Introduction to Geofences

Geofences are a radius in miles that you can set around locations, which can warn a driver if they try to complete their workflow outside of it, or can force the driver to be inside the Geofence radius before they are able to complete their workflow. A common use would be making sure a driver is at the actual delivery location before they can mark their cargo as ‘Delivered’.

When Geofences are set to Warn, for every driver status update outside the Geofence radius, a warning notifies the driver and dispatcher, and a Status Code is attached to the shipment (or Route Stop).

When Geofences are set to Enforce, the behavior is the same as Warn except the driver is also physically unable to complete their delivery workflow until they are back inside the Geofence radius.

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Feature Guide Video

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Navigating to the Geofences Module

You can get started by going to the Maintenance tab in the sidebar > Geofences.

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Once you’re in the Geofences module, you can use the Search bar to look for specific Geofence records, narrowing the search by Type, ID, Geofence Radius (miles), Priority and more.

You can also use the icons in the top right to Edit Layout, swap to Table View or swap to Card View, respectively.

You can use either the Create New button in the top right corner to make a brand new Geofences record OR select an existing Geofences record for editing.

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Creating and Editing a Geofence Record

Now that you have a Geofence record open, you can begin entering, or modifying, key information.

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The first setting to configure is the Geofence Type, which determines what level the Geofence applies at.

• Driver: the Geofence applies to all stops that driver does.

• Customer: the Geofence applies to all stops for that customer.

• Order Type: the Geofence will be applied to any on-demand shipments using that Order Type

• Business Unit: the Geofence will apply to all stops for all customers in that Business Unit

• Global: the Geofence applies to all stops

Select the target with the Type ID. For example, if you wanted to apply this Geofence to a specific customer, you would select the Customer Type and input their Customer ID (12345) as the Type ID. If you wanted to apply it to a specific driver, select Driver as the Type and input their Driver ID as the Type ID.

Next, the Geofence Radius (miles) will let you specify how large the Geofence circle is. You can use fractions of miles (0.25, 0.5, 0.75). It’s better to have a radius that is a little too big, rather than too small, as big Geofences can always be shrunken down later but Geofences that are too small could unintentionally disrupt a driver’s workflow.

Cached GPS Grace Time (Minutes) lets you specify a time extension for GPS pings inside the Geofence, from 0 to 60 minutes. Leave it at 0 for the most accurate Geofence behavior. To show drivers more grace, such as if they’re making a delivery at a large, complex site (like a hospital) or they will be inside a building that might disrupt GPS pings, you could increase it to 1-5 minutes.

Priority determines which Geofence takes precedence where two or more could apply. Lower values indicate higher priority. If two applicable Geofences have the same priority, the one with the smaller Geofence radius will apply.

Last, use the Outside Geofence Enforcement setting to determine what category of Geofence this is, Ignore, Warn or Enforce.

• Ignore: this is simply used to save a Geofence record and its settings but leave it in an inactive state; it can be reactivated any time by changing it to Warn or Enforce

• Warn: for every driver status update outside the Geofence radius, a Status Code notifies both driver and dispatcher, and is attached to the shipment (or Route Stop)

• Enforce: the behavior is the same as Warn except the driver is also physically unable to complete their delivery workflow in the app until they are back inside the Geofence radius

Once you’re finished configuring the Geofence settings, click on the save button in the bottom right corner.

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Setting Up the "Outside Geofence" Status Code

In order for Warn and Enforce Geofences to log Status Codes whenever a driver status update occurs outside the Geofence, the customer in question needs to have the "Outside Geofence" Status Code enabled on their Customer record.

There are easy two ways you can add the “Outside Geofence” Status Code:

1. Enable “Outside Geofence” for all Customers

2. Enable “Ouside Geofence” on individual Customer records

You can also edit the “Outside Geofence” Status Code record to enable Mobile Display, which will allow drivers to see the Status Code, and Internet Display, which will allow your customers to see the “Outside Geofence” Status Code in the Client Portal whenever it is reported. Read on for more information.

Enable Geofencing for All Customers

1. Go to Maintenance > Status Codes.

2. Click the Enable All Customers icon for the “Outside Geofence” status code. 

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Enable Geofencing for Specific Customers  

1. Go to Maintenance > Customers > Select the desired Customer record > navigate to the Status Codes work view.

2. Locate and tick the Outside Geofence Status Code

3. Click the  Save button. 

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Enable Drivers to Edit the "Outside Geofence" Status Code

When Mobile Display is enabled on the Outside Geofence Status Code record, drivers can see the “Outside Geofence” Status Code and edit its comments in the Driver App. When Mobile Display is disabled, drivers will not be able to see the "Outside Geofence" Status Code in the Driver App or edit its comments.

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Enable Geofence Status Codes in the Client Portal

When Internet Display is enabled on the Outside Geofence Status Code record, Client Portal users can see the Status Code in the Track Order and Route Tracking sections of the Client Portal.

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Your customers will see the Status Code represented like this:

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Dependencies

A dependency refers to settings or modules outside of the primary module (in this case, Geofences) which affect the behavior of that module, are closely-related, or rely on it for their own function.

The most common location for dependencies are the Global Options menu and the Maintenance side tab. Any dependencies already covered on this page, as well as any others, are listed below:

• Maintenance > Status Codes > “Outside Geofence” Default Code > Enable All Customers Button

• Maintenance > Status Codes > “Outside Geofence” Default Code record > Mobile Display and Internet Display

• Maintenance > Customers > Existing Customer Record or Create New > Status Codes Work View > “Outside Geofence” Checkbox

• Maintenance > Drivers > Existing Driver Record or Create New > Mobile Options > Navigate Down to GPS Sync > Tick GPS Required Checkbox

• Like many other features, Geofences require a validated Address with correct Latitude and Longitude to ensure proper function

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