Working together

A measurement is rarely produced alone: colleagues measure alongside you, the client wants papers, the inspector appears on the cover sheet. This chapter keeps apart what is easily confused here.

Four terms, kept cleanly apart

The state of the account is shown on the profile page (person icon at the top right of the start page or the “Profile” card in Settings): Registered — account on the server, measurements only on the device, the normal case; Cloud — synchronisation in addition; Offline — no account is assigned to the device, for example after “Detach the account from this device”, and the app asks you to sign in. In the browser the data is kept in the browser’s storage (chapter “Troubleshooting”).

Switching the cloud on

Profile › “Activate cloud” requires a valid sign-in — otherwise tap “Sign in” on the profile page first — and the Pro plan on your own account. The dialogue holds the one decision:

• Existing team — comes first as soon as the account belongs to teams: tap one of them. The app connects to exactly this team.
• New team — only offered as long as the account does not yet belong to any team. Field “Team name (e.g. company)”; if it stays empty, the team is called “Mein Team”. A further team of your own is created in the “Choose team” sheet (see “Working in another team”).
• Join team — field “Invite code” with the code from the invitation (see “Bringing colleagues into the team”).

If data of another team of the account is on the device, the app first removes it from this device in each of the three cases, as on a team switch (see “Working in another team”); if anything would be lost, it asks and gives the number. On phone and tablet it only removes data if the backup before switching on succeeded; otherwise switching on stops and nothing has been removed.

Without Pro — on Free or Basic — the same place offers “Join a team”. The dialogue then only shows the field for the code from the invitation; you cannot create a team of your own this way. Reading is free with any account; your role is set by the invitation. To edit, the account needs a Team licence (see “Which plan for teamwork”).

What is on the device goes into the chosen team once the app knows your role there and it is one that writes — when joining or at the next sync. With the role “Read-only”, your own buildings stay private: they are not uploaded and stay on the device even after you leave the team. On phone and tablet the app creates a backup first, in the browser it does not. The data on the device is kept — except the data of other teams, which the app first removes (see above), and buildings that have been handed over to another team (see “When a building has been handed over to another team”). If the account has a second factor and this sign-in has not yet been confirmed with it, the dialogue first asks for the code from the authenticator app (chapter “Settings”).

Day-to-day work with the cloud

The profile page shows “Sync now” and the status line, for example Last synced: …, Not synced for over 24 hours — check the connection. or Sync error: … with the reason. Synchronisation runs by itself — about a minute after opening, then about every 15 minutes in the foreground and when you return to the app — also over the mobile network. Whatever has not been uploaded yet exists only on this device or in this browser until the next sync; in a private browser window it is lost when the window is closed — tap “Sync now” there beforehand.

Uploading paused

If the server requires a different plan for uploading (see “Which plan for teamwork”), the profile page shows “Uploading paused” with the reason and the “View plans” button — if the Team licence is missing, for example “To upload to this team, your account needs a Team licence.” With the role “Read-only” this note does not appear; readers upload nothing. The data is kept in full: fetching, reading and measuring by hand carry on, everything else within the scope of your own plan. Whatever is changed in the meantime is uploaded by the app by itself once the plan has been unlocked.

Sync is waiting for your second factor

If the account has a second factor and this sign-in has not yet been confirmed with it, the profile page shows “Sync is waiting for your second factor”. Until a code from the authenticator app has been entered via “Enter code”, the app uploads nothing and fetches nothing; the data on the device is kept. A factor that was set up on another device is only noticed by the app after a while.

Switching off is not signing out

• “Switch off cloud sync” ends synchronisation for this account — here at once, on the other devices at their next launch. You stay signed in, and the data is kept on every device and in the team. This needs an internet connection briefly.
• “Sign out” ends the sign-in on this device only. The local data is kept, synchronisation pauses, and until the next sign-in the Free plan applies here.

When the cloud comes back by itself

If the cloud was switched on for the account and not switched off, the app turns it back on when you sign in and at launch — without asking in the browser and on a device without measurements. Otherwise it asks “Activate cloud sync again?”: “Sync now” makes a backup and merges the data with the team, “Not now” applies until the next sign-in. If the plan no longer covers the cloud, it still comes back for an account with a team, but only for fetching: uploading is paused (chapter “Plans”).

If the account has a second factor that has not yet been confirmed for this sign-in, and the app therefore cannot read the cloud state, it first asks for the code from the authenticator app. Only then does it decide as above; a cloud that was switched off stays off. Anyone who closes the sheet without a code is asked again at the next launch or sign-in.

What the cloud does not synchronise

Synchronised are buildings with their structure and items, the bill of quantities including prices, measurement sheets, quotations and invoices, participants, measurement history and measuring steps, the recycle bin, the photo documentation, a project’s over-measurement rule, decimal places for quantities and contract type, signatures on measurement sheets and documents and, in a team, the company details from Settings including the logo. Only on the individual device stay room scans, export templates and every saved export profile, the number blocks for document numbers and the device settings such as length unit, the default decimal places for new projects, appearance and language.

Working in another team

If the account belongs to several teams, this device always works in one of them. At the top of the team screen stands “Team: …” with “switch”; “Switch team” in the cloud part of the profile page leads there too. The “Choose team” sheet has three tabs:

• “Switch” — tap another team of the account.
• “Join with code” — join a further team with an “Invite code” and switch into it straight away.
• “Create another team” — a new team that belongs to you, and switch into it straight away. The first team of your own is available from the Pro plan, every further one from the Team plan (chapter “Plans”).

Switching and joining cost no plan.

What happens on a switch. A switch needs a connection; without one the app says “Switching teams needs a connection.”. Beforehand it synchronises with the previous team. Then it removes the data of the previous team from this device — the buildings with everything attached to them and the company details of that team; on the server they are kept — and loads the new team. If anything would be lost, it first asks “Switch team?” and gives the number: changes not yet uploaded, photos, videos and audio recordings, entries set aside on the change to “Measuring”, open entries under “Conflicts during sync” and room scans held only on the device. Requests for measuring devices not yet sent stay on the device. Only “Continue anyway” switches. Buildings you created yourself as “Read-only” stay on the device.

On phone and tablet the app creates a backup of the database on the device before removing anything, without photos, videos and audio. If it cannot be created, for example because the storage is full, the app does not switch and says so. In the browser there is no such backup.

The app sets the company details and logo of the previous team aside on this device under that team and brings them back when you switch back. In a team for which nothing has been set aside here yet, its company details apply; the logo is empty until the sync brings the team’s logo or you choose one.

Switching back brings back what is on the server. Not coming back are room scans, the losses named and confirmed in the question, the entries under “Conflicts during sync” and recordings that had not been uploaded.

An interrupted switch — connection lost, app closed — is one the app tries to complete at the next start with a connection; in some cases it discards it instead, for instance if you no longer belong to the new team. Until it is completed or discarded, this device does not synchronise. If the team screen shows “The switch to … was not completed — switch again.”, start the switch once more. If entries have been created or changed since the switch began, a line there gives their number (or says that it could not be determined): they would be removed from this device together with the previous team. “Complete anyway” agrees; the app then tries to complete the switch at the next start. If it shows “A team switch could not be read.”, the app waits for a decision: “Discard switch” removes the unreadable switch, after which the next sync fetches the current team’s data completely from the server. Without this step nothing happens.

If a building of the current team handed over to another team has not yet been removed from this device, first complete that removal via the notice in the list of buildings (see “When a building has been handed over to another team”); until then the app does not switch.

When a building has been handed over to another team

The operator can assign a building to another team. The app then removes it from this device at the next sync: on phone and tablet without asking, after creating a backup of the state before on the device (without photos, videos and audio). Above the list of buildings a notice then shows the name, the day of the handover and — if there were any — the number of changes and of photos, videos or audio recordings that had not been uploaded yet; the changes are in the backup, the recordings are not. “Got it” hides the notice.

In the browser the app cannot store a backup on the device. There the notice carries the button “Download backup and remove project”: it starts the download of a backup and removes the building as soon as the download has been started. Until then the building stays in the browser, and changes to it are not uploaded. The same button appears on phone and tablet if the backup could not be created there. If the building is back in this team by now, nothing is removed.

Getting it back. Anyone who has a backup from before the handover as a file — such as the one downloaded via the button, or one stored with “Create and share backup” — can play it back with “Restore backup”; this replaces all data on the device (chapter “Settings”). The backup the app creates by itself before removing is not offered for selection there. With the cloud, the next sync removes the building again, because the handover is recorded on the server. So switch the cloud off with “Switch off cloud sync” before playing it back, then issue the building with “Export project as a file” (from the Pro plan) and give it to the team that has it now.

Bringing colleagues into the team

Profile › “Team” (“Collaboration” card) shows the members with their role and the date they joined, and the card “What I may do in this team”; at the top the screen names the team’s owner, or all of them if there are several. Without the cloud the device belongs to no team; the screen then says so. Only owners and admins see the email addresses of the other members; everyone else sees the name the member chose, or “Team member (address not visible)”. With the role “Read-only”, the list only shows your own account.

Owners and admins also see “Who can access what”: for each member the role, the Team licence and the projects they see; for “Read-only” the four switches are there too (see “Read-only: what readers see”). In the app the Team licence shows “present”, “missing” or “suspended”, for readers “not needed (read-only)”.

Inviting by email

Owners and admins may invite: “Invite member” on the team screen; the same button in the cloud part of the profile page leads there, and without the Pro plan to the plan overview. The sheet holds “Email address”, “Role” and “Email language”; “Create invitation” sends the invitation to exactly this address. The app does not show the code in it. It is valid for seven days, can be redeemed once, and only with an account that carries this address.

Below each role the sheet says what it costs: “Read-only” is free and works with any account; every role that writes needs its own Team licence. Writing roles that your own plan does not cover are greyed out with “Writing roles are available from the Team plan.”, with “View plans” below. If your plan does not even cover inviting readers, the sheet says “Inviting read-only members is available from the Pro plan.” and shows “View plans” instead of “Create invitation”.

The person invited needs an account of their own with this address. With Pro or Team it goes via Profile › “Activate cloud” › “Join team”, with Free or Basic via Profile › “Join a team”: type in the code and confirm. The email names these steps. What is on their device goes into the team with a role that writes, not with “Read-only”. The team code is not the invite code for registration (chapter “Getting started”).

Every pending invitation is listed on the team screen with its role, validity and a note on sending; “Send again” sends it once more, “Withdraw” makes the code invalid. Anyone who sends too many invites within 24 hours has to wait a while. In rare cases the app shows the code itself once instead of an email; it can then only be seen at that moment and is passed on with “Share code”.

Five roles

Whoever creates a team is its owner; whoever joins gets the role from the invitation. Owners and admins see every project of the team; Member, Measuring and Read-only only see the projects assigned to them. Owners and admins manage both on the team screen: tap a member, then “Change role”, “Assign projects”, “Remove from the team” or — the owner only — “Hand on ownership”. An admin does not change the team’s leadership. A change takes effect on the person’s device at the next sync.

What the plan requires here. Giving a member who only reads a writing role — ownership included — and assigning projects to writing members works from the Team plan; assigning projects to readers from the Pro plan. Under “Change role”, locked roles are greyed out with “Writing roles are available from the Team plan.” and the entry “View plans”; for such a member “Hand on ownership” is greyed out too. In “Assign projects”, a project that cannot be assigned yet is greyed out with “Sharing projects with read-only members is available from the Pro plan.” or “Sharing projects with writing members is available from the Team plan.”. Changing between writing roles, withdrawing projects and the four switches for readers work on every plan. The app checks your own plan; the server decides by the team’s plan as soon as the operator switches on the plan check. On Pro there can be any number of members who only read. If the plan goes down, what exists stays: roles and assignments remain, a pending invite can be redeemed until it expires; only what would be added is locked.

Without a connection, a device applies the role it last read from the server — when deleting whole buildings, in the recycle bin and in the BoQ catalogue (chapter “Projects and structure”). If a person’s role is lowered while their device has no connection, the old rights continue to apply there until the next connection. Changes the person makes to prices and documents during that time are not taken over by the team. If, as Member or “Measuring”, they delete a whole building with BoQ items or documents during that time, the server rejects the entry for this deletion but accepts the deletion of rooms, items and the rest of the content: the content can then disappear for the team as well, without the deletion appearing in the recycle bin of owners and admins.

What disappears from the device in the process:

• Change to the “Measuring” role: the app removes the prices and tax rates of the BoQ items as well as this team’s quotations and invoices from the person’s device at the sync and tells them so; the BoQ items themselves stay. Whatever of this had not yet been uploaded from this device is not deleted but set aside (see “Prices and documents set aside” further down).
• A switch for “Read-only” turned off: what the switch released — prices and documents, photos and media or measurement sheets of this team — the app removes from the person’s device at the sync, without a backup, and tells them; the team keeps everything. With “Photos and media”, only captures that were demonstrably taken by others are removed, together with their files; what the person captured themselves stays on their device, as does a capture whose origin cannot be determined. A capture counts as the person’s own if their device brought it into the team — even after the project has moved to another team. Turned back on, the next sync brings it back.
• Assignment withdrawn: the project disappears from this person’s device without a backup, including measurements and room scans not yet uploaded and its entries under “Conflicts during sync”.
• “Remove from the team”: the person loses access to all projects of the team; on their device these are removed without a backup at the next sync, and whatever had not been uploaded there or had been set aside when switching to “Measuring” is lost — the “Team update” message then tells them the number. The app only clears photo files from the device storage over the following launches; in a browser they remain in its storage. Devices with an older version of the app keep the data. Pending invites to this address are revoked.
• “Leave team” (in your own row): the app synchronises this device first, then access ends and the team’s projects are removed from this device without a backup. If something has still not been uploaded after the sync, or if “Conflicts during sync” holds entries that were set aside when switching to “Measuring”, the app asks a second time and states the number; if this cannot be determined, it asks as well. The team is only left once this second question is confirmed, and what it names is then lost on this device; if you cancel, everything stays as it is. No sync uploads the entries set aside; only a promotion to owner or admin brings them back. The last owner cannot leave; they hand on ownership first.

If an owner deletes their account and the team has further members, the app asks for a successor who takes over everything that belongs to the team. The selection shows only IDs; every member finds their own on the profile page under “ID”. Teams in which the owner is alone are deleted together with all projects, measurements and contacts.

Read-only: what readers see

For each member with the role “Read-only”, owners and admins set four switches in “Who can access what”:

Before “Prices and documents” is released, the app asks for confirmation. The server enforces the first three switches: what is off, it does not hand to this person. “Export allowed” only takes effect in the app. The person sees their own switches in the card “What I may do in this team”. If the role changes, the switches stay as they are and apply again as soon as the person is “Read-only” again. An older version of the app does not clear data already loaded after a switch is turned off; only a current one does.

Readers change nothing in the team’s projects. Edit, delete and recording buttons are missing there, and a note “Read only” says why; the app rejects a change to such a project even if a way to it has been left open. The building row and the header of an opened building say who it belongs to: “Team” (the team of this device) or “Private”; if a building carries the mark of another team, nothing is shown there. A reader’s own buildings stay private and freely editable; they do not go into the team and stay on the device when leaving the team. In the browser they are only held in the browser’s storage and do not survive a reload (chapter “Troubleshooting”).

When two people work at once

If two people edit the same thing at the same time, the more recent change wins. Your own state that was pushed aside is not silently lost: it appears on the team screen under “Conflicts during sync” and can be brought back there with “Restore my state” or ticked off with “Done, do nothing”. Rows the server did not accept end up there as well — for example a row that points to a building of another team; the rest of the sync carries on. If the item now lies on a submitted or approved measurement sheet, “Restore my state” writes nothing back and names the sheet. Still, divide the rooms up beforehand.

Each device keeps this list for itself. Entries detected more than 90 days ago are removed by the app when the list is opened — ticked-off and open ones alike. Open entries that were set aside when switching to “Measuring” are the exception (see “Prices and documents set aside”).

Prices and documents set aside

If a person is set to “Measuring”, the app removes the prices and tax rates of the BoQ items as well as the team’s quotations and invoices from their device at the sync. Whatever of this the server already has goes without a backup; if the role is changed again later, the app fetches it from the server once more. Whatever had not yet been safely uploaded from this device is not deleted but set aside under “Conflicts during sync” — for example an invoice issued as an admin without a connection. The “Team update” message states the number of these entries.

• In the list they appear under a heading of their own, Set aside when switching to “Measuring”, on this device only.
• They only come back through a promotion. Once the person is owner or admin in the team again, the app writes every open entry back by itself during the sync as soon as the prices have been fully reloaded from the server — provided the project is still on the device. If the device already holds a newer or identical state of the same row, that state stays and the entry counts as “outdated”. As Member or Read-only, the app writes nothing back.
• “Restore my state” is blocked for these entries. “Done, do nothing” ticks an entry off; after that not even a promotion writes it back, and the 90-day limit applies to it as to any other entry.
• Open entries do not expire. They are lost together with the project when its assignment is withdrawn, and together with the team when the person leaves it or is removed from it.
• Not set aside but removed without a backup is whatever had already been left un-uploaded during an earlier period as Member — with an older version of the app, also whatever had been left behind during an earlier period as “Measuring”.

Which plan for teamwork

• Reading is free. With the role “Read-only” any account will do, Free included; you join via “Join a team”.
• Cloud and a team of your own require Pro on your own account, every further team of your own the Team plan (see “Working in another team”).
• Writing alone: Pro is enough as long as you are the only one in the team who writes; “Read-only” does not count.
• Several people writing: then every person who writes needs a Team licence of their own — the owner too: a Team plan of their own or an unlock by the operator, or a Team licence their company has bought in the browser and assigned to them (chapter “Plans”, section “Team licences for employees”). A Team licence applies in every team the account belongs to.
• Read-only sharing — inviting members who only read and assigning projects to them — works from Pro. Inviting writing members, giving readers a writing role, assigning projects to writing members, interfaces and “Request a new device” belong to the Team plan (see “Five roles”).

If the plan is not enough, uploading is paused (see “Uploading paused”); nothing is deleted.

Handing a device on

Profile › “Detach the account from this device” leaves the measurements on the device; there is no way of deleting them at the same time. If a different account then signs in, the app asks “Measurements from another account on this device”: “Take them over” gives them to the new account and, with the cloud, to its team; “Delete local data” removes them from this device after a second confirmation — the app saves a backup there first, though not in the browser — and signs the new account in with a fresh app; anything in the previous account’s cloud stays there. “Cancel” leaves everything as it is, and nobody is signed in.

Project participants

Way in: the actions on a building › “Participants”, on every plan. Roles: Client · Site management · Inspector · Architect / planner · Subcontractor · Other. Company / authority or Contact person has to be filled in, everything else is optional; the tax fields only appear with the role Client, and there only where they fit.

With several clients, for example a joint venture, the one created first applies; it carries the label “Invoice recipient”, and if it lacks something, “Missing for the invoice: …” appears below it. Documents already created do not change when a participant is later edited or deleted.

This fills in:

• Quotation and invoice — recipient with address, country, USt-IdNr. and email; type of client, § 13b and Leitweg-ID or customer number are pre-set. Without a client, the project’s customer and address apply, likewise on the cover sheet of the measurement PDF, which otherwise names the invoice recipient.
• Signature fields (export options “Signature field” and “Several signature fields”) — Contractor from the company details, Client and Site management (failing that, the first inspector); if someone is missing, the line stays empty.
• Sending by email — the participants with an address are offered for selection (chapter “Exporting”). The tax consequences are in the chapter “Billing”.

Passing a project on, without a team

For somebody outside the team — another office, the subcontractor, a private device — the Pro plan has “Export project as a file” in the actions on a building and “Import project” on the start page below “New building”.

• The file is not encrypted. Anyone who has it sees dimensions, prices, totals, the client and the participants; the app asks before creating it.
• The import creates a new, independent project — with no connection to the origin; with the cloud switched on it goes into the team. A backup is made first, but not in the browser.
• Quotations and invoices from the file carry the sender’s numbers and are marked as external; your own numbering ignores them (chapter “Billing”).
• What the app does not yet know does not come along; the dialogue says so beforehand. If even the file format is too new, the app asks for an update.
• Room scans are not synchronised by the cloud; they stay on the device or in the browser that read in the file.

Requesting a new measuring device

On the Team plan, the cloud part of the profile page has “Request a new device”. Under “New request” you suggest a measuring device the app does not know yet; “Team requests” shows the requests of the whole team with their status (open, planned, done, declined) and the answer. The button counts new answers. Without a connection a request stays on the device and goes out as soon as the cloud can be reached again.

Interfaces

For connecting other software there is the “Interfaces” area — through Profile › “Interfaces (keys and webhooks)” or through Settings › “Keys and webhooks”. It belongs to a team; without the cloud it says so. Owners and admins on the Team plan may create new entries. If the plan ends, existing ones can still be paused, edited, deleted and revoked. The area has three tabs:

• “Keys” — “New key” with Name, template (“Read only”, “Read and write” or “Choose individually”) and “Valid for” (30, 90 or 365 days or unlimited). The key appears this one time only — copy it straight away. Each key shows its expiry date, “Last used”, the “Recent calls” and “Revoke”; a revoked key is rejected from then on. At most 25 valid keys per team.
• “Webhooks” — a webhook tells another system what happens here, for example a new item or an issued invoice. “New endpoint” asks for the Target URL (https only, no local or internal addresses), Description, what is sent (“IDs only”, the default, or “full data”) and the occurrences to be reported. The signature secret appears only once after creating the endpoint; “Renew secret” issues a new one, and the previous one stays valid for another 24 hours. “Edit” changes the occurrences, what is sent and the description, not the address. In addition there are “Pause”, “Test delivery”, the “Delivery log” with “Send again”, and deleting. At most 10 endpoints per team.
• “Documentation” — opens the description of the interface (chapter “Settings”).

Occurrences arise on the server as soon as a change arrives there — that is, with the sync of the device on which it was made. Many occurrences of the same kind, for example new items after a sync, come bundled: one delivery per project and minute, at the latest about 90 seconds after the first change. An item counts as done as soon as its measurement sheet has been approved. The two occurrences for the imported bill of quantities and for the finished import arrive when an import started through the interface is finished (see “Imports through the interface”). The occurrence for a finished export arrives when an export started through the interface is finished; it names the job, not the file — the integration fetches the file through the interface. Only owners and admins see the delivery log.

Exports through the interface

Connected software can start the export of a building through the interface: as CSV, JSON, XML, “Excel (custom)”, GAEB X31, REB DA11 or as a PDF report. The file is produced on the server, not on a device; it is calculated with the project’s over-measurement rule and decimal places as in the app. It can be fetched for seven days; each query returns an address that is valid for at most 24 hours. If the building is assigned to another team during that time, there is no address any more. This is set out in the description of the interface.

The PDF report through the interface is the same measurement report as in the app with its defaults, with the team’s accent colour and with the logo, if an owner or admin has uploaded it (chapter “Settings”). It does not contain the measurement history, the planned/actual comparison, participants, photos or signatures; lengths are in metres.

Imports through the interface

Connected software can also have a bill of quantities read in through the interface — into an existing project or as a new project. It is read as when importing a catalogue in the app (GAEB, Excel, CSV): only BoQ items are created, no rooms and no items. If the project already has BoQ items with the same item number, all new ones get an addition placed in front of their item number. If, for a table, it cannot be recognised whether the comma or the full stop is the decimal separator and the software does not specify it, the job ends with an error instead of guessing. The team’s devices receive the new BoQ items with the next sync; owners and admins see a new project straight away, the other roles only after an assignment.

For GAEB X31 and REB DA11 the terms of use, section 11, state: “For the exchange formats we give no conformity undertaking. We produce them according to the respective standard text to the best of our knowledge. There is no certification, and the files produced have not been checked against the validation tools of the recipients.”

If items or building parts of the same item of the bill of quantities have the same creation time, an export through the interface orders them by their identifier, the app in the order in which they were created on the device. The same applies to entries of the measurement history with the same measuring time.