Key Concepts Overview

Alerts are email or pager notifications sent out when certain conditions are met.

Email Alerts: These are set up using the Add New Alert page on the website. There are three types:

Expiring Assets This alert notifies you whenever assets are due to expire in the number of days specified. It is triggered once daily.

Record Save This is a shared alert, viewable and editable by all superusers. This alert is fired on record save. It is triggered whenever an asset matching the criteria is attached to a new record.

Transfer of Assets Matching Criteria This alert notifies you whenever assets matching specific criteria are transferred. It is triggered whenever an asset matching the criteria is attached to a new record.

Wireless Alerts: Set on Individual Assets.

To learn how to set up alerts, see Alerts.

Assets are any physical object you wish to track with TrackAbout. These assets are typically tracked with a barcode or RFID tag in addition to the asset's serial number.

TrackAbout requires that you categorize each tracked asset into a three-level hierarchy. The levels of this hierarchy are called:

Each Group is in one and only one Category. Each Type is in one and only one Group. For most, the Type is the same as the Product Code.

This hierarchy is used by:

• Lookups To find a Type that the user can't remember.

• Display Most of TrackAbout's displays (like a customer balance, delivery transaction, inventory report, etc) all show the Category, Group then Type fields.

• Reporting Many reports let you filter to a single Category or a single Group or a single Type.

  NOTE

  Asset Families let you organize Product Codes into any number of "Asset Families" in addition to the more rigid 3 level Category, Group structure.

See Adding Asset Classes and Product Codes.

Asset Families let you place as many Asset Categories, Asset Groups, Asset Types or Product Codes into an "Asset Family" as you need. These Asset Families can then be used for reporting in places where the strict Category/Group/Type/Product Code hierarchy is not sufficient for the reporting needed.

An asset's history shows each recorded event in the life of an asset, such as Fills and Deliveries. Asset histories are shown in a timeline in chronological order, with the most recent event first.

TrackAbout supports different processes for when your assets leave internal locations.

• Branch Transfers Transfers between internal locations.

• Deliveries Transfers to Customer Accounts.

• Receive from Vendor Transfers from Vendors / Suppliers to internal locations.

When an asset is moved throughout the system for whatever reason (Delivery, Branch Transfer, Accounting Adjustment, to name a few) sometimes there are exceptions. Exceptions can be caused by a number of scenarios, such as an asset being returned from a customer to which that asset had never been delivered. In TrackAbout, a link to an Exception will allow users to see what the specific scenario was and to take action, if necessary. For example:

Asset Type is a part of an asset's classification. See Asset Classification.

A collision occurs when an attempt to attach an asset to a record was made but TrackAbout was not able to uniquely identify the asset using either the barcode, serial number, or both. Logic built into TrackAbout automatically resolves collisions based on business rules that have evolved over years of experience. However, some collision scenarios cannot be automatically resolved.

See Collisions to learn more about how to resolve collisions and how to can configure your system to reduce collisions.

At times Assets may be transferred to a customer or another location using a common carrier. A common carrier is a 3rd party company used for shipping, such as UPS or FedEx. TrackAbout supports this and lets customer record the common carrier name and tracking number on either the Create Invoice/Order page of the website or with the Deliver action on the Handheld.

A Customer is any person or company that is or may be in possession of one of your assets. You may wish to track to which customer an asset has been delivered and for how long it has been there.

See also: Customer Reports.

The TrackAbout Dashboard should be a staple of your daily TrackAbout Administrative activities. The Dashboard provides information about unresolved issues pertaining to your data. These issues includes items such as

• Sync Problems

• New Product Codes to Map

• Collisions

• Verifications

It's important to review your dashboard regularly to address issues. See Dashboard Maintenance for help managing your Dashboard.

Data Lock is a feature that is designed to protect existing records in TrackAbout from unwanted changes. Without a data lock in place, any user with sufficient privileges can edit or make changes to any record in the system, no matter how old.

Demurrage is a rental method. For more details see Rental Rates and Methods.

Expiration Date refers to the expiration date of the product inside of an asset. The Expiring Assets report shows which assets are outstanding and have expiring product in them.

The expiration date is usually set in the Fill action, or in the Set Expiration Date action. This value remains on the asset until the next time the asset is filled, or the expiration date is set.

Occasionally a mistake creates an asset in the system that shouldn't exist. On the Asset History page, there is a Delete/Junk This Asset tool which can be used to permanently delete or "junk" an asset in the system. A junked asset is no longer viewable in the system. It is only possible to junk an asset if it isn't attached to any records. Therefore, an asset must be detached from any records in its history before it can be junked.

A User is known as a location-restricted user when their access is limited to just their home location, or to their home location plus select other locations. A location-restricted user can only see assets which are in the location(s) to which they has been given access, including assets at customers to whose servicing location the user has access.

Locations are areas where assets can be stored. Any area that is not at a Customer is considered a Location. See Locations for more details.

Locate actions may be used to assign assets to a location, but a Deliver action must be used to deliver and/or return assets to/from customers.

It is possible to use a Deliver action to assign/remove assets to/from locations. They are converted to Locate actions when the handheld syncs to the website.

Another difference between Locations and Customers is that Customers may get accounting adjustments, but Locations won't.

Since Accounting Adjustments serve as reminders to adjust Customer balances in the business system, there is no need for accounting adjustments for Locations.

Assets can be marked "Lost" individually under the Asset Editing Options in the Asset's History. Alternatively, while resolving a customer audit, the system asks what to do with assets which TrackAbout expected to be at the customer, but which weren't scanned during the course of the audit. One option is to mark all such assets as "Lost." An asset which has been marked as Lost automatically becomes Found if its barcode is scanned at any point in the future. No further action is necessary, although it is possible to view such assets in the Lost and Found section of the Dashboard.

During a cylinder fill process, TrackAbout supports the recording of lot numbers. Lot numbers are assigned to certain gases, most usually medical gases. TrackAbout associates each barcode scanned during a fill with a lot number. This provides you with the ability to target specific assets that are a part of a lot should the need for a recall arise.

Sometimes assets are bundled together and moved in a group (example: 12-pack of cylinders, 6-pack of cylinders). Rather than scanning each individual asset each time this group moves, the 'Make Pack' feature can be used to group these assets together. When this "pack" of assets moves, only the pack barcode needs to be scanned. The Pack has its own Product Code, separate from the Product Code of the assets in the Pack.

Once these assets have been associated with a pack barcode, they act as a single asset until they are broken, or removed, from the pack. All records pertaining to a pack will show with a count of one, including all production and distribution records. To find the individual pack's assets, go to the Asset Search page, click on the + sign on the More Asset Search Options section, and enter the pack number in the Pack # field. When you click Search, you will see all assets in that pack and will then be able to click the View link to see assets' histories.

To remove assets from a pack, use the 'Unmake Pack' button on the handheld. Once a pack has been unmade, you have the ability to add different assets to the pack.

It is possible to print various actions to a Bluetooth printer from a Bluetooth handheld. Most commonly, this happens at the end of a customer delivery, after all delivered and returned assets have been scanned. However, it is possible to print other actions, as well. When this extra feature has been purchased, it must be enabled by your TrackAbout representative.

When a barcode is unreadable or unknown, it is possible to track quantities of asset types as Not-Scanned (NS) assets. The ability to use NS assets helps keep customer balances accurate, even when barcodes have not been scanned. There are several actions which result in NS assets being on a customer's balance. If a driver is unable to scan or read a barcode during a delivery, they may enter the asset type and quantity as either a delivery (DNS) or as a return (RNS.) NS assets may also be delivered/returned to/from a customer during integration if an invoice from the business system does not have a matching invoice with tracking data from a handheld.

Offline mode allows you to work while your smart device is offline. Some features are limited, but many actions can still be performed.

Once the device is back online, the app automatically sends data without the need for your intervention.

Who actually owns a particular asset may be tracked as a specific attribute of any asset. While many TrackAbout users track only their own assets, it is particularly common in the packaged gas industry to track the locations of assets rented from another distributor.

A product code is the same thing as your part number, SKU, or catalog ID. This is the code used in the business system for a delivery of an asset to a customer. This is also the code used for any integration with your business system.

Product codes must be mapped to a Type. Whenever new product codes are introduced to TrackAbout, such as through various integration points to your back office systems, the new product codes must be mapped to Types.

The mapping of product codes to types allows TrackAbout to understand the information that comes in from your back office system, and properly categorize assets.

This mapping extends the Category/Group/Type hierarchy into a four-level hierarchy:

• Category

• Group

• Type

• Product Code

Refer to Adding Asset Classifications and Product Codes for setting up Product Codes in Trackabout or to Mapping New Product Codes to set up Product Codes loaded in Trackabout via integration.

Records are any change to an asset that is tracked and recorded within TrackAbout at a specific date, time and location, such as a truck load record, a delivery record, or a maintenance record.

Record editing is how TrackAbout lets you change records which have already been saved to the website. Changes can be made to update records or correct errors which have been made. See Record Editing for more.

TrackAbout rental calculations are based around rental days. Each day an asset is in the possession of the customer constitutes one rental day. When rent is tallied, the number of billable rental days is totaled, and that number is multiplied by the applicable rental rate for that asset based on its product code. Leases are also calculated based on rental days. A lease for a single asset for a month is calculated by TrackAbout as 30 rental days for that asset type for that particular month. A customer who had a lease for a single asset for a month, but actually possessed 2 assets of that type for 15 days, would pay no rent. The 30 rental days covered by the lease would entirely replace rent for that month.

Retest Date is the date the asset needs to be tested next. The Assets To Be Retested report shows all outstanding assets that need retested.

Assets can be retired in TrackAbout, marking that particular asset as no longer in use. Retiring an asset changes its location to the unknown location. Once so marked, that asset will no longer be counted in the inventory of any actual location. The history of the retired asset is retained in TrackAbout.

This feature lets any Asset Type/Ownership combination not require a serial number. This option is found under TrackAbout Config.

The purpose of the "Sign Many" action is to provide a way to collect a single signature for multiple Deliver records already collected on the device. This is useful when several deliveries are being made to, say, several departments at a university but only one individual at the customer location is responsible for signing off on the delivery.

This action ONLY works when a device is in batch mode, because in wireless mode, there will be no records left behind on the device to sign. During deliveries, the user must not collect any signature. After saving the last delivery action, the user selects the Sign Many button from the menu. A grid displays all deliveries without signatures saved on the device. The user selects one or more deliveries from the list and hits CONTINUE. The final screen collects the signer's name and signature.

Saving the "Sign Many" action actually results in saving the signature to all the selected Delivery actions. Saving a "Sign Many" action does not result in a new record in and of itself.

If there are two assets in TrackAbout which are actually the same asset, their histories in TrackAbout can be merged together during a Collision Resolution. This will cause them to be one asset in TrackAbout, thereby reflecting the reality that there really is only one asset, not two. Sometimes, two physical assets are being represented in TrackAbout by the same barcode. This can be caused by TrackAbout assets being incorrectly merged together, or by a split barcode pair, whereby two assets have the same barcode. In these cases, it is possible to split the history of an asset in TrackAbout to make two unique assets.

Synchronizing is the process of updating the website with data from the handheld, and updating the handhelds based on information from the website. In addition to updating the handheld software, syncing can also update such things as user and location information.

It is possible to track Asset Volume/Weight by having TrackAbout staff enable a setting. This is the primary setting required in order to do Tube Trailer tracking, and this feature can be used for other types of assets, as well. Once this setting has been enabled, it will then be possible to enable volume collection on specific product codes.

An Unclassified Asset is an Asset that is being tracked in TrackAbout but has not been defined or classified. The Asset has been recorded within TrackAbout without any details regarding what kind of Asset it is.

Use States is the term TrackAbout employs to determine the status or condition of a tracked Asset. Common use states in the packaged gas industry are Full / Empty. Other use states may be put in place, such as Broken, In Repair, or Repaired. For Medical related industries, use states can include Dirty, Patient Ready, or In Quarantine.

See Use States for more information.

This refers to any screens on a computer or handheld device that allows the user (you) to control or use the TrackAbout software.

In TrackAbout, every user needs to be put into a specific role. These roles are like job titles, such as System Administrator or Truck Driver. Once the roles are set up, you can decide what each role is allowed to do. For example, we wouldn't want a Truck Driver to have the power to delete records, so we wouldn't give them the "Delete" permission.

A User is anyone that is making use of the TrackAbout Software on the website or the handheld in order to track or maintain Assets. Users can be employees, vendors, suppliers, or your Customer Tracking Portal Customers.

Verification is a method of simply stopping a record from appearing in the web page on which it is displayed. Invoices are the most common type of records which can be verified. They are verified in the Verifications page. However, there are other pages from which records are verified, such as the Lost Assets Found page.

Invoices may be automatically verified if the tracking data matches the data from the business system. If there are discrepancies between the business system's version of an invoice and the assets that actually got scanned on an invoice through TrackAbout, then that invoice will appear on the Verifications page. An invoice's appearance on the Verifications page gives you an opportunity to confirm, i.e., "verify," that the invoice is correct. Hitting the Verify button will not change the invoice in any way. It will simply cause it to no longer appear on the Verifications page.

Validation patterns are used for several fields in TrackAbout to insure data integrity in data entry. These are usually used for barcodes, customer IDs, orders and invoices, and lot numbers, among others. A validation pattern is used to verify that user's input arrives in the correct format. The format can be customized to restrict an entry to specific patterns of digit or combination of digits and letter and/or special characters.

If data is entered, scanned or keyed-in, in a mobile device, and does not match the configured pattern, the system reject the entry.