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Late to Adopting new Tech?

Dec
2017

Last week’s tragic train derailment which killed at least three people, and injured hundreds more, highlights a very important issue that must be addressed. Reluctance for organizations to adopt new technologies is very common in almost every industry. This unwillingness comes from a number of different reasons, the most common being cost.

Positive Train Control or PTC is the technology designed to act as a safety net to prevent human errors which account for roughly 40% of train accidents. The technology uses GPS, wireless radio, and computers systems to stop trains from derailing, speeding, or colliding. PTC came about in the early 1990’s but didn’t gain traction or national attention until September 2008. This came as a response to a tragic railroad collision near Los Angeles which left 25 dead. Consequently, Congress moved to pass new rail safety laws that set a deadline of December 15, 2015 for the implementation of PTC technology across most of the US rail network. This was later extended at the request of many railroad companies to December 31, 2018.

So why the delay in implementing PTC you might ask? “The reason why they’ve been given so many extensions has been money,” said Mary Schiavo, a former Department of Transportation inspector general. Many who oppose the mandate also question the validity of the technology. A 12-year study by the Federal Railroad Association concluded that the savings from the number of accidents avoided would not be enough to cover the costs of implementing PTC across Class I railroads (69% of U.S. freight rail mileage & 90% employees). Furthermore, in the 20 years from 1987 to 2007, 27 deaths from railroad accidents where recorded and the response to these accidents were all handled with changes to operating rules rather than implementation of technology. And now we find ourselves in 2017 with more people losing their lives to railroad accidents.

Cost benefits are a tricky balancing act for anybody in the decision making process. When it comes to safety however, a policy of ‘expecting the worst’ might be advised. Individuals in decision making positions should not take the adoption of technology lightly. No individual is solely responsible for the slow implementation of these technologies but rather a culmination of missteps and cold feet throughout the industry.

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Why Telematics Is More Than Just Mapping

Dec
2017

Telematics solutions offer more than just locations on a map. Yes, tracking is a fundamental aspect of the service that telematics provides, but the full story offers more avenues to improving operational efficiency. A common misconception about telematics solutions is that they only offer advantages to individuals in managing positions. This is entirely false; the benefits of implementing a solution to your fleet provide operational benefits to managers, and employees alike.

More than giving you locations on a map, telematics software has advanced to the point of being able to tell you every minute discrepancy of your high value asset or vehicle on the field. Aside from functions like Real-time tracking, and Geo-fencing which add useful metrics when looking at your “dots on a map”, functions like Reports, Historical views, Route optimization, Graph support, Alerts and notifications and many others, add significance in ways more valuable to running smooth operations. The list of features available with our telematics solution goes on forever, and mentioning and evaluating each one would take more time than I have. For more information on these however, feel free to reach us and set up a request for a demo.

Although it’s usually quite apparent as to the benefits these systems bring to individuals in managing positions in the fleet and public sector industries, the lesser known benefits that come to field workers and crews are equally manifested. In many of our case studies we have found that employee satisfaction with solutions employed is apparent after just a few months of implementation. In the office, streamlining the process of getting paper-work to become work orders or activities means crews receive only necessary information. Work orders and tasks that integrate with GIS features allow for better time management and delegation of tasks by presenting visual aides that also contribute useful information about routing, and other time management tools. The elimination of paper in the field makes for less chaotic organization and ease of mobility while performing field jobs. The digitization of everything also reduces the number of data entry errors. Crews and individual employees also have an added layer of protection and security against false claims that might be in relation to a work or service being performed or any type of accident that occurs while in the field. Having the type of data that telematics solutions like our own LiGO® telematics provide, really does add benefits to employees.

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Asset Theft prevention

Dec
2017

Vehicle-related thefts are up in the ranks of the most common property crimes in the US. It is estimated that on average across states an automotive theft occurs approximately every 43 seconds, with the average rate of recovery being 46 percent. Fleet vehicles often make attractive targets of criminal activities ranging from smash and grabs of valuable parts or outright theft. These factors alone should be enough for any responsible manager to take action in employing the methods available to prevent and deter criminal activity. In the case that its not, here are some case examples from this year alone.

In February a Montgomery County Md. Fleet employee was caught stealing equipment he was in charge of overseeing. The equipment was estimated up to a value of $13,000 which the manager had been selling in illegal markets. It was an anonymous tip that was followed up by police that lead to this discovery. Similarly, in march 2017 former fleet manager Robert Otterson and two body shop owners were charged and pleaded guilty to bid-rigging, theft, and conspiracy. Otterson approved 178 invoices for city vehicle repairs that resulted in unwarranted payments of $403,081.

At MarshallGIS we have received personal accounts of managers and supervisors uncovering illegal activities within their fleet operations thanks to our LiGO® software’s. Whether its real-time tracking that allows you to monitor the location of fleet vehicles, GeoFence alerts which notify you when your fleets are somewhere they shouldn’t be, or task alerts that let you know if something isn’t being done, you can stay one step ahead of mal-practice.

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Handling Employee Resistance to Telematics

Dec
2017

Applying the use of telematics to your business and consequently to your crew can be a challenging task for a number of reasons. Employee push back and unwillingness to adapt new technologies or systems is common in any sort of enterprise, and telematics is no exception. The ‘big brother’ stigma comes from the unwanted feeling of constantly being watched by hardware and software devices mounted to fleet vehicles and has been known to keep employees from retaining an open mind about telematics. This is a natural reaction that managers should expect; it does not however, mean that there is no way of alleviating your employees and yourself from whatever anxieties exists towards implementation. Here are a few ways you might want to approach the situation.

Manage resistance head on. It’s important to manage resistance without beating around the bushes. Once the change is set in motion, it’s the managers duty to carry out the right professional steps to make sure it follows through. This can be achieved by employing a well thought-out structured change management approach from the initiation of the project. Being able to keep a healthy balance where employees are able to express their concerns will go a long way in helping you identify root causes of resistance, and just overall attitude of resistance. At MarshallGIS we offer a several week long training regimen designed to familiarize employees with the technology. We recommend that managers use this training schedule or some form of our structured step-by-step integration process.

Don’t be surprised by resistance to change. Chances are there is going to be some resistance to any workplace change. This can arise from a number of things including a fear of how these changes affect job roles, negative experiences from attempted changes in the past, or just a fear of losing a job all together. There is a considerable amount of psychological research pointing to the fact that change spurs resistance in people regardless of potential outcomes of said changes. The point is, that resistance should be expected and not feared. It might help management to create a list of possible points of resistance beforehand, which might prepare and make it harder to be caught off guard with points of resistance.

Communication and transparency is key. Managers must be open and clear with their employees about the changes especially when said changes entail monitoring employee behavior during work. If there is no transparency, there is no trust which is a necessary precursor to things working out. Involving employees in the various stages of change makes it more appealing but also gives the employee’s more comfort in the process of change by making it clear to them that they are a part of the change.

Emphasize the positive aspects of the change. One of the best ways to promote more favorable attitudes towards telematics is to outline the benefits that may come to employees. It’s true that telematics alert managers to negative employee behavior, but it works equally as well for positive behavior. Focusing on the fact that telematics may actually protect drivers to some extent is a good idea. Elaborating on how the new systems will not only benefit the company but the workers themselves as well. This does not mean to completely omit anything you know might trigger resistance behavior, as that wouldn’t be creating a clear and transparent picture of the whole.

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Our Push Towards Sustainability

Nov
2017

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Here at MarshallGIS, we are committed to pursuing the goal of keeping our planet green. We see a healthy environment as a fundamental factor for a healthy living and we employ this philosophy in all levels of operations from right here within our offices, to the service we offer and their implementations.

GIS technologies matched with our LiGO®, and GeoKnx® software gives managers and their fleet crews the immediate advantage of increasing their efficiency. This is achieved through optimizing routes, maintenance alerts, driver data and other factors that subsequently reduce fuel consumption, fuel emissions, and fleet time spent on the roads. Additionally, the digitization of documents and paperwork reduce the need for excess amounts of papers. Furthermore, they aid in presenting information visually in ways that might promote abstract solutions to problems in ways that isn’t always possible with long written reports or tabular data.

But back to the point, much of today’s sustainable solutions to our energy and climate problems could, and in some cases already do use these technologies. Montana is one of the many states currently using GIS to locate optimal plots of land on which to construct wind farms in its pursuit of green energy. There are other states and cities which have taken to using GIS to form a forest inventory of urban flora in the same way a biologist would catalog coyote populations in certain areas.

Most, if not all aspects of urban planning have much to gain from the advances in GIS technologies. They can help in ways that create infrastructure built with more foresight, and knowledge how it is going to affect our environment and the places in which we live. One step at a time we can move to a better way of living whether its reducing the carbon emissions of fleet vehicles, or acquiring information on where to best construct renewable energy source, the oversight that GIS technologies offer are indispensable.

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LiGO® Features: GeoFences & Points of interest

Nov
2017

I hate to cast an ugly shadow on employees, but knowing and controlling what happens when you, the manager, are not present can be taxing. The Geo-Fencing, and Point of Interest features of LiGO offer fleet managers and planners much needed control in oversight of operations. The two differ slightly in the way they are employed and in the way their analytical data can be read, interpreted, and implemented.

Through Geo-Fencing you may manually select areas in the shape of polygons over locations on a map, or even create Geo-fenced routes. You also have the option of importing these Geo-Fence areas from GIS systems directly enabling you to create more specialized maps. Another option would be to create routes as jobs occur; this can be done by collecting data from an optimal day’s work and saving it as the standard. Alerts, or notifications can be set up to be sent to managers to alert them to a number of different things. It can be set so that an alert is sent when a vehicle or worker has entered a Geo-Fence area, or when a vehicle or worker has left the area. the alerts can also be set to send if the vehicle/worker has spent over a certain amount of time, or under a certain amount of time in the selected Geo-Fence area. This means managers can ease up on stressing about when and where their workers are and focus on more pressing tasks.

Points of Interest (POI) are point based locations that you identify, and wish to track the amount of time spent at those locations. POI’s could be building locations or fixed assets such as signs or hydrants. POI’s can also be imported or manually defined, and will enable managers to quickly see when workers are on site or in transit, communicate accurate arrival information to customers, and generate productivity reports. Below is how the reporting might appear on a device.

Users may set the software to track certain events such as:

“disconnecting” (Device tampering or “Disconnecting unit”)
geo-fence violations (vehicles out-of-service-area)
unauthorized use (“After business hours”)
excessive speed
excessive idling
hard acceleration
braking and collision
specified mileage or hour alerts

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ELD Setbacks

Nov
2017

We have addressed in previous blogs, some of the potential benefits regarding things like on road-safety, and the streamlining and modernization of a rather archaic way of keeping records the ELD mandate would bring to primarily trucking industries. It would not be fair however to point out some of the short-comings of the whole idea and how it’s being implemented.

Self-Certification

There are many companies that have registered their ELD solution as being compliant and are currently on the official FMCSA list of compliant providers. However, the FMCSA has currently no way of testing these supposed compliant solutions, and neither is there any third party organization performing any sort of testing. A certified solution on that list could be legitimate, but could also be far from it. This creates a large grey area especially for customers trying to be compliant but having no sure-fire way of knowing whether the solution they pick has actually been tested or actually complies to all the regulation rules, and laws.

Although there have been procedures set in place to identify and remove registered solutions that are not compliant the whole process just adds to the frustration of company and independent truckers, and fleets who would much rather not have to deal with what can only be described as unnecessary set-backs.

Varying Degrees of Compliance

This comes mostly as a compounding effect of the self certification issue in that, there are currently a large number of devices out in the market that all collect analyse and process data differently. This again makes decision processes all the more challenging for managers looking for a solution. Manufacturers and programmers are also left in the dark about specifications and requirements of devices and software.

Resistance by mainly smaller trucking businesses and self-hired truck drivers.

Some of the most notable push back for the ELD mandate has come from Individual truckers and small trucking fleet operators in what has become recognized as the #ELDorMe protests. Through October 6^th to the 8^th truckers gathered on the streets of Fresno California to protest the threat that the ELD mandate brings to their livelihood. A Facebook page under the name of “Operation Black and Blue” was created specifically to address the issues being protested and effectively put a stop to what they describe as government overreach, and over-regulation in the implementation of the ELD mandate.

Many of these truck drivers rely on a certain amount of flexibility in their operations. Being able to adjust time logs for miscellaneous things like the time it took to park or other unavoidable delays make a difference to the average trucker. Many of the required regulations that would result from the ELD mandate commendably strip these truckers of their ability to work with the level of flexibility they need.

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Questions to think about when deciding on a telematics solution

Nov
2017

What problems are you trying to solve?

Chances are, if your operations involve a fleet of sorts, or high value assets, you would benefit from implementing a telematics solution. It is important however, to identify the types of issues you would like to tackle, as well as areas in which you see an opportunity to cut costs. The types and degrees of telematics solution vary greatly in the breadth data they collect. Some focus more on simple GPS tracking, while others work to collect much more detailed telematics data that might pertain to driver behavior, job order status’s and progress, and many other miscellaneous data points that can be used to cut costs where possible. Fleet managers specifically should also pay close attention to the FMCSA’s ELD mandate regulations and whether these regulations apply to their operations or not.

Does the provider have experience, and how stable is the company?

This question applies to the beginning of any business relationship, telematics is no different. The level of experience a company has is usually a good indicator of how well they do in general. Since many operations looking to implement telematics solutions require specificity with their operations, it’s helpful to have a provider that has been in the field for quite some time and is ready to answer those specific questions you might have.

Does the company offer installation services, and training services?

Some telematics solutions are easy to install, some are not, knowing which it is might be a good idea. Furthermore, understanding the training services might better equip employees for the changes of implementing a telematics solution, there’s nothing worse than having a solution and not having any employees who understand or know how to use it.

How accurate is the data, and does it offer practical and actionable insights?

One thing is simply collecting data; acquiring data that can be used in insightful ways be it to cut expenses, or optimize efficiency is a completely different thing. Inaccurate data can do even more harm than no data at all.

Is the provider prepared to adapt to the needs and specifications of your business?

Something we’ve mentioned before, fleet management systems can vary greatly. different operations require different functionalities from a telematics solution. a delivery team will most likely require a different set of analytical data than say, a construction crew.

What integration capabilities does the company provide?

You may currently be using some 3^rd party devices or systems in your operations, you may also be using certain software especially if you are in the public utilities sector or something similar. A good telematics solution is one that easily integrates with a number of other systems and can serve as an API capable of collecting processing and displaying data across many platforms. A telematics solution that is too rigid

Does the company offer a smart device app?

For fairly obvious reasons having smart device capabilities will ease the flow of work facilitating connections between field work and offices. Sending, receiving, analyzing job reports is just one of the functions that requires some sort of smart device communication.

What separates this telematics solutions to others?

What about this specific telematics solution puts it a cut above the rest? Is it the interface of the software, customer service, or something else?

For more information on Our own telematics solution head over to our site and request a demo. With over 20 years experience MarshallGIS has a long history of providing high-level GIS Strategic Planning services to state, county, & municipal governments, as well as utilities. These services are of value when an agency has a need for integration of GIS & their EAM (Hansen, Lucity, or Maximo) technologies across one or more departments, has new GIS initiatives they are considering, or need GIS data development. MarshallGIS will provide a high-level review of strategic business objectives & assessment of its major geographic & enterprise business system investments. Typically, we focus on what needs to be built & maintained across separate departmental operations to create improved asset & work activity management.

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A Solution to Winter Problems

Nov
2017

The Importance of a Fleet Management Solution During Winter

Many parts of North America experience winters which can cause chaos to everyday lives of people. City, and State agencies must work overtime in many cases to ensure that the its citizens can go about their activities unhindered. This is no easy task as managing a fleet is inherently challenging and the addition of ice, snow, and frigid temperatures heightens the chances of things going badly.

The Challenges of Winter Fleet Management

Having real-time updates on road conditions, and job progress is crucial. The decision making process has to be instant, and responsive to the circumstances and weather. Traffic collisions are common during these times and being able to respond to such incidents can be a real challenge. Maintenance during winter is very important, and cold weather will often bring issues with equipment to the forefront. Bad tires, batteries, radiators and everything in between will be exposed by the harsh conditions of winter, and the last thing you need is a driver stuck on the side of the road with job orders continuing to pile up.

A Solution for Operations

LiGO® offers a number of different solutions to problems that arise from the harsh conditions of winter time, and the need for speedy responses, and constant oversight. Real-Time tracking is one feature of LiGO® which could regularly save managers time and money by allowing them to constantly be aware of exactly where their fleets are, and what they’re doing. Knowing for example, where your snow plow is and whether the plow arm is down or not, knowing how long the plow has been working, or being able to give answers to questions about how long until the next snow plow completes its job are all key.

Additionally depending on the device selected a series of engine data can be captured or other onboard sensor data can be captured as well, such as PTO usage, sweeping, plowing, spreading, spraying, temperature, etc.

LiGO® has numerous integration capabilities which we’ve explored in previous blogs. This will allow operations to collect, prepare, and expose key data in other business systems you use every day, like work orders. You’ll have the ability to know where jobs are, their level of urgency, and closest crew. Alerts and notifications can be sent with details about jobs which is key for many of our fleet customers.

With LiGO® your operations will be much better equipped to deal with the harsh conditions of winter and the tools to manage operations.

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LiGO® Access API functionality

Oct
2017

Overview

LiGO® and LiGO® ACCESS combine to offer a rich API (Application Program Interface) that allows automation of a wide range of tasks. Functions are provided that allow users to pull reports and tracks on demand. LiGO® ACCESS can be configured to push post-processed data that can convert positions to a customer specified coordinate space, convert times to local including taking into account daylight savings time. LiGO® ACCESS can also push post-processed tracks that can be filtered on work, such as street sweeping or snow plowing and can include aggregated information like average speed.

What are API’s how do they help?

API’s short for Application Programming Interface, is a characteristic of any software which allows it to connect different devices, and applications by allowing the transfer of data. It is what allows us to book a reservation at a hotel with just a few clicks on a device. It is the link between a command and results in times when the system in which you create the command, and the system in which the results derive from are separate. One analogy would compare an API to the pizza hut employee who takes your call places the order, and then sends the delivery driver in your direction. API’s effectively make communication between different applications possible whilst also enabling the use of the same data for different functions. The beauty of API’s is that the work they do is all behind the scenes, similar to code on a webpage; even though you can’t see it the code is constantly working to do whatever the input demands of it.

Here is a short list of some of the practical uses of LiGO® ACCESS for field operations. as we have mentioned API’s serve the purpose of allowing the transfer of information from one system to the next

Vehicle Location

A vehicle location can be added into your systems and represents a position with latitude, longitude, address information, and other vehicle related data. This is a real-time location of a vehicle fed to your business systems.

TrackPoints

These are bread crumbs that contain velocity and Geographic information (LL) -i.e., for Esri and Google Maps applications.

TrackInfo

Metadata objects for tracks. TrackInfo describes the geographical and time bounds of a track along with distance.

Trips (LiGO® historic tracks)

A trip represents the travel between engine on/ engine off. The trip contains distance, max speed, start and end TrackPoints along with meta data for the trip. Calculated based on TrackInfo and Engine On/Off points.

Events

These are events such as speeding, idling, harsh driving, geofence violation and other events that system captures automatically that can be provided to your systems.

Jobs

Job data completed in LiGO® available to your external business systems. This includes job number, description, start, stop, comments, assigned to and additional custom fields.

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Blog

Late to Adopting new Tech?

Why Telematics Is More Than Just Mapping

Asset Theft prevention

Handling Employee Resistance to Telematics

Our Push Towards Sustainability

LiGO® Features: GeoFences & Points of interest

ELD Setbacks

Self-Certification

Varying Degrees of Compliance

Resistance by mainly smaller trucking businesses and self-hired truck drivers.

Questions to think about when deciding on a telematics solution

What problems are you trying to solve?

Does the provider have experience, and how stable is the company?

Does the company offer installation services, and training services?

How accurate is the data, and does it offer practical and actionable insights?

Is the provider prepared to adapt to the needs and specifications of your business?

What integration capabilities does the company provide?

Does the company offer a smart device app?

What separates this telematics solutions to others?

A Solution to Winter Problems

The Importance of a Fleet Management Solution During Winter

The Challenges of Winter Fleet Management

A Solution for Operations

LiGO® Access API functionality

Overview

What are API’s how do they help?

Vehicle Location

TrackPoints

TrackInfo

Trips (LiGO® historic tracks)

Events

Jobs

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