Good day Astreon clients and partners. We hope you are all off to a great 2021 and enjoying some of this nice warm and sunny weather we’ve been enjoying! March was a big month for Astreon Development in terms of features and enhancements. Please read this release notes article in full and contact us if you have any questions.
Astreon New Features and Enhancements
Introducing the unit type library
Units in Astreon are the things that you track. They can be vehicles, equipment, trailers, people, even livestock! We have quite a few different solutions which fit all customer’s needs relating to location-based services.
Units in the system can have a classification. This is handy when using FleetRun or Dispatch+ because you can target a unit type, and all units with the same type will be targeted, saving you a lot of manual input and selection time when setting up recurring maintenances, etc.
We have now introduced a library of commonly used unit types to assist you. Simply start typing, and the system will auto fill the rest.
Unit type selection
In the General tab, a new Unit type field has been added, placed under the Name field. There are three types of units you can choose:
- Vehicle;
- from the Personal GPS tracker category: Person, Animal, Other;
- from the Stationary object category: Camera, Container, and so on.
Vehicle type selection – Vehicle Profile
For the Vehicle unit type, we have added two fields to the Profile tab with a drop-down list:
- a higher-level field named Vehicle type on the left with values like Cargo transport, Passenger transport, etc.;
- a lower-level field on the right with more detailed characteristics. For example, the Special machinery vehicle type, selected in the field on the left, allows the user to choose between Tractor, Combine, and dozens of other types.
Transferring current values
If you have already registered unit type in the settings manually, don’t worry. This data will not be lost. All current unit values which are saved in the Vehicle unit type field will be displayed in the Note field.
This field is in the Profile tab and in a pop-up window (if the option is enabled in the user settings).
The Note field has also been added to the calculator and the report including profile information. These fields can be exported and imported, including data transfer via API. The other applications such as Logistics can access the data contained in them on request.
Feedback on new functionality
We have added a new questionnaire to collect feedback by vehicle type. The obtained information will be further used to refine the unit type library and clarify the following questions:
- whether the old values of the vehicle types have been transferred correctly;
- how intuitive the interaction with the field is;
- what vehicle types are missing for our clients.
Setting up a unit on the Video tab
This applies to Howen, and other camera systems which do not have their own VMS system. IE, this does not apply to StreaMax.
In the unit properties, there is a tab with video settings. The tab is used to view connected cameras, edit their numbers, and rename them. Information about cameras can be updated and changed, so it is important to provide quick and convenient access to their settings.
Besides, the option with video settings is present on all the other tabs associated with the unit.
Therefore, we have aligned it with the rest of the interface.
What we have done:
- the unit properties icon has been added on the pages with video streams;
- after clicking on the icon, a dialogue window with the unit properties is displayed;
- while the window is open, the stream stops and resumes after the window is closed.
Reports – Custom fields
We’ve added custom fields in the Orders table for a unit. Now, this is available for the order report for drivers, unite groups, and driver groups. In order to use this option, specify custom field you need in the report in the table’s settings using custom fields filter.
The custom field helps users get more detailed information in a user-friendly format.
Reports by fuel fillings
We added new options “By fleet refueling” and “By refueling facility” on the Reports tab in the Report type field.
The new added options now allow users to get the summary information on fuel fillings so that users can sum up the results for a certain day and time range, with planning of fuel costs.
The reports of fuel fillings can be exported from the reports’ page and sent to the users’ email registered on the administration panel’s settings. These options will allow users who are outside of the organization to access reports.
Hecterra
Information on consumables and rates
The new option has been added to keep track of consumables used upon growing crops.
There are three types of consumables:
- Seeds
- Fertilizers
- Chemicals (crop protection products, for example)
These consumables types cannot be edited, however you can create other items and decide specific measurement units based on those consumable results. The measurement units have been updated as per users’ requests. Now you can select kilograms, liters, pounds or gallons depending on the measurement system selected for the resource.
These consumables types cannot be edited, however you can create other items and decide specific measurement units based on those consumable results. The measurement units have been updated as per users’ requests. Now you can select kilograms, liters, pounds or gallons depending on the measurement system selected for the resource.
When registering the cultivation you can specify the used consumables and their amount. The amount of consumables is specified as a rate – the material/substance volume per area unit (for example, 10 kg per hectare or 33 gallons per acre, etc.)
The consumables table also includes the section to fill in fuel in its upper undeletable line. All other lines can be added or deleted in the process of selecting seeds, fertilizers, and chemicals. You can add several times of one type or different types, but the specific item can be added only once.
Interface enhancements
Considering user experience, we added arrows to switch the month in the calendar on the Registrar page.
FleetMate
Notification enhancements
The unit name is automatically added to the notification subject:
- This function helps you understand which unit this notification is for and find the necessary email faster.
Added the data on mileage and engine hours to the notification:
- You can check both of data of mileage and engine hours on the notification.
Added the service term of completion to the notification:
- This helps you understand when the service is due.
New Notification Bell
To add a simpler summary on overdue items, maintenance events and all relevant notifications are now summarized in the top right corner under the small Bell icon. Simply select it and see a list of all overdue items.
Fuel fillings import and export
If you have data of Fuel fillings that you managed in other systems, the Fuel fillings can be imported from the CSV or XLSX files.
You can now also export fuel fillings in the same format!
Logistics
Route cost calculation
Dispatchers will love this feature. We added a feature to calculate the total route cost. You can find this function on the third step of planning and on the routes tab.
In the app settings on the Planning tab, there is a new block and you can specify the cost for the order key parameters: cost per 1 kilometer, 1 hour, 1 order, and vehicle departure.
If you select several methods of route calculation, the calculation results are summed up.
The cost measurement units are the ones specified in the settings on the General tab.
This helps you calculate the cost-effectiveness and arrange route plans based on the results.
New columns in the table on the Routes tab
Several new columns have been added to the routes tables: Delivery interval, Estimated time to point, Estimated service time, Weight, Volume, Cost. It helps you get more detailed data when planning the routes. All columns are available for export and printing.
The option to attach several files with signatures
Now it is allowed you to attach several files with signatures to the order in the Logistics app for Android (Previously, you could attach only one file). This updated function helps specific cases, such as medicine delivery, for example, to attach at least two different signatures.
Contact us today!
Contact us today for more information, pricing, and specific case studies.
Tel: +1 (800) 647-4730
Email: sales@astreon.com
