This page outlines the changes made to the MyTeamSafe mobile app (latest version 2.5.6) and the admin web dashboard.

The key updates are:

• Android 11 location permissions - Android 4-10 requires a single location permission, Android 11 requires two stages.
• Deputy Supervisor - Useful for companies that wish to escalate to a deputy when the supervisor is absent/unavailable (e.g. in meeting, on leave or sick)
• New strategy option 'Prevent start if both supervisor & deputy is absent' - to control whether lone workers are permitted to start certain lone working strategies when both supervisors are not showing absent/available.
• Improved on site buttons - To encourage lone workers and especially supervisors and deputy's to regularly update whether they are on-site, off-site or absent
• Biometric Check-In - A more secure and faster mechanism for checking in, without the need to enter a the MyTeamSafe PIN
• SMS Fall Back - Muting Notifications - To optionally prevent old reminders alerting the lone worker when the app is unable to sync because there is not data connection.

To ensure your lone workers are best protected our general recommendations are:

1. Set the 'Prevent start if supervisor & deputy is absent' in all strategies where you do not want the lone worker to be able to start their session, without at least a supervisor/deputy explicitly being available (on-site or off-site, but not absent or unspecified). Do not set if Supervisors are not actively using the On-site/Off-Site/Absent buttons.
2. A lone works must have a Supervisor to escalate to. Always specify a supervisor at company, group or user level, ensuring that escalations get delivered to someone.
3. Highly recommend specifying a deputy as a fall back, particularly if you plan to use the new 'Prevent start' feature detailed above.
4. Login as a company admin and review the dashboard to resolve any red '!' warning symbols against each lone worker, which can be typically resolved by
   1. Ensuring the lone worker has a supervisor / deputy (either at the user level, or inherited from their group or company)
   2. Ask each supervisor / deputy to log in to the app at least once to explicitly set their on-site status.
5. Ensure your escalation uses multiple channels, for example emails or SMS could fail to reach the target user, so mix SMS, Email, Push Notifications and Voice calls as appropriate
6. Ensure you have timely and sufficient escalation steps in your strategies, with strong and clear call-to-actions for each step.
7. In your final escalation step, consider setting a message to all message channels (i.e. including voice-calls) making it clear this is the final update and who's ultimately responsible for the next steps.

The rest of this document details each feature in more detail.

Location Permissions Android 11

Android 11 requires two stages of permissions to be set for location, this is presented to new users when they first login.

For existing users they can retrospectively review the permissions by clicking on the Settings-cog > On-boarding (Permissions).

Step 1 - Is to request the location permissions

Step 2 enables the app to capture the location in the background

NOTE: For the App to function correctly you MUST set the Location permission to "ALWAYS" and not "when using the App" or similar.  This setting is critical so MyTeamSafe can continue to work in the background, when you have an active session, not just when you are looking at the app.
As soon as you stop a session MyTeamSafe cannot collect location data, even if the app is still open.

Deputy Supervisor (Optional)

All lone workers must have a main supervisor specified so that strategies escalate to someone.

But Supervisors can be absent/unavailable, for example holidays, sickness or simply in an important meeting. If you use MyTeamSafe's Dynamic Supervisor the system will automatically switch to the Deputy supervisor if the main supervisor has marked themselves as Absent in their app.

To use this function;

1. Set a deputy at company, group and user level - the same as you have defined a supervisor.
2. If you wish to enforce that a lone worker can't start a strategy if both Supervisor & Deputy are currently set as Absent then in the Strategy set the 'Prevent start' option.
3. Supervisors and deputy's must regularly update their status in the app - at the minimum the supervisor must set their status to 'absent' to automatically delegate to their deputy

The specific steps to using the deputy and 'prevent start' features are explained in the next few sections.

How to prevent sessions starting

If you need to ensure that the supervisor (or deputy) are available prior to the lone worker starting their session, then you can tick the option "Prevent start if supervisor & deputy is absent" within any of your company strategies.

If the supervisor and deputy are absent then the lone worker cannot start that session and must either pick a different strategy (where supervisors aren't required), or wait until the supervisor becomes available.

The supervisor and/or deputy will be notified by a push-notification each time a lone worker attempts to start a session that has been prevented.  This notification is to encourage the supervisor to either launch the app and indicate that they are  available, or login to the web admin to reallocate the company/group/user supervisor/deputy as appropriate.

Please note that users with an auto-start strategy will also fail to start.  This can lead to the supervisor receiving multiple notifications.

How to assign a deputy

From the web admin dashboard you can edit the company, group or user that you would like to assign a deputy to, click on the drop down arrow and select edit.

Assigning a Deputy

For the company & group dialogs the deputy is set in the info tab.

For the user dialog the deputy is set in the Alert tab.

Reviewing Strategies

In the web Admin Strategy Management screen you can see which strategies have "prevent start" set that will prevent the lone worker starting their session if the supervisor and deputy are both set as absent. This is shown as a filled-in stop icon as shown in the screenshot.

All other strategies without this icon filled in can be started without a supervisor being explicitly available.

Reviewing Users

All the edit dialogs (company, group and user) now enable you to set the deputy (not just at user level). These are inherited from Company -> Group -> User, i.e. if a deputy is set at group level only then every user in that group will inherit that deputy, unless an overriding deputy is set at the user level.

The 'Groups & Users' section now warns if a user doesn't have their supervisor/deputy set or inherited, or they're not on-site/off-site (absent)

This sections shows a summary of each lone workers key settings. If the Supervisor or Deputy field is blank then it means the setting is inherited from the level above.

If a user doesn't have a supervisor/deputy set OR they're both set to 'absent' (or never defined) then this will show a red warning (the same as the 'users' tab in the 'Groups & Users' page)

Reviewing the Dashboard

The dashboard now displays the supervisor/deputy status much like the user admin table above.

Note that the icon will render red '!' if a supervisor/deputy is not set (at company/group/user), or the supervisor and deputy are both absent (or unspecified).

The lone worker column (to the right of the Supervisor/deputy column) shows the user's current On-Site/Off-Site/Absent status. A red '?' means that user has never set their status. It is advisable that they log into the app at set it at least once. If the symbol is Green then the user is On-Site, Amber then Off-Site, Grey Bed-symbol set as Absent.

Verifying a deputy is set

Having a deputy is optional, but recommended. Although this is set in the Admin web dashboard the user is able to see if the settings are correct for them.

The on-boarding screen will indicate whether a deputy has been assigned (green) or not (orange).

The on-boarding screen will continue to show any other application issues until resolved:

Once all the application issues are resolved the application panel is hidden from view - only the permissions are then displayed in the on-boarding screen.

Improved 'on-site' App buttons

The above sections have covered the admin tasks of setting the different areas.

The app has been developed to make using the on-site, off-site and absent function more intuitive and useful by making sure that it is clear what current status has been selected.

If you do not set your on-site/off-site/absent status regularly then the MyTeamSafe app will prompt you to update the status.

Currently the reminder is shown for all users, but this reminder might be changed in the near future to be for supervisors and deputy's only.

Biometrics Check-in

With biometrics you can now log in using your face Id or finger prints, for enhanced security and speed.

Please note that currently the app will automatically use biometrics (if enabled on their device).
In the next version of the software the user will be asked first whether to use Biometrics via their preferences under the settings cog.

In the meantime, the user can cancel the biometric screen and enter their PIN manually instead, if required.

Biometrics - Failed

Older phones may not support biometrics, that being said if  this feature fails be sure to check your model of phone to see if it supports biometrics (Finger Print Or Face ID)

Most latest phones support this feature, so if this is still failing within the app its best to navigate through your phone settings and seeing if biometrics is enabled, plus you have registered / added your fingerprints.

Biometrics - Desktop App

When Biometrics is switched on and you are using the desktop version of MyTeamSafe, your biometrics PIN will not be your MyTeamSafe pin (set up from the admin), but instead your computers log in pin.

If your laptop supports biometric features (FaceID or finger print) then the app will use those instead.

SMS FallBack - Mute

When you have no signal, MyTeamSafe has a fall back system that allows you to safely check-in via SMS (without data).

The app will however continue to remind you to check-in based on the last known due times (this is because the app will have no knowledge that you have successfully checked-in by SMS).

The mute option will prevent the app displaying the stale reminder notifications. When you next successfully communicate with the MyTeamSafe server (when data is available again) the notifications will synchronise and resume.

It's therefore advisable to try to resume the app periodically to synchronise, which will update the reminders for your next check-in. If you do not synchronise you will not receive these early reminders, but the escalation alerts will still happen, for example if your 15 minutes late and the strategy is defined to send you a notification and an SMS then the notification may appear (subject to data availability) followed by the SMS (subject to carrier signal).