A field worker's phone is used outdoors, in the sun, often with gloves, between other tasks. An app that works fine at a desk can be useless in a truck.
The Sentra 311 worker app is designed for those conditions: big buttons (most are 56 pixels tall), large text, high contrast and the fewest possible steps.
The home screen
When a worker signs in, they see two lists:
- Assigned to me, sorted by priority and then distance.
- Nearby, open requests in their department close to where they are.
Each job shows its type, priority, address, distance and time left on its SLA. Overdue jobs stand out. A "My route today" card appears when a dispatcher has planned a route for the day.
There's a map view with the same jobs as pins, colored by status.
Working a job
Opening a job shows what the resident reported: the type, the city's questions and answers, the before photo and the location. Resident contact details are hidden from field workers, by design.
The worker moves the job through the steps with large buttons: Acknowledge, En route, On site, then Close out. Each step is recorded with a time. Those times feed worker efficiency reports, so crews get credit for the work they do.
Close-out
Close-out is where the request gets its proof. Each request type has its own close-out form, set up by the city, for example "What was done?" and "Materials used." The worker adds after photos from the camera.
If the city requires proof for that type, such as an after photo, a note or an on-site step, the app shows a checklist and keeps Submit off until it's complete. See closed means closed.
Hand-off
Sometimes a job belongs to someone else: the wrong crew, or it needs a different truck. Workers can hand a job off to another worker. The hand-off is recorded on the timeline.
Reporting from the field
Crews often see problems before residents do. A worker can file a new request from the app: take a photo, pick the type, confirm the spot. Workers can file requests for any department, even though they only see their own department's queue.
City theme and dark mode
The worker app uses the city's color and name, set in the portal. It can follow the phone's dark mode, which helps on early morning and night shifts, or the city can fix it to light or dark.
What's coming
We want to be clear about what isn't built yet:
- Offline mode. Today the app needs a connection to load and save jobs. An offline mode, where jobs, the day's map and close-outs queue up and sync when the signal comes back, is a top item on our roadmap.
- Push notifications for new assignments.
- The knowledge base inside the worker app, so crews can answer residents' questions on the street.
- Reordering a route from the phone.
A day with the app
A typical morning: the dispatcher plans routes and confirms them. Each worker opens the app and sees "My route today" with five stops. They tap Navigate for the first stop, mark En route, then On site when they arrive. They fix the pothole, take an after photo, add a short note in the close-out form and submit. The resident gets an email with the photo. The worker taps Navigate for the next stop.
If they pass a broken sign on the way, they file it from the app in under a minute, and it shows up in the queue for the right department.
For supervisors
Supervisors can see the same jobs in the portal, with the times each step was recorded and the close-out photos.
Getting crews to use it
The best predictor of adoption is the first week. A few things help:
- Train crews in person or over Teams with their own phones.
- Start with a short list of request types.
- Have supervisors look at the jobs closed from the app each day and say thanks for good photos.
- Keep paper route sheets available for anyone who wants them during the change.
Crews adopt tools that save them phone calls. When the dispatcher stops calling to ask "is that done yet?" because the app already says so, the app sells itself.