Devices Tab

The Devices tab allows an administrator to manage the devices that are being used on the selected profile. While Informer is not designed to be a full device management platform, basic management functionality is provided to block and wipe application data, in addition to viewing application logs and screenshots.

On the Android platform it is possible to implement full device management capabilities such as the ability to remotely lock and factory reset the device. This capability must be implemented and enforced by the application through the Informer client library.

Blocking and Wiping Devices

To block a device check the Blocked check box for the desired device and click the OK button to accept. A push message will be sent to the device to log out the current user and prevent further log in attempts. If push support has not been implemented, the next time the device attempts to connect to the server, the server will respond with a BLOCKED message and the application will be denied access to authenticate any user on that device.

The wipe feature is the more extreme form of block, in that in addition to not authenticating any user originating from the device any application data on the device will be removed at the next attempted login. To wipe a device check the Wipe check box for the desired device and click the OK button to accept.

On the Android platform, if device management has been enabled, marking a device for wipe will perform a factory reset.

Deleting a Device

If a device is deleted a full reset of the device data will be requested. Depending on the application design, this may happen in the background or the user may be prompted to re-authenticate and the initial load screen displayed while the application is reloaded. Once the reload is complete the device will be recreated and matched back with previous data based on the device serial number, name, and last user id.

Creating an Asset Record for a Device

To further integrate the management of the mobile devices with Maximo, Informer provides the capability to create an asset record for each device. To create a new asset record for a device click the button for the desired device. A dialog will ask for confirmation before creating the asset for the device.

A dialog will then be displayed requesting the required information to create the asset record. At a minimum a Location and Site must be provided. Optionally an Asset record number can be entered, if left blank an auto-generated asset number will be used. The Item field can be used to specify a rotating item number to associate with the asset record. Clicking the OK button will complete the asset creation process.

When the asset is created the most current user is set as the asset record's owner and subsequent changes in user will change the custodian record for the asset.

Requesting Instrumentation Data

Modern devices contain sensors that can tell position, heading, elevation, speed, along with numerous other data points. To make the most of that information the Informer comes with the ability to request this information built into the platform.

Clicking the Detail button for a selected device will display more information about the last instrumentation data provided by the device. The application developer can design the application to return instrumentation information at specified intervals or events, which can provide near real time updates to Maximo about the location of available workers. Alternatively, the system administrator can click the Request Check-in button and the device will receive a push notification requesting the latest instrumentation data available. This data will be sent back to the server as soon as it has connectivity.

Instrumentation data can be archived by setting the Maximo system property informer.keepinstrumenthistory to the value of 1 or true.

Due to potential privacy concerns the application developer can opt to ignore all requests for instrumentation data and instruct the client to block all attempts to send such data.

Manage Device Logging

The administrator may set a particular device's log level and then request the logs from that device. This can be very useful when troubleshooting a remote user issue where physical access to the device may not be possible. Each device record displays the current log level and the date the log level was confirmed by the device. An administrator can enter a new log level in the Log Level field and once saved, a push message will be sent to the device to update the log level. Once the log level has been set on the device, the device will confirm the new log level by setting the Current Log Level field.

Clicking the Refresh button will update the visible device records so that after a request has been submitted an administrator can watch for the updated value without needing to reload the whole profile record.

Once the log level has been set the current device log can be retrieved by clicking the Request Log button. This will create a new PENDING status log request entry in the Logs table under the Logs sub-tab and a push request will be sent to the device to return its current log set. If push notifications are not supported, the requests will be issued during the next polling cycle, instead. Once the device returns the current log the status will be changed to COMP and a log icon will be displayed. Clicking on the log icon will open the log in a Maximo dialog. Clicking the Refresh button on the Logs table will update the log table status without requiring the whole profile record to be refreshed. This is useful to monitor for a new log entry when an immediate device response is expected.

Managing Device Screenshots

When remotely troubleshooting a user issue it is often useful for the administrator to see what the user is seeing. For this reason Informer allows the administrator to request a screenshot from the application. To request a screenshot, select the device and click the Request Screenshot button. A new record will be created with a PENDING status in the Screenshot table, under the Screenshots sub-tab and a push request will be sent to the device requesting a screenshot. If push notifications are not supported, the requests will be issued during the next polling cycle, instead.

When the device receives the request, if the application is active a screenshot will be taken and returned immediately to the server. If the application is not active, the request will be queued until such time as the application is active, at which point the screenshot will be returned.

Once the screenshot request has been fulfilled the request status will change to COMP and the screenshot icon will be displayed. Clicking on the screenshot icon will open the screenshot in a separate browser window.