Overview

Configure devices on site by scanning a QR code, with names, tags, and custom fields filled in from a mapping file.

The Device Setup Assistant is the app an installer uses at the point of installation. They scan the QR code on a device, confirm it is the right one, and the device is recorded as belonging to a particular desk, room, or floor.

It exists because the hard part of a large rollout is not mounting the sensors, it is keeping track of which sensor ended up where. Doing that afterwards, from a spreadsheet and a photo of a serial number, is where rollouts lose their afternoons. The Device Setup Assistant moves that step to the moment the device goes up, and it can be handed to someone who has never used akenza.

It runs on a phone and on a desktop browser, so the same flow works whether devices are being mounted in a building or configured at a bench.

The Device Setup Assistant is available on Expert plans. See akenza.io/pricing for what each tier includes.

Before you start

Three things have to exist before an installer arrives on site:

• The devices, created in the workspace. The assistant configures devices that are already there, it does not create them. For a fleet, create them with a bulk import.

• The tags and custom fields you want filled in, defined in the workspace.

• A mapping file, if you want values pre-filled rather than typed. It is uploaded in the workspace settings.

Setting up a device

1

Scan the QR code

Scanning the code on the device opens it directly in the assistant. The code has to resolve to this URL, where the parameter is the device ID or DevEUI:

https://api.akenza.io/v3/resolve-device?deviceId=0018B20000001122

Many manufacturers ship LoRaWAN sensors with a code in this form on request. Where a device has no usable code, the installer picks it from the list of devices in the workspace instead.

2

Check that it is the right device

The device overview confirms what was scanned. If the device has already sent data, Last Message Time tells you it is alive, alongside its signal quality and battery level. Any tags and custom fields it already carries are shown here too.

This is the moment to catch a device that is dead on arrival, while you are still standing next to it and a ladder is still in the room.

3

Configure it

Fill in the tags and custom fields for the physical device: where it is, what it monitors, whatever your fleet is organized by.

With a mapping file in place this collapses to a single choice. The installer selects the primary field, for example the desk they are standing at, and the rest is filled in from the file.

4

Save

Saving writes the values onto the device in akenza. It is immediately visible in the asset inventory, and the values can be used in filters, rules, and the Data Fusion Layer like any other.

The assistant on a phone, at the point of installation

The mapping file

A mapping file is a CSV that describes the installation in advance: every position that will receive a device, and what should be recorded about it. On site the installer chooses one value and everything else follows, which is both faster and harder to get wrong than typing at the top of a ladder.

How the columns work

Column	What it does
deviceName	Reserved. Sets the name of the device. The column has to be spelled exactly like this.
tags	Reserved. The tags to assign, separated by commas inside one cell. The column has to be spelled exactly like this.
your custom fields	One column per custom field, named exactly as the field is named in the workspace.

One of the custom field columns is nominated as the primary field. That is the one the installer picks from on site, so it has to be something readable in the physical world: a desk label, a room number, an asset sticker. Every other column is filled in from the row that matches.

Tags and custom fields named in the file must already exist in the workspace, spelled identically. A column that does not match anything is not applied, and nothing warns the installer on site.

An example

Device Setup Assistant Template.csv

421B

Open

The template describes a desk occupancy rollout:

assetId	deviceName	building	floor	type	tags
A102	Desk A102	A	1	Desk	Occupancy,Desk
A201	Desk A201	A	2	Desk	Occupancy,Desk
A300	Desk A300	A	3	Desk	Occupancy,Desk

Here assetId is the primary field, matching the label already on each desk. building, floor, and type are custom fields, and the two tags are assigned from one cell. An installer mounting a sensor under desk A201 scans it, picks A201, and the device is named, placed on floor 2 of building A, and tagged, in one action.

Configuring it for a workspace

The mapping file is uploaded per workspace, in the workspace settings:

Device Setup Assistant