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.

 

 

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.

 

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.

 

KPIs to Measure Hours

In TrakIT, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) basically measure the time difference between two events in a corridor. Previously, this difference was measured in whole days only - with an option to exlude weekends and defined holidays. Based on other conditions, a KPI can be set up to provide alerts when certain criteria are met.

With the latest build of TrakIT - A major change has been implemented with the way KPIs are measured. KPIs now measure hours as well as the days between two events.

When a KPI is setup to measure Business Hours only, the country and zone must be selected for the KPI. This is so that TrakIT can determine the holidays for the country and calculate the correct business hours as per the time zone selected.

It is very important to know the difference between Business Hours and Running Hours as these figures are very different for the same two events. Business hours are measured only between 9 am to 5 pm local time and completely excludes Saturdays, Sundays and holidays defined for the country. KPIs that measure Business hours are always displayed in italics.

The KPI Target and Actual values are displayed in days and hours. One running day is 24 running hours, whereas one business day consists of 8 business hours.

For example:

Start Time:	11:00 hrs, 14th Sept 2012
End Time:	18:30 hrs, 18th Sept 2012
Running Days/Hours:	4 days & 7 hours (103 running hours)
Business Days/Hours:	2 days & 6 hours (22 business hours)

The Business days are calculated as follows:
14th Sep, Friday:	11:00 to 17:00	= 6 hours
15th Sep, Saturday:		= 0 hours
16th Sep, Sunday:		= 0 hours
17th Sep, Monday:	09:00 to 17:00	= 8 hours
18th Sep, Tuesday:	09:00 to 17:00	= 8 hours

Any excess minutes are always truncated (not rounded). When exporting KPIs via Excel or CSV, the figures are always in hours.

For any questions of clarifications, contact TrakIT Support.

TrakIT Tracks Time

Events in TrakIT will now include the time of the event as well. This will benefit "fast" shipments tremendously where events are separated in hours or minutes instead of days.

The time of an event will always be specified in 24 hour format as HH:mm, dd MMM yyyy. Example: 14:55, 18 Aug 2012. AM/PM will not be used. Furthermore, users must be aware that the time specified for an event is assumed to be the local time of the user entering the event. This fact will be significant for corridors where the origin and destination are on different time zones. Users can also enter an event time up to 6 hours in the future.

Having a time-stamp on each event will also allow managers to see the time difference between the occurence of an event and the time it is updated in TrakIT. This will help identifying events that are logged with delays or bottlenecks in the workflow process.

Entering the time is simple. The pop-up calendar will now include drop-down lists for hours and minutes (in intervals of 5 minutes). The user should select the hour/minute and then select the date. If the event is being updated in real-time, the user can simply click the 'Now' link to insert the current date/time. If time is not is not selectable by the drop down list (e.g: 14:53), the user can type in the time directly in the text box.

All existing and old events in the system will automatically get a time of 12:00 (noon) based on the local time of the user who entered the event.

Time can also be considered to be optional as the default time will be 12:00 for all events. So users who don't need to use time for events can simply select the date.

Any events exported from the Operations page will also include the time of the event (in the user's local time). Bulk updates for events will also be assumed to be the local time of the user making the update.

The time for event updates by email will be taken as the time the email is received on the server. (This will change in a future update)

Currently, KPIs will only be measured in days. In the next update of TrakIT, hour and minute based KPIs will be available as well.

For any questions, concerns, or suggestions, please contact TrakIT Support. If you notice any un-expected or erroneous behaviour, please notify us immediately.