NOTE: A typical Palm application will exit the application when tapping the House button. Boson will only exit from the Main Screen. You cannot exit from the Entry, Route or Detail Screens. Tap ROUTE, MENU and hit the House button to exit.
Route shows the currently selected route. Tap SELECT ROUTE if you need to change to a different route.
The screen shows how many meters are in the route, the number of read meters and the percentage complete.
Tap INPUT READINGS to start reading with the currently selected route. Boson will show the Route Screen.
The route screen shows the meters in the route. If the meter has already been read or visited, the reading or excuse will be shown in the left column.
The Meter Tag and the Meter address are shown for each meter.
The pointer along the left edge indicates the current meter. The pointer can be moved up or down by pushing the up or down hardware keys at the bottom of the handheld.
Checking the checkbox Unread Only at the bottom of the screen will show only the meters which have NO reading and NO excuse code entered. Removing the check will will show all meters in the route whether they are read or not.
It is a good idea to place the check in this checkbox before returning the handheld to the office. This will confirm you have provided a reading or excuse for each meter in the route.
The READ button will show the ENTRY screen. The arrows in the lower right corner indicates the current route order. A blackened down arrow will instruct Boson to follow the normal route order - forward order. Tapping the arrow set in the lower right corner will flip the route direction. Tapping it again will flip the direction again. If left with a blackened up arrow, Boson will follow the route in reverse order.
The MENU button will return to the Main Screen.
The boxes in the upper right corner show the number of dials to be entered. If there are 9 boxes, the number of dials entered is arbritrary. If the billing software reports 0 dials to Boson, Boson will permit any number of dials to be entered. If less than 9 boxes are shown, you are required to enter that number of dials including leading zeros.
For instance, if the number of boxes is 9, you many enter 1, 2, 3, 4 and then press ENTER. Boson will accept this entry.
If the number of boxes is 6, you may enter 1, 2, 3, 4 but Boson will not respond to ENTER. You must complete the full entry of boxes. You cannot leave any boxes displayed. The proper entry would be 0, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 followed by pressing ENTER.
After you enter the reading and press ENTER, Boson will advance to the next unread meter. If the meter has been read already, Boson will not display it.
The CLEAR button is used to remove the current entry that has not been entered. If the reading has been entered for the meter displayed, the reading will show just under the empty boxes. To replace the entry, simply retype another reading value.
The ENTER button accepts the reading that has been typed in. If the reading is higher than the expected high value, Boson will warn you of the high entry. If the reading is lower than the excpected low value, Boson will warn you of the low entry. The message "Reading is outside the expected range" will be displayed. Tapping OK will accept the entry. Tapping Cancel will discard the entry and permit re-entry of the reading.
The DETAILS button will show the Details Screen.
The ROUTE button will return to the Route Screen.
The UP/DOWN hardware buttons at the bottom of the handheld will display the next or previous meter in route order regardless of whether it has been read or visited.
The CENTER hardware button will reverse the route order. A small arrow will flip in the middle of the display. The direction you leave the arrow controls the route direction. The up arrow means the route direction is backward. The down arrow means the route direction is forward or normal.
If you receive the message "Beginning of Route", this likely means the route direction is set to backward and Boson cannot find any unread meters while searching in reverse order. Tap the CENTER button to reverse the direction back to normal. We get asked this question frequently, "Why does it say Beginnig of Route?". Readers accidentally push the CENTER button. The next meter reading causes the handheld to look backwards in the route and it cannot find any unread meters. The beginning of the route is found and then Boson reports the "Beginning of Route" message.
The FIND Button has three modes: Find by Location number (house number), Meter Serial Number, Meter Tag Number.
Pressing the FIND button again changes the mode. Typically, the reader wants to find with the house number. To do so, tap FIND until "Find by location" is shown. Tap in the house number and press ENTER.
Boson will show the matching meters one at a time until the end of route is encountered or the use taps RESUME. Tapping ENTER instructs Boson to search for the next match. Think of RESUME as resume right here. After the entry for the found meter is made, Boson will continue to the next unread meter in route order.
The DETAILS Screen will show the expected Hi/Low and Previous readings for the meter. The office may have disabled the the view of these fields.
You may tap a drop-down field "Tap for Response Code" to select an excuse why the reading cannot be obtained.
A note entry can be at the bottom of the handheld. Any message or response code will be reported on the office's exception report.