Offline Capability
Offline Support
When the Zuper mobile app is connected to the Internet, it regularly synchronizes your data with the Zuper backend services to ensure that your data is updated. In case the app is offline, users will observe a message inside the app that indicates data was loaded from offline.
When the app is offline, any changes made will be added to the upload queue in the order they occur. The dashboard shows the status of attempts to upload changes to the Zuper backend servers.
How to turn on offline capability?
The customer has to request the Zuper team to enable the offline feature for their account. Zuper team can enable the offline feature for the company from the Internal Admin portal.
Once the offline feature has been enabled, the users of that company can find the offline settings under the ‘configuration’ section on the in-app settings page. Users who require offline mode can enable it in their accounts.
Once offline is enabled and the required data is downloaded, the app will show status as “Ready for offline usage.”
How does the data get synced?
When a user logs in to the Zuper app, it automatically downloads data related to the user’s assigned jobs. This process is referred to as Data priming, and it ensures that all the data that a field technician needs is available even if internet connectivity is lost. If there’s a large volume of data, the priming process can take some time after the initial app launch or after a user logs in. If a network error occurs during priming, an error message will appear, and priming will stop.
What data will be available offline?
The app primes data for each field technician based on the user’s assigned jobs. Related records are primed to a depth of 2, except as detailed in the table below.
| Module | What Gets Primed |
|---|---|
| Jobs | All primary job information and associated records (customer, organization, assets, property, parts & services) within a ±3 day window. Only jobs assigned to the user are primed. |
| Routes | Routes of the jobs assigned to the user are cached offline. |
| Customers | Customers linked to the assigned jobs are cached. |
| Organizations | Organizations linked to the assigned jobs are cached. |
| Properties | Properties linked to the assigned jobs are cached. |
| Assets | Assets belonging to the customers of assigned jobs are cached. |
| Contracts | Contracts linked to the assigned jobs are cached. |
| Parts & Services | Parts and services linked to the assigned jobs are cached. |
| Quotes & Invoices | Not supported. |
Note: Only jobs assigned to the user will be primed, even if the user is an Admin or Team Leader.
What actions can be done offline?
Zuper app currently supports only the following actions to be performed offline.
| Module | Supported Actions |
|---|---|
| Jobs | View assigned jobs and job details; keyword search only; update job status and checklist (including picture upload); add job notes (including attachments); link asset |
| Jobs → Service Tasks | View assigned service tasks; view associated asset to the service task; submit associated inspection form; view submitted inspection form; update service task status |
| Routes | View route detail and timeline on the dashboard |
| Customers | View primary details |
| Organizations | View primary details |
| Properties | View primary details |
| Assets | View primary details |
| Contracts | View primary details |
| Parts & Services | View primary details |
- The job status update and add note occur in the background by default (the user doesn’t have to wait for upload to complete), regardless of the user’s online or offline status or network connection quality. However, this process only takes place if the user is enabled to use offline mode.
Considerations for Offline Support:
- Only 2 levels of associated records are primed offline. For example, customers linked to Jobs are primed, but customer cards and payment transactions are not primed
- Offline data is primed locally for a maximum of 1 day, post which it is automatically
invalidated
Limitations
- Job Accept/Reject can’t be done offline. Technicians have to accept their respective jobs before going offline.
- File attachments such as images already added in notes, checklists, custom fields, etc, are not cached offline.
- Chat messages & notifications does not work offline.