mWater Surveyor�App Training

www.mWater.co

mWater Surveyor �App Training

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Sections

1. Introduction to mWater
2. Configuring Android smartphones
3. Getting started with the mWater Surveyor app
4. App screens and settings
5. Managing sites
6. Conducting surveys
7. Troubleshooting tips

Local NGOs and researchers

International organizations and large NGOs

Governments and utilities

Topics:

• About mWater
• Sites and surveys
• Roles
• Online/offline data collection
• Issues and assignments

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Section

Introduction to mWater

About mWater

mWater is a mobile data collection and analysis platform which is free for unlimited use!

Used by 100,000+ users in 187 countries

mWater Surveyor

mWater Portal

mWater consists of two main components:

1. mWater Surveyor – Mobile app for Android, iPhone, & web
1. Data collection – Online & offline
2. mWater Portal - Website at portal.mwater.co
• Design of data collection (Surveys, sites, issues, etc)
• Survey deployment and assignment
• Data approvals and cleaning
• Visualization, analysis, sharing and export

1: Introduction to mWater

What are Sites and Surveys?

Sites are locations or facilities that can be monitored over time.

Surveys can be used to monitor changes in Sites over time.

This permits powerful data analysis and visualization to provide insight into specific sites and their history instead of just the survey sample as a whole.

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Sites can be shared with the whole mWater community so that the entire sector can work from a common dataset.

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All sites use a table with standardized questions common to all users

1: Introduction to mWater

User roles

Survey administrator – Uses the mWater Portal to create, deploy and manage surveys, sites, issues, etc.

Enumerator – Uses the mWater Surveyor app to collect data, update data, and respond to assignments.

Respondent – Responds to the questions asked by the enumerator.

mWater Surveyor

mWater Portal

1: Introduction to mWater

Synchronizing your device

Synchronizing your device requires an internet connection, typically via a cellphone data network or Wi-Fi.

1. Use the Sync Now button to:
• Uploads data from the mobile device to the mWater Portal
• Downloads updated data from the mWater Portal to the mobile device
2. Now that the device is synced, the enumerator can collect data offline for as long as they want, with no internet connection.
3. Once the enumerator returns to an area with a cellphone or Wi-Fi network, mWater Surveyor will automatically sync to the mWater Portal.

mWater Portal

Cellphone or Wi-Fi

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1: Introduction to mWater

Survey approvals

To ensure that data collected is reliable, most survey administrators will add a survey approval step to the survey.

This requires the supervisor to approve or reject each survey response before it is finalized.

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Note: This can be done on all survey responses or just a sample of survey responses.

Supervisor rejects the response due to errors

Finalized

Draft

Rejected

Pending

Enumerator submits the response

Supervisor approves the response

Enumerator starts a survey response

1: Introduction to mWater

Issues and assingments

Issues – Multi-step workflows like fixing broken infrastructure. This allows users to idenitify issues, delegate them to a technical for repair, submit the repair report, and validate the report.

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Assignments – Survey responses which survey adminstrators can delegate to individual enumerators. The assignment then appears on the enumerator’s device to be filled in and submitted.

Supervisor delegates the issue to a technician

Technician updates the issue with more information

Technician fixes the pipe leak and reports the repair

Community member reports a pipe leak

Supervisor approves the repair

Open

Delegate

Update

Resolve

Close

Issues

Assignments

Supervisor creates an assignment to update a water point e.g. “Louiston Spring”

Supervisor assigns the update to an enumerator

Enumerator receives the assignment on their device, and completes/submits it

1: Introduction to mWater

Android Smartphones

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Basic Topics:

• Turning on and off the phone
• Controls
• Apps
• Typing

Advanced Topics:

• Settings
• Updating and troubleshooting apps
• SIM cards and mobile data

Section

www.mWater.co

What is Android?

Operating system for smartphones which

• Runs apps
• Accesses the internet
• Makes phone calls
• Much more…

Made by Google

Open source - any manufacturer can use it in their phone

There are many different Android versions

App 1: Android Smartphones

Image credit: time.com

Turning your phone on / off

Hold down Power button to turn on the phone

Hold down Power button to get the Power Off screen

Press Power button quickly to turn off the screen (this does not turn off the phone)

Volume

buttons

Power button

Hold down

2: Android Smartphones

Sleep / �Lock Screen

Pressing the Power button once quickly puts the screen to sleep

To unlock the screen, press the Power button and drag from the bottom to the top of the screen.

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After a set period of time the phone will automatically go to sleep

(this amount of time is adjustable)

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Short press on Power button

2: Android Smartphones

Touch controls

Click is used to open apps, press buttons, and type on the keyboard

Long press usually shows more options

Drag is used to move things around or slide things

Click

Long press

Drag

quick touch of the screen

touch and hold down

hold down and move across the screen

2: Android Smartphones

Control bar

Go back returns to the previous screen for most apps.

Home takes you to the main screen for opening apps, making calls, and taking pictures

App list opens up a visual display of all the apps that are currently open and running

Home

App list

Go back

2: Android Smartphones

Opening an App

1. To open an app, touch the app icon once.
2. To go back to the home screen, press Home once.

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2: Android Smartphones

Typing in a text box

1. Open an app with text boxs e.g. the google search bar
2. Click on the text box and a keyboard will appear
1. Type in the text using the keyboard
2. Use the arrow icon to switch to upper case letters
3. Use the “?123” symbol to switch the keyboard to numbers and sybols
3. To close the keyboard, click anywhere outside of the keyboard or textbox

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2: Android Smartphones

Settings

1. Drag down from the top bar once to view Notifications.

Note: You can dismiss notifications by dragging them to the right. Touch the notification to be taken to that app.

2. Drag down again to open the Quick Settings.
3. Click on the Gear to open the Settings Screen

Quick Settings

Notifications

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2: Android Smartphones

App List and Force-closing

If an App is misbehaving or using too much data:

1. Press the App List
2. Drag the app to the left until it disappears. You can also click the X on the top of the app.

You can also use this method to quickly switch apps by just clicking on the picture of the app in the list.

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2: Android Smartphones

Check if you are connected to the internet

1. Click the Google search bar and type any text e.g. Example
2. If the results show No data connection then you are not connected to the internet
3. If the search is completed and shows various results e.g. the dictionary definition for the word Example, then you are connected to the internet

1: Android Smartphones

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Updating Apps

1. Open the Google play store by clicking the Play store icon
2. Open the play store menu, by clicking on the user icon
3. Select the Manage apps & device item
4. Select either
1. Update all (updates all apps)
2. Updates available (only updates certain apps)
5. Select the apps from the list to update them. Wait until the upload is complete before loading the app.

Note: In order to update apps, you must be connected to the internet

Note: On some Android versions, the menu icon is displayed as , and Manage apps & device is called My apps and games

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2: Android Smartphones

Setting up automatic updates

1. From the google play store, open the play store menu, by clicking on the user icon
2. Select the Settings item
3. Select Network preferences
4. Select Auto-update apps
5. Select Over any network

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Note: Changing this setting to Over any network may consume more mobile data

2: Android Smartphones

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Getting started with the mWater Surveyor app

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Topics:

• Download the Surveyor app
• Create an mWater account
• Logging in
• Re-setting passwords
• Online and offline use
• Using mWater in a web browser

Section

www.mWater.co

Downloading the Surveyor App

1. Open the Google Play Store by clicking on the Play store icon
2. Click the search box at the top and type mwater
3. Select the mWater Surveyor app from the list

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• Press the Install button

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Note: Please ensure that you are connected to the internet before completing these steps

2: Getting Started

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Create an mWater account

1. Open the Surveyor App by selecting it from the android home page
2. Select Create an account
3. Enter the following information:
• Given name
• Family name
• Username – Used to uniquely identify your user account. mWater does not recommend having multiple user accounts
• Password – A secret password that only you know. You may want to write down the password so that you don’t forget it. If you do forget it, you can reset it later using your email address.
• Email address – Can be used to reset your password or to communicate with mWater about any issues with theapp
4. Press Signup

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3: Getting Started

Logging in

1. Enter your username/email and password
2. Press the Login button
3. Select a configuration for the app. Custom configurations are created to streamline the app for a specific organization or use-case. The majority of users will be using the Standard User configuration.
4. If you are part of an organization, your survey administrator may provide you with a unique code, which will automatically add your username to their organization.

Note: You must be online to log in!

Even if you close the app or restart the phone, you will stay logged in.

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3: Getting Started

Confirming your email

When you first log in using your email, you will be asked to confirm the email you used to create the account.

1. A yellow notification will appear on your home page.
2. Go to your email and look for a new mail titled "Email Confirmation." Click the link provided.
3. After confirming, you should no longer see the yellow notification on the home page.

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3: Getting Started

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Resetting your password

1. Enter your Username or the Email you signed up with
2. Press Forgot Password
3. Press OK
4. Go to your email account and check your inbox for an email from mWater. Open the email.
5. Click the blue text this link
6. Enter and confirm your new password. Press the Reset password button.
7. Return to mWater Surveyor app and use your new password.

3: Getting Started

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Online and Offline Use

Survey forms and responses are always kept in sync when online

• The app must be open for sync to work
• Sync status can be found on the Home screen

Press Sync Now before going offline to make sure forms are up to date

3: Getting Started

Check for latest forms and site data

Sync status

Using mWater in a web browser

You can open the Surveyor app on non-Android devices by going to:

http://surveyor.mWater.co

mWater recommends using the Chrome web browser.

The web app will work offline as long as you don’t close the window.

You can have the app open on multiple devices at one time.

3: Getting Started

Custom app configurations

Some organizations contract with mWater to create a custom configuration, which streamlines the app interface for their use case.

To change to a custom configuration:

1. Click Settings
2. Click Advanced
3. Select the Switch Configuration button
4. Select your organization’s configuration from the list

Note: If you don’t see your organization’s custom configuration in the list, you may not have been added to the Organization’s group in mWater. Please contact your survey administrator to add you.

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3: Getting Started

App screens and settings

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Topics:

• Homepage icons and messages
• Surveys
• Map
• Settings tab:
• Report a problem
• Groups
• App language
• Account and organizations
• Check for updates

Section

www.mWater.co

Home page

Select the Home button from the bottom menu.

This page contains:

• Buttons to Add a Site or Start a new survey
• A section which displays the user account (e.g. example user) and app configuration that you are using (e.g. Standard User)
• Information on the synchronization status
1. Data upload – All new or updated data in the app is uploaded
2. Image upload – Images are uploaded separately from other data due to their size
3. Offline Sync – Data from mWater Portal has been downloaded to the device for offline use
• Click the Sync Now button to start the synchronization process

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4: App screens and settings

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Note: You must be connected to the internet to synchronize the app. This can be done

Note: Images take longer to upload. To sync many images at once, please disable the Sleep time on the device and keep the screen active.

Tasks - Surveys

The Tasks page displays surveys, assignments, issues, and site approvals*

The surveys page contains:

1. A button to start a new survey
2. A list of survey responses and their current status. Each response shows the name of the survey and the draft name (if applicable).
1. Draft status – Also displays the latest date it was updated
2. Rejected status – Also who rejected the response and the message that they wrote which needs correction
1. Completed (Final or Pending status) – Shows the date and user who submitted the survey

*Site approvals is only available for managers who have activated Manager mode in the settings menu

4: App screens and settings

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Map

The Map tab displays Sites. Sites are unique locations which can be track over time, such as water points, schools, communities, clinics, etc.

The page contains buttons to:

1. Create a new site
2. Zoom in / out
3. Open the selected site
4. Auto-zoom to current your GPS position

4: App screens and settings

Map view

List view

Controls

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Settings: Basic

1. Click on the Settings menu
2. This will display information, settings, functions like:
1. Sync – Displays the current sync status and app version that is being used
2. Report a problem – Use this button for contacting mWater staff about a technical bug with the app
3. Language selector – Choose from 18 languages to translate the app into*
4. Check for updates – Clicking this button will check for new versions of the app, automatically download it, and relaunch the application
5. Logout – This button will log the user out of their account and return to the mWater Login page

*While the app is already translated into 18 languages, individual survey forms are managed by their administrator, who must translate the form text itself

4: App screens and settings

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Check for updates

The Check for Updates button will update the app to the most recent version available. This allows for new functions and bug fixes to be rolled out to all users. This is not the same as synchronizing the app, which simply uploads and downloads data from the device to the cloud and vice versa. Internet access is required to update the app. The app will restart upon completion of the update. 

In order to update the app:

1. When online, press Check for Updates.
2. If an update is available, the Status will change to Updating...Wait until the Update is complete.
3. Press OK anytime that a new version is available. The app will restart and now run the new version of the app.

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4: App screens and settings

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Settings:

Report a problem

Report a Problem sends a message to mWater engineers with detailed information

Please remember to include:

1. What you were doing that made the problem happen
2. What you expected to see
3. What you saw instead

4: App screens and settings

Settings:

Language

Language changes the language of the app pages and controls

Each survey can have its own translations. These can be changed separately in the survey form

4: App screens and settings

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Advanced settings: �Groups and organizations (orgs)

Groups and organizations allow the management of many users together in a hierarchal fashion. They can be managed through the portal.mwater.co/#/orgs.

To manage your groups/orgs from the settings page:

1. Click the Manage Groups button
2. Join a group via an invite code provided by your administrator
3. To leave a group that you are already a part of, click Leave

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Advanced settings: �Switch configuration

Some organizations require a highly customized version of the app, so they contract with mWater to create this custom configuration.

If your organization has a custom configuration for you to use:

1. Select the Settings menu
2. Select one of the configurations from the list

Note: If you do not see your organization’s config in the list you may not be part of the organizational group. Please contact your org administrator to either add you to the group or provide an invite code.

4: App screens and settings

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Settings:

My Account

1. Click on the Settings menu
2. Select the My Account tab
3. This page will display informationon about the user account that is currently being used in the app. Change any parameter by clicking on the text box, modifying the text, andthen clicking outside the text box to save the changes.

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4: App screens and settings

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Creating and updating sites

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Topics:

• What are sites
• How to create a site
• Privacy levels
• Find an existing site
• Update an existing site
• Add a site to a survey
• Going offline

Section

www.mWater.co

Viewing existing sites

To open a site page, users can either:

1. Click the Map menu

OR

Click Select from a survey's site question

AND

2. Select the site from the map

OR

Select the site form the list search bar

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5: Sites

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Site pages

Each site page contains:

1. Users can share the site page via Twitter, Facebook, Whatsapp, or link
2. For users within the organization which manages the site data are an Edit button will allow them to modify/delete the site
3. Core data fields like Name, description, unique ID, location, etc.
4. Functionality history and quick-update
5. Create a survey response or issue related to the site. This will open a new survey response and pre-fill the Site ID in the site question.
6. A history of all survey responses conducted on the site. Only those surveys for which the user has view permissions will show in the list. Clicking the response will provide the full survey details.

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Creating a site

1. Click +Add a Site from:
1. The Map page
2. The Home page
3. The +Add menu
2. Select the site Type
3. Fill in the core site information and press Create

5: Sites

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Location setting

There are three ways to register the GPS location of the site:

1. Current location - Use this button to register the mWater will try for 10 seconds to get a better GPS signal. Press Use anyway to accept the current level of accuracy
2. Map - Use the map to drag the icon to the correct position on the map
3. Advanced location settings - Manually type in the GPS coordinates

mWater recommends using the Current location button because this increases the accuracy of the point and ensures that there were no data entry errors.

Note: Cache the map for offline use if you are going into the field where there will be no internet connection. To do this, see the instructions in the maps slide.

5: Sites

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Privacy setting

Sites can have three levels of privacy:

• Private - only the group that manages the site can see it
• Protected - Anyone can see the site but cannot edit the basic information (name, location, etc.)
• Public - anyone can see and edit the site information (“crowdsourcing”)

5: Sites

Find an existing site

In order to find a specific site in the system:

1. Type in the Search box to find sites by Name, Unique ID, or Location
2. Open the Gear menu and select only the site types that you would like to see on the map

5: Sites

Note: To find the site, please ensure that you are connected to the internet or you have synced this site data for offline use

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Update an existing site

Use the Edit button to change the basic site information. You can only edit sites if you or your group manages them.

Use Update status to quickly add functional status or other key indicators to the site.

You can add new surveys and view past surveys attached to the site at the bottom of the site page.

5: Sites

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Add sites to surveys

Surveys that contain Site questions can be attached to sites in order to track them over time.

1. Press the Select button to see a map and list of sites (or enter the mWater ID of the site directly)
2. Once you find the site, press Select
3. You will be returned to the form with the core site data filled in automatically

Surveys started from Site Pages will have the site question automatically filled in

5: Sites

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Going offline

Site data can be saved before going offline. To do this from the map tab:

1. Click on the Gear menu
2. Select Make Available Offline. All sites currently visible on the map will be saved to the device.
3. If you would like to save the map tiles (base images), click the OK button.
4. A message will appear informing you of the size of the map data. Click OK again to continue with the download.
5. A progress bar will appear at the top of the page and inform you when the download is complete

Note: Downloading map tiles uses much more data than just downloading the site data. If the area is too large, zoom in and try again.

5: Sites

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Conducting surveys

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Topics:

• Get the latest forms
• Start a survey
• Basic question types
• Question help
• Naming and finding draft surveys
• Deleting surveys
• Checking for data sync

Section

www.mWater.co

Get the latest forms

Always press Sync now on the Home page to make sure you have the latest version of every survey

You do not need to search for forms deployed to you — they will be automatically downloaded and be displayed by clicking Start a Survey

6: Surveys

Start a survey

1. There are various ways to start a survey:
1. From the home page, press Start a Survey
2. From the +Add tab, press Start a Survey
3. From the Tasks menu, press Start a Survey
4. From any site page, press start a Survey*
2. All surveys deployed to this user or any of the groups/organizations that they are within will appear in the list. Surveys are deployed by survey administrators via the mWater Portal. There are several mWater Standard Surveys that can also be used.

*From site pages, only surveys which have site questions will be displayed in the list.

6: Surveys

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Basic question types

6: Surveys

1. Text – Enter text using the keyboard. Some text questions have multiple lines or may only accept certain formats like an email address
2. Date/time – Press the calendar to pick a date and time from a calendar. Use the arrows to navigate right and left on the calendar. Alternatively, dates can be entered in manually in the data entry box.
3. Number questions - Select the keyboard to enter numerical data. Some questions are set to only accept decimal or whole numbers.
4. Units questions – Enter a number and choose the corresponding unit

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Basic question types

1. Radio question – Choose one option from a list. This is best for options that have a short list of questions (<5)
2. Dropdown question – Choose one option from a dropdown list. This is best for questions that have a long list of options (>5)
3. Multi-check – Choose multiple options from a list.
4. Checkbox – Select or deselect a single box for True/false
5. Image(s) – Use the camera or gallery to take one or more photo

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6: Surveys

Basic question types

1. Matrix question – Allows users to enter in data in a table format. Each column in the table can be a different question type. Used for tables with a known/fixed structure
2. Roster matrix – Allows users to add rows to a table and enter in data for each row. Used for tables where there may be any number of rows. Used for <6 questions per row (due to the table’s width)
3. Roster group – Allows users to add a question group for each item, instead of a table row. Used for groups with may questions per row.

Note: Use the +Add button to add a line or question group to a Roster

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6: Surveys

1. Instructions – Used for providing the enumerator with information that they need to complete the survey response.
2. Text list - Allows enumerators to add as many items as they need to a text list.
3. Stopwatch – Allows the enumerator to measure the amount of time using a stopwatch.
4. Aquagenx Compartment Bag Test (CBT) – This question is specially designed to register CBT E. Coli water quality tests and automatically calculate the concentration and risk level

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Basic question types

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6: Surveys

Additional functions

1. Question help - Click on the ? to see more information about the question
2. Other (Please specify) – Selecting this option will show a text box below to type in an option which is not in the list.
3. Don’t know, Not applicable – This option is used when the enumerator or respondant does not know the answer for a question or it isn’t applicable to the situation.

6: Surveys

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Naming and finding draft surveys

mWater automatically saves any survey that you start. If you leave the app and come back, it will be saved in the Draft Surveys tab.

To save a draft manually:

1. Press Save for Later at the bottom of any page
2. Some surveys will ask you to name the draft. If you do not enter one it will be called Untitled.

To open an existing draft:

1. Select the Tasks menu
2. Select the survey response from the Draft Surveys section

6: Surveys

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Deleting a survey

To delete a survey response:

1. Click on Discard at the bottom of any page of a survey response
2. Select OK from the popup

WARNING: Deleting a survey cannot be undone

6: Surveys

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Checking for data sync

Data upload includes form responses - mWater always syncs this data first

Image upload - photos are synced after survey responses

Offline Sync - includes the latest form versions and site updates.

Make sure sync is complete before working offline

Offline sync happens automatically every 20 minutes and when you open the app

6: Surveys

Survey and site data uploaded from the app to the Portal

Photos uploaded from the app to the Portal

Survey and site updates downloaded from the Portal to the app

Sync Status Indicators:

Troubleshooting tips

7

Topics:

• App problems
• GPS issues
• Damage prevention
• Mobile data usage

Section

www.mWater.co

App problems

If something unexpected happens, first try to go to Settings and Report a problem

1. Check your email as mWater staff may be trying to ask further questions
2. Check for updates - mWater often fixes problems in less than 24 hours

Minor problems can often be resolved by Force-closing the app and then opening it again.

To force-close the app:

1. Press the App list button
2. Drag the mWater Surveyor app to the left

Note: Please be as thourough as possible when providing descriptions of the problem that you encountered

Report a Problem

Force-close apps

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7: Troubleshooting

App problems

If the above steps don’t work, try the following:

1. Restart the device
2. Update the app from the Android play store

Power button

Hold down

mWater Surveyor

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7: Troubleshooting

GPS Problems

Common causes of GPS issues are:

• The GPS is turned off
• High accuracy mode is turned off
• The Surveyor app does not have permission to use the GPS
• Poor signal due to obstructions like buildings or trees (See diagram at right)
• Google Maps hasn’t been updated or initialized

Notes:

• Computers or laptops do not have a GPS chip or antenna.
• GPS is not blocked by rain or clouds

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images: Flaticon.com

7: Troubleshooting

Turning on the GPS and activating high accuracy mode

7: Troubleshooting

To turn on the GPS:

1. Go to Settings
2. Click Location
3. Activate the GPS via the On button
4. Turn the mode to High Accuracy

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Note: When the device’s battery is low, some Androids turn the GPS accuracy to Battery saving mode. Please ensure to manually change this back to High Accuracy before collecting data.

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Giving mWater Surveyor permission to use the GPS

When mWater Surveyor first launches, it requests access to use the device’s GPS.

a) Click Allow to give it access.

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The permissions settings can be changed at any time via:

1. Clicking the Settings menu
2. Clicking Apps
3. Selecting Surveyor
4. Choosing Permissions
5. Activating the Location permissions on

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7: Troubleshooting

Device permissions issues

When first installing the app, mWater will ask for permission to use the device’s

1. Photos, media, and files
2. GPS location
3. Camera

If the user has denied these permissions, they can always change them:

1. From the Android home page, click Settings
2. Select Apps
3. Select the mWater Surveyor app
4. Select Permissions
5. Activate each of the permissions options

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7: Troubleshooting

Updating and opening Google Maps

To update Google maps:

1. Select the App Store from the desktop
2. Search for Maps and select the app called Google Maps or Maps
3. Click the Update button, if available

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To initialize Google maps:

1. Select the Google Maps app from the desktop
2. Click the target icon to zoom to your location. Please verify that this location is correct to ensure the GPS is working properly.

1

2

a

3

b

7: Troubleshooting

Damage prevention

Consider purchasing a case to protect from drops

Keep phone away from water and heavy rain

If the phone is dropped in water, try removing the back cover and placing the phone in a bag of rice for several days

7: Troubleshooting

Mobile data usage

The mWater app normally uses a very small amount of data

Apps that show photos and videos use up data very quickly

Check the Data Usage page in your Android Settings to find out which apps are using the most data

7: Troubleshooting