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Considerations for All Projects
How many devices should you buy?
When planning to purchase devices for a project, it's advised to buy an extra 10% on top of your total user count to compensate for potential losses, breakages, or for use in training and technical support. Historical data suggests a 2-3% rate of loss or theft over three years.
Will you have network coverage?
For selecting a data plan, ensure the network provider offers robust coverage in your project area. Consulting local residents or conducting field tests can help determine the best provider.
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How much data should you purchase?
Many projects find that a monthly data allowance of 100 MB is sufficient. To estimate usage, consider that each form submission is roughly 7-10kb. For instance, submitting 20 forms daily over 25 working days requires about 5MB per month. For example, for a project where the FLW submits 20 forms a day, 25 days a month: 20 forms x 25 days a month x 10kb/form = 5MB
How will you charge your devices?
Device charging is crucial, especially in areas with limited electricity. Solutions include home charging for those with electricity, providing solar chargers, or establishing central charging stations, which are cost-effective but have higher theft risks. In some cases, reimbursing charging costs may be necessary.
How will you manage your devices?
Device management requires a clear contract and protocol to outline phone use and procedures for lost or damaged equipment. For comprehensive guidance, Dimagi's toolkit on device management at scale offers valuable resources.
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How will you control how phones are used?
Below are some apps that we have used to support device management
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.teslacoilsw.launcher&hl=en
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gears42.surelock
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kiddoware.kidsplace&hl=en_US&gl=US
How will you manage your devices
Device management requires a clear contract and protocol to outline phone use and procedures for lost or damaged equipment. For comprehensive guidance, Dimagi's toolkit on device management at scale offers valuable resources.
Considerations For Projects at Scale
For projects that will be operating at scale, this pages provides guidance and key learnings from Dimagi project managers who have supported projects with hundreds of thousands of devices. This section looks back at our key learnings for managing devices at scale, from selection all the way to delivery.
Click below to expand this section for guidance on managing your devices at scale.
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Device Selection and Pre-InstallationThe first, and most important, step in this process is selecting the correct device for your project. Keeping the user experience in mind is critical to ensure you choose phones that are of sufficient quality and are software compatible for the app you created. Make sure to specify minimum requirements for the devices that needed to be procured, in accordance with the project’s objectives. To ensure you choose the correct device and mitigate any mistakes that happen during preinstallation, here are a few key learnings from our pre-procurement experience:
See Mobile Device Selection and Mobile Device Planning for more information. Sample TestingIf you are working with a vendor and ordering devices, you want to ensure that what you choose is compatible with the app, and that pre-installation is done correctly.
See Test your Application Size (Load Testing) for more guidance. Quality CheckAt this stage, the partners should undertake quality check (QC) of each device consignment within a few days of receipt. Once the QC is complete, the partners either accept the consignment or inform the manufacturer of any issues to resolve.
Device Set-upOnce the devices pass the QC process, it is time to configure them for the field. Each device will require certain user- or device-specific configurations before considered ready.
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