ALF - Multi-User Router Operation

Multiple Pens with One Docking Station

It is a common occurrence within a corporate environment that there will be a group of users that make use of a single PC and as a result, also have a single "generic" username for access. This used to present difficulties with tracking forms in earlier versions of Formidable where each user would have their own pen. From Formidable 2.0+ (and the latest Anoto Live Forms system) came a brand new user & pen manager interface which allowed a pen to be "locked" to an individual user. In a multi-user environment as described above, each user docking the pen would traditionally have had to ensure the correct user details were entered into PenPusher/Anoto Live Forms for Windows before they docked the pen. Otherwise, the form would not "belong" to them. With these implemented changes, each user only needs to send their first form to the server using their own email address (and phone number combination for Formidable). 

Once the user and pen are registered on the server, the administrator can select the user in the left pane and the right pane of the ' Users and Devices' section will show the pen that was used. On the bottom-right of the screen, there is a 'Locked' checkbox and ticking this will lock the pen to the user. There is no physical interaction between the pen and the server to manage this locking. 

When a form is received by the server, a lookup is done to check the status of the pen. If the pen is "locked", the server will ignore the routing client details sent with the form data in favour of those already stored. This keeps the form ownership so that only the "locked" pen user can see the form within the ' Viewer' interface.

One Pen with Multiple Docking Stations

Depending on how the pen is to be used in this situation, the end user group may need to be more diligent. It is possible to 'lock' the pen to a 'group' account as described above or to allow the forms to become owned by the user docking the pen.

Regardless of whether a 'group' account is used nu the pen on the server or the pen becomes the docking user, each end user must have their own unique details entered into the routing client. Failure to follow this will result in each running copy of the routing client fighting for a connection to the server. Only one unique email address (or phone number for Formidable) may e be connected to the server at any one time. 

Using the described 'group' account, all forms would be submitted to the server by their respective users, but would be visible through the 'Viewer' using a single account. Alternatively, if the pen is not 'locked' to a 'group' account, all submissions to the server would become owned by the user details present in the routing client when the pen is docked. This presents a new challenge on the end users. Once a user has finished writing on a form, whether completed or not, they must dock the pen. Failure to do so will leave their form being 'owned'  by another member of the team.

Any form written on and sent by 2 users will be visible to both users in the 'Viewer'.

It is possible to implement a similar setup where mobile phones are in use. In this case, all required pens should be paired with the group mobile using the pen pairing instructions.