opens the same panel as creation: you can change the name, the responsible person and the assignee, the items (the Items line, see below), and above all the list of trails. Check a trail to add it, uncheck one to remove it. Every change carries an Added or Removed label until you save.

• Every checked trail has its counter (for example 3 / 3), as at creation. An added trail gets the same items as the others, and you set aside right away the ones that don't concern it. On a trail already in the checklist, the counter also lets you set aside or bring back an item and make it measured or not; an item brought back starts over as to do. On a locked trail, the counter stays visible but frozen: as soon as work is recorded there, its items no longer change, so no tick disappears by mistake.
• A trail can only be removed if nothing has been done on it: no checked item, no note, no photo, no logged time, no message. Otherwise it's locked and shows "Work recorded". Work already done never disappears by mistake — especially time, which feeds the cost figures.
• There is always at least one trail left.

Nothing is saved before Save. If you close the panel with pending changes (the ✕ or a click outside), Sentinel asks you to save them; the Cancel button at the bottom discards them.

If the checklist repeats, the next occurrence reuses the trails of the latest one: adding a trail now also adds it to the upcoming ones. Editing an older occurrence of the same series only changes that one; the others keep their trails.

When an item does not concern every trail

Here is the case that comes up all the time. On trail 21 you have to rake, check the drains and put the signs away. On trail 27 there are no signs and nothing to rake — only the drains. If you leave all three boxes, trail 27 will never reach 100 %, and your board will tell you there is work left where there is none.

So you can mark an item as not applicable to a trail. The box becomes a plain grey dash: nobody can tick it, and more importantly it drops out of the count. Trail 27 then shows 1 / 1 and turns Ready as soon as the drains are done.

It is set at creation, in each trail's counter (see above), or later in Edit checklist, in two ways:

• Trail by trail: in the Trails line, each trail has its counter. Uncheck what does not concern it there.
• On every trail at once: the Items line opens the list of items. That is the way to go when twenty trails out of thirty have no signs, or to make an item measured everywhere.

You can change your mind at any time, in both directions: nothing is locked in at launch. That matters, because you often find out in the field that a culvert isn't there.

The setup carries over. When the checklist repeats or you duplicate it, the items you set aside stay set aside. You sort out trail 27 once, and next season starts out right.

Who can do it: only people at the Manage level. Deciding what is expected of a trail changes the progress on display — that is not the same thing as ticking a box in the field. Someone on "View + check" keeps ticking as usual, without being able to change what is expected.

Measuring what is done along the trail

Some items are not done in one go. Brush cutting on a three-kilometre trail, leaf blowing: you do part of it today and the rest tomorrow. For those, a checkbox tells you nothing useful. Set the item as measured: it fills up with the share of the trail done, and a map shows the part already done.

The setting. In the item editor, when you create a checklist or in a template, each item carries a Measured chip, off by default. The setting can also be made trail by trail, in the trail's counter: brush cutting can then be measured on a long trail and ticked on a short one. On a checklist already launched, open Edit checklist: the counter of each trail still has its Measured buttons, and the Items line makes an item measured on every trail at once. An item already ticked goes to 100 %. If you switch back, only the items at 100 % stay ticked.

In the matrix, a measured item shows as a ring instead of a box: round = measured, square = ticked. The ring fills up with the progress and turns solid, with a check mark, at 100 %. On hover, a bubble shows the trail's map, the percentage and the distance done. A click opens the trail's panel on that item.

Nothing gets lost along the way. If you switch to another item, close the panel or open Add time before saving, Sentinel asks what to do: Save, Don't save, or Cancel to go back to your line.

How it counts. 40 % of an item counts as 0.4 item in the checklist's progress. A trail's counter ("3 / 4") and the number of completed trails only count what is at 100 %: a trail is only complete once everything is done. In the Excel export, a measured item in progress shows its percentage.

When the checklist repeats, the setting carries over: the next occurrence keeps its measured items and starts from zero.

The per-trail discussion

Each row of the matrix carries its own conversation, visible if your role has access to discussions and your plan includes them. That is where you write "the culvert at km 2 needs replacing, not just clearing" — attached to the right trail, not lost in a general thread. An orange badge counts the messages you haven't read. These exchanges also show up in the Discussions section.

Following a series over time

A series page puts all its occurrences side by side, so you can see whether the work really gets done from one time to the next.

To open it, click a series' row in the checklist list, or View the series in an occurrence's header. At the top, a band recalls the series' rule (for example "Monthly · on day 1 · The previous one is completed when the next one starts"), then a few figures: the number of occurrences, the ones in progress, the average time to complete, the total time and the date of the next one.

Then comes the list of occurrences — each one's start date, closing date, progress and time, plus the planned occurrence — followed by the history by trail.

The history shows each trail's state when each occurrence closed, or now for the ones in progress. A dashed box means the trail was not part of that occurrence. The bubble is read-only: to pick up the work, open the occurrence from the list.

The page's ⋯ menu holds Rename the series, Edit the repetition, Export to Excel… (see A whole series in one workbook) and Share… (see Sharing progress with a public link).

Renaming a series

A series carries the name of its occurrences. To change it everywhere at once, open the series page, then the ⋯ menu and Rename the series.

Every occurrence takes the new name, completed ones included: it's the only thing you can still change on an archived checklist. Future repetitions keep it too. The change shows up for everyone without reloading the page, on the web and on mobile.

To rename a single occurrence in progress, use Edit checklist in its ⋯ menu instead. Only people at the Manage level can rename a series.

Templates

A template is a list of items ready to relaunch: "Season opening", "Culvert inspection", "Closing". It saves time and makes sure the same checklist comes back from one year to the next with the same points.

They live in the Templates tab of the Checklists page. Each template shows its name and its number of items there. New template creates one; a click on a template opens it for editing.

• Editing a template only affects the next checklists: the ones already launched keep their own copy of the items.
• Deleting a template removes it from the list. The checklists already created from it don't change.
• To use one, open New checklist, then the Template tab of the Content area, and pick it.

Templates are a separate right. They belong to the place settings, not to day-to-day management. So someone can manage checklists without touching templates, and the other way round. If the Templates tab doesn't appear for you, that is the right you're missing. To launch a checklist from a template, the right to manage checklists is enough: you pick among the existing templates, without being able to change them.

The time spent on a trail

A checklist tells you what was done. It can also tell you how long it took, with the same work roles and rates as on tasks. That is what turns "season opening is done" into "season opening took 92 hours and $4,800".

The total shows in the checklist header, and the matrix's Time column gives each trail's total. The stopwatch in that column opens the entry form.

Click a trail's name to see the detail.

On the whole trail, or on specific items

When you log time, you choose what the duration covers:

• Nothing ticked — the time is on the whole trail. That is the most common case: you spent the morning on La Coulée, without keeping the detail.
• One or more items ticked — the time is attached to those.

One hour on three items is still one hour. It is not split into three twenty-minute slices, because that is not what happened: you did all three in the same pass. The panel says so by showing "4 h shared" on each of the items concerned.

Worth knowing: only the trail total adds up. If you sum the per-item times, you may go past the total, and that is normal. Trust the trail total and the checklist total.

Who sees the costs

Time is visible to everyone who can see the checklist. Costs are not: they only show for roles with read access to costs. For everyone else the cost figure isn't shown — they see the hours, not the money.

Taking the checklist out to Excel

A checklist can be taken out as an Excel workbook, to file it, send it to the board or attach it to a grant application. The checklist's ⋯ menu, then Export to Excel….

The workbook holds two sheets.

The “Trails” sheet is the matrix, exactly as you see it on screen: one row per trail, one column per item, and in each cell the state — To-do, In Progress, Done or Not applicable. Two columns are added on the right: the trail's progress, and the total time spent on it.

The “Time” sheet details every entry: the trail, the items covered, the date, the person, the work role, the duration, the hourly rate and the cost.

Three things to know before you open the file:

• Trail time adds up, item time does not. An entry covering several items appears on a single row, with its full duration — it is not split. The file reminds you of this in a note below the table. Rely on the “Trails” sheet column for totals.
• Cost follows your rights. If your role does not see costs, the rate and cost columns are simply not in the file. This is not an export setting: it is the same right as everywhere else.
• Progress counts applicable items. A trail at “2 / 3” has three items that concern it — those marked Not applicable drop out of the calculation, exactly as on screen.

The file is prepared on the server: a card appears at the bottom right meanwhile, then the download starts on its own. You will find it afterwards under Your recent exports, at the bottom of the panel.

A whole series in one workbook

On a series page, the ⋯ menu in the header, then Export to Excel…, opens the same panel, for every occurrence at once. The workbook has four sheets:

• Occurrences — one row per occurrence: the start date, the closing date (or In Progress), the time to complete, the number of trails, the items done, the progress, the time and, depending on your rights, the cost.
• History — the on-screen history by trail, but with every occurrence: one row per trail, one column per occurrence with the trail's state (Done, a percentage or Not started; empty if it was not part of the occurrence), then the number of closed occurrences completed.
• Detail — one row per item of each trail of each occurrence, with its state and its percentage. This is the sheet to filter to follow an item over time, for example La Coulée's brush cutting from one time to the next.
• Time — every entry of the series, as in a checklist export, preceded by the occurrence number.

The same rules apply: the cost follows your rights, and an entry on several items stays on a single row.

Sharing progress with a public link

Riders want to know if their trail is ready, the municipality follows the work, a partner funds the season. None of them has a Sentinel account. The public link gives them a web page that shows the checklist's matrix, read-only, to anyone who opens it — on a phone as well as on a computer.

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Open the checklist, then the ⋯ menu and Share…: a panel opens on the right. The same Share… sits in the ⋯ menu of a series page: it shares the series' current checklist — or, if one of its occurrences is already shared, reopens that link, so a series never ends up with two public addresses.

The box at the bottom reminds you what the page shows and what it will never show. Once the link is active, the checklist header carries a Public badge: click it to reopen the panel. Close it with Close, the ✕ or a click beside it: each setting applies as soon as you touch it.

What the person who receives the link sees

• At the top: the checklist's name, its state, the occurrence number for a series, the place, the launch date and the time of the latest tick.
• The matrix: one trail per row, sorted by difficulty — in the order of difficulties set for the place — then by name; one item per column, with the icon legend above. On the right, the number of items done, in green when the trail is completed. On a phone, the matrix scrolls sideways.
• Measured items, as in Sentinel: hover a ring — or tap it on a phone — to see a bubble with the percentage, the trail map with the done portion solid and the rest outlined, then the distance done over the trail's length.
• The map: trails drawn solid when completed, dashed in their colour when in progress, dashed grey when nothing has started. It switches to satellite view and to fullscreen.

Private trails do not appear. A trail whose visibility is private stays in the checklist on your side, but it is absent from the public page: not in the matrix, not on the map, not in the totals. The page then shows, for instance, "6 trails completed out of 11".

Also never shown: the responsible person, the assignee, members, time, costs, discussions, notes and photos.

The page follows the field: a tick made in Sentinel shows up within a minute, on the next load. It is not indexed by search engines; it is available to anyone who has the link — treat it like a key.

A checklist that repeats

Follow the series is on by default. The page always shows the current occurrence; when the next one starts, the same link moves to it on its own. The address published at the start of the season therefore stays valid until the end. Between two occurrences, the page shows the latest one, with its completion date.

Turn Follow the series off to pin the link to that occurrence, for instance to send a municipality the report of one specific inspection.

If you delete the occurrence you had shared, the link moves to the series' current occurrence instead of stopping.

Closing the link

Reopen Share… and turn the Public link switch off. The address stops working immediately: anyone who reopens it sees a message saying the link is no longer available. Turning it back on later reuses the same address.

A completed checklist keeps its link: the page then shows the completion date.

Who can share: only people at the Manage level.

Ticking in the field

Finding checklists on mobile

Checklists are not a separate tab: they are a view of the map screen. Tap the place pill at the top left — the one showing the place name and, right below it, the current view.

The line under the place name always tells you where you are. If you are looking for the map and can't see it, chances are you stayed in another view.

If the "Checklists" card doesn't appear at all, it is not a bug: your role has no read access to checklists. See Roles.

Series on mobile

A checklist that repeats does not add one row per occurrence: the whole series fits on a single row, as on the Web. It stays under In progress as long as one of its occurrences is open, then moves to Completed.

One tap is enough for today's work: the series row opens the current occurrence, exactly like a single checklist. Older occurrences are one more tap away, in the list the round button opens.

Tap an occurrence to open it. Once inside, a banner recalls its number and lets you move to the previous or the next one without going back to the list.

The back arrow always takes you back to the checklist list, even after moving from one occurrence to another. The banner disappears with the header when you scroll through the trails, and comes back as soon as you scroll up.

A closed occurrence can be viewed, not changed. As on the Web, a completed checklist is an archive: the boxes are greyed out, the stopwatch button disappears from the trails, and the map of a measured item shows the portion done without sliders. Discussions stay open. If you ticked an item or logged time offline just before it was closed, that change is refused when it syncs and stays flagged as an error in the sync list.

Ticking items

You then drill down three levels: checklists, then the trails of a checklist, then the items of a trail. The place band stays on top at every level, with the back arrow right below it: you always know where you are.

Measuring in the field

A measured item is not ticked: its row shows the distance done, a bar and the ring. Tap it to open the trail's map.

It works without coverage. Ticks and progress go into the sync queue and go up as soon as the connection is back — the same mechanism as tasks created offline. You see your action take effect immediately, even at the bottom of a valley.

Mobile is for ticking, not managing. Creating a checklist, changing items, setting an item aside on a trail, setting repetition or completing a checklist all happen on the web.

Logging time from the field

Time can also be logged from mobile, and that is often where it is most accurate: at the end of the pass, not three days later from memory.

Each trail carries a stopwatch button, next to the discussion one. It takes you straight to the entry form — no need to open the trail. If you are already in the trail, the same button is at the top of the screen.

It works with no signal, just like the ticks. The entry goes into the sync queue, the trail total updates on your device right away, and the entry reaches the server as soon as the connection is back — with the items you ticked.

Mobile is for logging time. The history of entries — who, when, which role, how much — and the costs are read on the web.

Roles: who ticks, who manages

This is the point that causes the most confusion, because there are four levels, not two. In the role editor, the "Checklists" level comes with a "Check items" toggle:

"View + check" is the level most organizations don't know they have. It is the right setting for a volunteer or a seasonal employee: they do the work in the field and tick what they did, without being able to change the checklist by accident.

One trap to know: "Manage" includes ticking. There is no need to also turn on the "Check items" toggle — it is forced on at that level anyway.

Other rights add up, the same as for tasks: Export to Excel… needs the export right (and a plan that includes exports), the Add time stopwatch needs the time right. Templates have their own too: see Templates.

Four pieces of advice

Start without a template. Create your first checklist by typing the items. When you run the same one the following year, you'll know which to keep — and that is when a template earns its place.

One item = one observable check. "Culverts" either ticks or it doesn't. "Get the trail back in shape" never ticks cleanly, and the matrix becomes useless.

Set items aside rather than shortening your list. It is tempting to drop "Culverts" from the checklist because half the trails don't have any. Keep it, and set it aside on those trails: you keep one checklist, one list, and the matrix still reads column by column.

Read the columns as much as the rows. Rows tell you which trails are moving. Columns tell you which points are stuck everywhere — often the more actionable information.