The Dashboard feature provides graphs and charts, known as gadgets, to look at data metrics, allowing for easy comparison and contrast of vehicle/equipment performance. Dashboards are an excellent tool for visualizing unit usage. Click the Dashboard tab on the left hand menu to get started.
Due to the number of options available for gadgets, they aren’t preloaded. Each User can create their desired gadgets as needed. To create the desired Gadgets, click on Edit in the upper right corner and then the plus button that appears to the left.
There are five choices for gadgets:
- Offline Devices will display a list of currently offline devices.
- Charts will show unit behaviors such as Idle time or Speeding.
- Recent Alerts will show Alerts that were recently triggered.
- Landmarks Visited tallies the number of visits to selected Landmarks along with time spent on site.
- Landmark Real Time provides a list of currently occupied Landmarks and notes the Vehicles within.
The first example being reviewed is Offline Devices.
Fleet tracking devices should report every 60 seconds with the engine running and every 20 minutes in the background with the engine off. Asset tracking devices report anywhere from every 15 minutes to once a day depending on the model.
Units will be considered Offline if they stop reporting completely within a certain time frame. Use the Offline Devices chart to get a list of those devices. Knowing which units aren’t reporting is important information.
Use the Title field to give the chart a name. Next, select the dropdown for Frequency Refresh to decide how often the chart refreshes itself and look for new information.
Then choose either Fleet Units or Asset Trackers using the Device Category dropdown menu. Fleet devices are used to track vehicles, such as trucks or buses. Asset trackers are used for non-vehicle items, such as trailers, generators and cranes. If there are any questions about which type of units have been purchased, please reach out to GPS Trackit for assistance. If both types of units are in use, two charts should be created. One for Fleet, the other for Asset.
Use the time threshold to choose when the unit should be shown as offline. As in, how much time should go by without a reading for the unit to be listed on the offline chart? This threshold can be set as low as 20 minutes. Or as high as 30 days. The recommended setting for Fleet units is 1 hour. Be sure to Save.
The second example shown is Charts. Once again, click the Edit and then the plus button. This time, click on Chart.
Like before, fill in the Title and Frequency Refresh field.
The Report Type field is used to indicate what type of data the chart should examine. For this example, Idle Time. By comparing the Idle Time between vehicles, it will be easy to determine which drivers may need coaching regarding fuel waste. After choosing the Report type, select a Chart Type. The choices are either Pie or Column.
Then select the Units to be displayed followed by a Time Metric. The Time options are the previous week, month or quarter. Use the view field to choose if the chart displays either the High values (such as the units with the highest amount of Idling) or the Low values (such as the units with the least amount of speeding events).
Lastly the Unit Count field is used to indicate the number of Units the chart should display, meaning how many devices the chart should look at. Unit Count will not appear until the View field has been populated. If additional units are added in the future, this field may require adjustment. As always, be sure to Save.
The third available Gadget within the Dashboard is for recently triggered Alerts. This gadget provides an easily accessible list regarding the details for those Alerts triggered within the date range selected. Once again, click the Edit and then the plus button. Then click on Recent Alerts.
Use the Gadget Name field to label the chart.
Then set the Timeframe and if desired, the specific Alert to be displayed. If not filtering to a specific Alert use the All Alerts Type option.
Recent Alerts can be viewed by either Unit or Driver. And can be filtered by the All option, by choosing Tags or by selecting individual items via the Single button.
The Landmark Visit gadget is designed to show a list of recently visited Landmarks, including the number of visits and the total amount of time vehicles have spent within it.
Use the Gadget Name field to label the chart, choose the Frequency Refresh rate and Select a Timeframe.
There are multiple options for the order in which the results can be displayed, including Landmark Name, Number of Visits and Total Time.
Lastly set the filters to determine which Landmarks should be included in the results, then Save.
Landmark Real Time generates a list of Landmarks that currently contain vehicles and which vehicles those are.
As with all other gadgets, a unique title will be required.
Then set the order in which the results should appear and if needed, filter which Landmarks should be included.
If changes are required for an existing Chart, use the Edit button in the upper right corner.
After clicking the Edit button, new icons appear in the corner of each chart. Use the Pencil icon to edit the chart and the Trashcan to delete it. To rearrange the layout of the Charts, just drag-and-drop. Once the changes are complete, click the Save button in the corner.
Clicking the rectangular icon enlarges the chart. Clicking again returns the chart to its original size.
Gadgets can be organized into separate Dashboards. This is particularly useful if a large number of charts are created. All accounts start with one Dashboard, named Default. To create additional Dashboards, click the Dashboard tile in the upper left corner.
Clicking ‘Dashboard’ produces a dropdown menu. Along with the ability to create new Dashboards, this menu is used to toggle between Dashboards. To create a new one, select New Dashboard. Each individual Dashboard should have a unique name. After creating the dashboard, gadgets can be added.
To rename or remove a dashboard, click Edit then the 3-dot button that appears in the upper left corner.