Valence Mobile Portal - Reconnection Issues

[jim.wong]

Looking for guidance for the best way to end an Active Session when the device continually attempts to re-connect.

We are using Android (Samsung Tablet S7) connecting to Valence.

We can be connected using one of the following methods:
1. Via the Internet (production only)
2. Via VPN
3. Local Network

If you lose connectivity, Valence will attempt to re-connect the device. That's a great feature. However, the device may never successfully reconnect.

Here's a scenario that I am familiar with:
If you are connected in the office (locally) and you do not log out of Valence, the device will attempt to re-connect when you get a network connection.

If the device connects to the internet (at home) and you were previously logged in internally at the office to development, the device will attempt to re-connect but will fail as it will need VPN activated to access development. The re-connect gets in a twist and the app fails to end.

What does a user do?

Action if you have admin rights:
End the job via Active Sessions. Job ends.

You now start a new Valence connection to say Production. You log in successfully but when you launch an app, you're back in a re-connect twist. Its as though it is still trying to start the app in Development but now you are connected to the Production environment.

You end the job again via Active Sessions.

This time Valence will start and you can launch an app in the correct environment (production).

Question:
Is there a reliable method for the user to kill the app when it gets in a twist.

With more than 700+ devices in the workforce, managing re-connect failures will become a support nightmare.

Does CNX/User Community have a solution.

[richard.milone]

Have you tried using the Force Stop on the S7 and then start the Valence app again? We will test some disconnect/reconnect scenarios and let you know our findings.

[jim.wong]

Last night I discovered the Android Force Stop function which ends the session. However, when you log in again, the re-connect triggers and it starts all over again.

This indicates that Force Stop is not clearing the re-start smarts inside Valence. You have to terminate the Active Session via Valence.

[jim.wong]

Richard, do you have any update on the reconnection issue.

Keen to know if you were able to replicate the scenarios described.

Please reach out if you would like to discuss.

[robert.swanson]

Jim,

As a temporary workaround, you might want to consider lowering the timeout threshold for mobile sessions (in Portal Admin > Settings > Session Options) from 120 to something smaller like, say, 20 minutes. That will terminate sessions that have no activity for prolonged periods, effectively doing the same thing as the Active Sessions app. For users who don't typically switch between different instances that should help.

[jim.wong]

Robert, I have reduced the timeout thresh holds which helps to log out sessions that have been idle.

Currently, the majority of our Valence User Community access the portal from their desktop - no issues with this. In 2 months time we will roll out our Service Force application and will add more than 700+ mobile users across 7 countries.

If we experience re-connection issues and our support team is required to intervene the team will be overwhelmed with connectivity support..

A kill session would ideally help as this would allow the technician to kill the session for a fresh restart without contacting support.

Have you replicated the reconnection scenarios previously described (ie where the active session needs to be ended multiple times).