App version 1.0.0.20

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Xplore Shield frequently asked questions

If your question is not here, ask it through Feedback in the blue bar at the top of a main screen. See Feedback and what happens to your report.

About Xplore Shield

What is Xplore Shield?

An app for exploration businesses that runs the field side of a mine safety management system (MSMS): who and what is in the field, the forms crews submit, reminders before things lapse, hazards and incidents followed through, and a mine record that cannot be quietly changed. See Why an exploration MSMS matters.

Does an exploration company need a mine safety management system?

In Western Australia, the duty to establish and implement an MSMS under the Work Health and Safety (Mines) Regulations 2022 applies to exploration operations as well as to mines. Xplore Shield helps you run and evidence it; it does not make an operation compliant on its own.

What is new in this release?

See the Release summary and change log. The beta release is 1.0.0.14, of 20/10/2026.

Which version of Xplore Shield am I using?

Open the menu: the version shows small at its foot, like "Version 1.0.0.14". A report you send through Feedback records it for you.

Does it work on a phone?

Yes, from release 1.0.0.13. In the Power Apps mobile app, sign in and choose the Xplore Shield version marked Test: that is the beta, and its screens lay themselves out for a phone or a tablet. See Known behaviours for what differs on a phone.

Getting started

The app will not open for me. Why?

The commonest reason is the licence. Your Microsoft 365 licence needs Power Apps for Office 365 rights. See Microsoft 365 licence.

Do I choose my safety profile?

No. The app puts you on your organisation's profile when you open it. Only a few Terra Search staff can switch profile, from the row under Settings in the menu. If the Dashboard shows someone else's data, or none, send a report.

Is what I enter in the beta real?

Yes. Entries you make, in the Mine Record Book above all, are real records. Do not enter practice data you would not want kept.

Mine Record Book

I made a mistake in an entry. How do I fix it?

Choose Correct on the entry, change what is wrong and save. The old entry stays, struck through, and links to the new one. Entries and files cannot be edited or deleted, because the book is a statutory record. See Mine Record Book.

A colleague says they added an entry, but I cannot see it.

The Mine Record Book reads the entries when you open the screen. Leave it and come back.

How do I record a statutory appointment?

See Mine Record Book appointments.

Compliance and reminders

Why does my "Missing Forms" list include items I cannot submit?

Some entries in the list, such as an RDO (rostered day off) date or a JMP (journey management plan) departure, are not forms a person can hand in at the time, so they can show as missing when nobody can clear them. Terra Search knows about this and is looking at it. If you see an item you cannot act on, do not chase it: tell us which one through Feedback.

A prestart was submitted late, or after midnight, and still shows as missed.

A form that reaches the system on a later day than the one it is for does not clear the earlier miss. Devices in remote areas can sync hours late. Tell your administrator, who can clear the miss by hand.

I raised a hazard on the daily prestart form. Is it in the Hazard Reports register?

Yes. Hazards raised in the hazard sections of the daily prestart meeting and of the weekly toolbox meeting are written to the Hazard Reports register. This has been so since 25 September 2026, and hazards lost before then were put back. If one you raised is missing, send a report with the project, the date and the form, through Feedback.

Someone, or something, appears twice.

A person with two staff records, or equipment recorded under two projects, can appear twice. Send a report with the name so an administrator can tidy the records. Do not delete either yourself unless you are sure which is the old one.

Doesn't the compliance list fill from the database? I had already added our people and equipment there.

No. Adding a record to the Staff or Equipment database sends nothing and puts nobody on a compliance list. A person or item joins a project's list when a submitted form that adds people or equipment names them. The database decides only who can be added. See Staff compliance and Equipment compliance.

Is someone at Terra Search adding people to our compliance list?

Normally nobody does it by hand. The crew's own forms add them, as above. Anyone with access can also add a record with New on the Compliance screen, which sends the same "added" email (see Notifications, below). Which forms add people is set on each project's record, under Staff Trigger Forms. See Projects database.

Do changes we make in our Databases change Terra Search's records?

No. Each record belongs to one safety profile, and the app shows and changes only your profile's records. Terra Search keeps its own copy of each person it employs or supplies, under its own profile, for its HR forms. Editing your copy does not change Terra Search's. See Staff database record.

I changed our staff list but FastField doesn't show it.

Saving in the Databases does not send the change to FastField. It goes across at 1:00 am Western Australia time, or straight away if you choose Fastfield, then Sync, on the tab you changed; the app says so in a note after each save. Then sync FastField on the phone, which keeps the list it last downloaded until it syncs. See Databases.

Contractors are listed with employees. Can they be separate?

Not yet. Contractors are listed with employees today. Marking a person as Contractor on their staff record changes what notifications they can have, but does not move them into a list of their own. Separate lists are a suggestion Terra Search has noted.

Notifications

Why do I get so many notifications?

Xplore Shield's emails and texts are not sent by the app on your phone or computer. Terra Search's automated system sends them, from the records the app and your field forms keep. Several separate jobs each decide for themselves whom to tell, and most of them run every day, some every hour. So one missing form can reach the person who owes it, the project's own contacts and the profile's report lists, each by its own message, and someone named on several lists gets each list's messages.

Terra Search has looked at what its reminders do. Many are worth having, but some are not: a reminder that repeats one already sent that day, one about a form already handed in, one sent to someone who is away, and one about work run under a client's own safety system. Terra Search is working to cut these down; the first step is under What is changing? below. Until then, the settings below are what decide who gets what.

What does the system send, and who gets it?

A person on two projects' lists gets each project's reminders, and someone who is both a project's Check-Ins recipient and on Check-In Reports gets both sets of check-in messages.

Why do I keep getting emails saying a person or equipment was "added to the compliance list"?

One email goes to everyone listed under Compliance Reports on Settings each time a person or a piece of equipment is added to a project's compliance list. It is sent whatever made the addition, and a person is added again at the start of each new swing, so a rotating crew produces many. Each one confirms that the crew's own forms put them on the list. Terra Search is testing a way to gather each day's additions into one email (see What is changing? below). See Staff compliance.

What can I change myself?

A change on Settings applies to your whole safety profile. See Settings.

• Compliance Reports: who receives the "added" emails, the daily Compliance Report, the return summaries and the equipment notices. Taking someone off this list stops all of these for them.

• Check-In Reports, Comms Reports and HR Reports: who receives each of those reports. A project's own Check-Ins recipients are on its record in the Projects database.

• A list on Settings cannot be left empty: a picker you clear keeps its saved people. If Compliance Reports has nobody on it, the profile's app users are emailed instead, each time one of its messages is due, and asked to fill it. To empty a list, ask Terra Search through Feedback.

• Send All Forms? and the distribution lists: with the switch off, only incident reports, hazard reports, job safety analyses (JSEAs), weekly toolbox meetings, daily reports and any form marked "Attention Required" are emailed. With it on, every form is. A project's own Send All Forms? switched on sends every form from that project, to Settings' lists and to the project's own recipients; switched off, it does not stop the profile's switch.

• A person's Notifications switch, on their compliance record. Turning it off stops their daily compliance reminder and their weather report, but not their check-in reminders. The app asks for the reason, because the reminders are a safety measure, and keeps it as a compliance record. If nobody on a project receives reminders, the Compliance Reports people are told each day about that project's missing equipment inspections instead. See Staff compliance.

• Weather, on the same record: turns the 5 am weather report off for that person.

• Contractor, on the staff record: only a contractor's Compliance Notifications can be turned off there. With it off, the person's forms do not put them on a compliance list, and a daily prestart never adds a contractor, so they get no reminders unless someone adds them to a list by hand. See Staff database record.

• Tracking, on a comms device's compliance record: turns its tracker alerts off. Disable Tracking in the alert email does the same. See Comms compliance.

• Coming off the list. A person who has gone home but still gets reminders may never have submitted an End Shift form. See Staff compliance for how people leave the list.

What should I tell Terra Search?

Send a report through Feedback in the blue bar at the top of a main screen when a message:

• repeats one you already had that day;

• is about a form already handed in;

• reached someone who was away, on an RDO or had gone home;

• is about work where the client runs its own safety system;

• went to the wrong person, or arrived at the wrong time of day;

• is one you cannot act on, or cannot turn off yourself.

Say what the message said, when it came, and which person, equipment or project it was about. Reports like these are what the beta is meant to find. See Feedback and what happens to your report.

What is changing?

Terra Search is testing a new way to send these. Each day's additions to the compliance lists would come as one daily email, and the app would gain a notification bell with a list of your notices. It is being tested now, and no date is set. Until it replaces them, the messages above carry on as described. The Notifications page describes the bell, the For you view and the daily digest as they will work.

Records and settings

Why does a staff record show "Not held" for the mobile number?

For a safety profile marked "Mobile numbers not held" on the Settings screen, the mobile number is not required. The box shows Not held with a short note, and you can save without a number. For every other profile a mobile number is required and checked. See Staff database record.

Some crews work under their own employer's safety system, and that employer may prefer not to record their mobile numbers with us. You no longer need to enter a placeholder or made-up number for them.

• New option available: anyone who can open Settings for the profile can now turn on the Mobile numbers not held setting.

• Updating staff: once it is on, you can leave a staff member's mobile number as Not held, or enter a real number if one is provided.

• Existing placeholders: please don't update or clear the placeholder numbers already in the system. Our automated text messaging is still being updated to handle blank numbers safely, and removing placeholders now may cause messaging errors. We will let you know as soon as it is safe to clean them up.

Where do I put a person's nickname?

In Other Names on their staff record. The first name and surname must be as on their identity document, because the system stores and finds a person by first name and surname only. A nickname typed into the first name or surname would show everywhere and stop matching Terra Search's own copy.

Why will the app not let me delete a person, project or piece of equipment?

A row that compliance records, or Mine Record Book entries, still point at cannot be deleted, so that the history is not orphaned. The box says what is attached and what to do instead: close or move those records, or mark the row inactive. See Databases.

Why is the Quad Bike type not offered for new equipment?

Quad bikes are being retired in favour of side-by-side vehicles. An existing item that is a quad bike keeps its type, but new equipment cannot be added as one.

Reports arrive at the wrong time of day.

Report times come from Compliance Hour Check and the time zone field (the one labelled with the three-letter abbreviation of Greenwich Mean Time) on the Settings screen. Check that the time zone matches your location. A change there applies to the whole safety profile. See Settings.

A date looks one day out.

A date with no time, such as an expiry date, shows the date as it was entered, wherever you are. A date with a time shows in your own time zone.

Documents

How do I get the PDF of a Daily Report, or any other form?

Only the All Forms register holds the form PDFs. Open Registers, choose All Forms, filter by the form name, tick one row and choose Preview or Download; Download saves the PDF straight to your device. See Registers.

How do I find a form older than 30 days?

On Registers, open Filters, set a From date before the last 30 days and choose Search the whole list. See Registers.

I cannot upload to my client's MSMS folder.

Tell Terra Search which folder and which account. Folder access is set up by administrators and can need fixing for a new client. See MSMS.

More help

• Known behaviours in the beta

• Quick start

• Xplore Shield help

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