iTRAK News - April 2009

Customer Spotlight – Georgia Power Company

On April 9, Georgia Power dispatchers were notified that one of their cable service trucks had been stolen. Fortunately, iTRAK was keeping the thief company.

Shortly after 10:00 AM, an unknown individual climbed into the Georgia Power
F-150 pick-up truck while the technician was momentarily out of the vehicle, and drove away from a work site in the downtown Columbus area. Within minutes, the technician called his supervisor, who knew the truck was equipped with iTRAK. At the time, however, there was no one in the office who had been trained on the use of iTRAK Fleet Manager, so when the supervisor called 911, he gave them the number of Loretta Maffett, a Cable Locating Support Supervisor in Georgia Power's Atlanta office.

When the 911 operator called, Maffett quickly logged into iTRAK Fleet Manager and told them exactly where the truck was!

Click on image to enlarge

Armed with the location of the truck—heading north on Route 411—the Columbus Police began to pursue the thief. Although Maffett had to leave for an important appointment she could not miss, she called Engineering Support Representative Sally Ann Mount in the Columbus office, and quickly trained Sally Ann over the phone in the use of iTRAK Fleet Manager.

As the truck headed north toward Harris County, Mount kept the officials advised of the vehicle's location and speed. Once the truck crossed into Harris County, the chase was taken over by the Harris County Sheriff's Department and the Georgia State Patrol.

By knowing the exact location and speed of the vehicle, law enforcement officials were able to approach from all directions and surround the vehicle. With no chance of escaping, the suspect was apprehended without a struggle as he was heading north on I-185/SR411 approximately 1 mile south of Exit 34, near the town of Pine Mountain, Georgia.

According to data from the iTRAK Detailed Report (see below), the truck reached speeds of nearly 95 miles per hour during the chase, yet the truck was recovered without damage.

Georgia Power's Cable Locating Division has used iTRAK Fleet Manager since 2003, when they installed the tracking units in 41 pick-up trucks. According to Jim Weldon, Cable Locating and Claims Manager for Georgia Power, tracking is critically important for the Division, as it provides an extra level of safety for workers. "All field technicians in Georgia Power's Cable Locating work force are 'lone workers,' meaning that they travel throughout their territories alone. In recognition of the hazards they might encounter, we believe it is important for us to have the ability to pinpoint the location of any worker at any time," said Weldon. "iTRAK has served us well in meeting this need."

In addition, Weldon's staff relies on the reports generated by iTRAK Fleet Manager to quickly resolve any claims against the company. "iTRAK has helped us defend damage claims by generating a report on demand that shows exactly when our employee arrived and left any site."

Several different divisions of Georgia Power use iTRAK Fleet Manager to improve operating efficiency, to minimize expenses, and to enhance the safety of workers and the community they serve.

Expanding and Supporting iTRAK Fleet Manager™

Customers call or email the iTRAK corporate offices for a variety of reasons. Here are some of the most common reasons people contact us, and some hints on how to get your inquiries processed most efficiently.

I would like to add a new iTRAK unit to my account. If you already signed the iTRAK Order Form when you purchased your first batch of units, you do not need much paperwork to order more units. Just send an email to our admin desk (admin.support@itrak.com) indicating how many units you need. Your written email is proof of your new order, and keeps the accountants happy. (If you try to place your order by phone, we’ll ask you to confirm everything in an email anyway.) To speed up the process, you should also include which type of antenna you want, how you want the unit shipped (our default is UPS Ground), into which sub-fleet you want us to place the unit, and which user(s) should be able to see the unit. We will acknowledge your order, usually within a few hours, and proceed with activation and test. Most small add-on orders are shipped within 3-4 days. Remember that adding new units may get you to the next price break for monthly service discounts! Also, since there is no time commitment with iTRAK, we do not require any 'contract extensions' to add units to your fleet.

One of my iTRAK units has been assigned to a different vehicle or person, and I need to change the name of the unit. Our admin support staff can assign a new name to any of your existing units, and can move it from one sub-fleet to another, if necessary. When asking us to move a unit, please also let us know if anything else should be changed about that unit, such as who can see it, or what sub-fleet it belongs to.
The best way is to send an email to admin.support@itrak.com requesting the change. Make sure you include the iTRAK serial number and 'old' unit name, if you know it.

We need to track certain 'frequently visited' locations, and want to take advantage of the 'Landmark' feature within iTRAK Fleet Manager. Landmarks can be added by several different methods. If you are just starting out, and need some coaching, we would be happy to help. Remember that there are two different types of landmark storage: stored on-line within each account; and stored from a landmark file that you need to import whenever you launch iTRAK Fleet Manager. Most customers who keep tabs on fewer than 100 landmark locations tend to use online landmarks. In this approach, landmarks are normally added one at a time through the use of the 'Add/Edit Landmarks' command. We recognize that it would be tedious to load dozens of landmarks one at a time, so our admin support team (admin.support@itrak.com) can help by performing an initial 'bulk load' of your landmarks to any or all of your user accounts. You would be responsible for keeping them current. If your landmarks change often (e.g., at least once a week), then you may be better off using the 'landmark file' approach. In this method, you will maintain a single landmark file on a shared drive so that it can be accessed by all of your users. When users launch iTRAK Fleet Manager, they must use the 'Load Landmarks from File' command in the Landmarks menu. If you need help creating your own landmark file, please contact technical support at technical.support@itrak.com.

I need some help setting up a sensor alert (e.g., ignition on/off; over speed alert, etc.). Some sensor alerts require physical wiring changes, such as the idle alert that requires a connection to a specific point in the vehicle’s electrical system. It is best to contact your installer or our technical support team to make sure the wiring changes and changes in the configuration of your account are coordinated. On the other hand, if you are looking to receive alerts about excessive speed or stops longer than a certain duration, then these alerts can be set up entirely within your iTRAK Fleet Manager account. For assistance, contact our admin support team at admin.support@itrak.com. They will set up alerts for you, and show you how to do it yourself.

Some of my users are experiencing difficulty logging into the main iTRAK Fleet Manager web site. The most common reason for a failed login is an issue with your company's firewall settings. Although we use some hi-tech tricks to minimize the occurrence of these issues, some firewalls just do not let users access certain outside sites. If some of your users can log in and others cannot, then you may have a version problem with your Java plug-in that is required to load iTRAK Fleet Manager. The most current version of the required Java applet is Version 6 Update 13 (1.6.0_13). To check the version number, go to Settings → Control Panel → Java → General → About. If you have an older version, you can click on the Update tab to download and install the latest version. (For users with Microsoft Vista™, we recommend using Java plug-in version 1.6.0_03 and not upgrading until compatibility issues with Java and Vista have been resolved.) If you are unable to solve the problem as described above, contact Technical Support to discuss the next steps. Call them at 1-866-224-8725 or email technical.support@itrak.com.

One of my iTRAK units is not visible on my map, or does not seem to be updating properly. The first thing to look for is to make sure that you are viewing all vehicles, not just vehicles that have moved today. (In the Fleet menu, “Show Vehicles” should be checked, and “Show only Vehicles Active Today” should be unchecked.) If this doesn’t solve the mystery, you should verify that the vehicle has actually moved. Don’t forget that one of the keys to iTRAK’s bandwidth efficiency is that positions are not sent if a vehicle is not moving. For example, if the vehicle has been parked in front of your building since yesterday afternoon, it will not send a new position until it starts moving again. If this is not the problem, our Technical Support team will be happy to help resolve the issue. Contact them at 1-866-224-8725 or send an email to technical.support@itrak.com.

We have hired some new office staff, and need to teach them how to get the most out of our iTRAK system. First of all, you can use our “Quick Start Guide” to teach users the most commonly used features and functions. Although most customers find using iTRAK Fleet Manager to be intuitive, there are a few ways to help users increase knowledge beyond the basic functions. To begin with, there is an online user guide. After logging into your account, select the About Fleet Manager menu, and click on “Fleet Manager Manual.” (If nothing happens, you may have a pop-up blocker; try holding down the Ctrl key while clicking on “Fleet Manager Manual.”). Beyond the user guide, our Technical Support team is available to hold on-line training via webinar. Let them know if you need some help by sending an email to training@itrak.com.

If you encounter other situations that you cannot solve on your own, don’t hesitate to contact our admin support team by phone at 1-866-694-8725 or email them at admin.support@itrak.com.

Tech Corner - Polling vs. Event-based Tracking

With dozens of companies offering fleet tracking systems today, customers often find it difficult to differentiate one competitor from the next. While some differences may be obvious, some of the most important differences are more subtle.

Most customers conduct a thorough analysis of the top fleet tracking prospects, even before inviting the sales representative to make a presentation. Comparing features of different GPS systems is certainly valuable, but it is more important to make sure that the underlying design concepts are sound. Here are some things to check:

• Does each mobile device report on its own, or does the system use polling? Tracking systems that use 'polling' rely on a central server to periodically ask each mobile device where it is located. In other words the mobile device can not send a position without being contacted by the server. A huge disadvantage of most polling systems is that the update frequency must be set at a certain time interval. Event-based tracking, on the other hand, uses intelligent mobile devices that can determine when it is best to send a position (starting up, traveling a certain distance, stopping, accelerating at a certain rate, or a change in the state of a vehicle sensor, etc.).
• How often does the mobile device send information? Most GPS fleet tracking systems use polling, and therefore send information based on the passage of time, ranging from 15 minutes to 6 hours. This is, simply stated, a bad idea. If your vehicle is traveling at 60 MPH, and positions are sent every 15 minutes, then the reported position could be more than 15 miles off!
• What happens when my mobile device is out of wireless coverage? In this case, again, polling loses the battle. Systems that use polling to query each device don't know whether a specific unit is in coverage or out of coverage, so they poll all units at the same interval. If a unit does not reply, should we assume it is out of coverage, or is it out of service? With an intelligent mobile device in each vehicle, the device knows its coverage status and can adapt accordingly. For example, if a unit senses it is out of coverage, it will store positions internally. (iTRAK devices can store 2,000 positions!) When the unit returns to coverage, all stored positions are sent in with the original timestamp information. Data will not be available in real time when a unit is out of coverage, of course, but no position is ever lost.
• How do I make sure I have not 'lost' any positions? The only sure-fire way to know that all positions have been properly received and recorded is to have the tracking system individually acknowledge receipt of every position that is transmitted. This technique, called 'delivery confirmation' requires the server and mobile device to communicate with each other whenever the need arises. When iTRAK devices are provisioned on the wireless network, they are set up with a parameters called 'mobile originate' and 'routable IP address.' These two parameters ensure that your device and the server can always communicate with each other. Without this, you risk losing most or all of the positions taken while out of coverage.

The above examples highlight some of the principles on which the iTRAK technology has been developed. Don’t forget that iTRAK stands for 'Intelligent Tracking.' The intent of this article was to show you why that’s so important.

If you have additional questions about the underlying technology used in GPS fleet tracking systems, email our Technical Support team at technical.support@itrak.com.

Who's Who at iTRAK...

Admin Support – This dedicated group based at our headquarters handles a large number of different tasks, including new order processing and acceptance, questions relating to existing orders, new user set-up, fleet and unit changes, billing, and all other administrative issues. Call the admin staff at 1-866-694-8725 or email them at admin.support@itrak.com.

Technical Support – Our support team will make sure you derive the maximum benefit from your iTRAK system. They can help with installation concerns, answer technical questions, and resolve performance issues. Live hours are 6:00 AM - 5:00 PM Mountain Time, with on-call technicians available after hours. Call 1-866-224-8725 or email technical.support@itrak.com.

Sales Team – Based in regional offices throughout the U.S., our team of Regional Sales Managers stands ready to set up product demonstrations, provide current pricing, help calculate return on investment to justify your iTRAK purchase, and organize post-sales training. You can reach the sales team by calling 1-866-694-8725, or emailing itrak.sales@itrak.com

Past Issues of iTRAK News

Check out topics that may interest you from past issues of iTRAK News!

If you have comments, suggestions, or would like to submit a story for publication, we would love to hear from you. Email the iTRAK editorial team at: itraknews@itrak.com.