ARC Facilities

Create PIN

Steps for creating the PINs are stated below.

• Open the ARC Facilities app and navigate to the Folders & Files module.
  
  
• Move inside a folder where the PDF document within which the building plan exists (this document should be the floor plan or map of the campus building inside which the equipment whose location is pinned exists).

• Open the document through the Viewer to create the PIN

• After the document opens, click the PIN annotation (highlighted in green rectangle in screenshot above) on the toolbar and then click the location on the floor plan where the PIN is to be placed.

As soon as you place the PIN, the Create PIN modal will open, with options to select an icon, attach photos/videos, add a description, or to link to equipment, documents, or PDF reports and to add notes.

To create a PIN, only PIN icon selection is mandatory but rest of options like attaching photo/video, item linking (equipment association, form association, file linking) as well as description & note entry is optional. Hence, a user can create a PIN by only selecting the PIN icon (but this PIN without any items linked will not serve any real purpose).

Select/Change Icon for the PIN

Users can select the icon for the PIN from a list of predefined icons. These icons identify the type of equipment whose location is being determined. The library of icons includes the name and an identifier image for the equipment. Click the ‘Change icon’ dropdown and select the new icon from the list.

• Select the suitable icon to complete the icon change procedure.

After the icon is selected, the general icon of the PIN is then updated and displayed on the drawing in the viewer. The icons of equipment include.

Create new custom PIN icon

If user wants to add a new PIN icon which is not present in the system-supplied list of PIN icons, then user can create a new PIN icon (for an unlisted equipment).

• Click the [Change icon] drop-down to view the application-supplied list of PINs

If user does not tap the down-arrow of the drop-down and instead taps on the text area of the drop-down where the text ‘Change icon’ is present, then the cursor will start blinking on the tapped area. User can start entering the name of the custom PIN to search for an existing PIN or to create a new PIN. 

• Start typing the name of the custom PIN in the selected area

When user types a new custom PIN name, the first few letters of which does not match with the name of any existing PIN, the list of PINs (from the drop-down) will not open.

If the first few letters of the PIN name matches with any existing PIN then the list will appear displaying the PINs whose first few letters match with the user-entered first few letters of the PIN. The matching PIN names appearing in the list are application-supplied or previously created custom PINs. 

For example, when user types ‘Air’ all the PIN names starting with the word ‘Air’ will appear. Let’s say, two existing PINs with name ‘Air Conditioner’ and ‘Air Handler’ are present in the app, then these two PIN names will appear on the list. 

Screenshot below displays the list of PINs matching the name of the PIN:

Now, if user wants to create a custom icon with the word ‘Air’, then after entering the name, the user will have to press [Create new icon] to let the system know that the name has been selected and that the user wishes to make this name a custom icon. 

• Click the [Create new icon] button (present at the end of the drop-down)

A PIN icon color selection picker section appears.

• Choose a color of your choice and enter the name of the new PIN icon on the 'Change icon' textbox.

The newly created custom icon will take the first letter or each word in the icon name as the icon initials. For example, if the user-entered name of the icon is ‘Water Hydrant’ then the custom icon initials will be ‘WH’. Again, if user-entered name of the icon is ‘Water’ then the custom icon initial will be ‘W’.

Now, user can go ahead and create a new PIN based on the newly created PIN icon.

Recently user icons:

A section called ‘Recently used icons’ displaying the last 5 recently used PIN icons will be visible under the ‘Used PIN’ drop-down on the ‘Create PIN’ screen. User will be able to instantly create a new PIN using any one of the 5 PIN icons which were used recently.

The appearance of the recently used icons are depended on the combination of platform (device or cloud), user and campus.

For example, a user enters into his/her account through a particular platform (cloud, iOS or Android) and entered into a specific campus. Then that user proceeds to create a new PIN. On the ‘Create PIN’ screen, that user will see a list of recently used icons which have been used within the same campus, by that same user (same account), using that same platform (cloud, iOS or Android), previously. If any of that changes then a new set of recently used icons is displayed.

Screenshot below displays the ‘Recently used icons’ section on the ‘Create PIN’ screen:

User can select any of the last 5 used PIN icon (click on one of the recently-used PIN to select it) to create a new PIN. Hence, user does not need to type a new PIN name every-time.

For example, user is creating the PIN for a number of panels on a floor. Each PIN will identify the location of a single panel on the floor plan. User creates a new PIN called ‘Panel’ and annotates the same on the floor plan. This PIN will now be available on the ‘Recently used icons’ section on the ‘Create PIN’ screen. When user tries to create another PIN to identify another ‘Panel’, he/she does not need to create a new PIN or find an used PIN icon from the drop-down but can directly choose same PIN icon (‘Panel’) from the ‘Recently used icons’ section. This will save user time and effort as well as make the repeated PIN creation process hassle-free and more streamlined.

Deleting custom PIN

A ‘Delete’ icon will appear beside the custom PIN on the list. ‘Delete’ signs do not appear for application-supplied PIN icons.

Screenshot below displays the [Delete] icon for a custom PIN:

If we use this, the ‘Delete’ icon will only appear for users who have the authority to delete the PIN (like user who created the PIN or account admin). This button will appear dimmed if the user cannot delete the PIN because annotations still exist. Tapping the dimmed ‘Delete’ button should display the message “Pins still in use on any documents cannot be removed”.

If the custom PIN is already used, even once then it cannot be deleted. Only it can be deleted if it’s not used (not annotated on a document) by clicking on the 'Delete' button beside the custom PIN. 

Custom pin icons can be deleted by the user who created them and account admins.

Pointers regarding custom PIN

1. Custom PINs are account specific. Hence, only users having access to the account within which the custom PIN is created, will be able to view those PINs
2. Only the user who created the custom PIN can delete that PIN (also the project owner/account owner can delete the PIN), other users of the account will not be able to delete that PIN

Restrictions on custom PIN creation

1. No special character entry is allowed in the name of custom PIN. The name will be alphanumeric
2. Minimum one-character entry is required to create a PIN, whereas the maximum permissible character length is 40
3. No duplicate PIN creation is allowed (application restricted). If entered custom PIN name matches with existing application-supplied PIN name then application notify the user with a message that “PIN name already exists, hence user can select that name from the list”
4. No editing the name of custom PIN allowed

Attach Photos and Videos with a PIN

From the Create PIN screen, users can add photos and videos of the equipment by clicking the + icon at the top of the screen. After the user clicks the [Add photo/video Plus icon] button, the Add from drop-down appears. This drop-down will show two options: Computer & ARC Facilities.

To attach photos from the local computer:

• Click on the [Computer] button on the drop-down and the window through which the user can select images from the local computer will appear.
  
  

• Double-click on one or more photos or select one or more photos and click the [Open] button to upload and then attach those photos with the PIN.

To attach photos from ARC Facilities:

• Click on the [ARC Facilities] button to attach photos from the Album module of the ARC Facilities app.

The Album module of ARC Facilities will display the Albums/photos saved inside that module.

• Move inside an album to view the photos within it (as an example ‘Air Conditioner’ is an album shown in the screenshot above).

• Click on the photo to select it (more than one photo can be selected).

• Now, click on the [Done] button to attach the photo with the equipment

After attaching a photo/video from the local computer or a photo from the Album module of the ARC Facilities app it is displayed on the top portion of the Create pin screen [highlighted on the screenshot below using green rectangle].

Note: Similarly, videos can be attached from local computer and ARC Facilities

When user moves the mouse cursor over the attached photo, a [More options] button will appear. Click on the [More options] button and a drop-down will appear displaying the [Remove] button.

• Click the [Remove] button to detach the photo attachment from the PIN.

The original photo will remain is place from where it has been attached.

• Click on the attached photo[the photo thumbnail highlighted in the screenshot above] to open it through the photo editor.

User can draw various markups on the photo like a straight line, rectangle, ellipse, freehand line, enter text within a textbox.

• As an example, click on markup button like [Line] and then left click & then holding the click move the mouse cursor over the photo to draw the line.
  
  
• Use the mouse scroll button to zoom in & out of the photo.
  
  
• Click the [Rotate] button to rotate the photo by 90 degrees upto 360 degrees.
  
  
• Click the [Settings] button to change color and thickness of the drawn markups.
  
  
• Click the [Undo & Redo] buttons to revert changes and get back previous changes.
  
  
• In the end, click [Save] button to save the changes

Fig: Equipment photo with markups drawn on it & opened settings pop-up

User can click the [Plus] button again on the Create PIN screen to associate more photos/videos with the equipment.

Add Description to a PIN

On the Create PIN screen,

• Enter a general description of the PIN location under the Description section.

Screenshot below displays the Description section.

Add Notes to a PIN

On the Create PIN screen,

• Enter notes on the PIN location under the Notes section.

Screenshot below displays the Notes section.