Offline collection

Technicians often work in homes, schools and parks where the connection drops. NeatPractice installs as an app on a tablet or phone and keeps the sessions you prepare available offline. Everything you record waits on the device, encrypted, until you are back online.

Installing the app#

1. Open NeatPractice in the browser on your tablet or phone and sign in.
2. Add it to your home screen: in Safari, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen; in Chrome, open the menu and tap Install app.
3. Open NeatPractice from the new icon. On a phone it opens on My Day, without the browser bars.

Preparing sessions for offline#

Prepare while you still have a connection, for example at the start of the day.

1. Go to Documentation, then Offline sessions. The list shows today's sessions where you are the provider.
2. Select the sessions you will run away from a connection and click Prepare for Offline.
3. The first time, choose an offline PIN of 6 to 10 digits. You need it to open your offline sessions when the device has no connection.

A Ready badge marks each prepared session, and its card on My Day reads Offline ready. Only what you need to run the session is kept: the learner's first name and last initial, the session time and place, the service address of today's session and the learner's programs, targets, prompt levels and interventions. Dates of birth, phone numbers, coverage and other learners never reach the device. Your clinic sets how many sessions one device may hold at a time.

Running a session offline#

1. Click Open Offline Sessions (or open the app without a connection). Enter your offline PIN if asked.
2. Pick a session. When you arrive, click Clock In; when you leave, click Clock Out (see Clocking in and out).
3. Click Start Session. Data entry opens only once the session timer is running.
4. Collect data. Behaviors and programs sit in their own panes, and the session time and any running duration timers stay pinned at the top, with a Stop button for each timer, while you scroll. Each item shows its baseline, this week's value as of when you prepared the session and this session's value, and Details opens its clinical details. Expanded rows also show the current short-term goal, its progress rings and the live graph from the data as of when you prepared the session plus what you record now (see Live graph and short-term goal).
   • Trials: tap Independent, a prompt level or Incorrect.
   • Task analysis: pick the prompt level, then mark each step Independent or Prompted. Scoring a step again replaces its earlier score. Tap New Pass to run the chain again; each pass is scored and synced on its own, and the summary shows the session value and every pass.
   • Counts, durations and intervals: add one, start and stop the timer, or score the current interval.
   • ABC: click Record ABC and fill in the antecedent, behavior, consequence, setting and possible functions.
   • Latency, ratings, scores and products: tap Cue then Response, tap Response for each response, tap a rating level (the key lists what each level means), or enter a score or a product count.
   • Probes: tap Run as Probe on a trial or task analysis target before scoring it; only the first response counts. Trial buttons also stop at the program's maximum trials.
5. Click End Session. Review the summary, confirm the place of service, list who was present and collect the caregiver and provider signatures.
6. Click Finish, or Complete Later if you need more time. You can complete a session for up to 14 days; sessions past that show as past due.

Timers keep the right time even if the screen locks or you switch apps, and the screen stays awake while the session runs.

Use Assent Withdrawn when the learner stops assenting and Assent Regained when they assent again, as in the web collector. A badge shows the session's assent, each change syncs with its time, and the end-of-session summary notes it. Targets in maintenance that are not due this session stay hidden until you click Show Not Due; they carry a Not due badge and can still be scored.

When the appointment has a focus set ahead, its programs are listed first with a Focus badge, Show Focus Only hides the rest, and ten minutes before the scheduled end a reminder lists the focused targets with no data yet.

Leaving an item out of the session#

Click Remove From Session on a target or behavior you did not work on. It moves to the end of its pane, its controls close and it is left out of the session's data. Click Add Back to collect on it again. An item you keep in the session with nothing recorded counts as zero. Your clinic chooses whether items start in or out of the session.

Correcting an entry#

Click History on an item to see what you recorded. From an entry's menu you can Flip Yes or No, Change Prompt Level, Edit Duration of a stopped timer or Remove it. The minus button on a count removes the last one. The original entry is kept, struck through, and the corrected one syncs like any other entry, exactly as a correction made in the browser. You can correct entries while the session runs and after it ends, until the signatures are captured; capturing the signatures again opens corrections again.

Clocking in and out#

Clock in when you arrive and clock out when you leave. The app records the time on the device and asks the device for your location; the first time, allow location access when your device asks. If location is off or takes too long, the clock is still recorded, marked without a location. Clocking in or out never blocks the session.

When you clock in or out earlier or later than your clinic allows, the app asks for a reason; when you are far from the scheduled place, it warns you. When you clock out, you can leave a comment for the office. None of these stops the clock. Your clinic sets the window and the distance in EVV settings.

Each clock syncs like any other entry. The visit then shows an EVV Clock section with the device time, the time it reached NeatPractice, the location and its accuracy, the distance from the scheduled place, and a flag when the device clock was more than two minutes off. The office follows clocks on the EVV page. Keep your device on automatic date and time.

Syncing#

The app syncs whenever it is open and online: when you open it, when the connection returns and every 30 seconds while a session is running. The sync panel shows how many entries are waiting, when the device last synced and any problem, with a Retry button.

• Data points and session events never conflict; they are added in the order the server receives them.
• Synced data lands in the learner's data session for that visit, the same one the web collector writes to; the visit and the session start on the first sync if the device started them offline.
• Edits to the same note or summary from two places show both versions. Choose Keep Mine or Use Server.
• A signature over content that changed before it synced is not accepted. Capture the signature again.
• Two devices on one session each show a warning, so you can agree who keeps collecting.
• A device clock more than two minutes off shows a warning; the server's time orders your entries.

How offline data is protected#

• Everything kept for offline use, the prepared sessions and every entry you record, is encrypted on the device with 256-bit AES before it is saved. Nothing is stored in readable form.
• Opening it takes two keys: one that only this browser on this device holds and cannot hand out, and one from NeatPractice (online) or your offline PIN (offline). Copying the device's files to another computer opens nothing.
• Pages and answers from NeatPractice are never kept in the browser's cache; only the app itself is, so it can start without a connection.
• After your clinic's idle timeout with no taps, the offline sessions lock. Reopening them takes your offline PIN or device unlock, even with a connection.
• Device unlock lets your face, fingerprint or device passcode open the offline sessions instead of the PIN. Turn it on from the side panel of Offline Sessions (Turn On Device Unlock) on a device that supports it. The check happens on the device; NeatPractice never receives your fingerprint or face.
• While a session is open on screen, anyone holding the unlocked device can see it, as with any app. Keep a screen lock on clinic tablets and phones, and close the app when you hand the device to someone else. For tablets the clinic owns, we recommend a mobile device management tool that enforces the screen lock and can erase a lost device.

When offline data is cleared#

Offline data on the device is erased when you sign out, when an administrator removes the device, when the device has not been online for longer than your clinic allows (72 hours unless changed) and after five wrong PIN entries. NeatPractice syncs first whenever it can. If data had to be cleared before it synced, you see how many entries were lost the next time you sign in.

Settings and devices#

Administrators open Setup, then Offline Devices to:

• Set the maximum offline time before a device must reconnect and the sessions per device limit.
• See every registered device, its user and when it was last online.
• Remove a lost or retired device. It erases its offline data the next time it connects.