Time tracking
Offline time tracking: test the missing-signal case before the job
Basements, unfinished buildings and remote sites do not guarantee reception. Work still starts there on time. A useful offline tool must do more than display a button: it must keep new records until the next connection and clearly show their status.
Offline means more than an open page
An app remaining open without a connection does not prove offline recording works. Check whether a new entry is stored and still exists after reopening. Ask about limits too: must projects be downloaded first? Do photos work as well as times? Could changing devices lose pending data? These questions belong in a trial, not in a support request after a job.
Run the flight-mode test
Open a test project while connected. Enable flight mode, record the start and finish of a short task, then close the app. Reopen it and inspect the entry. Restore the connection and check from the office that exactly one entry arrived. Also note how the field worker can tell that synchronisation has actually finished.
Agree a clear fallback
Until pending records are transferred, nobody should clear app data or reset the device. For a genuine device failure, agree a fallback with date, project and times. The office should identify these as manual additions and first check whether the original record arrived after all. A signal gap should not turn into a duplicate block of hours.
Your business checklist
- Test offline on the actual phone used on site.
- Include reopening the app and later synchronisation.
- Make pending transfers recognisable to the team.
- Check fallback records for duplicates before adding them.