Omnitracs 5.8SR New Features and Enhancements

Using Real Time Traffic in FleetView

Found in Omnitracs Web

As any dispatcher knows, traffic conditions can unexpectedly change, causing your drivers to have to adapt. Now, you can have the current traffic conditions considered when sequencing a route or using Autonomous Dispatch. You can also view the traffic conditions on the map. 

In order to use real time traffic, you must enable it for the region. In the Administration module, click the green button and scroll to Regions. Add a new region or edit an existing region. On the left click Dispatch, then General; the General page opens. Check Use Real Time Traffic to Calculate Paths. 

To see the traffic conditions on the map, click the arrow button and check Traffic.

The real time traffic conditions appear on the map, and the road segments are colored to reflect the traffic conditions:
Green - traffic is not delayed
Orange - traffic is delayed
Red - traffic is stopped

Creating an Email Sender

Before you can send emails from Active Alert, you must enter an email address that will be used as the From or Reply to address when an email alert is sent to your customer.

To enter your Email Sender, do the following:

1. Click Administration.
2. Click the green button and scroll to Email Senders. The Email Senders list displays.

3. Click Add. The Add Email Sender window displays.
4. Enter an Email Address.
5. Enter a Description for your email sender.
6. Click Save. Enter as many email senders as needed.

7. Click Close to return to the Email Sender list. The list displays all email senders created.

When you save your email sender, a verification message from Amazon Web Services is sent to the email address. The person receiving the verification message must click on the link included in the message to verify the email address. You will assign this email sender when you set up Active Alert settings for the business unit.

Entering Active Alert Business Unit Settings

The Active Alert page on the Business Unit window defines the settings Omnitracs will use to display service information and send service alerts. You need to define the Active Alert settings for the business unit before you can use Active Alert to send alerts and notifications.

To define Active Alert settings for the business unit, do the following:

1. Click Administration.
2. Click the green button and scroll to Business Unit. The list of business units displays.
3. Add a new business unit or edit an existing one.
4. Click the Active Alert tab.
5. On the Active Alert - General Settings page, enter the appropriate information.

In the Display Settings area, choose the options that define how the quantity and date/time information is displayed to your customer in Omnitracs Active Alert. Choose the Unit type or size alias that should be used to display the delivery quantity. In the Unit Precision field, enter the number of digits that should appear after the decimal when quantity information is displayed. Click the arrow to open a list, then choose the Date Format to be used for delivery dates. Click the arrow to open a list, then choose the Time Format to be used for delivery times.

In the ETA Window Buffer area, enter the information that will determine how wide the ETA window will be, that is displayed to the customer. In the Minutes Before and Minutes After fields, enter the number of minutes before and after the projected arrival time to make the displayed window. In the Round to Nearest field, choose how closely you want the window to be rounded, to the nearest Minute, Five Minutes, Quarter Hour, or Half Hour. For instance, if the projected arrival time is 10:32, and the Minutes Before is 15, the Minutes After 15, and Round To Nearest is Quarter Hour, the ETA window shown to the customer would be 10:15 to 10:45.

In the Missed Service Window Settings area, enter the settings that will be used for sending alerts when it is projected that a driver’s arrival time will miss a service window. In the Send if Missed by Minutes field, enter the minimum number of minutes a driver's projected arrival time must miss a service window by for an alert to be sent. In the Additional Alert Threshold field, enter the number of additional minutes a driver must be projected to miss the service window by for another alert to be sent.

In the Scheduled Alert Settings area, enter how long to wait before a route is considered cancelled and an alert is sent. In the Unscheduled Stop Cancellation Threshold (Hours) field, enter the amount of time that should elapse between the time that a dispatched route is moved back to planned and the route's planned start time, before considering a stop cancelled. 

Note: If a dispatched route is moved back to planning and remains in planning for one hour or more, AND the amount of time between the current time and the route start time is less than the Unscheduled Stop Cancellation Threshold (Hours), a cancellation alert is sent.

6. On the Active Alert - Email Settings page, select the email sender address that will be used for sending alerts. Click the arrow to open the list and then chose the email sender to be used for the business unit. Use the [Browse] button to upload up to two images to be used in your active alert emails. 
7. On the Active Alert - SMS Settings page,  if you use an SMS provider other than the default Omnitracs SMS provider, click the arrow and select the Provider Type from the list that pops up. You can define settings for SMS Gateway Providers Twilio, Nexmo, and Plivo. Once you enter the authentication information, you will want to enter a phone number and send a test message to ensure the system is working properly with your new settings.

Note: If your company has purchased the default Omnitracs SMS provider, you will not see the SMS Settings page.

8. Click Save.
9. Click Close to return to the list of business units.

Creating Recipient Types

After defining settings for the business unit, you will need to create recipient types. Active Alert recipient types are a way to create and manage alerts that inform customers about their service. For instance, you may have one recipient type for customers that receive deliveries and want to know the expected arrival of their package or when a package has been delivered, while another recipient type may be for vendors from who you will pick items up and want to only know if an order has been canceled.

To add a recipient type, do the following:

1. Click on Maintenance.
2. Click the green button and scroll to Active Alert Recipient Types.
3. Add a new Recipient Type.
4. Enter an ID
5. Enter a description for the recipient type.

Note: Currently, the settings on the General tab are not used for the new Active Alert web application.

6. On the Template tab, define how you want to contact your customer, text or email, and what to include in the message.

Click Add, to add a new template. Event types tell what type of alert is being sent. Choose the Event Type: Initial ETA, Updated ETA, Minutes Before Service, Serviced, Cancelled, Unserviceable, Missed Service Window, Arrived, Scheduled, Rescheduled. Choose the Notification Method and enter the Subject and Body of the message. 

You can use specific fields to customize the message sent to your customer, so they know you are referring to them and their order. When entering the Subject and Body text, the fields should be surrounded by curly brackets {FIELD} to indicate that it is a field. To provide a link to the active alert web application in an SMS notification, include the field {WEB_LINK} in the body of your recipient type template. To include a web link in an email alert, you should include a tag and the field, <a href="{WEB_LINK}"> Track your delivery </a>, in the body of your recipient type template. See Available Fields for Message Templates for information on what can be included in the Subject and Body fields. Click Preview to see what the alert will look like when sent to your customer.

Notes: If you select SMS as the Notification Method, any text you enter in the Subject field is ignored.

If you are creating SMS text messages, see SMS Message Guidelines for information on creating messages that meet CTIA guidelines.

Only one template can be created for each notification method and alert type pair. For example, you can create only one message template for initial ETA alerts sent by email.

7. Click Save Template to save the new template. You can create as many templates as necessary for the recipient type.
8. Click Save to save the recipient type.

When you have completed these set ups, you must then add recipient and event types and recipient emails or mobile numbers to the service location.

Adding Subscriptions for Service Locations

Note: If you prefer, you can import active alert information when importing service locations into Omnitracs. Refer to the online help in Omnitracs for more information about importing service locations. 

After you set up recipient types, you will create subscriptions for the service location that tell Omnitracs Active Alert which alerts to send and to whom they should be sent. Recipients are the email addresses and/or phone numbers where notification messages will be sent.

To add a subscription, do the following:

1. Click on Maintenance.
2. Choose Service Locations. The Service Locations list window appears.
3. Edit the desired service location.
4. Click on the Active Alert tab.
5. To add a Subscription, click Add.
6. Click the arrow to open a list, then choose a Recipient Type.
7. Choose a Notification Method.
8. Enter the email address or phone number of the recipient and click Add. Continue to enter an email address or phone number and click Add until all recipients are added.
9. Check the appropriate Alert Types for the recipient(s) you are adding.

Scheduled—check to have the recipient(s) receive an alert when a stop's route is moved to Built status or Dispatch phase in Omnitracs.

Rescheduled—check to have the recipient(s) receive an alert when the ETA of the stop no longer meets the originally scheduled window.

Initial ETA—check to have the recipient(s) receive an alert when the estimated time of arrival is calculated, based on when the driver leaves the depot.

Updated ETA—check to have the recipient(s) receive an alert when the estimated time of arrival changes.

Minutes Before Service—check to have the recipient(s) receive an alert a specified number of minutes before receiving service. Enter the number of minutes before service that you would like the recipient to receive a notification. You can click on the number field and enter any number from 1 to 60 or you can click the up and down arrows to change the number in increments of 5.

Arrived—check to have the recipient(s) receive an alert when the stop is arrived. This can be an automatic arrival of the stop or when the worker presses Arrived on the mobile device.

Serviced—check if the recipient(s) should receive an alert once service is completed.

Missed Service Window—check to have the recipient(s) receive an alert if the driver's arrival time is projected to miss a service window, such as when a route is running early or late. When setting the active alert options for the business unit, you can specify the number of minutes a driver must be projected to miss the service window by for this the alert to be sent.

Important: In order for the recipients to be sent the message types you choose, the selected recipient type must contain corresponding message templates for those message types using the notification method selected. For example, if you want the recipients to receive initial ETA alerts via email, the recipient type you choose must have a message template set up for initial ETA messages sent by email.

Canceled and Unserviceable alert types are automatically enabled for the recipient and therefore do not appear as an option. However, just like the other message types, in order to have Canceled and/or Unserviceable notifications sent, corresponding message templates must exist for the recipient type selected.

10. Click Apply. The new subscription is added to the list. You can add as many subscriptions as you need.
11. Click Save to save the changes to the service location.

Viewing the Active Alert Web Application

Depending on how you set up Active Alert, your customers can receive an email or SMS messages when an order is scheduled, rescheduled, when an initial ETA is available, when the ETA is updated, a certain number of minutes before the stop is serviced, when the stop is arrived or serviced, and/or when the worker is going to miss the location's service window. If you include the <a href="{WEB_LINK}"> Track your delivery </a> tag and field in the body of your template for a recipient type, your customer will find a link in the email or SMS message that, when clicked or tapped, opens the Active Alert Web Application.

Notes: Your customer can click the link any time after receiving the email or text message to see the current status of the order.
The link expires after seven days.

The Active Alert Web Application gives your customer details on the status of one or more orders. If a customer is set to receive an alert when an order is scheduled or gets rescheduled, the customer receives an email or SMS message with a link to the web application. On the Delivery Details screen, the application shows a scheduled status and the customer sees the estimated date and time of arrival and the shipping information. If that order gets cancelled or is unserviceable, your customer receives a new alert with a link that takes them to the web application which shows the cancelled or unserviceable status. Once the route starts, if set up to receive alerts for an initial ETA, an updated ETA, a missed service window, and/or a certain number of minutes before service, your customer receives a new link to the web application, which reflects an in transit status. Finally, your customer can receive an alert when the worker arrives at the service location and/or when the stop is serviced. The link included in the alert shows the web application with the appropriate status, Arrived or Delivered. 

Your customer will also see worker information on screens with the Cancelled, Unserviceable, In Transit, Arrived, and Delivered status. 

A map is included in the web application. The destination is marked on the map when the alert is sent for scheduled, rescheduled, cancelled, unserviceable, and serviced orders which display as Scheduled and Delivered statuses in the web application. The location of the worker/equipment is marked on the map when the alert is sent for initial and updated ETA, minutes before service, missed service windows,  and arrived orders, which display as In Transit and Arrived statuses in the web application.

The Order Summary screen shows the order number and the order quantity. If you work with line items, when the customer clicks or taps the order, the list of line items displays with each line item quantity.

Available Fields for Message Templates

The following fields are available to design email and text service alert templates. All fields must be entered surrounded by curly brackets: {FIELD}. Any field that is present in a message template but is missing data when the message is sent will appear blank.

Key	Description
{ORDER_NUMBER}	The order number(s) for the order(s) being serviced on the stop.
{LOCATION_ID}	The service location’s ID.
{LOCATION_DESCRIPTION}	The service location's description.
{ADDRESS_LINE1}	The service location’s address.
{ADDRESS_LINE2}	The remainder of the service location’s address, such as suite number.
{STANDARD_INSTRUCTIONS}	Any instructions associated with the service location.
{PHONE_NUMBER}	The service location's phone number.
{FAX_NUMBER}	The service location's fax number.
{STORE_NUMBER}	The service location's store number.
{PRIMARY_CONTACT}	The name of the contact for the service location.
{ALTERNATE_CONTACT}	The name of a second contact for the service location.
{COUNTRY}	The country the service location is in.
{CITY}	The city the service location is in.
{STATE}	The state the service location is in.
{ZIP}	The zip code, or postal code, for the service location.
{ACCOUNT}	The account the service location belongs to.  Note: Accounts can only be entered in Omnitracs Client.
{ZONE_ID}	The zone the service location is in.  Note: Zones can only be entered in Omnitracs Client.
{LOCATION_”CUSTOM PROPERTY NAME”}	Custom property information for service locations. You can use this field to have information for any custom properties for service locations appear in the message. For example, if you have a custom property for service locations named LoadingDock, enter the field as: {LOCATION_LoadingDock}  Note: Custom Properties can only be entered in Omnitracs Client. Important: You must use the custom property’s assigned Name, not its Display Name, when entering this field. The name cannot contain any spaces.
{ORDER_"CUSTOM PROPERTY NAME"}	Custom property information for orders. You can use this field to have information for any custom properties for orders appear in the message. For example, if you have a custom property for orders named DepositRequired, enter the field as: {ORDER_DepositRequired}  Note: Custom Properties can only be entered in Omnitracs Client. Important: You must use the custom property’s assigned Name, not its Display Name, when entering this field. The name cannot contain any spaces.
{DRIVER1_NAME}	The name of the route’s driver.
{DRIVER2_NAME}	The name of the second driver on the route.
{ETA_START_DATE}	The start date of the estimated time window when the service location will be serviced.
{ETA_START}	The start of the estimated time window when the service location will be serviced.
{ETA_END}	The end of the estimated time window when the service location will be serviced.
{ETA}	The estimated time of arrival at the service location.
{DEPARTURE}	The time the driver leaves the service location after servicing the order. The actual departure time will be provided if available. If the order has not been serviced yet, the projected departure time will be provided.
{CONSIGNEE}	The person who signed for the order.
{TIME_ZONE}	The time zone the service location is in.
{SERVICE_SUMMARY}	A summary of the stop, including the number of orders and quantity picked up/delivered.
{SERVICE_DETAILS}	Details for each order on the stop. Each order will be on its own line and include order number and quantity. Note: You cannot use this field in the Subject field; it can only be used in the Body of the message.
{EMAIL_TEMPLATE_IMAGE1} {EMAIL_TEMPLATE_IMAGE2}	Images that are uploaded in the business unit’s Active Alert settings. These can be added anywhere in the body of the message.
{WEB_LINK}	A web link that, when clicked or tapped, displays the web application with the status of the order. A map shows the destination of the order or the current location of the equipment/worker making the pick up/delivery. When including this field in the body of an email template, you should include an anchor tag with the field, such as <a href="{WEB_LINK}"> Track your delivery </a>. The words "Track your delivery" can be changed to reflect what your company wants your customer to see in the alert or notification.

For instance, your template may look like this:

Your Order: {ORDER_NUMBER} was delivered at {DEPARTURE}.

Your customer would see

Your Order: 1234 was delivered at 08:00.

SMS Message Guidelines

The Omnitracs SMS engine for Active Alert follows the Industry Standards set by the CTIA (Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association). None of the information presented here should be construed as offering business or legal advice. Work with your legal team to ensure your program offerings are compliant with the applicable standards and requirements.

Compliance

HOS Mobile