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Setup tips for your vWork account

  • Updated

Once you are familiar with vWork, we have some best practices and tips that can make things run smoothly.

In this article

Keep job templates simple

Every piece of data used in a template must be synced between the vWork server and the vWork mobile app. Bigger job templates that capture lots of job information take longer to sync. Keep your templates simple to sync data quickly and keeps your mobile workers happy. Think about what you must have a worker do and information you must capture; leave out any unnecessary steps or custom fields.

Remove Mobile Permissions from Administrator and Dispatcher roles

If you don't want jobs assigned to your vWork Account Administrators and Dispatchers (because they don't work in the field as part of their duties) then remove their Mobile Permissions. This removes their names from the Schedule and from the list of available mobile workers that can have jobs assigned to them.

To do this:

  • open the User Permissions for this person 
  • uncheck Enabled in Mobile Permissions. 

Edit_User__S_J_Harding_Esquire____vWork_-_Mobile_Workforce_Platform.png

 

Improve performance on the mobile app

You can do the following things from the office to improve the performance of your mobile workers' devices when they use the vWork mobile app.

Remove 'Create Jobs' from the Mobile Permissions 

If workers don't need to create jobs from their mobile devices, then remove this permission for each worker in their User Permissions. This removes the need for templates and customer information to sync with the mobile app and helps the mobile app to sync faster with the vWork server. 

To do this:

  1. open the User Permissions for each person.
     
  2. scroll to Mobile Permissions and click uncheck Create Jobs.

    Edit_User__John_parkinson____vWork_-_Mobile_Workforce_Platform.png

Manage how customer data syncs with mobile devices

If you have a large customer database (tens of thousands of customers) and customer information is set to synchronize with workers' mobile devices this can cause the vWork app to run slowly as it synchronizes all that customer information.

If this is an issue for your workers, you can disable the synchronization of customer information with workers' mobile devices. When you do this the mobile app no longer stores customer information and a list of customers isn't displayed on the mobile app when your mobile workers create new jobs.  Customer information for a specific job is still saved with the job on the mobile app. When a mobile worker creates a new job on the mobile app they can still search for a customer to add them if they have internet access over Wi-Fi or mobile data. 

If you want to set your account up to do this please contact support@vworkapp.com and ask us to enable the optional feature Mobile Customer Search.

 

Limit the job templates your workers can use to create jobs

If your mobile workers create jobs it is good practice to show only the templates they need to create jobs from on their mobile app.  

To limit the templates that show on the mobile app by individual worker:

  1. Open the User Permissions for each worker.

  2. Go to Mobile Permissions and make sure ensure the Create Jobs box is checked.

  3. In the Select Templates field, type the first two or more letters of the template name to display a list of templates. Click to select the template you want to show on the mobile app.

  4. Repeat step 3 to add more templates. 

  5. Make sure you click Update to save the user profile with changes when you are done.

    Users_Permissions_Mobile_Permissions_Create_Jobs_Select_Template.png

vWork mobile app settings: helpful tips

The following items are suggested settings that can be changed on your mobile workers' phones to make them work better.

Simplify the workflow

Simplify the workflow on the mobile app by making the app return to the Jobs screen when a worker completes a job so they can see what they need to do next.

To return to the Jobs screen in the mobile app:

  1. From the Jobs screen tap to select the main menu from the red banner:

    Man_menu_in_banner.png

  2. Tap to select Settings.

  3. Android only: Tap to select Interface

  4. Android: Scroll to the Display heading and tap to add a checkmark to Return to Jobs on Complete.

    IOS: Scroll to the Options heading and tap to turn the toggle switch on for Job complete gores to job list.

Timestamp images if this is required

Timestamped images are useful for proof of delivery and to show the condition of an item at a given time.

To timestamp an image, in the mobile app:

  1. From the Jobs screen tap to select the main menu from the red banner:

    Man_menu_in_banner.png

  2. Tap to select Settings.

  3. Android only: Tap to select Interface

  4. Android: Scroll to the Attachments heading and tap to add a checkmark to Timestamp images.

    IOS: Scroll to the Options heading and tap to turn the toggle switch on for Add timestamp to images.

Stop images and photos saving to the phone's storage (older devices)

Older devices sometimes have limited storage space and their performance slows when this gets full. You can improve performance by stopping images and photos taken in the vWork app from saving in the phone's storage. Images and photos that are included as part of a job will still sync to your vWork account along with the other job information.

To stop Images from saving to the phone, in the mobile app:

  1. From the Jobs screen tap to select the main menu from the red banner:

    Man_menu_in_banner.png

  2. Tap to select Settings.

  3. Android only: Tap to select Interface

  4. Android: Scroll to the Attachments heading and tap to remove the checkmark from Keep vWork images on your phone.

    IOS: Under the General heading tap to turn the toggle switch off for Save images to photo library.

Make signing into the mobile app fast and easy with a QR code

Use a Barcode or QR code to sign in to the mobile app so your workers don't need to remember an email address or password to sign in. This is really useful when you have created your vehicles as your mobile workers in vWork.  It makes it super easy for your mobile workers to sign in to each vehicle's vWork user account to see the jobs assigned to a given vehicle for the day. See the article, Create a QR Code to log in to the vWork mobile app for more information.

 

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