On BioRegistra, a Project is made up of a group of capture requirements to be captured by a user. So, a project basically consists of textual and biometric (fingerprint and portrait) requirements. After creating a project, you will need to assign agents to these projects, who will then be responsible for carrying out the actual capture on the BioRegistra Windows or Android client.
Creating a project is easy. It requires five (5) simple steps, each of which will be explained in the coming sections. To begin this process, click on the Create New Project button on the Green Menu bar at the top of your Home Page or on the Card when logged in.
Here, you need to specify basic details of the project, including the name, a short description, the capture type and category, use cases allowed in the Project (Enrolment and Re-enrollment), if project will need upload of pre-identifiers (this is explained in section 2.2.4), if it should be capturable on the web. Users can also upload a logo at this point for their project.
Re-enrolment, simply put, is the process of updating a captured record. This is done in cases where the agent or admin captured and synced a record with errors. To do this, the agent needs to provide an identifier which will then be used to retrieve the record for the agent or admin to ‘re-enroll’ and save again on the system. These different ways of identifying the record to be updated is represented by Modes of Re-enrolment.
Note that re-enrolment can only be done on the capture devices (Windows and Android) and not on the web. Also, data update can only be done online, meaning the agent needs to be signed in online.
If you want this functionality to be available to your agents, you need to turn this ON when creating the project (step 1) and also select the mode that should be available to your agents. Modes of re-enrolment is discussed in the next section.
There are three modes that agents can use to retrieve a record during re-enrolment:
Admins can specify more than one mode during set-up. What this typically means is that the agent will have the luxury of picking anyone that is convenient during the exercise.
You will be charged for every feature used during enrolment. Features are those categories that have been captured in your record (textual, fingerprint and portrait). However, you will not be charged twice for a feature on the same record. What this means is that if the initial capture had all three features, then editing this record will be free, but editing a record that only had textual and fingerprint features, to have all three features will incur the cost of the new feature just added. This amount will be deducted from the wallet just before the record is updated and saved.
Removing a feature during re-enrolment will not lead to refund of initial capture cost.
Once done with filling the project details, you will be taken to the screen to configure textual information required by you for the project.
It is required that you create a textual form with at least one mandatory field. You create a field by dragging the required field from the right to the left of the pane. You can also do this by clicking a field on the right; this will appear on the left and you can configure as needed. Additionally, you can also delete any control not needed, duplicate a field to create another or edit anyone of your fields on the left pane.
You are advised to always start your textual configurations with a header as it gives the textual form a clean and clear look. This also groups your fields for you, making it easier to capture data. Specify the label of the header as this is the name that the header will take. You can also specify whether the header will be on the same page or should start on a new page.
The text field is the most commonly used field. This field is added if you expect free inputs during capture that can either be alphabets, numbers, symbols, or a combination. You will need to specify which type of data is accepted, whether text, phone number, date, colour or email. Also, the minimum and maximum length should be specified.
The text area is similar to the text field. However, the text area is more appropriate when the input in the field is expected to have multiple lines, e.g. residential address. Just like the text field, you will need to specify the minimum and maximum length that is accepted in the area.
Here, you will need to add options and one is expected to be chosen during capture. This will be displayed as a dropdown during the capture.
This field requires that options are added and only one can be selected during capture.
This field requires that different options are added, so that one or more of them can be selected during capture.
The date field is included if you will require any form of date input during capture. The date field can be validated in three ways.
Date Range – If you have an earliest and latest dates you expect selected. For example, you can specify that only dates between 1st of May, 2017 to 30 May, 2017 can be selected during awha capture.
Age – You can specify the min and max age before the capture date that can be selected. E.g. if you want to ensure that the date entered during capture must not be more than 100 years and less than 18 years before the capture date.
Future Date – This means only a future date, or the capture date can be selected.
The file upload control is included during configuration if you want the capture to include an upload into the system. The acceptable file formats and max size (in kb) need to be specified.
The Checkbox field is used when you want the form to have a checkbox that the user must/can check to indicate the presence (or not) of something. E.g. If you want the form to have a field like “I have agreed to the terms and conditions” then the checkbox field will help to achieve this.
If the field is dependent on the output of another field, then you will need to define this here. E.g. state field is dependent on Country field.
You must tick this if you want any field to be compulsory. What this means is that when agent is capturing, he won’t be able to proceed without providing values for those fields
This is the name you want the field to have, e.g. First Name, Age, Gender, etc.
Help text is an additional help message that is displayed beside the field. It is represented by a question mark icon and hovering or clicking on this shows the extra comment that was inputted by you during configuration.
This is the default message that will be shown inside the field before the agent even enters an input. An example of a placeholder in a Name text field will be ‘Enter your full name’
This parameter is available for fields that have multiple options to choose from – Select, Checkbox group, Radio Group. You will need to provide the options available, these will be displayed on the form during capture.
When configuring textual details to be captured, you can also specify which of the fields will be a unique field. What this means is that the system will not allow the user to have two records with the same value for that project.
An example is Employee number. No two employees are expected to have the same employee number, so when configuring a project that is to be used to capture employees of a company, the admin can decide to make the Employee number field to be the Unique ID.
Note that only Text fields can be made to be unique IDs.
You can also specify if your project will require fingerprint(s) captured. In this case, you need to specify the finger(s) that will be captured on both hands. Also, you need to specify if you require validation for your fingerprint scans. Validation ensures the quality of each fingerprint scan is checked before it is accepted.
Although fingerprint capture can be made compulsory with validation ON, you can also specify if you want to allow agents skip a fingerprint. This is particularly useful in cases where they are unable to capture the finger for numerous reasons, e.g., the user does not have the finger or has poor prints. Admins have the liberty to create the different skip reasons that agents can select from.
Click on ‘Skip, no fingerprint is required’, if your project does not require that user captures fingerprint. An example of this is a user who wants to capture buildings.
You need to specify if your project will require image(s) to be captured. Each picture to be captured will be named, as well as the type of picture selected (if it is a Portrait or a normal picture). However, you need to state if you require validation for a portrait. Like the fingerprint validation, turning this ON means you want the quality of your portraits checked before it is accepted into the system. So, this will ensure that a leg is not captured as portrait, for instance.
Just like the fingerprint, an admin can specify if the agent should be able to “ignore” validation for a capture for a picture that is Compulsory and has validation. This is useful in cases where the system is unable to detect a face due to any defects, imagine trying to capture someone with one eye, the validator will flag it as an irregularity as it is expecting two visible eyes.
The last step is where you optionally assign agents to the project. This lists all created agents and allows you check those that should have access to the project, and also gives you the opportunity to navigate to a view where new ones can be created (if they haven’t been created yet). You can also proceed without assigning any new agent. Click on Save as the final step to create the project.
You can view the performance stats of any of the created projects in your account. The stat shows basic analytics about the project to give you a summary information about the project so far. To view the dashboard for a particular project:
Analytics are customizable charts that BioRegistra offers to users to create the kind of chart and information they will like to see. This allows users create any type of report from captured data. For example, a user who captured buildings can create a custom pie chart to show the distribution of the buildings he captured.
Currently, you can create your analytics using any one of four charts – Card, Pie Chart and Bar Graph.
Also, note that these graphs can only be created off fields that have a definite list of possible outcomes. That is, custom charts can only be created for Radio Group, Select and Check box group. In the example above, note that building types will likely be a dropdown, hence has finite outcomes it can be per record captured.
To create custom analytics for a project, do the following:
On the page, create a layout first that the first created row should take. Selecting a layout should be done with the space needed per chart in mind. It is advisable to give a bar graph a bigger space than a Card, for example.
After selecting a Layout, click on the ‘Add Row’ button. The Row will be created using the Layout and ready for you to start customizing your report to show what information is relevant to you.
To start creating a chart, click on the Gear icon on the bottom right corner of a layout.
You will need to select a chart type, enter the name of the chart and select which of the fields you want the information displayed.
After saving the configured chart, the system automatically creates the chart and displays the information to the user.
You can edit a chart that has been created. Click on the Pencil icon to either delete a row, change layout, delete a chart, or edit the chart information.
Most users prefer that agents are only able to capture a defined set of pre-populated records. In that case, during capture, system checks to ensure a part of what is captured has been pre-provided in the system before the agent can proceed to capture. This set of details provided before the capture even commences is called Pre-identifier. For instance, imagine a company wants to capture all her employees, and wants to ensure nobody outside the workforce is captured. All that needs to be done is to first identify that unique thing that will distinguish each staff – Staff number in this case. Then the staff numbers would be uploaded to the system first. When the capture is about to commence, the system will automatically validate the unique id provided by the agent against the database to be sure that pre-identifier exists before allowing the agent capture. This way, agents cannot capture anyone not in the pre-uploaded list.
During Project creation, users need to ensure that this is turned on, if they will require their project to have that behavior.
Pre-identifiers can be uploaded in two ways – using the portal and via API webservice calls.
To upload pre-identifiers using the portal:
You can also upload your pre-identifiers to your project using our set of APIs. Access our API documentation here to understand how this can be used: www.developers.bioregistra.com
Pre-identifiers can either be global or specific to agents. Global Pre-identifiers are those that can be captured by any agent assigned to that project, while Specific ones can only be captured by specified email addresses. To specify/assign an email address to a pre-identifier, ensure that the email address has been added in the email address column in the excel used in populating the pre-identifiers.
A Pre-identifier can be deleted. However, it can only be deleted when it has not been captured yet. To delete a pre-identifier, do the following:
After a project has been created, you can edit what has been created. Devices automatically pick the latest version of the project when an agent logs in. To edit a project, do the following:
You can deactivate a project. Deactivating a project means no agent will be able to log in and capture any record for that project. To deactivate a project, do the following:
Cloning a project means duplicating an existing project, you can then edit any information and give the new project a new name.
To clone a new project, hover on the project, click on More option and click on Clone.
The form will be duplicated, with the freedom to change any information and name the project with a new name. This saves time that would have been wasted recreating a new project with similar fields and settings.
You can manage a wide variety of settings per project from the portal. These settings will be discussed in detail in this section. To navigate to the Settings page for any of your projects, hover on the Project, click on the More button and click on Settings.
Some users want to ensure their agents compulsorily select a particular location where they are before they can start capturing. This is just to ensure that every record captured can be tracked to where it was captured. To do this, the admin will need to set Capture Location for the project. Of course, the disadvantage of this is that agents can select any location as there is no verification to confirm that the location selected, is really where the device is taking the exercise from.
In summary, every device trying to capture any record into this project must have a location defined before the operation can start. Failure to select a location will show the agent an error.
Admins can specify the list of what agents should select from, this can be any of:
For every record captured on BioRegistra, a System Generated ID (SGI) is created for the record. This ID is expected to be the unique number for the record. However, some customers will prefer that they have a special way of generating records upon sync to the backend. This becomes the Custom ID of the record.
To achieve this, the user has to define the rule he needs the Custom to take. This rule could be any or a combination of Numbers, Alphabets or the location where the record was captured.
Flags are appended to records by admins to identify them specially. The names of the flags to be created is fully dependent on the admin. While an HR executive will like to create flags like Probation, Sacked, Promoted; a school principal might create Admitted, Graduated. Clearly different users will have different Status Flags relevant to them.
To append these flags to records, do this from the CRM menu by clicking the Action button when on the Record.
To properly manage how devices capturing your project on the field behave, we have a list of ever-growing client settings that can be set from the portal. These settings include:
This option is only available to projects that have been enabled to be captured on the web. This is where users can set things for his shareable link.
Functions that can be performed here include:
A project can also be captured on the web by either using the link shared or by signing in as an agent on the portal. If you want your project to be capturable on the web, ensure to toggle this ON when creating the project (step 1).
As an agent, you can also log into the web to capture. To login, use the same details used on the capture device, on the portal. This will show a list of all the projects the agent has been assigned to. Hovering on the project that has been enabled for Online capture will enable you to click the Start Capture button.
Note that a project must be enabled for Online capture before an agent will be able to capture on the portal.
You can manage other users in your account; create, edit or deactivate them. This role can only be assumed by Admins and User Managers.
To do any user management operation, click on the Manage User menu.
After creating an account, you can create other users who will be tasked with performing different functions on the account, based on the role assigned to them. To create a user, do the following:
The BioRegistra portal has different roles that users can be assigned to. Currently, there are five (5) roles users can belong to, there are:
Admin – An admin has all the privileges on the account. By default, a user who opens an account on BioRegistra is made an admin. The rights of an admin on the system are:
Reporter – A reporter’s main focus is on reports and the general information on what has been captured on all projects in an account. Their privileges include:
User Manager – A User manager’s responsibility is to create and manage the users of that account. The privileges of a User manager are:
Support – A support user assists with resolving issues and troubleshoot basic support issues concerning details that were captured per project. Privileges of a user manager include:
Agent – An agent is responsible for downloading and capturing data on the Android and Windows platforms. Agents can sign into the Android and Windows platforms, as well as the portal to capture on the web. When users are created by admins or user managers, they are assigned to at least one project. Their privileges include:
To edit a created user’s information (either first name, last name, role, etc), do the following:
As an admin or a User Manager, you can deactivate a created user. When a user is deactivated, he/she will not be able to log in again until re-activated. In other words, the user’s account will be suspended. To deactivate a user, do the following:
If you have a user in your account who has forgotten his/her password and will like to reset it from your admin end, do the following:
To view created users in your account, do the following
Note: You must be signed in as an Admin or User Manager to perform these actions (create, edit, reset password and deactivate a user).
Also, a User Manager cannot perform actions on an Admin account, i.e. a User manager cannot reset an admin’s password, deactivate an admin’s account or edit their information.
User/agent is someone who manages projects or enroll users of a service or business.
After you create an account, you can create other users who will be tasked with performing different functions on the account, based on the role assigned to them. To create a user, do the following:
As an admin or a User Manager, you can deactivate a created user. When a user is deactivated, he/she
will not be able to log in again until re-activated. In other words, the users account will be suspended. To
deactivate a user, do the following:
If you have a user in your account who has forgotten his/her password and will like to reset it from your
admin end, do the following:
After capturing some data and you want to view those details using our CRM module, do the following:
You can also view detailed reports about your account or reports on your captured data. To view reports, do the following: