Sandbox

The sandbox is a separate, practice copy of your organisation. Use it to try things out (set up test sites, assets and check templates, schedule checks and see how they behave) without touching your real records.

Who can use it

Owners and H&S Admins can switch to the sandbox.

Switching to the sandbox

1. Open your user menu (top right).
2. Choose Switch to Sandbox.

The first time anyone in your organisation does this, AssetBuddy creates the sandbox. It starts with the same default categories and check templates as a new account. You're signed in to it as a sandbox version of yourself, shown as "Your Name (sandbox)", with the same role you have for real.

While you're in the sandbox, a yellow bar across the top of every page reminds you that nothing there is real.

Switching back

Click Switch back to live in the yellow bar, or in your user menu. You return to your normal account straight away.

What's different in the sandbox

• Your real account isn't affected. While you're in the sandbox, your real account stays in your organisation. Colleagues can still assign you checks, and you keep receiving your normal alerts and emails.
• Nobody is emailed. Reminders, alerts and other notifications in the sandbox appear in the notification bell only. This includes anyone you add in the sandbox, such as a contractor with a real email address.
• It's shared. Everyone who uses the sandbox works in the same sandbox organisation, each as their own sandbox user, so you can plan things together.
• Billing and inviting people aren't available. The sandbox uses your live plan's features, and there's nothing to pay for.
• Scheduled checks work normally. Checks are generated, fall due and go overdue just as they would for real, so you can see how a schedule will behave.

If your session times out while you're in the sandbox, signing in again takes you to your real account.

Copying to live

When you're happy with something you've set up in the sandbox, you can copy it into your live account instead of setting it up again.

You can copy:

• Assets: tick them on the Assets list and choose Copy to live, or use Copy to live on an asset's page.
• Check templates: use Copy to live on the template's page.
• Sites: use Copy to live on the site's page. The site's locations come with it.
• Categories: use Copy to live next to the category on the Categories page. Its custom fields come with it.

Before anything is copied, you see what will happen:

• Will be added to live: the records you chose, plus anything they need that live doesn't have yet. For example, copying an asset also brings its category, site and location.
• Already in live: anything live already has with the same name is used as it is. Nothing in live is changed.
• Won't be copied: a record you chose is skipped if live already has an asset with the same code, or a template, site or category with the same name.

Then choose Copy to live to go ahead, or Cancel.

Things to know:

• Copied check templates start working straight away. They begin scheduling checks for matching live assets, and the preview tells you how many.
• Only the setup is copied. Checks, defects, documents and photos stay in the sandbox. Asset owners aren't copied, so set them in live.
• Plan limits still apply. If a copy would take your live account over its plan's number of sites or assets, nothing is copied.
• Copies are recorded. Each new live record appears in the audit log as "Copied from the sandbox", under your name.