Working offline & notifications

The app keeps working without a connection. Your actions go into a queue on your device and are sent as soon as you have signal again. With a connection, changes arrive without you refreshing.

What you use this for

Carrying on working in a basement, plant room or dead zone.
Writing a report and getting it signed without signal.
Adding or removing parts and having them checked later.
Seeing how many actions are still queued.
Being notified immediately of a new, changed or cancelled job.

Who can use it

All techniekers with an account for the app; there is nothing to switch on.

Prerequisites: load your jobs with signal before entering a building without coverage. Invoicing, payment and sending emails work online only.

How offline working works

At the top of the screen: online or offline, and how many actions are queued.

When your connection drops, nothing changes in how you work. The app keeps your actions on your device and sends them as soon as you have signal again.

No signal                      Signal back
     │                              │
Your action ─▶ queue ──────────────▶ sent ─▶ confirmed by the server
                on your device

At the top of the screen there is a status indicator: whether you are online, and how many actions are still queued.

What works offline

What	Works without a connection
Viewing your jobs for the day	Yes, those already loaded
Start, pause, arrive, finish work	Yes
Writing the report	Yes
Having the customer sign	Yes
Adding and removing parts	Yes
Invoicing and payment	No — online only
Sending an email	No — online only

The server has the last word

Offline, the app estimates your new status so the screen responds sensibly. On synchronising, however, the server’s status always wins.

The same goes for parts: on synchronising they are checked against your real van stock. If something doesn’t add up, you get a notification instead of a silent error.

Synchronising

Usually you don’t have to do anything: as soon as there is signal, the queue is sent. If you want to force it, tap the status indicator and choose Synchronise.

Find a spot with signal.
Check that the queue empties.
Verify that your jobs’ statuses are correct.

Real-time notifications

A notification of a new job The notification as it appears in the app, without refreshing.

As long as you do have a connection, changes arrive without refreshing:

Notification	When
New job assigned	The planner gives you a job
Job updated	Something changes on one of your jobs
Job cancelled	A job is not going ahead
Job reassigned	It has gone to a colleague
New note	Someone adds information to a job
Parts checked	Your parts are validated, or there is a problem

The statuses in your list are updated immediately. So you never drive to a job that was cancelled half an hour earlier.

Putting the app on your phone

The app is a web application — there is nothing to fetch from an app store.

Open the app in your phone’s browser.
Choose Add to home screen from the browser menu.
Open it afterwards via the icon, just like any other app.

Best practices

Start your day with signal. Load your jobs in the morning before you head into a basement.
Look at the status indicator before you leave a site: is the queue at zero?
Just keep working when signal drops. Logging in again or waiting doesn’t help and may cost you something.
Synchronise before you drive home, not the next morning.
Report a queue that stays put. If something isn’t going through, you want to know today.

Troubleshooting

Do I lose my report if I have no signal? No. It is on your device and will be sent later.

My queue isn’t emptying. Check that you really have a connection and tap Synchronise. If it persists, report it — something is going on that the office needs to see.

Can I receive a new job offline? No. New jobs arrive as soon as you have a connection again.

Can I use the app on several devices? Yes. Do synchronise on one before continuing on the other.

Why is my job still open when I finished it? Because the server determines whether it is genuinely complete. Check that you went through the whole round-off.