GPS Fleet Monitoring Guide: The Essentials

One of the most important fleet management skills to learn and develop is using analytical tools like GPS fleet monitoring.

According to a survey, the vast majority of fleet managers have used or will use GPS fleet monitoring by 2018. Clearly, fleet managers who never used fleet software are falling behind of their peers.

In our 2018 GPS Fleet Monitoring Guide, we want to teach fleet managers about important software concepts.

The Essentials

What are some of the essential fleet monitoring concepts? Geotab, installed in over a million vehicles worldwide, considers the following concepts as essentials: Location Tracking, Rules, Fuel Reports, and Vehicle Maintenance Reminders.

Location Tracking

Location tracking remains the bread and butter of GPS fleet monitoring because that’s why most fleets start using vehicle monitoring.

Geotab users can access location tracking commands by clicking the Map sidebar button. Three important Map functions include Live Map, Trip History, and Geofencing.

Live Map

Firstly, fleet managers need to be familiar with Live Map. Every single fleet GPS solution will have a map portal. On Geotab’s portal, users can view a vehicle by hovering over their map and clicking vehicles. They can also search and select a vehicle from a list.

Some useful applications of live maps include providing location updates, managing drivers, and dispatching the closest driver to a site.

Trip History

Secondly, fleet managers should learn how to use the Trip History report. Again, every GPS software should allow managers to view a vehicle’s location history.

Geotab users can look at a vehicle’s trip history by selecting a vehicle or driver. Then, the program replays trips with “destinations”, or events when drivers stop for a specified amount of time. In effect, managers can review or download all trips in the prior year with Geotab.

Geofencing

 

Finally, fleet managers need to know how to geofence. Geofences are custom map zones. Users can then set up rules and alerts with their created map zones.

For example, consider the following applications. One company processed payroll by creating a geofence on a customer site and monitoring their employees’ hours. Another company set up a “Casino Rule” which alerted managers whenever their employees broke company rules by visiting casinos.

Rules

Another important GPS fleet monitoring concept is Rules & Exceptions. Rules & Exceptions are powerful tools because managers can create and manage productivity or safety rules.

Some important functions to learn include Creating Rules and Viewing Exceptions.

Creating Rules

Before managers can view reports, they have to create rules. Geotab uses a Rules portal, where managers can quickly change Rule Settings, apply Advanced Settings, or Set Notifications.

For example, for custom Speeding rules, managers can manage event triggers by dragging a bar to indicate the speed over (or under) a speeding limit. Managers can also apply Advanced Settings such as changing the Speeding Duration before an event is triggered, or setting up text and email notifications.

Fuel Reports

The next essential concept is Fuel Reports. Fleet managers are responsible for controlling operation cost. Successful managers use tools such as Fill Up Graphs and Idling Reports.