Frotcom Web - Release notes - 2017

The following list shows the most recent changes implemented in Frotcom.

2017-12-21

HIGHLIGHT - Information about fuel consumption during idling 

Benefits for the user:

Frotcom Web now provides you a way to check the amount of fuel consumed by your fleet during idling, as well as the total idling time.

This new feature fits specially the needs of companies that read fuel consumption from their vehicles, or want to control in an easy way how much time their vehicles are spending in idling.

Technical description:

The information will be visible both on the Vehicle infobox > Other information and on the menu Management > Fuel, as well as a new column on the Fuel Management report.

Only users with permission to Management > Fuel will be able to see the idling related fuel information, and only vehicles equipped with CANBus can have this information available.

HIGHLIGHT - New place types

Benefits for the user:

By default, Frotcom web had 16 place types available for the user to pick from or to customize at will.
As of this release, 14 additional place types were added to the pool, providing you more options to define new places with specific names, colours and icons, making a total of 30 different place types.

Technical description:

To customize your place types, you must go to Administration > Areas, select Places on the combo box and click on the Hamburger menu > Place settings.

The first 16 types already have predefined settings that you may find useful, and the additional 14 types are named Place type 1 to 14.

You can edit any of these places' type, color and icon by clicking on the Edit button next to them.

OTHER IMPROVEMENTS

Added a combo on the Fuel Graph to choose how you would like to see the total fuel tank capacity - with the unit defined in Administration > Account > General - Preferred fuel units or with the new addition: percentage, that allows you to make decisions based on the percentage of fuel available in the vehicle tanks.

This setting is saved as a user preference, and next time you access the graph it will have the same view as before.

New Route Execution Times Detailed report: the new report allows you to list and compare each route execution from the same route template to other executions:

On this report, each line corresponds to one stop on the route, with the information about the planned and executed arrival time and a bar with graphic information to indicate if the vehicle executed the route on time (gray line in the middle), with a delay (red bars to the right) or ahead of time (green bard to the left).

2017-12-04

HIGHLIGHT - Map with events for Driving behaviour

Benefit for users

When looking for the Driving behaviour of your fleet, you might want to see where exactly the events that are accounted for the driving score are occurring. This way you can eventually find areas on the map that you fleet is usually going overspeed or having other behaviours that might impact on your budget later on, for instance, and with that you can require your fleet a general driving behaviour adjustment.

The new map view on the Driving behaviour panel lets you have this overview for each of your drivers:

Technical description

You can simply click on the driver in the list and a map with all the events that are accounted for their score will open at the bottom of the screen.
You can see where each event occurred, filter for specific events and also export the information to a document to be used later for proof or comparison with other drivers.

Other improvements:

Copy the coordinates of a point on the map to the clipboard: From any view of the map (Place, Vehicle, Address, Direction, Stop, Alarm, Ignition point and Zone) you have now the option to copy the latitude and longitude of a point to the clipboard:

Simply select Copy coordinates on the infobox or on the right-click options.

New column "When" on Jobs > Pending: 

 

The information shown in this column is based on the definition of When in the task:

• If the option In scheduler, use SLA from destination place is selected, will show this text in the field;
• If No time restriction is selected with an Exclusion date, will show a clickable icon  that opens a popup with the detailed information;
• If a Time tolerance or Time range is selected, will show the Arrive date and the clickable icon ;
• If there are more than one task for the job with different values for When, will show the text Multiple;
• Will not show any information if No time restriction is selected with no Exclusion date.

When the option Show only last position on map option is selected on Administration > Account - CRM the clients will see only the last position on the map of Tracking tickets - with no trails if the vehicle is in movement:

Added a new filter to Activity today to be able to filter all the vehicles or only vehicles with activity today. This way you can user the filter fo focus on the vehicles that are, in fact, with activities today:

2017-11-17

Two new options to better control and process the list of Alarms were added to the Hamburger menu: Process all alarms and Process alarms listed below:

Button Add New included on Administration > Vehicles, to make it possible to add vehicles and assets without GPS:

Customers can now see the Support phone number on Frotcom Web:

Contact your Frotcom Certified Partner to be able to use this functionality.

Added some teasers of Frotcom Web HTML5 before a user logs in to the Silverlight version of the system.

2017-11-03

Alternative paths: when looking for a direction between two locations (no waypoints), Frotcom will now show up to 3 different paths for you to choose from:

You can check more details about directions clicking here.

Added the option to configure a different sound for special alarms on Administration > Setting User Preferences.

The Alarms count icon  now shows the number of all the unprocessed alarms existent (prior to this release it showed only the unprocessed alarms of the past 6 hours).

Driving behaviour panel now is divided into two tabs: Simplified view and Detailed view (the last one being the option that was once in the hamburger menu of the panel:

Routes > Assigned routes (linear view) has now an option to show the route status (same panel that appears on the Map view > Routes). To view it, hover the mouse on the info icon on the left:

2017-10-20

HIGHLIGHT - WFM terminals used directly as tracking devices

Benefit for users

If you are mostly interested in Frotcom's Workforce Management (WFM) feature but still would like to know where each driver/vehicle is, without needing to install a GPS tracker in the vehicle, you have an option: to track the WFM terminal directly.

This new feature will allow you to still track the whereabouts of your vehicles, through the terminal's GPS position.

You should be aware that tracking a WFM terminal is not as reliable as tracking a GPS tracker which is installed in your vehicle. A WFM terminal is not always in perfect GPS coverage conditions - for instance if it is taken by the driver inside a building. Also, the terminal cannot monitor your vehicles' CANBus data and may eventually run out of battery if it is not charged during the day. 

Nevertheless, if your work force uses 3G or 4G WFM terminals, and you just want basic tracking, this new feature may be interesting for you to try. 

Technical description

You can see which terminals are allowed to be used as tracking devices by either checking the column Tracking on the list on Administration > Terminals > Workforce or selecting one terminal on the list.

Here are the details.

Ask your Frotcom Certified Partner to prepare your terminals as tracking devices.

OTHER IMPROVEMENTS

New CANBus graph added: PTO (Power take-off)

You can see more details about graphs clicking here.

Cost Management exported data now shows the additional information in the .cvs file.

2017-10-06

New CANBus alarms were added:

• AdBlue low level
• Oil low level indicator
• Seat belt missing
• Trailer weight
• Vehicle weight

To check more information about these and other alarms available, please click here.

New CANBus graphs were added:

• Level AdBlue
  
• Weight
  

You can see more details about graphs clicking here.

Vehicle infobox > Other information now has the option to show the weight of the vehicle (when available).

The Amplitude is now being taken in consideration when calculating the Driving time restrictions and ETA.

2017-09-22

Date pickers have now two new buttons -1 and +1, to easier select one day backward/forward from the selected date.

2017-09-19

Alarm Engine Overspeed now have two more definitions to be applied: Only speed higher than and Only speed lower than.
You can see more about this alarm clicking here.

Drivers now receive a message on their Garmin PND device when an assigned Route is Updated or Deleted.

For more information about updating assigned routes please click here.
For more information about deleting assigned routes please click here.

2017-09-08

Choose which graphs to see and their order. Click here for details.

It's possible to organize the Workforce management forms inside predefined folders. Click here for details.

2017-08-25

Parameters you use in the generation of reports are now memorized by Frotcom; so, next time you generate the same report, your definitions will be used, unless you change them.

The tachograph chart can now be displayed in two alternative views, chosen in the More menu. Click here for details.

During cost entry and cost editing, you can check on the map where that cost took place, according to GPS data. Click here for details.

You can now create an alarm by right clicking on that vehicle and choosing the Create alarm option. Click here for details.

You can now see all the alarms set for each vehicle. Click here for details.

Until now, you could not add new places or zones, with a right click on the map, over areas previously created. You also could not send an address inside that area to the driver's terminal. That is now possible.

2017-08-10

HIGHLIGHT - Interact is now much faster and refreshes automatically

Benefits for users

All messages and forms coming from your drivers are now delivered to you almost instantaneously.

Additionally, you can process all past messages at once.

Finally, we added a counter that tells you how many messages are still unprocessed in each conversation (each driver/vehicle).

To check the new improved behavior of Interact, you might want to read the article about Messages Sent and Received.

Technical description

Frotcom is using a new technology which speeds up the synchronization of messages and forms coming from your drivers.

Frotcom will immediately indicate when a new message or form arrives. The conversations are placed on top and their text is marked in bold blue, so you notice immediately when there are new messages or forms.

HIGHLIGHT - Hide/show infoboxes and information panel

Benefits for users

You can now hide the infoboxes associated to the vehicles, as well as the information panel which shows you trips, graphs and other information, at the bottom of your map.

You can keep a "cleaner" map, by only showing the information panel and the infoboxes when needed, for example, keeping them hidden otherwise.

Technical description

By simply clicking the hide/show buttons, you will tell Frotcom how you prefer to have your map.

Frotcom will respect your preferences until you change them again.

You can check this article.

Other improvements:

"Speed/Stop duration" are now available to be shown on the vehicle list, marker and infobox. If the vehicle is moving, this indicator will show how fast.; if the vehicle is stopped, you will know for how long.

The Chronometer, showing the total engine hours, is now available to be shown in the Other info panel in the Infobox.

Even after an alarm is processed, you can still create or edit its Notes field. Until now, you could not alter the Notes of an alarm already processed.

2017-07-28

Overall interface improvements

The following interface improvements were implemented in the new release:

1. Height of menu and sidebars reduced slightly
2. Font size of texts and colors revised and normalized throughout the interface
3. Infobox component colors and opacity revised

Other improvements:

New information available in Infoboxes -  Temperature and Door open information is now also available to be displayed on the infoboxes associated to each vehicle. Simply select the corresponding options in the infobox's Other information panel.

Context menu to remove point on rearrange path - You can now remove a waypoint that you created when manually rearranging the path. Just right click on the waypoint and choose option "Remove this point". 

Floating infobox for way points and occurrences -  The infoboxes of waypoints are now automatically removed when the mouse cursor moves away from the corresponding waypoint, which makes it easier to check the infoboxes of one waypoint after another.

New zoom default on the map - The default zoom level that Frotcom maps use when showing a single position or place is 100m instead of 50m. This gives you a better context for the position in which the vehicle or place is. Nevertheless, you will be able to continue to zoom in manually, as before, down to 10m. 

Reports and Graphs on the menu, by default - By default, new users will see theReports and Graphs options directly on the main menu. As before, users will be able to hide or show these and other options on the menu, according to their preferences.

Last 3 digits ignored on driver IDs - When driver ID tachograph cards are read by Frotcom to identify the drivers, the last 3 digits are now ignored; these last 3 digits are used as a counter when the driver's card is renewed. 

Workforce Management Signatures compression improvement - the compression mechanism for the Workforce Management signatures has been improved, resulting in a lower volume of data communications needed.

Driver identification through pin D8 - for vehicles with FMS 1.0 which do not allow tachograph driver ID over CANBus/FMS, Frotcom is now able to collect information using pin D8 of the tachograph.

2017-07-14

HIGHLIGHT - "Loading data" not shown on the map during auto-refreshing

Benefits for users

Until now, every time your browser started to update the vehicles' positions on the map, you would get a "Loading data" sign such as shown below:

At the same time, the interface would block to prevent you to change any element on the map or vehicle list during the loading stage.

Now, thanks to the new technology being used by Frotcom, this process is seamless. You will notice that the vehicles update their positions but you do not have to wait for that annoying sign to go away.

You will feel a better user experience on the map. 

Note: You will still see the "Loading data" message when you click on a new vehicle or in some way request new data to be pulled from the Data Center. This improvement has been applied only to the auto-refresh operation which happens every 2 minutes.

Technical description

Frotcom is using a new technology which speeds up the synchronization of data between your web browser and Frotcom's Data Center, without you having to suspend your actions on the map during the loading stage.

HIGHLIGHT - Configurable speed limits in Zones

Benefits for users

You can define different speed limits for each zone. In fact, these speed limits can be set for different vehicle classes. For instance, you can specify a speed limit for a truck in a zone, which is lower than a speed limit for a van in the same zone.

Note: this feature was already available in the Silverlight interface of Frotcom, now it is also available in the new version.

Technical description

For information about how to set up speed limits for zones, please check this article.

Other improvements:

Vehicle list improvements - We improved the look of the list of vehicles that you can see on the left of your map. Among other small changes, more vehicles now fit in your screen, which is really important for larger fleets.

As long as you have that permission, you will now be able to delete sent and received messages in Interact. Check here for more information on how to do it.

 2017-06-30

You can now see the details of each trip by drilling down the trips table.

In the Administration section of Frotcom, you can export the login table of any user in your account, for further analysis.

2017-06-16

HIGHLIGHT - Frotcom TV

Benefits for users

Frotcom TV allows companies to continuously follow the main news about their fleet: alarms, arrivals and departures, etc. Frotcom TV also displays interesting indicators such as the level of occupancy of the fleet (i.e. the percentage of vehicles traveling at any given moment).

Moreover, Frotcom TV is also able to show external news, extracted from news sites through RSS (Really Simple Syndication). So, you can add any world, local, economical or sports news to Frotcom TV.

Because it requires no human intervention, Frotcom TV is ideal to be displayed on an LCD or plasma monitor in a wall mount in the dispatch center or meeting room, for instance.

Technical description

Frotcom TV sequences between representations of your entire fleet and events, according to your selection in Administration > User preferences > Frotcom TV. 

At the bottom, you will see a ticker with the KPIs you have selected.

Optionally, you can also add up to 2 more tickers, showing news from RSS sites.

For more information, click here.

2017-06-08

HIGHLIGHT - Interface with locking system with anti-theft capabilities

Benefits for users
Frotcom is now integrated with ELB-Lock®, produced by Trans-Safety LOCKS® GmbH. With this system, container and trailer doors can be secured and operated both locally or remotely, via Frotcom, improving the safety and control over your goods.

For more information on the locking system, visit http://www.trans-safety.com/51/show/elb-lock-locking-system.html.

Technical description
The following features in Frotcom are now available:

• Locking mechanism is locked automatically after the door is closed.
• You can unlock the door remotely from Frotcom; the lock will open.
• Alternatively, the system can be unlocked by the driver, by inserting into the keypad a driver specific pin you define in Frotcom.
• You can also define in Frotcom a master pin to be used by a supervisor; this master pin serves as a master key.

HIGHLIGHT - Simple vehicle markers for larger fleets

Benefits for users
In the case of larger fleets, the size of the vehicle marker on the map may overlap too much the map and the other vehicles. Frotcom now has a smaller version of the vehicle marker that is easier to display on the map.

Technical description
You can choose the new format in the Map settings.

Vehicles will be shown with simpler markers. By placing the mouse on top of the marker you will still be shown the infobox, as before.

Other improvements

Frotcom now supports "US mpg" and "km/gal" as fuel consumption units.

Guests using Frotcom's demo, available from the website, will see Frotcom in their own language (where available).

2017-04-21

HIGHLIGHT - Use the Jobs module of Frotcom to create, assign and monitor your drivers' tasks

Benefits for users
The Jobs module allows you to interact with your drivers via the Workforce Management terminals available in your vehicles. This will not only provide a powerful tool for you to better manage your fleet but also allow you to have a quick and extensive insight of what task each driver is performing. The main goals are:

• Create Jobs/tasks
• Assign Jobs to vehicles
• Generate routes based on the job information
• Conversely, generate jobs based on route information
• Monitor the progress of each task via the predefined workflow steps
• Request your driver to fill in a form as a step of the task's workflow
• Check the current status of each task and each job

With the Generation of routes based on job information, Frotcom will provide you a whole new level of control over your fleet. This is made possible by joining the capabilities of both Jobs and Routes features!

Technical description
Jobs can be different things, depending on each fleet's activities. For example:
Transportation business - transporting a load from one place to another
Field services - repairing a lift in an apartments building
Sales forces - visiting a client to pick up new orders
Sometimes jobs can be made of a single task. Sometimes jobs can be made of multiple tasks. After talking to your Frotcom Certified Partner, you will know which definition of jobs better suits your fleet.

When you create a Task, you are able to adopt the following detail levels:

• What is to be done?
  You are able to define a Task type which has its own workflow steps, the Product/Service and the Quantity related to the product/service.
• Where is the task to be executed?
  You are able to define a geographical location, a place, or an address the driver must travel to in order to perform the task.
• When is the task to be executed?
  You are able to define time constraints concerning task completion, e.g.: time window Friday from 9 a.m. till noon.

By defining workflow steps for each task, you are able to request your drivers to fill in an agreed Form. This can be a simple report of the task performed (un)successfully or a form with the client's signature. You will then receive all these forms on the web version of Frotcom. You can edit them (if needed), print, or send a digital copy to an email address.

By usinginformation defined in the Where folder of the task details, Frotcom also allows you to generate a route and send it to the driver. This way, you take full advantage of the Routes feature when your driver is traveling between destinations. You can also define proper alarmistic that the Routes feature offers you.

In case of need, you are also able to deassign Jobs. With this action, Frotcom will analyze the job you are deassigning and, if there are still tasks of that job which were not completed, Frotcom will create automatically a new job, only with the incomplete tasks. In this way, you are able to assign the specific tasks that were not completed to another vehicle. 

For more information, click here.

Other improvements

Use the persisting filtering conditions in Interact and Alarms modules.

The performance of the Events table has been improved.

Make use of the improved Print map feature for the Map view and Places details folders.

Keep track of the movements of your fleet, with the focus on the fine-tuned Trails performed by the vehicles with 2 seconds tracking mode option active.

2017-04-07

HIGHLIGHT - Use the Notebook module to create and share your notes

Benefits for users
Frotcom has a new feature: the Notebook.
The Notebook module allows you to easily take notes about drivers, vehicles, places, clients or even generic ones. You can create as many notes as you need to help you better control your fleet and not forget about the important matters.

A note can be about a meeting with a potential client, a vehicle inspection or even about some of your thoughts. Besides creating them, you can also share them with your colleagues.

It's a feature created for your convenience. You don't need a physical notebook anymore! Forget about the post-its! Start using Frotcom's Notebook now!

Technical description
The Notebook is one of the several modules of Frotcom.To access it go to More>Notebook. In the Notebook folder, you can add text notes related to vehicles, drivers, places or clients, apart from creating also generic notes. These notes will stay registered until removed by you or another user with privileges to do so. If you select vehicles, drivers, places or clients you can specify for which particular individuals is the note referring to.

With the filtering options, you are able to filter the existing notes so that Frotcom displays the ones you are looking for. You have the following filters:
Calendar filter
This filter allows you to select the notes created within a defined interval time
Note type filter
This filter allows you to select notes related to drivers, vehicles, places, clients or generic ones.
User filter
This filter allows you to select notes created by a particular user

Additionally, you can also modify or delete a note. In case you want to delete all the notes at once, simply set up the filtering conditions accordingly a use the Delete all functionality. If you have permissions to do so, Frotcom will delete all the displayed notes.

 For more information, click here.

Other improvements

Select the extended and improved Status filter in the Interact module.

2017-03-24

HIGHLIGHT - Send PDF files to Workforce Management terminals

Benefits for users
Consider the situation in which you need to provide a document to a driver. For this, the driver would normally go back to the office, pick up the document and continue with his/her daily tasks. If your driver has a WFM terminal, you can send him/her a message with a document attached. It is a more convenient, fast and safe way to provide your drivers with the late minute documents that they need.

Technical description
As an addition to the already existing Interact feature, for Workforce Management terminals you have now the possibility to attach a .pdf file, up to 2 MB large.

For more information, click here.

Other improvements

Add route code information to the vehicle's list, vehicle's infobox and vehicle's marker

Add generic fields Mileage in period and Odometer on Infobox > Other information panel, respecting selected source of information: GPS or CANBus.

Perform an allowed maximum zoom on Map view of 5 meters for Google maps and 10 meters for Here Maps.

Send manually generated reports by email.

2017-03-16

HIGHLIGHT - Receive a weekly report about your fleet's performance indicators

Benefits for users
Frotcom Analytics has a Benchmarking feature that allows you to compare several variables that characterize your fleet against the averages of similar fleets using Frotcom. As a result, you learn how well your fleet performs.

In addition to the already existing Benchmarking feature in Frotcom Analytics, it is now possible to comfortably receive weekly Benchmark sample reports on your email. This is intended for high-level managers to receive summarized information that reflects the performance of the fleet via key performance indicators. There is no need for any complex software. The report will simply arrive on your email for your convenience.

The best part? It is FREE.

Technical description
Based on the already existing Benchmarking feature of Frotcom Analytics, you can now request to your Frotcom Certified Partner to receive a FREE weekly Benchmark sample report via email. In order to compare your fleet's performance against the average values of similar fleets known by Frotcom, two indicators are used:

• average fuel consumption (if the company does not have fuel consumption, average mileage is used instead);
• average workload.

The report shows you how your indicators evolved over the last 8 weeks.

For more information, click here.

2017-03-10

HIGHLIGHT - Scheduled routes

Technical description
It is already possible to monitor and delete Scheduled routes. Scheduled routes are all the automatically generated routes. When you create, for instance, a route template with weekly schedule type, Frotcom automatically creates routes to cope with your instructions. However, at some point in time, you might want to delete these automatically programmed routes. If so, the Scheduled routes feature is what you are looking for.

Benefits for users
With the Scheduled routes feature, you are able to manage the automatic processes of route assignment to better fit your needs. By monitoring and deleting outdated routes, you will have a cleaner view of your current operations.

For more information, click here.

HIGHLIGHT - Manual assignment of department/segment to finished trips

Technical description
As an addition to the already available Automation rules (Administration > Account > Automation rules), it is now possible to manually assign finished trips to a department and/or segment.

Benefits for users
By fine tuning your trips information with manual linkage of departments and segments, you are providing more extensive information that will allow Frotcom to produce higher quality reports that will help you to better manage your fleet. You can generate reports and use the department and segment filters to have a deeper knowledge of your fleet. For instance, you can use the department and segment filters on the Vehicle trips report to know the mileage performed on the trips linked to a specific department and segment.

For more information, click here.

Other improvements

Click on the linear view of routes to monitor the route progress over the map view.

Use the search text box in linear view to filter out route names, places or addresses or license plates.

Expand the bottom panel when tracking or editing a route.

Send routes to a vehicle when assigning a route template. Only available for templates with One time schedule type and vehicles equipped with compatible NAV devices.

2017-01-25

HIGHLIGHT

It is already possible to change the path suggested by Frotcom when calculating Directions. After calculating the path, you can change the road used by clicking on a point of the path on that road and dragging it to another road.

HIGHLIGHT

Toll costs are now presented in the currency selected in the user profile, even when they are in countries with other currencies. Additionally, the list of tolls can be exported to Excel for further analysis. When, for a toll, there are different options resulting in different prices, the Excel lists all of them.

HIGHLIGHT

Along with the existing table view of assigned routes, you can now select pictorial linear view of route execution status.

HIGHLIGHT

It is now possible to select the default start page that opens after login. This option is defined at the user preferences page, section General.

Other improvements

Changed icons for driver status in Workforce Management.

New option to show the colour of the route being executed on the vehicle marker.

Route name can now be changed when assigning to a vehicle.

Destinations in Interact Compose dialog are now sorted.

It is now possible to remove permissions to the Map page.

Bug fix: new messages and alarms counters are now properly updated and notification sound is now working correctly.

Bug fix: send button in Interact Compose dialog sometimes was not enabled.