AssetTrack 4 can work offline, enabling data collectors to download data to their devices, and then disconnect from the network and capture asset information offline. Then, when reconnected to the network, the user can upload their collected data in batch. This is handy when you're leaving a protected network, such as your office wifi, and need to capture asset information remotely.

In general, you should use AssetTrack online, as that ensures you have the latest and greatest data available on the server. However, if you are outside your local network, or in a location with no network connectivity, offline mode allows you to complete your work, then submit your changes to the server once you reconnect.

Important Notes about Using AssetTrack Offline

Before we get started using offline, let's be clear about a few things:

You cannot sign out or switch to another user account while offline. Only one person can use a device while offline. If you're disconnected, there's no server with which to authenticate, and we're not going to bring security information down to the device.
Syncing data can take some time. It should only take a minute or two for, say ten thousand records, but speed depends on your data volume, network speed, and device horsepower. How much depends on how much data is in your system. If you have tens of thousands of records, you may need to work with AMI to discuss establishing sync plans to create groupings of data to limit what is downloaded to each device.
Syncing data, going offline, going back online, and uploading data are all explicit actions you must take. The device doesn't just figure out if you're on or offline, automatically save data locally, and upload later when it magically detects your back on the network. You have to do these steps manually. This is because we don't want to accidentally use network or devices resources, upload data you want to review first, and have intermittent access when in spotty network connections. We want you, the user, to explicitly say you want to go offline.
You need to keep your device data up to date. This mean you should always sync before going offline.

Overview of AssetTrack 4 Offline Capabilities

To take an AssetTrack 4 device offline, you will follow these steps, which are explained in detail below.

Download data to the device. This is called Syncing.
Disconnecting the device. This is where you tell the device to start working "offline," using locally-saved data instead of attempting to connect to the network.
Collecting data offline. When disconnected, you use AssetTrack just as if you were online. It's just that the data you search against is all stored locally on your device.
Viewing locally queued data (if you want) to review transactions you have ready for upload.
Connecting the device. This is where you tell the device to go back "online," and start attempting to connect to the server.
Uploading your locally-saved data to the server.

Again, these are all explicit actions by you, the user. We want you to have the power and to make the choice of when you sync, disconnect, reconnect and upload.

Enabling AssetTrack 4 Offline

AssetTrack 4 offline features are disabled by default. To enable the feature, follow the following steps in detail below:

Launch the AssetTrack website and navigate to the server settings link in the upper right hand corner of the site.
Within the settings, verify you are in the AssetTrack Server settings and scroll down to the mobile device options.
Enable offline by changing the Offline enabled radio button to Enabled.
Scroll down and save your changes by selecting the save settings button.
The last step requires clearing your API cache. To clear the API cache, navigate to the URL https://yourAssetTracksitename/atapi/clearcache, replacing the site name as shown to reflect your environment.
You should see a new page load up with the message {"message":"all cache's cleared"}.
Launch the AT4 Client and verify that Sync and Disconnect are now available in the menu.

Syncing the Device

Before you can disconnect the device to operate offline, you must download data to the device. This is called "syncing." To download data to your device.

Ensure your device is connected to the network and able to access your AssetTrack Server.
Select "Sync" from the AssetTrack 4 menu.
The Sync form will appear. Tap the "Sync" button but download data to the device.
The device will now download data. The download has three steps, downloading Task Definitions, Entity Data, and then building Query Views which enable the device to easily access downloaded data. Once there are checkboxes in all three sections, the download process is complete, and you can now disconnect the device to work offline.

Disconnecting the Device from the Network

Once you have downloaded data to the device, you are ready to "go offline." You must explicitly tell the device to "go offline," which indicates that any lookup or save should happen locally on the device. When disconnected, the device will not attempt to contact the server.

To disconnect the device to go into "offline" mode:

Select Disconnect from the AssetTrack 4 menu.
The device will "prepare offline data," which indexes locally-saved data into memory for faster access.

Collecting Data Offline

When disconnected, use the app as you normally would. All lookups, scans, saves, etc. are performed against your local database, instead of the server. Just realize that you need to re-connect the device and upload your data or the asset manager won't see your data in the Queue.

As you collect data offline, a counter will show you how many records have been collected using each form that need to be uploaded to the server. To see the number of records collected for each form:

Open the menu. Note the counter on each form in the menu showing the number of saved records.

Viewing Locally Saved Data

When offline, the forms you save are put into a local device "Queue." This is NOT the AssetTrack 4 Server Queue used by your asset manager, but a local Queue of saved data.

To view Queue data:

Select Queue from the AssetTrack 4 menu.
The Queue view will appear showing all records pending upload. Records showing a "Ready" icon are ready to be uploaded next time you connect.
To open a saved transaction to edit it, tap the pencil icon.