Loop Device Management

Loop LDM includes the following functionality for both A-Series and C-Series devices:

• Version reporting capabilities for all managed devices
  (to include tracking of the three layers defined below)
• Complete auto-update mechanism of the Content on the device
• Reporting of kiosk Locked ("Guided Access" for A-Series) status
• Remote Screenshot capability (for investigations, debugging and verification)
• Devices Push Reporting Status Emails

The Loop device ‘technology stack’ includes three layers:

Layer & Label:	Definition:	A-Series:	C-Series:	Updates:
“OS”	The device Operating System	Apple iOS	Chrome OS	OS versions have little to no effect on Loop functionality. For A-Series, the motivation to update the OS is typically for Apple security updates or similar. The OS must be updated by a user.
“App”	The Benbria-supplied ‘container’ application.	The App is manually downloaded and installed from the iStore (A-Series) and appears on the home screen. It is the App that holds the Content package (defined below).	The App is provisioned with the device, and is single-boot.	App versions support device management and reporting functions only. The App must be updated by a user.
“Content”	A package of images, text, screens and functionality that is the visible ‘experience’ on the screen of the device. The scoreboard or kiosk ‘flow’, graphics, text and behaviour are all part of the Content. Content versions change with any ‘tweak’ to the experience, including updated question language, updated graphics, or switching the configuration of the experience, for example.	(Same)	(Same)	Content versions update automatically when the App is open and the device is connected to the internet. The process of auto-updating Content is managed by both the App and the Loop platform. All Content for online devices with App v2.2+ installed is guaranteed within 8-hours (see below for detail).

 

The LDM system provides the following assurances:

• The LDM Report will track locked status for all kiosk devices that have App v2.4.x+ installed. While prior versions of the App provided some level of locked status tracking, v2.4 and above are required for certainty on locked status. v.2.3.x and below will report "?" for locked status.
• The LDM Report will track OS up-to-date and App up-to-date statuses for both kiosks and scoreboards.
• The LDM Report will summarize %-complete and provide an action-oriented, itemized list of ‘offending locations’ for the three items above (locked status, OS version and App version)
• The LDM Devices CSV Report will track the Content up-to-date status along with other and other detail (these do not require staff action so are included as supplemental only)
• Following a change to the experience (e.g. layout, question language, graphics), the Content on any device will be guaranteed up-to-date as follows:
  • If the device was offline during the update: within 30-minutes of reconnecting after the update.
  • In all other cases: no later than 8-hours from the time of the update.
• The iStore will feature the latest “Loop Pulse” application

 

Detailed Explanation: The ‘updating’ of new Content is programmatically managed over a period of time following any update to control server load and maintain stability. Below is an example of the estimated ‘progress’ to 100% of devices (shown as 1.0) over the window time (8 hours as an upper bound). Devices that are offline will only be updated upon reconnection (and no later than 30-minutes after reconnection).

 

The ‘action’ for the team after an update is simply to ensure devices are online; the rest will happen automatically. 

LDM Reporting

The LDM framework enables remote monitoring and management of devices from the Loop admin pages.

LDM Push Report

The LDM Push (Devices) Report is intended to be an action-oriented report to support field-management of Loop Kiosk and Scoreboard devices in the field. The LDM Push Report is focused on issues that require staff action (for example, iOS updates, App updates or locking and unlocked kiosk device); all other responsibilities are managed by Benbria and the platform.

The report must be scheduled as a new task (example below):

The report will be sent only to users with the user permission ‘LDM Push Report’ enabled:

The push report summary section appears as follows:

And detailed ‘offending locations’ section as below:

Definitions of terms used in the report:

• Established Locations: Locations that are configured, enabled, visible and have had a kiosk or scoreboard registered to that location.
• Unestablished Locations: Locations that are configured, enabled, visible but have never had a registered kiosk or scoreboard.
• Online: The device is connected (or has been within one hour of running this report).
• Offline: (not Online)
• Locked: The kiosk device is in Guided Access Mode (for A-Series hardware).
• OS up-to-date: The operating system version meets the current minimum (as configured by Benbria Operations).
• App up-to-date: The Loop Pulse application meets the current minimum (as configured by Benbria Operations). The app is available from and updated using the Apple iStore or Google Play for C-Series.
• [Attribute Fields]: Shown above is ‘business manager’ as an example – the option to include an attribute field in the report for additional expediency of resolution.

LDM Detailed CSV Report

A CSV report is attached to the push email report that includes full details of the above and more. This report can be manually generated from the Export page as well.

Fields included in the detailed CSV report are as follows:

• Location:The name of the location.
• Store Number: The location's store number.
• Status: The status of the overall location, one of:
  Online - both Kiosk and Scoreboard are online.
  Partially Online - only one of the Kiosk or Scoreboard is online.
  Offline - neither the Kiosk nor Scoreboard is online.
  Unestablished - the location is configured but devices not yet connected.
• Location Enabled: Yes/No if the location is enabled. Enabled locations appear in reporting, LDM push reports and count towards licensing.
• Location Offline/Partially Offline X Hours Ago: If not online, the time (in hours) since it was last online.
• 72-hour Engagement Count: (aka "Loop Count") Count of unique customer engagements (either Conversations or Responses) over the past 72-hour period.
• Kiosk|Scoreboard Status: online, offline or "" of the device at the time of running the report (a device will show as 'online' if it is or was online within 30 seconds of report generation).
• Kiosk|Scoreboard Last Status Update: ISO-format time of the last status update received from the device.
  
• Kiosk|Scoreboard Offline X Hours Ago: If offline, the number of hours since the device was last online.
• Kiosk|Scoreboard Percent Connected: Over the viewing window (up to 30-days) the percentage of time the device spent in the 'online' state.
• Kiosk|Scoreboard Hours Connected (Max 30 Days): Total connected hours over the viewing window (up to 30 days).
• Kiosk|Scoreboard Hours Disconnected (Max 30 Days): Total disconnected connected hours over the viewing window (up to 30 days).
• Kiosk|Scoreboard Device: Device type name (e.g. "Apple iPad tablet").
• Kiosk|Scoreboard OS: Device operating system name and version (e.g. "iOS 11.2.6").
• Kiosk|Scoreboard Browser: Embedded browser name and version (e.g. "WebKit 604.5.6").
• Kiosk|Scoreboard App Version: Loop App version number (e.g. "2.4.2").
• Kiosk|Scoreboard Content Version: Loop Package content version number (e.g. "2.4.3").
• Kiosk Locked: For A-Series iPad kiosks only (C-Series are always locked) and where 'locked' means in Guided Access Mode:
  Yes: The device is online and actively locked.
  No: The device is online and not locked.
  ?: The app App Version does not support accurate locked status.
  "": No information (e.g. device has never connected).
• (Optional Attribute Groups): Option to include one or more attribute groups to the export; each will appear as a column and if multiple members of a group are assigned to a given location, they will be comma-concatenated.

Device Registration and Remote Loop Updates

Benbria provides an Administrative Interface for triggering an update to Loop on remote kiosk and scoreboard devices. The interface allows global updates that reload all of the active devices, account updates to reload all of the devices for a specific Loop Customer account and updates to individual devices on the location level.

When an update is triggered, the device fetches the latest version of the Loop along with the most recent configuration for the location (questions, video, background image and languages) from the server and refreshes the page.

Device Connectivity States

Detailed device connectivity status is made visible, including device connectivity status (online/offline) and cached status (latest software content downloaded and running, regardless of current connectivity situation):

Device types, updates, and notes are also available.

 

Search & Drill-down

Multiple devices per location are supported:

Remote drill-down into specific device diagnostics is available: