Mobile Install - Photos
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Steve Kralik
Hi Kevin, I think I can help explain...
Yes, the photos uploaded to D-Tools Mobile Install are already accessible in D-Tools SI... HOWEVER... To access them you must open each task or service order individually, which is very slow and cumbersome when trying to amass the photos for a single project together.
Additionally, it would be nice to have simple way (drag-and-drop or click-to-select) to link and show said photos in installation reports, task order reports, and service order reports.
Yes, it is technically possible to print photos as part of reports using the report designer, but this is not an easy task for selecting and showing multiple photos, nor is it easy for 99% of SI users to do.
And finally, there does need to be an easy way to export all photos attached to a task, service order, or even an entire project's worth of tasks, to somewhere external such as email, Google Drive, SharePoint, Multi-Page PDF, DropBox, direct-to-device as a Zip Folder, etc.
We often want to share some or all photos with clients, but the current implementation makes that nearly impossible. We may also want to easily send those photos to installers for review months later (e.g. pre-wire photos to be seen during install phase).
Also, with regard to that last point, yes, it's possible for installers using D-Tools Mobile to look up previous tasks and service orders and view the uploaded photos (which is a slow, cumbersome process... I've already mentioned on this website that D-Tools Mobile is terrible and slow), but this only works IF THEY ARE ASSIGNED TO SAID TASKS OR SERVICE ORDERS. If new installers go to a job and want to see previous photos taken, perhaps to find a buried wire or conduit, they cannot do it.
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Kevin Frye
Nathan Wells Can you provide some example of the capability you would like to see?
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Nathan Wells
Kevin Frye: Sure! We use the task reports as daily summary reports for customers, and use the service order reports to send to clients and management staff after a service order is closed.
I would like to have any and all photos, uploaded via mobile install for the associated task or service order, be added to the report itself as a part of the report when generated rather than having to attach them manually to an email etc.
The other thing I learned (the hard way) is that the photos and site notes will disappear if the task or service order is unpublished from mobile install. Is there a way to have them permanently a part of D-tools regardless of the published status? I always thought of mobile install as an extension of our server rather than a stand alone product that has some cross ties. I was wrong.
Also I agree with Steve on the ability to select what photos get attached using a prompt.
Thanks as always for always considering our feedback.
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Kevin Frye
Nathan Wells: From the Project Explorer Files tab, click "Add Mobile Install Documents". This will download anything shared to MI from this project.
As far as reporting goes, I like this idea. It is however, quite complicated. If you downloaded the photos and named them in a specific format, like with the SO or Task number as a prefix, I could find them and add them to a report. This would be a custom report of course.
Eric Zdybal
email, g-drive, sharepoint. Anything!
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Kevin Frye
Eric Zdybal: can you expand on this comment?
Eric Zdybal
Kevin Frye: A way for them to auto upload to a cloud account to allow faster sharing/syncing across the company.