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WorkWing Docs

Working offline

Field work happens in basements, lift shafts and villages with one bar. The app keeps working when the signal does not.

What works with no connection

Section titled “What works with no connection”

Once an engineer’s data has synced to the phone, all of this works with no connection at all:

  • Viewing their jobs, customers, locations and job details
  • Moving a job through its statuses: en route, on site, in progress, complete
  • Filling in and submitting the completion form
  • Taking photos and attaching documents
  • Adding job notes and recording parts
  • Claiming a job from a project pool
  • Reporting an observation, and editing one they have already sent

Changes are saved to the phone straight away and sent when the connection comes back. The engineer does not have to remember to do anything.

What needs a connection

Section titled “What needs a connection”
  • Signing in for the first time on a device
  • Switching between organisations
  • Withdrawing an observation
  • Removing a photo from an observation
  • Tapping an integration button on a form
  • Opening anything that has never synced to the phone

Each of these says so plainly rather than failing quietly.

The sync strip

Section titled “The sync strip”

A strip under the app header appears when there is something to say: the phone is offline, changes are queued, or the last sync was a while ago. It reads Offline, showing cached data, or 3 changes waiting to send, or Synced 20 minutes ago. When everything is current and connected, the strip is not there, which is the state an engineer wants to see.

The Outbox

Section titled “The Outbox”

Me > Settings > Outbox is the one place that says what has not reached the office yet, in two parts.

Needs attention lists changes the office would not accept: the job was cancelled, or the record changed underneath. Each row names the job and says what happened, and Dismiss clears it once the engineer has read it. The change has already been undone on their phone, so there is nothing to redo.

Waiting to sync counts what is still queued: job updates, photos and reports, with each file and each report listed by name and how long it has been waiting. Try sending now pushes the lot. When there is nothing outstanding it says Everything has been sent.

The Outbox row carries a count badge, so an engineer can see there is something waiting without opening it.

When two people claim the same job

Section titled “When two people claim the same job”

Claims from a project pool save to the phone at once and sync later. If two engineers claim the same job while both are offline, the first to reconnect keeps it. The second sees “Somebody else claimed that job first” and the list updates to show who has it. Whoever physically got there first almost always syncs first too.

Switching organisations with work still queued

Section titled “Switching organisations with work still queued”

An engineer who works for more than one organisation and tries to switch while changes are queued is stopped and told how many changes would be lost. They can get back on a stable connection and try again, or switch anyway and accept the loss.

Signing out is different, because a shared handset has to change hands in a second. It never blocks and never asks. Anything the office had not received is kept on the device for that engineer alone and comes back when they sign in on the same phone. It clears itself after a week.

Photos kept in iCloud

Section titled “Photos kept in iCloud”

A photo stored in iCloud rather than on the phone has to download before it can be attached, and that needs a connection. The app says so and suggests taking a fresh photo instead.

What’s next

Section titled “What’s next”