New in skillSYMS · Desktop & offline
Keep working when the connection drops
Training happens in workshops, on mine sites and in rural venues — rarely where the signal is strongest. skillSYMS Desktop keeps the register, the logbook and evidence capture working offline, then syncs everything with its audit trail intact.
Live in production. Offline working is in skillSYMS Desktop for Windows, Mac and Linux; your organisation switches it on.
Trusted by leading skills development providers
The session ends. The typing begins.
When the venue has no connection, the register goes on paper and the evidence goes on a phone. Someone re-types it back at the office — days later, from handwriting — and the record shows when it was typed, not when the training happened. That is slow, it is where errors creep in, and it is exactly the gap an auditor looks at.
- Paper registers re-captured after the fact, one learner at a time.
- Photos of workplace evidence stuck on a facilitator’s phone.
- Logbook entries written up from memory at the end of the week.
- No way to tell which record was captured on site and which was reconstructed.
- Two people editing the same record and the last save quietly winning.
What works without a connection
Take the register offline
Choose “My upcoming classes” and skillSYMS Desktop keeps the class lists and registers for the sessions you facilitate in the next 36 hours. Mark present, late, absent or excused; the time you marked is kept.
Record logbook entries
Learners write workplace logbook entries with no signal. The form saves as they type, so a flat battery or a closed laptop loses nothing. Entries sync as drafts for the normal supervisor process.
Capture evidence
Drag photos and documents into the evidence page. Each file is encrypted on the computer and uploads to the learner’s portfolio when the connection allows.
Encrypted on the device
Offline data is sealed with keys held in the computer’s own credential store. A copied folder is unreadable elsewhere, and an administrator can remotely wipe a lost laptop.
An audit trail that survives the trip
Every offline change is signed by the device and chained to the one before it, and records when it was captured and when it synced. A tampered or out-of-order change is refused.
Conflicts kept, not overwritten
If someone changed the same record online in the meantime, both versions are kept. An administrator compares them in Settings → Offline Sync and decides which stands.
Switch on. Choose. Work. Sync.
- 1
Switch offline working on
An administrator enables it under Settings → Devices → Desktop policy, and trusts the computers that may hold offline data.
- 2
Choose what to take offline
Staff open Me → Offline Packs; learners open Work Offline. Pick your upcoming classes, one session, or your own logbook and evidence.
- 3
Work anywhere
Before you leave connectivity, skillSYMS Desktop downloads the pack. On site, open the Sync Centre from the tray and take the register or capture evidence.
- 4
Reconnect and sync
Changes sync automatically when you are back online. Large files wait for a good connection while records keep flowing.
What this does not do yet
- Offline working is off until your organisation switches it on, and only devices an administrator trusts can hold offline data.
- Assessment results are not captured offline. They stay a connected, moderated process.
- The register covers sessions you facilitate that are in your offline pack — your next 36 hours of classes or a session you chose.
- Portfolio evidence files are limited to 10 MB each.
- The Windows installers are not code-signed yet, so Windows may ask you to confirm the first time you open one. From version 1.3.3 the Mac app is signed and notarised and the Linux AppImage and .rpm are GPG-signed; updates are signed and verified on every platform.
Questions providers ask
Can I take attendance in skillSYMS without internet?
What happens if two people change the same record?
Is offline data safe on a laptop?
Does offline capture weaken the audit trail?
Which devices does it run on?
Can learners use it too?
Talk to us about this
Tell us about your provider and we will come back with a written quote.
Get a quote built around your provider
Tell us how many learners you carry, how many sites you deliver from, and which modules you need. We come back with a written quote within one business day.