Who encodes the tags, and when?
Whoever can also verify. Encoding is trivial and verification is the actual deliverable, so splitting them between two parties is how a dead tag reaches a wall. Whoever writes the tags should read them back, count them, and report the count.
Four options
You. Full control, no coordination, and it costs your time. Right for anything up to a few hundred tags.
The tag supplier. Factory encoding at volume, cheap per unit, and it needs your content finalised early.
The converter, where tags are integrated into another product such as packaging or cards. Usually the only option at that scale.
The installer, encoding on site as each tag goes up. Flexible, slow, and it moves the failure into the field.
Verification decides it
Writing a tag takes a second. Reading it back to confirm the content, the record type and that it persisted takes another.
Skipping the second step is what produces tags that were written successfully and hold nothing, which is a distinct and common failure.
So whoever encodes must verify, and their count must be reported. A batch delivered with no verification count has not been verified.
Where encoding and installation are done by different parties, verify again on arrival, because transit and handling break tags that left in perfect condition.
When in the sequence
After printing, laminating or any process involving heat and pressure, since those are what break tags and a broken tag should cost a blank rather than a blank plus the encoding.
Before installation, so a dead tag is discovered on a bench rather than on a ladder.
And before locking, if you are locking at all, since locking is a separate deliberate pass after everything is verified.
That order is the same at every scale and it is the part most often reversed under time pressure.
Putting it in writing
State who encodes, who verifies, and what the verification report contains.
State the acceptable failure rate on arrival and what happens when it is exceeded, agreed before it is.
State that tags arrive unlocked unless locking was ordered, in those words, since a locked delivery is unrecoverable.
And keep the register of what was written to which tag, because that document outlives everyone involved in producing it.
Frequently asked questions
Should the supplier encode the tags?
At volume it is usually cheaper, and it requires your content finalised early and a verification report you actually read.
Can the installer encode on site?
Yes, and it moves failures into the field where they cost the most. It suits small or highly variable deployments.
When should tags be verified?
After any process involving heat or pressure, before installation, and again on arrival if someone else encoded them.
What must be in the contract?
Who encodes, who verifies, what the report contains, the acceptable failure rate, and that tags arrive unlocked.