Site readiness checklist for IT.

The checklist

Nine things to confirm before the first station goes live. The sections below give the detail behind each.

• Stations can reach smartfact.ai and its subdomains over HTTPS, on TCP port 443, outbound.
• No inbound connection, VPN or fixed address at your site is needed for stations or for printing.
• Each station has a current Chrome, Edge or Safari, with JavaScript and cookies allowed for those hosts.
• Each barcode scanner types like a keyboard into the browser, with nothing installed for it.
• Each computer that prints runs Windows or macOS, has the printer installed with its own driver, and has the SmartFACT PrintStation app. Nothing else from SmartFACT is installed anywhere.
• A workstation that prints for phones or handhelds stays switched on and signed in, with the PrintStation app running.
• Email from mail.smartfact.ai is accepted, so that invitations and sign-in messages arrive.
• Every person has their own SmartFACT account. There are no shared station logins, and no single sign-on with your own identity provider.
• Where your own software is to be connected, its side of the connection is agreed before the site goes live.

Hosts every site allows

Every host SmartFACT needs is under smartfact.ai, so the simplest rule allows smartfact.ai and all of its subdomains over HTTPS. Where your firewall or web filter wants each host named, allow these shared hosts and the hosts of the products your organisation uses.

SmartFACT publishes no list of network addresses. Allow by host name: the addresses behind these names can change.

Product hosts

Allow the host of each product your organisation uses. This table is drawn from the same catalogue as the product sites, so it always lists every product.

Free tool hosts

The free tools are optional and no product depends on one. Each runs in the browser, needs no account and keeps its data on the device.

Optional hosts outside smartfact.ai

No station needs a host outside smartfact.ai to record work or to print. Three optional things use one, and blocking them stops only what the table says.

Ports and protocols

Everything a station does goes over HTTPS on TCP port 443, from the station outwards. There is no other port to open and nothing to forward to your site.

• Outbound HTTPS on TCP port 443, from every station and printing workstation to the hosts above.
• No inbound connection from the internet to a station, a printer or a printing workstation.
• On a computer that prints, the browser talks to the PrintStation app on that same computer only, on local ports 18481 and 18482. Nothing listens on your network.
• Email from SmartFACT, such as invitations and sign-in messages, comes from addresses at mail.smartfact.ai.

Browsers and stations

A station is a computer, tablet, phone or handheld scanner computer with a web browser. Each product is tested on the Chromium engine, which Chrome and Edge use, and on WebKit, which Safari uses. Keep the browser on its current release. Firefox is not part of those tests, so it is not listed here, and no minimum version number is published.

• JavaScript and cookies allowed for the hosts above.
• A barcode scanner that types like a keyboard, over USB, wireless or Bluetooth. A locked-down station must still accept keyboard input from the scanner.
• On a phone or tablet that scans with its camera, the browser's camera permission for the product's host.
• No browser extension, no plug-in and no native mobile app.
• A working connection: every product works online, and a station that loses its connection pauses until it is back.

The printing workstation

Labels and documents are printed through SmartFACT PrintStation. Its connector app runs on the Windows or macOS computer that is connected to the printer.

• A 64-bit Windows computer, or a Mac with Apple silicon or an Intel processor.
• The printer installed on that computer with its own driver, so that the computer can already print to it.
• The SmartFACT PrintStation app, downloaded for that computer by a PrintStation Owner from a page that shows each file's name, size and SHA-256. It starts at login and shows an icon in the Windows system tray or the Mac menu bar.
• Install the app through your approved process for installing software, and leave the operating system's protections on.
• The browser may ask whether the site may reach the local network. That is the page reaching the PrintStation app on the same computer, and printing needs it allowed.
• For labels sent from a phone or handheld, the workstation stays switched on, with a desktop session signed in and the app running. The app asks PrintStation for work over HTTPS every few seconds, so no inbound port is opened, and it does not print while the connection is down.
• Before a station goes live, the printer, driver, label stock and format are checked with real labels and recorded.

Nothing else is installed

Nothing is installed on a station: no agent, no browser extension, no native mobile app, no scanner software and no database. The PrintStation app on the printing workstation is the only SmartFACT software at a site.

A station needs no administrator rights to use SmartFACT. Installing the PrintStation app on the printing workstation follows your own rules for installing software.

Where data is held

SmartFACT is a hosted service. It runs in the UK, with database backups encrypted and copied off-site to the EU. Each product keeps its own database, and production records are held by the service, not on the station. We do not name the hosting providers on this page.

Authorised people can download their organisation's data from each product. The page on hosting, security and your data says who can sign in, what is backed up and which certifications are and are not held.

How your own systems connect

Files need no network change. Sheets are uploaded or pasted in the browser, and each product keeps its own import. Shop orders from Shopify, WooCommerce and PrestaShop come through the connectors on data.smartfact.ai.

ParcelOffice asks your factory software for the scanned work order, and sends booking and tracking updates back, by calling two HTTPS endpoints that your software provides. Those endpoints must be reachable from the internet over HTTPS. Every request is signed with a secret issued for that connection, so check the signature and not the caller's address.

SAP, an ERP or MRP system, EDI or other software is connected as paid integration work through data.smartfact.ai. How it connects, by a live API, middleware or scheduled files, is agreed in the scope and priced before work starts. There is no public API to switch on. Tell us about the system at https://data.smartfact.ai/integration-enquiry.

Common questions

Which network addresses should we allow?

None by number. Allow the host names: every host SmartFACT needs is under smartfact.ai, and the addresses behind those names can change.

Do we need to open an inbound port?

Not for stations and not for printing. The only calls made towards your systems are ParcelOffice's, to the HTTPS endpoints your own factory software provides, and only where you use that connection.

Does anything need installing on a station?

No. A station needs a browser. Only the computer connected to a printer has anything installed: the SmartFACT PrintStation app.

Can people sign in with our own single sign-on?

No. Every person signs in with their own SmartFACT account, and single sign-on with your own identity provider is not offered.

What happens when the connection drops?

Work pauses until it is back. Nothing already recorded is lost, and a dropped connection never creates a second request, booking or print.

Related pages

• Scanners, printers, devices and offline
• Hosting, security and your data
• How SmartFACT connects to your other systems
• Install the PrintStation app, in SmartFACT Help