Vehicle distance tracking with odometer readings
Distance tracking compares what a vehicle drives between two odometer readings with what its tours, add-ons and declared trips should drive. A clear excess shows when a vehicle is driven outside work. It counts odometer readings only, never GPS.
How distance tracking works
- 1
Track the vehicle
Switch on Track distance in it, under Vehicles.
- 2
Enter the tours' distances
Give each tour its Expected distance, as below.
- 3
The crew register the odometer
In TourTask Crew, when each tour starts, and if they like when it ends.
- 4
TourTask compares
The distance between two readings is compared with what the tours, add-ons, trips and allowance in between explain.
Where you set the expected distance
The expected distance is how far a vehicle drives on a tour, from start to end. Its fields show while one of your vehicles is tracked.
| Where | What it sets |
|---|---|
| Tour editor: Expected distance, under Duration in each Schedule | The tour's distance, private and group |
| Add-on: Extra distance | A detour when the add-on is booked: once per private booking, once per vehicle on a group tour |
| Booking: Change expected distance | One private tour, custom item or group departure |
| Tours → Group tours → Planning → Edit departures | The selected group departures |
Leave a booking's or departure's own value empty to follow the tour. A custom item has no tour: give it a distance on the booking, or, after 5 measurements, TourTask uses what custom items with that name usually drive.
The distance tracking report
Open it with Distance tracking report on the Vehicles page. It shows the last 30 days unless you pick another period. What needs you:
| In the report | What to do |
|---|---|
| Open alerts | Check each alert and handle it (below) |
| Readings to check | Confirm, correct or void the reading (below) |
| Missed start readings | Remind the crew to register the odometer at Start tour |
| Tours without an expected distance | Set the tour's Expected distance |
| Recommended distances | Accept the distance a tour really drives (below) |
Click a vehicle for its own page: what it drove Between readings, and its Readings, Tours and Other trips. Administrators also see Per person: each person's tours, missed readings and alerts.
Handling an Unexpected divergence
An Unexpected divergence means the vehicle drove clearly more than its tours explain, and more than these tours usually drive. It shows on your dashboard and is e-mailed to your Alert recipients. It stays open until an administrator handles it.
- 1
Open the alert
From the dashboard card, or Open the report in the e-mail.
- 2
Check it
Look at the readings, their photos and the tours in between. Last assigned names who had the vehicle before the largest gap, not who drove it.
- 3
Mark it
An administrator chooses Mark as Explained, such as for a detour nobody declared, or Mark as Misuse, with a note on what happened and who drove. A handled alert can't be changed.
A Learning alert concerns tours measured fewer than 5 times, and is e-mailed only when the excess is large. A To be confirmed alert, raised by a typed or changed reading, is confirmed by the next reading that agrees, or with Confirm alert.
Readings to check
A reading that doesn't fit the readings around it, such as one far above what the tours explain, counts for no distance until an administrator checks it. On the vehicle's page, an administrator can choose:
- Confirm reading: the number is right.
- Correct reading: the odometer showed another number. The first one stays on record.
- Void reading: it no longer counts, and its tour's reading can be registered again.
- Mark as new odometer: the odometer was replaced or reset.
- Move to another vehicle: it was taken on another vehicle.
Recommended distances
After 5 measurements of a tour, the report recommends the distance it really drives when that differs from the one entered: Set to or Change to a distance. Accept applies it from the date the route changed, so earlier tours keep their distance. Only someone who may edit tours can accept it.
When one person drives a tour clearly farther than the others, the recommendation is withheld and the report shows their Steady excess.
Readings and trips added by staff
On a tracked vehicle's page, anyone with access to Vehicles can use Add reading, with the total (ODO), when it showed it and a photo if there is one. Add trip declares driving that is no tour, such as fuel, the workshop or approved private use: its distance counts as expected.
Who can do what
| Who | What they can do |
|---|---|
| Staff with access to Vehicles | See the report, switch tracking on, add readings and trips, confirm an alert |
| Administrators | Also handle alerts and change readings, see photos and Per person, change the settings |
| Staff who may also edit tours | Accept a recommended distance |
| The crew of a tour | Register its readings in TourTask Crew, and see their own |
Nobody acts on an alert that names them, or on its readings.
Questions we get asked
The tour is listed under Missed start readings, and the dashboard warns administrators when one person misses 3 in a row. The next reading still measures the distance since the last one.
It needs 5 measurements, and what it really drives must differ from its expected distance by more than your tolerance.
90 days, and longer for the readings of an open or misuse alert.