Saturday 27 October 2012

Message Broadcast & Container Tracking

With the latest release of TrakIT, we've added two new modules as well as other features:


Message Broadcast

TrakIT can now broadcast messages to a large group of users. This function is available to Admins and SysAdmins only.
 
The recipients can be chosen as a group of entities or user roles belonging to specified countries. If an Entity Type is chosen, a maximum of 4 countries can be selected. Irrespective of the selection of recipients, SysAdmins of TrakIT are always included as recipients.
 
The subject of the email and content, as well as a single attachment (of up to 1 MB) can be included in the broadcast.



Messages that are broadcast are stored in the list of messages which all users can read or download attachments from.




Container Tracking

The Container Tracking module is a special list of containers that are tracked across corridors. Events in a corridor can now be flagged as 'Entry' or 'Exit' events for the Container Tracking module. When an 'Entry' event is populated in a Work Order by a user (either via direct update, email update or bulk update), the container is added to the list of active containers (if not already there).
 
The allowed free days are copied from the work order that caused the entry of the container and the number of days are counted from the time of entry (which is the same as the event that triggered the entry).
 
Similarly, when an 'Exit' event is populated by a user, the system checks if the container in the Work Order is an active container in the Container Tracking list. If so, the container is "exited" from the list and grayed out. The Exit event could either be in the same corridor as the Entry event or a different one.
 
The Container Tracking Module does not currently provide email alerts for containers that are reaching the free days limit. This will be implemented in the next phase.
 
 
For any questions of concerns, please contact TrakIT Support.
 
 

Saturday 13 October 2012

Some new features!

With the latest release, we've added some handy features to help you use TrakIT even better...

1) Entites included in Global Search - When you use the search box under the main menu, you will now see entites included in the search results as well. This can help you locate any entity quickly if you know only the partial name or code.

All kinds of entities are included in the search result - Customers, Transporters, Carriers, Bond Agents & Clearing Agents. Clicking on the Entity's name will pop up the Entity Details window.



2) Default start page for users - Users can now select their own start page instead of always starting with the Operations page. For example, open the Dashboard page, scroll down and click the star icon in the lower right corner of the page footer. The star icon will turn gold indicating that the page has been selected as the startup page. When starting TrakIT the next time, the Dashboard page will open first.



If you are opening TrakIT via a bookmark that points to the Operations page directly, then this feature won't work. Please make sure that any book mark points to the TrakIT application without any specific page associated with it.

3) Work Order page and other page URLs now appear a little simpler than before. So instead of seeing

.../workorder.aspx?id=12345

you will see

.../wo-12345


4) Interactive Reports > Data Quality Reports - DQ reports will now exclude Cancelled Work Orders completely.

5) Dashboard Top 10 Pie Charts - Previously any work orders that was not assigned to the Pie chart selection criteria, was assigned under the 'Others' slice. Now, 'Empty' slices appear separately from 'Others'.


Besides the above, there have been several improvements and fixes. For any more information, please contact TrakIT Support.

 

Thursday 4 October 2012

Get with the Sequence!

 
This is a common question from users: "What does 'Out of Sequence (Check all)' mean? "
 
 
 

 
You may get this message even when there are no missing events in the work order you are working on. Here's what it means:
 
By default, TrakIT will not allow you to skip events or leave them blank. This is simply to enforce good practices and ensure better data quality. Thus, when you see the error "Out of sequence", it simply means that there are one or more missing events prior to the event you are entering. Once you fill up the missing events with 'NA' (Not applicable/available) or 'TBA' (To be advised), you will not get this error.
 
In some cases, you may see the error "Out of sequence (Check all)" despite all events being entered. This will happen only when the work order is a part of a shipment with other work orders as well and the 'Apply to T/D' or 'Apply to S/I' checkbox is selected.
 
When an event is being applied to all work orders in the shipment, the missing event check is also applied for all work orders in the shipment. If any of the work orders are missing events prior to the event in question, the whole operation fails with the above message - which indicates to 'Check all' work orders for missing events.
 
Although it is possible to insert empty events when using the Bulk Update function and selecting the checkbox 'Ignore Event Sequence', it should, as far as possble, be avoided. Leaving events empty during bulk updates will cause the "Out of sequence" error for other users subsequently.
 
For any questions or clarifications, please contact TrakIT Support.