Create and configure a Workforce project

Caution:

This topic teaches you how to create and configure Classic projects that appear in Workforce for ArcGIS. To learn how to create projects that are enabled for offline use and appear in ArcGIS Workforce, see Create a project.

You're the GIS administrator for the city of San Diego. One of your jobs is to support the efforts of the Fire Department by providing geographic data to facilitate its projects. One of the upcoming projects is inspecting fire hydrants. You already have the fire hydrant data. You'll create a Workforce project that the Fire Department will use to coordinate the inspections as they are completed in the field. As the project owner, you'll define the types of work and assign roles to dispatchers and mobile workers. The fire captain of each firehouse dispatches their house's firefighters (the mobile workers). The firefighters inspect and report back on the hydrants.

Note:

If you've followed the Create your first project exercise in the Workforce help, you've already seen the material covered in this tutorial.

Create a Classic Workforce project

To create a Classic project, you must use ArcGIS API for Python.

  1. Use the Workforce module in ArcGIS API for Python to create a Classic project named Hydrant Inspections. To learn how to create a Classic project using the Workforce module, see Use ArcGIS API for Python.

    During project creation, the project, along with the maps and layers it uses, is created for you. In addition, a folder and a group are created in your ArcGIS organization for this project. You, as the project owner, are also added to the project as a dispatcher so you can test it.

    Configure your project using ArcGIS API for Python or the Workforce web app, as shown in the following steps.

Provide the types of work

On the Assignment Types tab, you'll define the work that is being done in the project. For this tutorial, both fire captains and firefighters refer to their work as hydrant inspections, so you'll use that term for your single type of assignment.

  1. Open the ArcGIS Workforce web app. Sign in to your ArcGIS organizational account.

    Using ArcGIS Online

    Go to https://www.arcgis.com/apps/workforce/.

    Using ArcGIS Enterprise

    Go to https://host.domain.com/webadaptor/apps/workforce/ (where host, domain, and webadaptor are replaced by information about your portal).

    Note:

    If necessary, confirm that your ArcGIS Enterprise configuration is sufficient to complete these tutorials.

    Note:

    If you don't have an organizational account, see options for software access.

    The Projects page appears, showing any projects that you've created or that you participate in as a dispatcher or mobile worker.

  2. Hover over the Classic project titled Hydrant Inspections and click Configure, then click the Assignments tab.
  3. In the Add an Assignment Type box, type hydrant inspection and click + Type.

Provide roles

Next, you'll add the users who will participate in this project. The roles define where the project can be used: dispatchers use the web app, while mobile workers use the mobile app. For this tutorial, the fire captains are the dispatchers and the firefighters are the mobile workers.

  1. Click the third step in the Project Setup task list: Add Mobile Workers.

    The Users tab appears. You, as the project owner, are already added to the project as a dispatcher. This allows you to test the project. To use the Workforce mobile app, you need to be a mobile worker in the project.

  2. For Organization User, start typing your name to display a filtered list of users in your organization.
  3. Click your name.

    Because you can't add yourself as a dispatcher again, the Project Role is automatically set to Mobile Worker.

  4. Click + User.

    Another entry appears in the project's user list. This entry lists you as a mobile worker.

    Users tab with you listed as a mobile worker

    The third step in the Project Setup task list is now complete and the fourth step, Add More Dispatchers, is selected. A project requires at least one dispatcher (which includes your default role as dispatcher) and at least one mobile worker. Because you already have one of each role, you could click Skip this step to complete the project setup. However, you'll further configure the project.

  5. In the User list, point to your name for the dispatcher role and click Add details.

    Add details

  6. Provide a contact number and click Save.
  7. For your mobile worker role, add the following details:
    • Contact Number
    • Job Title: firefighter

    The new details appear in the user list.

  8. If you plan to have other users try your project, add those users to the project as dispatchers and mobile workers.
    Tip:

    You can add any organizational member that has editing privileges. To add users from another organization, see Tips for project owners under the section title Tip: Add users from another organization.

Customize the map

Although your project is now ready to be used, you're going to continue configuring it by customizing the map. While in Workforce, the fire captain and firefighters want to see and search for the hydrants that need inspections. To add the hydrants to the map, you'll need to update the worker's and dispatcher's maps to include another layer.

  1. Click the Overview tab of your project.
  2. In the Maps list, click Dispatcher map to configure it.

    The map opens, allowing you to modify it as you do other maps in your organization. If it's your first time editing a dispatcher map, you're notified that changes will be visible to dispatchers and that you shouldn't remove the Assignments and Workers layers.

  3. In the notification, click Got It to continue editing the map.
  4. Click Add and click Search for Layers.
  5. In the Find box, type hydrants owner:esri_workforce.
  6. Search in ArcGIS Online by doing one of the following:
    • If using ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise 10.6.1 or later, change the search from My Content to ArcGIS Online by clicking on My Content and choosing ArcGIS Online.

      Search in ArcGIS Online

    • If using ArcGIS Enterprise 10.6 or earlier, set In to ArcGIS Online and uncheck Within Map Area.
  7. Click Add next to the Fire_Hydrants layer.

    Fire_Hydrants layer

    The map extent changes to show the layer you just added. The hydrants are labeled on the map because labels were enabled on that layer.

  8. Return to your map's contents.

    Using ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise 10.6.1 or later

    Click the back arrow.

    Using ArcGIS Enterprise 10.5.1 or 10.6

    Click Done Adding Layers.

    The Fire Hydrants layer is added to the top of your map's Contents pane.

  9. In the Contents pane, point to the Fire Hydrants layer, click the vertical ellipsis, and drag the layer below the Assignments layer to change the layer order.

    Layer order

    Keeping Workers and Assignments as the first and second layers in the map, with assets below them, will create a map that's better looking and easier to use. Workers will display over the other layers in the map, and assignments will display over the assets.

  10. In the Contents pane, click the Fire Hydrants layer to show its toolbar, click More Options More Options, and click Configure Pop-up.

    If you create an assignment from an asset, Workforce uses the pop-up title as the asset description and the location. You'll provide a pop-up title so that the location is useful to mobile workers.

  11. For Pop-up Title, delete the text, click Add Field Name [+], and choose HYD_ID {HYD_ID}.

    Add field name

    An assignment created for a particular hydrant will show the hydrant ID as its location.

  12. Click OK to save your pop-up changes.
  13. Click Save on the toolbar and click Save to save your map changes.

    The updates are now visible to the dispatchers.

  14. In the Contents pane, click About and click More Details to open the map's item page.
  15. Click the Settings tab and scroll to the Web Map Settings section. For Find Locations, check the By Layer box.

    You want dispatchers to be able to find hydrants on the map by searching for hydrant names. The hydrant name is stored in the HYD_ID field of the Fire Hydrants layer.

  16. Click Add Layer.
  17. In the three lists, choose the following layer search settings:
    • Fire_Hydrants (the layer to search)
    • HYD_ID (the field to query)
    • Contains (the search condition)

    Layer search settings

    By using Contains as the search condition, dispatchers will be able to search for partial hydrant names.

  18. Click Save.
  19. Close the map's item details and, in Workforce, close the map.
  20. Modify the Worker map in the same way so that mobile workers can see and search for hydrants.

    Worker map

    Note:

    You won't need to enable By Layer. It's already enabled because searching for workers by name was set up when you created the Workforce project.

    Worker map layer search settings

Create a map area

Next, you'll create a map area for your Worker map. Creating a map area as part of the Worker map allows you, as the project owner, to prepackage an area of the map so that mobile workers in Workforce can download it without having to configure the extent or level of detail. Creating a map area saves your mobile worker time in the field and ensures that they have all the data they need to work without an internet connection. Your mobile worker will only be inspecting hydrants near the San Diego Convention Center, so that's where you will create the map area. To see all the necessary requirements for taking maps offline, see Enable layers for offline use.

Note:

You can only create one map area for each Workforce project.

  1. Click the Overview tab of your project.
  2. In the Maps list, click Create Offline Map Area.

    The Manage Areas window appears.

  3. Click Create Area.
  4. Zoom in to the San Diego Convention Center
  5. On the Sketch toolbar, click the Sketch rectangular map area button and draw a box around the San Diego Convention Center on the map. Draw a box big enough to include both Ruocco Park and Petco Park.
  6. In the Name box, type Convention Center as the name of the map area.
  7. Click Save.

    Your new map area appears in the Map Areas list with a badge indicating that the area is being packaged. Packaging can take several seconds or minutes, depending on the size of the date being packaged. Once packaging successfully completes, it will automatically download to your mobile worker's device whenever they open this project in the Workforce mobile app.

Note:

Creating a map area in the Workforce web app is a nearly identical experience to creating a map area in ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise. For more information on editing, managing, and scheduling updates for map areas, see Create, edit, and manage map areas in ArcGIS Online or Create, edit, and manage map areas in ArcGIS Enterprise.

Configure additional settings

Next, you'll provide a thumbnail for your project, making it easily identifiable by dispatchers and mobile workers. You want to see mobile worker locations updating once a minute, so you'll configure location tracking too. Your mobile workers use ArcGIS Navigator to get to the hydrants they inspect. Integration with ArcGIS Navigator is enabled by default, so you'll just verify that it's enabled.

  1. Save this thumbnail to a location where you can easily find it.

    Thumbnails should adequately represent the assignments in the project and be meaningful to both dispatchers and mobile workers.

    Note:

    The ideal image thumbnail aspect ratio is 3:2.

  2. On the Overview tab, click the placeholder thumbnail next to About this Project.
  3. Browse to the thumbnail that you saved, select it, and click Open.

    Dispatchers and mobile workers will see this thumbnail when they browse to the project to open it. Mobile workers also see the thumbnail while the project is open.

  4. Click the Advanced tab of your project.
  5. Next to App Integration, click Expand to see the apps that mobile workers can use with Workforce.

    Navigator integration is enabled by default, whereas Collector, Explorer, and Survey123 integration are not enabled by default and require configuration. Navigator doesn't need configuration because it uses the map that is currently open in Navigator to get directions. Collector and Explorer open the map, and Survey123 opens the survey, that the Workforce project or assignment types are configured to work with.

  6. Next to Location Tracking, click Expand.

    You want to see your mobile workers' locations update every minute.

  7. Click Enable to track your mobile workers.
    Note:

    Location tracking and current location, or seeing your mobile workers' locations on the map, are different—location tracking logs the past positions of the mobile workers. You see the current locations of your mobile workers on the map even if you leave location tracking disabled.

  8. Use the slider to change the location tracking interval from the 30-second default to 1 minute.

    The mobile workers' positions will be recorded every minute while they are working.

  9. Click Update to save your new interval.

    Update on the Advanced tab

    Your project is ready for use.

  10. Click My Projects.

    The Projects page displays your new project.

    Tip:

    If you need to further configure the project later, point to the thumbnail on the Projects page and click the configure button that appears.

You've created a Workforce project to manage hydrant inspections. You also customized your project with the assignment type that makes sense for the work the project manages. Then, you added other users in their roles to give them access to the project. You now have a project that can be used to manage hydrant inspections in San Diego.


Dispatch inspection assignments

Previously, you created a Workforce project to manage hydrant inspections. Now, you are a fire captain with the San Diego Fire Department. One of your jobs is to manage hydrant inspections by creating assignments for the work and assigning them to firefighters to complete. The city of San Diego's GIS administrator created a Workforce project for you to use to manage the inspections. You're ready to start the inspection project, so you need to create assignments for that work so that it can be completed by your mobile workers, the firefighters.

Open the Workforce project

The city's GIS administrator already created the Workforce project for hydrant inspections and shared it with you. You'll open that project to add the new assignments.

  1. If necessary, sign in to the ArcGIS Workforce web app and click My Projects.
  2. On the Projects page, click the thumbnail for the Hydrant Inspections project to open it.

    You see the map of hydrants and a list to the side for assignments. You just created this project, so the assignments list is empty. Once you create assignments, they'll also appear on the map.

  3. At the bottom of the Assignment pane, click Workers.

    The list beside the map shows the mobile workers who were added to the project.

    Note:

    Symbols for the mobile workers will appear on the map once they've signed in to Workforce and have a location.

  4. Click Assignments to return to the assignments list.

Create assignments

First, you'll create an assignment for hydrant SDH24758, which is outside the San Diego Convention Center and needs to be inspected. You'll also be acting as the firefighter, so you'll assign the assignment to yourself in your mobile worker role. This assignment isn't critical work. It's a medium-priority routine inspection that needs to be completed by next Wednesday.

  1. Click Search Search on the map to show the search box, type SDH24758, and press Enter.

    The map centers on the hydrant with the matching hydrant ID. The hydrant's details appear below the search box.

    Tip:

    If the panel covers too much of the map, click Collapse side panel Collapse side panel to hide it.

  2. At the bottom of the hydrant's details, click + Create Assignment.

    Create assignment

    The Create Assignment pane appears. The Location of the assignment is already set to the location of the hydrant and to display the hydrant's ID. The ID is displayed because that is the pop-up title you configured for the dispatcher's map when you created the Workforce project.

  3. For Assignment Type, choose hydrant inspection.

    You could start typing to filter the list; however, with only one type in this project, it is easy to select it from the full list.

    Your location is already populated with the hydrant's location. You'd like to provide some more meaningful information about the hydrant location.

  4. Point to the hydrant's ID where it shows under Location and click Edit Edit.

    Edit location

  5. Type - outside entrance B after the hydrant's ID number and click Update.

    Update location name

    This gives your inspector a better idea of where to look for the hydrant.

    An assignment type and a location are all that is required when creating assignments. However, you know a bit more for this assignment, so you'll continue providing information.

  6. Under Assigned to, click Assign and select yourself.
  7. For Priority, choose Medium.
  8. Click in the Due Date box to show the date picker and click next Wednesday's date. There is no due time, so you'll skip that setting.

    The ID field lets you tie your assignment to a work order that is coming from a work order management system. For this lesson, you don't have such a system, so you'll leave it blank.

    The Description box is where you enter all the information the mobile worker needs to know to complete their assignment. You can include references to specific assets and information about the specific location. For example, you can indicate if there is a dog to be aware of or if you need to notify the homeowner before you start work. In this case, the assignment is for a routine inspection, so no additional description is needed.

    Note:

    Descriptions are limited to 4,000 characters.

    If you need to provide more information than the 4,000 allowable characters, or if you have the information already available to share with the mobile worker (either a report or even a complete binder of information), you can attach files to the assignment. There are maximum size limits for attached files. If you're using ArcGIS Online, the maximum size for each file is 10 MB. If you're using ArcGIS Enterprise, the default maximum file size for each file is 2 GB, but it can be configured by your administrator. For this inspection, there are no files to share.

  9. Click Create Assignment.

    The new assignment to inspect hydrant SDH24758 is added to the project and assigned to you. A new symbol appears on the map. Creating an assignment also sends a notification to the assigned mobile worker's device.

    Assignment details and the assignment on the map

    Note:

    You'll experiment with notifications in the Complete additional inspections module.

  10. Click Assignments to return to the list.
  11. On your own, create some additional inspections and assign them to yourself.
    • Create an assignment in your city. Navigator uses your current GPS location as the route's starting location by default. You need to have your destination in the same navigation map. You'll use this assignment later to see how Navigator works with Workforce.
    • Try different ways of creating assignments. You can use the + Assignments button at the top of the assignments list and click the map to provide the address. You can search the map for a feature (as you just did) or for a place and create an assignment based on the location of the search result.
    • Give the assignments different due dates and priorities, or leave those fields blank. Create at least one critical assignment.
    • Include an attachment with an assignment.

    When using Workforce, a mobile worker is usually assigned multiple assignments.

You've created hydrant inspection assignments and assigned them to yourself.


Prepare the firefighters

Previously, you created and assigned hydrant inspection assignments. Now, you are a fire captain with the San Diego Fire Department. You've already worked with the city's GIS administrator to get a Workforce project to manage hydrant inspections. Now you're ready for the firefighters to go out in the field and start their inspections. Before they go, you need to make sure that they have the devices and accounts they need to be successful. You'll also make sure that they have Navigator set up with the correct map.

Note:

Mobile workers need permission to edit the feature services to work with Workforce. To use Navigator, their accounts must be provisioned with a Navigator license. If they don't have access to Navigator, they can still use Workforce to manage their inspection work.

Download and sign in to the apps

Your mobile workers need to have ArcGIS Workforce and ArcGIS Navigator on their mobile devices. You'll download the apps for them and sign in with their accounts to ensure that the firefighters can successfully open the project in the field. They don't need to use the same platform; you could have a firefighter on an Android phone, another on an iPad, and yet another on an iPhone or Android tablet.

  1. Install the apps. If your account isn't licensed for ArcGIS Navigator, install ArcGIS Workforce.

    If the firefighter is using an iPhone or an iPad, install from the App Store.

    If the firefighter is using an Android phone or tablet, get the apps on Google Play.

    Tip:

    If you aren't reading this on your mobile device, use the App Store or Google Play and search for ArcGIS Workforce and ArcGIS Navigator. They are published by Esri.

  2. Sign in to each app using the ArcGIS organizational account assigned to the firefighter.
    Note:

    For the purposes of this tutorial, it's okay to sign in with the same account that you used to create the Workforce project. However, you could sign in as any user that you added to your project as a mobile worker.

Download the map for Navigator

When the firefighters are ready to get to an assignment, they can get a route by opening Navigator from an assignment in Workforce. Navigator can show, search for, and route to the same assets that you put into the maps used by Workforce. To use your assets, you need to create a navigation map and share it through your organization. For this tutorial, you'll use a map that has been created for you and shared publicly.

  1. In Navigator, search for the San Diego with Fire Hydrants (Learn) map.
    Tip:

    Pull down to expose the search box on an iPhone or iPad.

  2. Select the map and download it to your device.
  3. Open the downloaded map.

    Navigator uses its currently open map to generate the route for assignments.

    This navigation map was created for use in this tutorial by using the ArcGIS StreetMap Premium Desktop HERE network dataset and adding the fire hydrants.

    Tip:

    If you were to follow this tutorial with your own data, you'd need to create your own navigation map. To learn how this package was made and shared, see the Add assets exercise in the Navigator help—it takes you through creating the same map.

  4. Find, download, and open another map that includes your current GPS location. This might be a map containing your state, or your country, or a map that your organization has created and uses.

    You'll complete inspections pretending to be a member of the San Diego Fire Department. However, if you are outside the San Diego area, using a map of San Diego in Navigator won't show you how Navigator really works. Navigator uses the last open map when routing through Workforce. Downloading and opening a map containing your current location will give you a more realistic experience in Navigator.

Download the map for Workforce

You already added firefighters as mobile workers in your Workforce project, so they can now download the Worker map on their devices.

  1. Open Workforce on your mobile device.

    If you are only assigned to one Workforce project, the map will automatically start to download.

  2. Tap the Hydrant Inspections map that you created for these inspections, and tap Download.

    The map area you defined for the map downloads to the device. Once it downloads, it will appear in the On device section of the Maps list.

  3. Tap the map to open it.

    The next time the firefighter opens Workforce, this map will open automatically.

You've set up the firefighters with the apps and maps they need on their devices, preparing them to go into the field and begin their inspections.


Inspect a hydrant

Caution:

This topic teaches you how to complete assignments in the Classic version of Workforce, listed as Workforce for ArcGIS. To learn how to complete assignments in ArcGIS Workforce, see Work in the field.

Previously, you set up the firefighters with the apps and maps they need on their devices, preparing them to go into the field and begin their inspections. Now, you are a firefighter with the San Diego Fire Department. One of your jobs is to perform hydrant inspections, making sure that hydrants will work when you need them. Your fire captain is using a Workforce project to manage your work. You're ready to go into the field and start your inspections, so you need to start working in the mobile app.

Note:

You can follow this tutorial on any supported device: Android phone, Android tablet, iPad, or iPhone. The example images show a mix of these devices, so they might not match exactly what you are seeing.

If you've followed the Complete your first assignment exercise in the Workforce help, you've already seen the material covered in this tutorial.

Familiarize yourself with the app

The city's GIS administrator created a Workforce project for the inspection work, and your fire captain assigned some of the outstanding inspections to you. Your fire captain also already helped set up your account in Workforce and opened the project you'll need for your inspections.

  1. If necessary, open Workforce on your mobile device and sign in.

    The project opens automatically, showing you your assigned work.

    Note:

    If the project doesn't open for you, on the Projects screen, browse to Hydrant Inspections and open it.

    On a tablet, you see your assignments both in a list and on the map. On a phone, you only see the list.

  2. If you're on a phone, tap Map to view the assignments on the map.
    Tip:

    On an Android phone, the map icon Map displays. On an iPhone, the word Map displays.

    The initial map extent includes all your assignments and your current location. If you are far from the San Diego area, the extent may be too large to easily see the assignments on the map.

    Note:

    Other mobile workers appear on the map once they have signed in and have a location.

  3. Search for San Diego, CA and zoom in until you see separate points for your assignments.

    San Diego area and separate points for your assignments

  4. If necessary, tap List (Back to assignment list on an Android phone) to return to the list.

    In the assignments list, a blue circle (around a person symbol on Android, or around your profile picture on iOS) shows that you're currently online and working. When the project opened, your status was set to working for this project. Your status is visible to your fire captain and any other dispatchers. The status keeps dispatchers informed so they know who to monitor in the field and to whom they can assign critical work.

    You can switch between your To Do list, which shows outstanding assignments, and your Completed assignments list. The map shows the same set of assignments.

Review your outstanding work

Before you start work for the day, you'll review your To Do list. What you see depends on the assignments your dispatcher assigned to you. By default Workforce groups the work into critical and noncritical assignments (if you aren't assigned any critical assignments, you'll only see a noncritical group in the list). Generally, you'd want to complete critical assignments first. Assignments can also have due dates, so you can check if any of your assignments are overdue or due today.

  1. Sort the list by Due Date as follows:
    • On Android, tap Sort Sort in the upper right corner of the list, and choose Due date.
    • On iOS, tap Sort in the lower left corner of the list, and choose Due Date.

    The assignments are ordered so that those due the soonest are at the top of the list.

  2. Search for an assignment for fire hydrant SDH24758, with which your dispatcher asked you start your inspections for the day.

    To find that particular assignment, type 24758 in the search box.

    Tip:

    Pull down to expose the search box on an iPhone or iPad.

    Search results of 24758 (shown on an iPhone)

    The assignment for fire hydrant SDH24758 is shown in the filtered assignment list.

  3. Tap on the assignment to see its details.

    Information about that fire hydrant inspection shows in the panel, and you're shown its location on the map. You see your distance from the assignment, along with its priority and due date.

    Tip:

    If you're using a phone, you see a portion of the map with the details. To view more of the map, swipe the details down so that only the summary information about the assignment is shown.

Now that you're familiar with Workforce and you've identified your first assignment, you're ready to start crossing assignments off your To Do list.

Route to your assignment

Before you can inspect the hydrant, you need to drive to it.

Note:

This section requires ArcGIS Navigator. If you didn't install Navigator, skip to the next section.

  1. View the details of the assignment you created in your city.

    Typically, you'd use the same assignment you were just viewing and route to that assignment. However, Navigator uses your current GPS location as the starting point and needs both the start and destination to be in its open map. By using an assignment that is geographically close to your current GPS location, you'll better experience Navigator.

  2. In the assignment details, from the overflow menu Overflow (on Android) or the actions menu Actions (on iOS), tap Navigate to Assignment.
    Navigate to Assignment on an Android phone
    Navigate to Assignment on iPhone
    Note:

    If you only see summary information for the assignment, pull up to show the full details.

    Navigator opens and uses the last open map to route you to the assignment. You see the map that contains your GPS location that you (as the fire captain) set up on your device earlier. In reality, this would be a map containing the fire hydrants, like the one you saw in Navigator in Prepare the firefighters before adding the map containing your location.

    Route in

  3. Tap Start Navigation (Navigate on Android).

    Now you can follow the directions to get to your inspection.

  4. Display the list view to see turn-by-turn directions (on Android, tap the Overflow menu Overflow and Directions).
  5. Return to the map view and tap the X (on Android) or End (on iOS) to stop navigating.
  6. Close Navigator.

Work on your assignment

Once you arrive at your assignment, you can complete your hydrant inspection.

  1. Return to Workforce and the details of the assignment for SDH24758.
  2. Start the assignment by doing the following:
    • On Android, use the assignment status options Assignment status options and tap Start.
    • On iOS, tap Start.
    Start on an Android phone
    Start on iPhone
    Note:

    If you only see summary information for the assignment, pull up to show the full details.

    The assignment is started, and you can now tap Finish (in the assignment status options Assignment status options on Android, or from the bottom of the details on iOS) when you've completed it. If you need to set it to a different status, the valid statuses can be selected from the assignment status options (Assignment status options on Android, Assignment status options next to Finish on iOS).

    Tip:

    If you start the wrong assignment, tap Reset in the assignment status options to change the assignment from In progress In progress back to Assigned Assigned.

    As you inspect the hydrant, you find that the hydrant cap was tightened too much and you can't loosen it.

  3. Add a note to the assignment so that your dispatcher knows you need to get a tool, pause the assignment, and then get the tool to continue your inspection.
    Pause on Android phone
    Pause on iPhone
  4. Now that you are ready to continue the inspection, tap Resume in the assignment status options to set the assignment back to In progress. Continue your inspection.
  5. Tap Finish to complete the assignment.

    Your fire captain now knows the inspection is complete.

Take a break

Having had a productive morning of inspecting, it's time for lunch. You need to set your status to On Break.

  1. Tap on the status indicator.
    • On Android, the status indicator is near the top of the assignments list.

      Status indicator on Android

    • On iOS, the status indicator contains your profile picture and is at the bottom of the assignments list.

      Status indicator on iOS

    Your status options appear.

  2. Tap On Break.
    On break status on Android phone
    On break status on iPhone

    When the dispatchers see that you are on break, they won't expect you to respond to assignments as quickly. They will also know that the location shown as your current location could be out of date, because your location isn't updated unless you're working. If your location is tracked by the project, the breadcrumb trail of where you've been stops updating while you're on break.

  3. Set your status back to Working to indicate that your break is over.

You've completed a hydrant inspection. You routed to the inspection using Navigator and completed the inspection. You also saw how you can change your status.


Complete additional inspections

Previously, you were a firefighter in San Diego and you inspected a hydrant. Now, you'll switch back and forth between two roles: the fire captain dispatching work, and the firefighter doing the hydrant inspections in the field. This allows you to see how the communication between the two roles works.

Assign and complete inspections

As the dispatcher, you'll create and assign a new inspection to the mobile worker. As the mobile worker, you'll be notified of and complete that inspection. As the dispatcher, you'll see that the work is complete.

Note:

You'll want to be at a computer and have your mobile device at your side to see the interactions between these two roles. Throughout this section, each role and corresponding app (fire captains in the web app or firefighters in the mobile app) is referenced so that you're looking at the correct screen as each change happens.

  1. As the fire captain, use the web app to create a new inspection.
    • Open Workforce web app, go to My Projects, select thumbnail for Hydrant Inspections.
    • Search and select the hydrant you need to inspect.

    You will assign this new inspection to the firefighter whose account you're signed in to in the mobile app. Before you click Create Assignment, make sure that your mobile device is beside you, and be ready to look at that screen.

  2. Once your mobile device is ready, click Create Assignment and create a new assignment.
    • Assignment Type: hydrant inspection
    • Assigned to: your account
    • Priority: Medium
    • Due date: next Wednesday

    Review the Dispatch inspection assignments section if you need help creating or assigning the work.

  3. As the firefighter, in the mobile app, you see a notification about your new inspection assignment.
    • On Android, a system notification appears.
    • On iOS, if the app is in the foreground, a notification appears in the app. If the app is in the background, a notification appears in your device notifications.
    Note:

    Workforce gets updates every minute, so the notification might not appear immediately. You can get an idea when you'll see it from the text at the bottom of the assignments list: if it says Updated just now, it was updated within the last 30 seconds, and if it says Updated 30 seconds ago, the list was updated 30–60 seconds ago. You can drag the assignment list down to force it to update, and the new inspection appears in the list.

  4. Select the notification to see details about the inspection. For this tutorial, assume it's an inspection on the hydrant you're at. As the fire captain, make sure that your computer screen is on, showing the Workforce web app. As the firefighter, in the mobile app, start the work.
  5. As the fire captain, in the web app, watch the assignment symbol and status change from Assigned to In Progress.

    Status changed from Assigned to In Progress

  6. As the firefighter, in the mobile app, add a note to the inspection. For example, because you're already at the hydrant's location, you could add this note: I'm already here, so the inspection will be completed quickly.
  7. As the fire captain, in the web app, review the note left by the firefighter.

    Display the note

    Tip:

    You can also see the notes in the assignment details.

  8. As the firefighter, in the mobile app, complete the inspection by tapping Finish.

    The symbol for the assignment changes, and it's removed from your To Do list.

  9. As the fire captain, return to the web app again to see the changes.

    The assignment shows as Completed and the symbol updates on the map.

    Completed assignment

  10. As the fire captain, create and assign a new inspection.
  11. As the firefighter, decline the assignment by tapping the Options on the Start button and selecting Decline.

    A prompt will appear asking for the reason for declining.

  12. Type Not accessible.

    Now, as the fire captain, you will reassign the inspection back to the firefighter.

  13. In the web app, check the box next to the assignment that was declined.

    Select declined assignment

  14. Click Assign and click the Reassign button next to the firefighter who declined the assignment.

    Reassign assignment to firefighter who declined

  15. As the firefighter, in the Workforce mobile app, view the details of a completed assignment by tapping To Do then select Completed. Select one of the completed inspections.
  16. Set your status to Not Working to indicate that you're done for the day.

    By setting your status to Not working, dispatchers know not to give you assignments they expect to see completed the same day.

    Continue to experiment with the apps on your own. Try creating assignments of different priorities, or multiple assignments at once, to see how they appear to the firefighter. As the firefighter, try pausing assignments or contacting the dispatcher.

You've now seen what both the fire captain and the firefighter see as they work together to get all the inspections completed. The fire captain can communicate to the firefighter where to inspect. At the same time, the firefighter can communicate to the fire captain the progress and status of the inspections.

In this tutorial, you have created a Workforce project. You provided an assignment type and assigned users as dispatchers and mobile workers. You also configured Navigator so that your mobile workers could easily get to their assignments. As the fire captain (the dispatcher), you then created assignments and assigned them to mobile workers. As a firefighter (the mobile worker), you completed hydrant inspections and kept the fire captain aware of the status of the assignments. Finally, you alternated between being a dispatcher and a mobile worker to see how Workforce assists in managing workload and keeping project participants informed of what is going on.

While you might not be part of a fire department, think about the other assignments your organization takes on and completes. With Workforce you create the types of assignments yourself, so the opportunities are endless! Perhaps you do a different type of inspections, or manage sales leads. Maybe you work with community feedback and need to have workers follow up on reports that are being made. You can follow the basic workflow you learned in this tutorial, and you can expand it to include not just Navigator but also Field Maps, Collector, and Survey123.

You can find more tutorials in the tutorial gallery.