Setting up

Four jobs, roughly in order: create a page for each drug, link the products you buy it as, tell the register what's in the safe, then the settings you'll set once and forget.

Common tasks

A page is a drug, not a product

This is the one idea the rest of the section rests on.

In a paper register, a page is a drug: ketamine, 100 mg/mL, injection. Everything you hold of that drug is written on that one page, and the running balance at the bottom is what's in your safe. That's what the law asks for - a page per drug, per form, per strength.

The products in your catalogue are a different thing. "CEVA Ketamine 100 mg/mL 10 mL vial" is a product: a brand, in a pack size, from a supplier. Buy the same ketamine from Ilium next month and that's a second product - but it is not a second drug, and it must not become a second page. If it did, you'd have two balances for one pool of ketamine sitting in one safe, and neither number would be what you actually hold.

So in Wattle:

• The Pages tab lists your register pages - the drugs.
• Each page has products linked to it - one, several, or none yet.
• Charging any linked product draws down that one page. Two suppliers, one balance.

Creating a page

Pages tab → New register page.

You answer three things and Wattle writes the name:

• Drug - the substance. "Ketamine", not "CEVA Ketamine". The brand belongs on the product.
• Form - what the medicine is: injection, tablet, capsule, oral liquid, patch, wafer. Not what it comes in. A vial and a bottle of the same injection are the same form and share one page - see the gotcha below.
• Strength - 100 mg/mL, 30 mg.

It then shows you the name it's going to use: "This page will be called Ketamine 100 mg/mL injection." There's no name box to type into, on purpose - a free box collects whatever's on the carton, and a page called "Ketamine 100mg/ml (CEVA)" is a product wearing a drug's clothes.

Also set the balance unit - what the register counts in ("mL", "tablet") - and the schedule (S8 or S4D).

If you already have that page, it says so before you can create a second one:

You already have a page for Ketamine 100 mg/mL injection. Two pages for one drug can never be merged - the balance would split and neither page would be your holding. Close this and link your product to the existing page instead.

Take that seriously. Two pages for one drug cannot be merged afterwards - entries can never move between pages, because that's exactly the kind of edit a controlled-drug register has to make impossible. If you do end up with a split, the only way out is to run one page down to zero and close it.

Pentobarbital picks its own register. Type a name containing "pentobarb" and Wattle switches to the Pentobarbital register and S4D automatically. That register is kept separate from Schedule 8 by law, with its own running balances and its own printable register, even though the stock can live in the same safe.

Linking your products

A page with nothing linked to it can't be reached by billing - nothing you charge will ever land on it. The Pages tab says so in as many words: "No products linked - charges won't reach this page."

To fix that: the page's ⋯ → Link a product → search your catalogue → Link.

Link as many products as you buy the drug as. They all draw down the same balance, which is the whole point.

Two things it will refuse, and why:

• A product counted in a different unit. If the page keeps its balance in mL and the product's base unit is "tablet", linking them would record tablets as though they were millilitres. It says so, names both units, and stops. Fix the product's units, or link it to a different page.
• A product that already draws on another page. A product feeds exactly one page. Unlink it there first - moving it is deliberate, so a balance never changes hands by accident.

The catalogue route still works

You don't have to come here first. Tick Controlled drug (Schedule 8) on a catalogue item exactly as before, fill in the drug, form and strength, and Wattle will find the matching page and link the product to it - or create the page if there isn't one yet.

So adding your second supplier's ketamine to the catalogue does the right thing on its own: it joins the existing ketamine balance instead of starting a rival one.

Recording opening balances

Before Wattle can track movements accurately it needs to know what you already hold. It prompts you automatically, and it's one pass, not a dialog per drug.

1. Open the Register tab. If any drug has no starting count, a Set up your Schedule 8 register card appears near the top, one row per drug.
2. Count the physical stock in your safe.
3. Type each balance into its row. Where Wattle already had a stock count, the figure is pre-filled - check it against the safe rather than trusting it. A pre-fill that can't be right (zero or below) is left blank and flagged "(looks off)".
4. Confirm & enable register records every balance at once, signed by your account.

Not holding any of them yet? Start all at zero records every drug at 0 immediately - one click, no Confirm. Only use it when the safe really is empty.

Still seeing a PIN box under the table? Your browser is showing you an old copy of Wattle - reload the page (Ctrl/Cmd + R). Since September 2026 nothing in the register asks for a PIN, and on that old copy recording a balance will fail rather than just look wrong.

Count carefully - you only get one go. An opening balance can be set once per drug. It becomes a finalised, signed entry straight away, so it can't be edited afterwards, and there's no "reset opening balance" button. If you do get one wrong, a vet can fix it with Adjust stock - it just leaves a tidy audit trail of the fix rather than pretending it never happened.

Reading the Pages tab

Each row shows the page, the products feeding it, the balance and whether it's open or closed. Two things are worth knowing how to read.

"No products linked" means exactly that - the page exists but no charge can reach it. Usually it just means you haven't linked the product yet.

"3 entries awaiting sign-off (−2.03 mL)" under a balance means the balance is out of date. Charging a controlled drug puts an entry in the sign-off queue straight away, but the balance doesn't move until someone signs it off. So a register that hasn't been signed off for a month shows a perfectly confident number that isn't what's in the safe. This line tells you the difference: 100 mL on the page, 2.03 mL waiting to come off, 97.97 mL actually in the drawer. Sign the queue off and the two agree again.

Stopping a drug: closing its register

When you stop carrying a controlled drug, you don't delete it. You close its register - the same thing as ruling off a page in a paper register.

Pages tab → the page's ⋯ → Close register.

It will refuse while there's still stock on the books, and tell you how much:

The register for Ketamine still has 14 mL on the books, so it can't be closed. Bring the balance to zero first: record a disposal (witnessed), transfer the stock to another safe or practice, or enter a stocktake adjustment.

That's deliberate. Stock you still hold is stock you're still legally responsible for, and taking the drug off the register wouldn't change that - it would just stop you seeing it. Bring the balance to nil the proper way first:

• Record a destruction - with a witness, for stock you're disposing of.
• Transfer it - to another safe, or out to another practice.
• Adjust stock - if the balance is wrong rather than the stock being real.

Once it's at zero, closing works. The closure is dated and recorded against you, and the page and every entry on it stay exactly as they are for the full retention period. Tick Show closed on the Pages tab to see it.

Starting again later is fine. ⋯ → Reopen register brings back the same page with all its history and its product links - it doesn't start a fresh one. The reopening is recorded in the audit log too.

Unlinking is not closing. Turning Controlled drug off on a catalogue item now just detaches that product from its page. The register stays open, keeps its balance, and keeps any other products linked to it. That's the right behaviour once a page can have several products - tidying your catalogue shouldn't be able to rule off a legal record. Closing is its own action, on the Pages tab, where you can see the balance you'd be ruling off at.

A page you created by mistake can be discarded - ⋯ → Discard page - but only while it has no entries and no products. The moment a page has been used it's a legal record, and it can only be closed, never erased. Every attempt is logged either way.

Safes

Most clinics run a single "Main safe" and never touch this. If you have a second - a vehicle or ambulatory safe - add it under Settings → Controlled drugs → Safes: type a Safe name and an optional Location, then Add. The small trash icon retires one.

With two or more safes, a Safe picker appears in every register dialog (Add entry, Adjust stock, Stock check, opening balances, Destruction) so each movement lands against the right safe, and a Transfer action for moving stock between safes appears on the register's ⋯ menu. A single-safe clinic never sees either - expected, not a fault.

Each safe keeps its own balance. A drug in your vehicle and the same drug in the main safe are two running totals, and the practice's holding is their sum - which is what the drug's own page shows, with the split underneath. That is how the law reads it: Queensland requires a register per S8 safe.

When you add a second safe, everything you already recorded belongs to the first one. ⋯ → Say where the stock is lets you move the real amounts across, one row per drug. It records proper transfers, because that is what actually happened - Wattle will never quietly relabel a finalised entry to say the drug was somewhere it wasn't.

A transfer is a signed movement like every other one, recorded under your account. Moving a controlled drug between safes is a movement on the register, and it writes two entries - one out, one in.

Loading and unloading a vehicle safe

If one of your safes goes out on the road, tell Wattle what it's meant to carry and both directions become one job instead of a dozen transfers.

Settings → Controlled drugs → What each safe carries. Pick the safe, pick a drug, type the amount it should hold, Add. Repeat for each drug; removing one takes it off the list.

⚠️ That amount is what the safe should hold, not what to move each time. Set ketamine to 20 mL and a refill tops it up to 20 mL - so a vehicle that came back with 8 mL in it is offered 12, not another 20. That is the difference between a list that is still true after three runs and one that isn't.

Then, on the register's ⋯ menu:

Every amount is editable, and that is the point. If the top-up says 12 mL and you take a whole 10 mL vial, change it to 10 - the register has to say what you actually moved. Going above the level is allowed too; Wattle says so on the row rather than stopping you.

Each drug is recorded as its own transfer, one after another. If one of them fails, Wattle tells you how many went through - the ones already recorded are on the register and stay there.

Who can use a safe

By default anyone with controlled-drug access can record against any safe. To limit one - a vehicle safe only certain vets take out, or an emergency service's safe inside a shared hospital - open Settings → Controlled drugs → Safes and click the people icon beside the safe.

Turn on Only certain people can use this safe and tick who. At least one person is required; Wattle will not let you restrict a safe that nobody can then use.

⚠️ This limits recording, not reading. The register is one book: everyone who can see controlled drugs still sees every entry in it, and so does an inspector. Hiding a safe's history would make a worse record, not a safer one.

Suppliers, locations and prescribers

Settings → Controlled drugs → Suppliers, locations and prescribers. Three lists the register picks from:

You mostly won't add anything here. Type a name into a register entry and it's added to the list automatically. This screen is where you tidy them up, add an account or registration number, and retire the ones you don't use.

Why it matters: with a plain text box, Provet, Provet Qld and provet were three different suppliers as far as the by-supplier report was concerned. Picking from a list makes that report real. Wattle matches names regardless of capitals and spacing, so typing one you've used before joins it to the existing entry rather than making a fourth.

Removing one retires it rather than deleting it - entries you've already written name that supplier, and the register gets read back years later. The name frees up again, so a list you tidied too enthusiastically can be put back.

The settings you set once

Default wastage (Settings → Controlled drugs → Wastage) - your clinic's typical per-injection loss, in the drug's base unit. It pre-fills the Wastage box on every injectable controlled-drug charge in billing, and staff can still change it per charge. Set it to your usual hub/dead-space loss, or leave it at 0 to type wastage each time.

Declare the balance when signing off (Settings → Controlled drugs → Signing off) - off by default. See Signing off.

Responsible person - who approves the register's use at your practice and reviews access and the audit trail, usually the practice owner or principal vet. It's a record, not a permission - it doesn't change what anyone can do, it answers the inspector's question "who is responsible for this register?"

Your clinic's state. Wattle reads it from your clinic address (Settings → Clinic), and it's worth setting: the stock-check cadence, the destruction-witness rules and the loss-reporting details all key off it.

Gotchas

• "Isn't a vial different from a bottle?" No - not for the register. The form is the dosage form (injection, tablet, wafer), and a vial and a bottle of the same injection are the same drug at the same strength. Splitting them would give you two balances for one pool of stock, which is the problem this is designed to prevent. The container belongs on the catalogue product, where it's genuinely useful.
• You can't find "bottle" or "ampoule" in the Form list. Same reason - they're containers, not forms.
• A charge isn't reaching the register - check the page has that product linked. The Pages tab flags a page with none.
• The balance looks wrong - check for an "awaiting sign-off" line under it before assuming stock has gone missing.
• The trash icon on a safe isn't there because you can't remove your only safe - it appears once you have two or more.
• Adding a second safe is refused if any stock in your register was recorded without saying which safe it was in. That can only be old history, and Wattle names the drugs so you can correct them first. It won't quietly assign them to a safe, because that would be putting a claim on a finalised entry that nobody made.
• Retiring a safe errors if it still holds stock. Move or use up the stock first.
• You can't see the opening-balance card because it's vet-only, and it only shows for drugs with no balance yet.
• Only a vet can create, close, reopen or discard a page, or link products to one.

Next

Recording movements · Signing off · Stock checks · The catalogue