Working Offline in the App: what you need to know [06-0109]
Watch the video ... or read this article:
CertSuite can be opened in a browser, like Chrome, Safari or Edge. Or it can be opened in the app on your mobile device – Android or Apple. We’re going to look at just the app version here, focusing on working offline.
Using CertSuite offline is just like using CertSuite online, and it is easier working offline in the App than in a browser. Any job that you have opened on your device when you are online can be re-opened when you are offline, but there are a few things to remember:
- There are some things you cannot do offline, such as preview reports, and use the admin tab (to change your company profile, buy licences, etc.)
- But you can do the most important on-site things, like enter job data and test results, add boards and circuits, etc. etc.
- Note that before you can work on an existing job offline on your mobile device, you must have opened that job at least once on that device while you are online: jobs that you have opened already are marked as ‘Available Offline’ in the jobs list on your device
If you lose internet for a short time, you probably won’t even notice. But to work effectively offline there are a few things to keep in mind
- When you have a good internet signal, CertSuite sends any new data that you have entered for your current job up to the Cloud every 90 seconds. At the same time, it pulls down any new data that other people have entered for the same job. This is ‘syncing’.
- Note that only the job you have open online in the app will sync with the CertSuite Cloud
- Note also that when you are offline your data can't be synced, and is only stored on your mobile device
- You can switch between different jobs when you are offline, and you can create new jobs: the data for each one will be saved on your mobile device. However, it’s very important that, when you are back online again you open each job in turn, so that its data can be synced up to the Cloud.
- The best way to check that your data has been saved to the cloud is to preview the report (or certificate) – if it’s in the report, then it’s safely stored in the cloud!
Let’s look at an on-site example of this happening
- In the morning you work online on Job1
- You lose internet at the installation: no problem, you carry on working
- But then you have to close Job1 to start on Job2 – again without internet
- No problem: Job1 is stored on your device, and you can work fine on Job2
- Later that day you return to the office, where there is good internet
- If Job2 is still open on your mobile device, it will sync automatically to the Cloud, and when you open it on your office computer you will see all the data that you entered on your device while you were offline.
- But when you open Job1 on your desktop you won't see your new data. You need to open Job1 on your mobile device, so that the new job data on that device can sync up to the cloud. Once you have done that, you’ll see your new data for Job1 on your desktop too.
Top Tip
If you have been working offline get into the habit of opening CertSuite on the device that you have been working on as soon as you have a good internet signal.
Then run a report 'Preview' on each job that you worked on.
'Preview' only works when you have internet: when you can see your offline job data in a previewed certificate or report you know that your work is safely synced to the cloud.
Remember
If you lose a mobile device, or it stops working, you could lose any unsynced work.
And if you do lots of jobs offline over a long period of time, without regular syncing, it becomes hard to keep track of your work.
So get into the habit of regular syncing when you have worked offline.
Watch the 'How To' video - 'Working Offline in the App - what you need to know':
If you have any questions about offline work, just contact support at: software@megger.com
Article [06-0109-03]