Virtual Assist is a powerful tool that allows businesses to connect with their customers without physically travelling to the site. In doing so, Virtual Assist reduces the time and resources spent to make assessments, allocate work and store data in relation to the subject matter. Best of all, it is extremely easy to use and highly versatile across a range of business needs.

Don't want to read? Watch our video on starting a Virtual Assessment. 

In most cases, you will have a Virtual Assist session booked in advance, with the relevant session details already provided for you. 

In the event that you do not have the session details ready to go, simply log in to Virtual Assist and select "New Session".
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Once you have selected "New Session", a new window asking for more information will appear on your screen. 

You will need to supply a valid email address or mobile phone number in order to send the in-field operative a link to begin the session. Once you've completed filling the relevant details, click "Create Session".

Please note: Virtual Assist will not commence until you have filled all required fields.
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Now that you've created a session, or, if your session was already created for you, the next step is to call the in-field operative using the VOIP call button, which is located in the top right hand corner of your page. 

After clicking on the phone symbol, the details of the session you just created will appear on your screen. If the booking was made previously, you can search for the session by entering some of the customer details. Click on "Dial" to start the call.

It's important to remember to call through this feature, as this is how audio will be recorded for your session video. We like to recommend starting the phone call first, then sending the customer link.

Now that you're on the phone with the in-field operative, you can send the customer link to them. Instruct them to turn loudspeaker on, so they can talk to you while using their phone. 

When the session has started, you will see the below options for sending the customer a link: 

Invite by Email: Should be selected when the in-field operative is conducting the Virtual Assist via a tablet. 

Invite by SMS: Should be selected when the in-field operative is conducting the Virtual Assist via a smartphone.

If you are calling a customer that doesn't use a smartphone but is onsite with a companion who does have a smartphone, you can change the phone number in the "Job Details" panel to the left before sending the SMS. Simply select "Job Details", change the number and the select "Update". You can then send a new customer link if necessary.

Once the invite has been sent, the in-field operative will receive an SMS or email link which will enable the in-field operative to connect to the session.
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When the operative opens the link, they will need to select "Join" to start the session. By selecting "Join", the operative will also be acknowledging privacy conditions. If the in-field operative raises privacy concerns, you can inform them that the information received will be in full accordance with Australian legislation. There will be a disclaimer on their phone screen when opening the session which outlines their acceptance to having their session recorded for the purposes of assessment.

On the device screen there will be four options: 

Share Video: Will enable the session to be created via live video stream.
​Share Media: Will allow the customer to take and share photo footage or upload pre-taken video or photo footage.
​Call Assistant: Will contact the office number of the assistant.
​End Session: Will end the session between the assistant and the customer.
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Instruct the in-field operative to press Share Video. A prompt may come up for Video Permissions; they will need to press "Allow" in order to proceed to streaming. As they will be streaming live, instruct the operative to move the device slowly so you can view the video feed as clearly as possible. 

If VA doesn't connect within two minutes, don't sweat it! We want your customers to have the best experience possible, so if you can't find the solution, wrap up the call and arrange for a technical expert to come on-site to do the assessment. Feel free to send through a message to support@codafication.com to let us know of the issue so we can help you make sure it doesn't happen again. You can also check out our FAQ's here and our Troubleshooting guide here.

The operative can also select "Share Media", which allows the operative to share existing photos from their device. It's not necessary to do this straight away - the operative can choose to do this at a later time when the session is complete. 

Now, this is your time to shine! Let your assessment skills take over and instruct the in-field operative to show you the subject matter. There's no need for the customer to share their audio if you're on a phone call with them already.

Here's what your customer can see:

While the operative is using "Share Video", you will have the ability to take snapshots of the images from the live stream video. It's recommended that you do this, so certain items can be easily viewed retrospectively.

To capture an image from the video, you can click on "Take Snapshot". The snapshot will appear on the right hand side in the gallery. Take note, they too can take snapshots!

Take lots of snapshots! You can delete these later if necessary, but it's a good idea to take as many as you need to capture the subject. The snapshots are taken in high quality resolution, even if the video is patchy/blurry.

Click on each snapshot on the right side to enlarge the photo and to make notes. From this view, you can use the "Delete" button in the top-right corner of the picture to remove snapshots from the report, as well as the "Hide/View" button in the top-left corner of the picture to exclude or include photos in your Session reports.

To add notes to the Virtual Assist session, click on NOTES on the top left hand side of the assistant interface. To save notes to the session, don't forget to hit "Update". These notes will be added to the Virtual Assist once generated.
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When you've collected everything you need for the session, you can select "End Session" which will close the Virtual Assist session link. 

When the session has been ended, the customer will receive a survey to rate the experience out of 5. 

After ending a Virtual Assist session, you or any other user can use the “Download Media” button to extract the session data into a zip file. See be

The ZIP file will contain all snapshots taken during the session, video, and all notes made during the session will all be downloaded and formatted as a PDF. This will usually save by default to your downloads folder on your computer, unless if otherwise specified.

Selecting Generate Report will format and export all notes and images in PDF format complete with session details and company branding if agreed upon as part of your licensing contract.

For FAQ's on Virtual Assist, click here. 

For Troubleshooting help on Virtual Assist, click here.

Got a question that you can't find the answer for? Send our team a message at support@codafication.com. 

For the full web site, click here.