The Atheer Front Line Worker Platform Gale Release is now available

This latest update to the Atheer Front Line Worker Platform introduces many new capabilities designed for you to rapidly realize increased productivity, quality, and safety across your front line teams (including across your extended enterprise).

We invite you to schedule a demo with your Customer Success Manager or Account Executive to learn more about how the Gale release can help you with your most important  work initiatives. Please remember that you have access to all the amazing features of the platform as part of your subscription - we don’t want you to miss out!!

Please read on for details of the Gale release:

PLATFORM ENHANCEMENTS

We are inspired by our customer feedback, and we’ve used it to  enhance our platform, improve our features and functionality, and make administration and configuration even easier.

This quarter, we’ve increased the flexibility and accessibility of our platform and made it easier than ever for your front line workers to use the latest state-of-the-art devices to easily access the information they need and complete the work they need to accomplish; because they deserve a best-in-class front line worker experience.

The Gale Release of Atheer continues to improve upon the platform - including improving your branding options, adding features, and making administration easier.

Bring your own corporate branding colors

The Atheer workspace branding option has been iterated to now control branding colors using HTML HEX color codes, rather than choosing from a fixed set of color options.

Now, customers can color brand their Atheer workspace with any HTML HEX color code to exactly match their company’s website and other branding colors to give a more meaningful and familiar experience to their users.

See the improvements of the Announcement & Did You Know experience on Lens

Announcements and Did You Know content are a critical component of your communication path to your front line workers. You can use them in Atheer Studio and Atheer Lens to inform your front line workers about important information in a manner that’s easy for them to see and act on. You can even easily generate deep links into content, topics, and users on the platform.

In order to improve the visual experience of the presentation of Announcement and Did You Know content on the Atheer Lens homescreen, we’ve reorganized the presentation for better visual placement of the components.

Users will now be able to better recognize the importance of the content of Announcements and Did You Knows and more easily connect to their messages.

 

Improved User and Team administration.

Check out our rebranding of “Audiences” to “Teams” across entire platform

Enterprise software needs the ability to manage group access control, and with Atheer, “Teams” (formerly known as “Audiences”) is the cornerstone of that function.

Only the name has changed. “Teams” is a much more functionally accurate and industry relevant term to describe these user group management and access control functions in Atheer.

This new name for this feature makes it easier for administrators to identify what it does and take full advantage of the benefits it provides.

Experience our new Team administration

Because it’s the cornerstone user group access control function for the Atheer platform, we’ve elevated Teams to its own page on the platform.

By simply clicking on the Users button on the Atheer toolbar, administrators can easily access all the Teams features and functions.

We have “Fixed” Teams and “Dynamic” Teams. Fixed teams are a static list of selected users that only changes when user administrators manually adds or removes users from Fixed Team, or if a user account assigned to a Fixed Team is deleted.

The user list of a Dynamic Team is controlled by filters (i.e., all users whose Job Title  includes “mechanic”; or all users whose Department includes “QA”). When a user account’s profile includes particular details, its Dynamic Team assignment is automatically changed.

Every 3 hours, a background job runs in the system that evaluates the Dynamic Team filters that are saved in the system and applies them to the current list of users. This way, if a new user is created in the system that meets a Dynamic Team’s filter criteria, that user will then be automatically assigned to the applicable team. The background job also evaluates and applies new saved team filter criteria and updates user account membership for the modified Dynamic Teams.

As an administrator, you can create new dynamic teams, or edit existing dynamic teams. Use the refresh button to refresh the list of users you are working on without impacting any of the live users or teams.

Once everything looks good, you can save your change and your changes will take immediate effect.

Teams also has an up-front filtering function where you can multi-select which types of Teams you wish to view and manage.

Take advantage of the new bulk delete Users and other User admin improvements

Our day-to-day user administration experience is very strong and intuitive, and now, we’re improving it even further with the Gale release.

When it comes to bulk user administration, we’ve already added the bulk user importing feature. To continue down that path, in the Gale release we’ve added the ability to multi-select users on the user list and then bulk delete those selected users.

We’ve also added a back button to the Users properties page and changed the message that’s presented to terminated users who try to sign in.

Since user administration needs continuous attention, making the user administration process easier and more efficient helps you perform your job and improves your user experience.

 

SELF-ASSIST ENHANCEMENTS

Atheer works hard to provide a platform that can place the contextual information your front line workers need at their fingertips in order for them to be able to do their best work.  We do this by giving them easy-to-use features and functions that they can use to find the information they need and document what they are working on.

In the Gale release of Atheer, we’ve improved the self-assist experience even more by giving your front line workers more tools and fast and direct access to the information they need.

Enable your front line end-users with state-of-the-art tools and information access and gathering features.

Introducing advanced editing (photo and video capture) - iOS

We are introducing a brand new set of advanced editing capabilities to the iOS version of Atheer Lens for Self-Assist captured photos and videos. These advanced editing tools include cropping, filtering, color and focus correcting, adding notations on images, and much more.

Users of the iOS version of Atheer will now have more modern editing tools at their fingertips as they capture photos and videos, so they can ensure that these photos and videos truly represent what’s going on in the field.

 

Use our SmartScan QR Code function for individual Content

The SmartScan QR codes access to Topics that contain Content has long been a feature of Atheer. But now with the Gale release, your front line workers can be given the option to scan QR codes that will give them direct access to individual Content they need.

This works the same way that it does for Topics, except now it’s on the individual Content basis. Each piece of content supports a “RECOGNITION” tab that generates a QR code. When end users scan this QR code, the Content will appear.

Now you front line workers can walk up to a machine or device, scan the QR code with their Atheer Lens app, and get direct access to the information they need with a single tap. This new feature removes the extra step of setting up individual Topics for each piece of Content.

 

Bring your own QR codes for SmartScans

Customers can now use their own QR Code external IDs to access the SmartScan function on Topics. They simply enter the ID in the Topic properties field, and when they scan their external QR code with Atheer Lens or Studio, it brings up the designated Topic.

Customers may already have QR codes placed throughout their work environment, and now they can use those QR codes to access Atheer Topics and not have to replace them with Atheer QR codes.

 

Select your own photos/videos from library during content capture

Atheer Lens users can now be given the option to select photos and/or videos from their local device along with capturing live photos or video from their device’s camera.

Lens users can use their device to take pictures and videos while in the field, and then bring them up in Atheer Lens at a later date/time for editing, sharing, or annotating them in AiRSessions.

 

The future of factory operations - AiRAnchors

Introducing AiRAnchors (Preview)

AiRNotes has evolved to AiRAnchors.

AiRAnchors for Topics, Users, and Content can be dropped in the augmented reality (AR) world and then be easily accessed by others as needed.

Once enabled, simply go to an AiRForm, a Topic, a Users, or a piece of Content, tap the AiRAnchor button, and then drop that anchor in the AR world. You can then go to the AiRAnchors page to edit the anchor and add more information as necessary.

Users will be able to scan the environment for AiRAnchors, and identify and view information that has been left behind by other workers. They will see the title and description of the AiRAnchors as well as associated Users, Users, and AiRForms.

 

REMOTE-ASSIST ENHANCEMENTS

Sometimes front line team members need more help than they can get from self-assistance. The enhancements we’ve made to our Remote-Assist capabilities in the Gale release provide quicker and easier access to the helpful tools your front line workers need and the experts who can help them.

The Gale Release of Atheer continues to improve upon the Remote Assist features - including improving the user experience, adding features, and updating terms.

Improve user experience in our modern collaboration tools for remote-assistance

See our refreshed AiRSession experience on Studio

The AiRSessions list page now has a beautiful new look and feel, and there are new tools and features that are ready to help you start, schedule, manage, and review your AiRSessions.

Notice that the Start, Join, and Schedule buttons sit prominently on the top of the page for a quick and easy selection. Users can quickly jump on the page and click on one of these buttons to get their collaboration experience going.

Also, notice that the details of Your Personal Room, and the sub-menus for Templates, Past AiRSessions, and All AiRSessions are conveniently located below the main buttons.

These new eye-catching buttons and obvious menus help users understand the AiRSession functionality and take full advantage of the AiRSession features.

 

End an AiRSession from your user account

Users now have the option to go to the AiRSessions page, click on the overflow menu (), and force end abandoned AiRSessions that are still in the active state.

The platform regularly runs a job that force ends abandoned AiRSessions, but now users can go in and manually force end them as well.

 

Studio - Easily copy AiRSession invitation links

If you’re ever in a situation where you need to quickly add another person to your AiRSession invitation, we now have a great solution for doing just that. The Atheer Studio AiRSession page now has two different quick copy buttons for copying the details of scheduled AiRSessions and your Personal Room AiRSessions.

Simply click on the copy button on the AiRSession page, are presented in a pop-up window. Click on the COPY button in the pop-up window, and those AiRSession details are copied into the computer’s clipboard.

Users can now easily copy the details of AiRSession invitations to the computer clipboard and then can paste those details into emails, calendar invites, web calendars, etc., making inviting people to AiRSessions even easier.

 

Introducing Gallery View in AiRSessions

Different sessions require different views, and now there are multiple options for users to see whom and what they need to see. AiRSessions now have two new gallery presentations: a tiled gallery; a resizable thumbnail view.

To get to the tiled gallery view, click on the Gallery button on the AiRSession toolbar and all the video feeds will be tiled within the screen.

To resize the thumbnail images, use the resizer slider tool to slide the thumbnail gallery handle left and right and increase or decrease the size of the thumbnails.

AiRSession users now have multiple options for viewing the video feeds in the AiRSession and what they are presenting.

 

Enjoy our improved AiRSession user/guest invitation process for Studio

The AiRSession User/Guest invitation process has been brought right upfront to improve usability and to make inviting Atheer users and guests easy and intuitive.

With the click of one button, a clean, modern, and easy-to-use pop-up appears, where the user list is easily seen and invited.

You can also click on the GUEST USERS button and invite your non-Atheer user guests to the session via Email, Phone number, or Device ID.

 

Re-invite users to AiRSessions at any time

AiRSessions now allow you to invite Atheer users multiple times (re-invite them) to the same AiRSession. Simply send an invite to a user as usual. If the user didn’t get the invite, or if they want an in-app pop-up again, just go back to the Invite Users pop-up window and invite them again. That same user will still be available.

This is a great feature in case users missed the in-app pop-up invitation, or if they’ve left the AiRSession and need an easy way back in.

 

Share images from local drive and Content library for annotation in AiRSessions

Your front line workers in the field or on the factory floor may encounter something that they want to share with the team, but they might not have the time right then to start up an AiRSession.

Atheer now has added two new locations from which a user can bring external images into an AiRSession: ability to upload from local device; ability to bring in an image from their Lens My Library.

These options are available for Studio and Lens users in an AiRSession. Now, when you click the Annotate button, you can choose from three great options: the current device/computer video feed; a local image stored on the device/computer; or the Atheer content library.

AiRSession users now have multiple sources from where to get images for annotation during AiRSessions. They can now prepare images ahead of time, or use existing images if they don’t have the ability to take new images during the live sessions.

 

See that we’ve renamed “Private Zoom” to “Shared Zoom”

The feature is staying the same, the name is just changing for clarity.

When enabled and activated, “Shared Zoom”, (the zoom feature formally known as “Private Zoom”) allows everyone on the AiRSession to see you zoom in and out of your video feed.  Only the owner of the feed can zoom, but when that zoom occurs, everyone on the call will see it.

The new name for this feature makes it easier for users to identify what does and explore its benefits.

 

WORK ASSIST ENHANCEMENTS

The Atheer Work Assist capabilities support your front line workers as they execute their jobs day-to-day. Atheer is a low code/ no-code platform that allows your implementation teams to model and digitize all kinds of business processes regardless of their coding ability.

The Gale Release of Atheer continues to improve upon the Work Assist features - including adding Job Template functionality, easier and more secure authoring, and new work instruction features.

Activate multiple Job templates in the same workspace

Job Templates are used to capture the “Job Metadata” - details / information about the Job itself. These details can be standard audit fields such as creator, created date, completion date etc. plus any custom attributes as required.

Multiple Active Job Templates allows admins to define more than one Active Job Template at a time. Also, the AiRForms will be linked to the appropriate Job Template.

We already had the capability to add industry specific / use case specific attributes such as Work Order number.

In case there’s a need to have separate Job Templates - for widely differing use cases - for example across functions - Atheer now supports the same.

 

Take advantage of our new “Go To” response

Go To response can be used to jump to a certain step (past or future).

Go To is a response type, which can be added as a base or deviation response. Once a Go To is added, the AiRForm author will also have to specify the destination of the “Go To”. During execution, the system will jump to that destination step whenever a “Go To” is encountered.

The Go To response, especially used in conjunction with deviations, enables our AiRForm authors to model complex conditional logic in troubleshooting guides or technical guides.

 

Compare two responses in branch and deviation conditions

Conditions can be defined where two responses can be compared.  For example, a condition can be specified where two separate responses (of the same type) can be compared - either for deviation or branch conditions.

This feature will enable the modeling of a wider variety of use cases  (i.e., comparison of two barcode scans or responses across mismatched-role steps).

 

Explore our new AiRForm role assignments and granular permissions

AiRForm level security permission can now be set using an Access Control List (ACL).

Every AiRForm can have a specific user or users who have “Owner”, “Editor” or “Viewer” privileges. If the ACL is used, AiRForm authors not specified in the ACL for a particular AiRForm will not be able to work on that AiRForm.

For AiRForms that have an ACL defined, a very specific select group of users will be able to work on the AiRForm. So all actions, especially version, clone, and publish, can be controlled so that only select users such as Subject Matter Experts can create / version / publish those specific AiRForms.

 

Every action on an AiRForm is also controlled by permissions. Custom security roles can be created using combinations of AiRForm permissions. User administrators can create very specific AiRForm admin roles using the AiRForm permissions.

This will also allow all users to have view permissions limiting them to viewing AiRForms without having other privileges.

 

Preview AiRForms on Studio (Web)

AiRForm authors can now preview the Web execution of AiRForm on a Web browser.

With the simple click of the “Web Preview” link, the current draft AiRForm will come up in a new browser tab, where their authors will be able to view the execution behavior of their AiRForms.

Customers who execute Jobs on Atheer Studio (Web) can now preview them in the Web environment without having to publish them first.

 

Take advantage of our support for AiRForm family criteria in Job data export

AiRForm family can be specified as part of the Job Export criteria definition.

Note:An AiRForm family is the collection of all the different versions of the same AiRForm.

Note: The AiRForm family name will be the name of the Latest AiRForm in the AiRForm family.

By specifying the AiRForm family as a criteria in the data export, the export will work seamlessly even when AiRForm is versioned.  Additionally, when using the AiRForm family criteria, the  user can export all the data for Jobs across AiRForm versions using a single data export definition.

 

…and support for AiRForm and AiRForm family criteria in Job Boards

Job Board base definition can include AiRForm and AiRForm family as criteria.

 

Note:  An AiRForm family is the collection of all the different versions of the same AiRForm.

Note: The AiRForm family name will be the name of the Latest AiRForm in the AiRForm family.

This support will allow for the creation of AiRForm specific Job Boards. By specifying AiRForm family as a criteria the Job Boards will continue to work seamlessly even if the AiRForm is versioned.

 

Allow users to send notification during step transition (if there’s a role mismatch)

When a user encounters a step for a different role - use the "Notify & Exit" action, it will send a message to the assignees of the next job role and exit the job - all in one click. This notification will be sent even if there isn’t an explicit hand-off step in the AiRForm.

In use cases where a formal hand-off is not required, AiRForm authors need not add one - and need not add a SmartAlert.

On Role mismatch (where the Job role of the user executing the Job does not match the Job role required for the next available step) the system will automatically allow the current user to exit and also send a notification to the next user.

 

Select photo/video from library during picture capture in Job execution

Users executing Jobs can now be given the option to upload photos and videos from their local computer or device. If the property “Allow picking from library” is Checked (true), the user will see the option to select image/video locally.

Users executing Jobs can now take photos and videos ahead of time and select and upload them from their local device's photo library during the execution of a Job.

 

Introducing advanced photo editing during picture capture for Atheer Studio

We are introducing a brand-new set of advanced editing capabilities for photos captured or imported from the local computer during the execution of AiRForms with Photo capture steps.

To access the photo capture tools, take/import the photo while executing the Job, select the photo, then click on it to edit it.

Users will have more modern editing tools at their fingertips to capture and/or import photos, so that these photos truly represent what’s going on in the field.

 

Generate and request Job Report PDF through our API

We now have an external API to generate and request for the PDF Job Report.

In case customers have an existing system of record - they can use the same for saving the PDF reports of Jobs completed in Atheer. The external API enables users to generate and request for a Job Report and save the same at a location of their choice.

 

Access AiRForms through SmartScan QR codes

 We’ve added the capability to generate QR Code for AiRForm family (irrespective of AiRForm Status(es) or number of AiRForms in the family). The QR Code can be downloaded as a file on the local system, and the QR Code generated will have a label underneath it, so a printout or file of QR code will have the code itself and the label below it.

Now, customers can instantly generate QR codes to directly access AiRForms without having the added steps of attaching that AiRForm to a Topic, generating a QR code to access the Topic, and then selecting the AiRForm from there.

 

Experience our simplified Job execution on hands-free devices

We’ve added a Simple AiRForm Execution feature flag that when activated will allow for a more simplified AiRForm execution experience for users of wearable devices. The simpler experience will include not showing the Step Title Page, only having one step per page, a TOC where users can select any step / any section and start execution from there, etc.

Executing Jobs on AiRForms using wearable devices has always been a more complex user experience than with hand-held devices. This new feature will simplify the wearable device user experience and allow for a more quick and efficient execution of AiRForms.

 

Take advantage of our AiRForm filter on Job boards

Job boards now support filtering by AiRForms in Lens and Studio. This allows users to quickly narrow down to a set of Jobs for a particular AiRForm(s).

It’s now much easier to filter jobs in the job board using AiRForm filter.

 

OTHER UPDATES AND PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS

In addition to the above, there are other updates and fixes in the Gale release that improve performance and the user experience throughout the platform.

Please feel free to reach out to our customer success team for additional information (support@atheerair.com).