Rule Book App FAQs

If you’re the lead decision maker in this area, or have a say in the way your teams use the Rule Book, and you’re interested in adopting the app, please get in touch with Rachel Leech at RSSB: rachel.leech@rssb.co.uk.

If you use the Rule Book yourself and would like your company to consider the app, talk to your Operations Director or others in your senior management teams.

The Rule Book App is currently available on iOS (Apple) and Android-run devices.

There are no plans to make the app available on Windows phones or tablets.

Yes. The app has been available for a yearly cost per user (1 license per person) since April 2018. 

Members get a substantial discount on the app:

• Members: £4.99 a year, per licensed user
• Non-members: £9.99 a year, per licensed user

We have a minimum of 10 rule book licenses per year to cover the administration costs of setting your organisation up and providing continued support during annual renewals.

The licence fee is on a ‘per person’ basis and fees are settled annually.

Anyone can download the app, but unless your organisation has adopted its use, you will not be able to login.

The Rule Book App enables rail staff to easily access the Rule Book via smartphones or tablets. It has improved usability, better cross-document search functionality, intuitive navigation and responsive design. Content can be accessed even when offline, and updates are made automatically.

Arranging for your people to have access to the Rule Book App is a quick and easy process.

Once we have agreed the set-up with your organisation, the app is available for download from the relevant app stores.

Some organisations use app distribution channels, software that allows an app to be pushed out centrally to many devices at once. This is a really useful option if you have large teams who all need the app.

We can also provide briefing materials, which you can customise and adapt to help spread the message to your teams about how to use the app and make sure it works for them.

When you log into the app for the first time you will be asked for your area of interest. The app groups documents (manuals and handbooks) based on different job groups: train operations staff, signaller and signalling technician, possession workers, driver, track workers.

The app will then suggest the collection of documents to download to your ‘My Rule Book’ area in the app.  When you download them, they will be available offline. You can then tailor the app based on the documents you need.

You can change the content in ‘My Rule Book’, adding and removing content, at any time.

It’s not possible for the organisation-level users or admins to allocate specific Rule Book documents to staff centrally.

However, admins can view which documents a user has selected for their ‘My Rule Book’ section, what issue they are, and whether they have acknowledged receipt of updates.

Obviously, admins or relevant leads in organisations can recommend particular content to users and ensure they know how to download the right content, but this is not available through the app.

Yes. Anything downloaded to the ‘My Rule Book’ section is available offline on the user’s device. 

You need to have an internet connection (either via WiFi or mobile data) to download and initialise the app, and to download Rule Book content on to the device in the “My Rule Book” section of the app.

Once you have downloaded content, you don’t need to be connected to the internet to see it. You can consult the Rule Book sections you have downloaded whether you’re connected or not.

However, you will need to be connected to receive notifications of updates and to download them.

RSSB will publish future updates to the content (for example if there is a new issue of a handbook because of a rule change). When a user is online, these updates will automatically be pushed to their device to view and acknowledge, before they are in-force.

When this content becomes in-force, content will automatically replace the previous version. 

The app’s registration process will only recognise and automatically approve work-based email addresses (like @company-name.co.uk) and users have to formally acknowledge and consent to the app via that email.

If registering with a personal email address and your organisation has a local administrator, then that administrator can approve or decline access to the app.  If your organisation does not have a local administrator setup, then the registration will be declined. Local administrators are responsible for managing users with personal email accounts and to revoke their licences if the user moves to another organisation.

Organisation admins can view which documents a user has selected for their ‘My Rule Book’ section, what issue they are and whether they have acknowledged the receipt of the latest content. 

The app’s registration process will only recognise and approve email addresses with a work-based domain (like @company-name.co.uk).  Registering with a personal email account to access a licence is at the discretion of your organisation as these accounts are harder to manage if you move organisations.

Yes - from RSSB. We will push enquiries to the right people to address (for example, to the app developers if there is a technical problem with the app itself).

Yes – as long as your organisation has formally adopted the Rule Book App.

When organisations adopt the app, staff must register and sign in using their official work email domain (name@company-name.co.uk).

Once approved, the user can access the app, either once it has been pushed to their device centrally or via the app store. Users can then register and sign-in to the app using their work email address.

However, once set up, the same individual can download the app onto a personal device from a different platform, then use their work email address to register or sign-in to the app. The user will see their configurations across all their devices. 

No. The app is simply designed to allow rail staff to access the Rule Book in a more intuitive and efficient way.

All rail companies will have relevant policies and internal communication campaigns in place to ensure staff know when they can and cannot use mobile devices, and these will still apply.