Trip Planning

Introduction

Smartrak has been working hard to modernise the booking process for PoolCar users. The ‘Trip Planning’ tool is a part of this process and will help users better locate their destinations via a map interface.

Trip Planning will deliver an improved user experience and going forward, incorporate various features that will be essential in supporting Smartrak's vision for Sustainable Transportation.

We understand that any change can be met with resistance and have focused on delivering a user experience with Trip Planning that is intuitive and easy to adopt. We have also ensured that guides such as this are available to smooth your adoption of a solution that will deliver improvements to your vehicle users and managers

Eligible Users

When enabled Trip Planning will be available for all regular users. Sysadmins, Pool Managers, and Pool Officers will have the option of activating Trip Planning for their fleets or continuing with the existing Calendar View when performing bookings.

Any elevated user can continue to use the calendar view but will have the option to take advantage of the new Trip Planning experience.

Please Note: Activating Trip Planning does not remove the calendar view for elevated users.

Activating Trip Planning

Trip Planning can be turned on by navigating to the Application Setting page and selecting the Trip Planning Tab.

Navigate to: Sysadmin > Application Settings > Trip Planning

Open

Supported Features

At this stage, Trip Planning does not support all the features currently available in the Calendar View. Therefore, some settings may block the activation of Trip Planning. To take advantage of Trip Planning, those unsupported settings need to be disabled.

Share a Ride

Each setting in the Share a Ride option must be set to YES to disable the feature.

Update settings at: Sysadmin > Application Settings > Passengers

Passenger Manifest

Booking form should show passenger manifest table set to NO.

 Update settings at: Sysadmin > Application Settings > Passengers

Accreditation Types

This feature must be set to NO.

Update settings at: Sysadmin > Application Settings > Access Rights

Automatic Vehicle Allocation

This feature must be set to NO.

Update settings at: Sysadmin > Application Settings > Bookings

Step-by-step guide for using Trip Planning

The modern user experience in Trip Planning is anticipated to make it easy for users to use the tool without significant hurdles. However, we will walk you through a simple step-by-step guide for users to use Trip Planning.

Step 1 – Navigate to the Trip Planning

1. Click on the Trip Planning tab in the top ribbon. 

2. This will take the user to Trip Planning.  

3. A map will be displayed for the user. 

Step 2 – Enter Trip Details

4. Enter the Trip destination.

5. Select the departure time and date

6. Select departure pool from the dropdown list. This is done after nominating the destination, as users will always be departing from one of your organisation’s pools.

7. Select the return the time and date

   1. Trip Planning supports manual entry for the time. The time intervals are based on the App setting made by the fleet manager. 

 8. Trip Planning will validate the date and time (i.e. if the user enters a return date before the departing date, the system will generate an error) 

Step 3 – Vehicle Requirements

1. The user selects the vehicle requirements from a drop-down list. These are optional.

2. Users can specify zero or multiple requirements to broaden or narrow the search results and press ‘next’.

Step 4 – Select a Vehicle

1. Based on the entered filters, the vehicles will be displayed

2. After selecting the desired vehicle, the user can select the vehicle and press ‘next’ to add the trip details.

Step 4 – Trip Details

1. The user selects the Cost Centre from a drop-down list.

2. The user selects the Project Code from a drop-down list.

3. The user types the purpose of the trip.

4. The user selects the mandatory fields set by the Fleet Manager

5. The user clicks the mandatory field box (if any)

6. The booking is now completed.

7. Users have had the option to select this booking as recurring. By clicking the checkbox, a new page will open so that the user can choose the details of the recurring booking (daily, weekly, fortnightly, or monthly) and then confirm the booking

What are the current functions supported by Trip Planning

Not all existing features/functions in PoolCar will be supported in the new booking workflow.

The supported functionalities are:-

• The new User Interface

• Source/Destination Entry

• Project Code

• Custom Fields (Only Text Box now and more types will be supported in the future)

• FIlter the Vehichle by ey Words

• Purpose of Trip

• Business/Private Trip

• Synchronised bookings between Trip Planning and KeyMaster

• Synchronised bookings between Trip Planning and Keyless

When is Trip Planning going to support the remaining Calendar functions

By Q3 2025, our team intends to provide support for a majority of PoolCar calendar functions, though the dates may vary based on business demand.

Reporting

The reports in PoolCar will continue to show bookings made through Trip Planning. However, any features that are currently unsupported in Trip Planning will not be included in the reports.

FAQs

What if the user does not find the desired location?

At Smartrak, we ensure that our Trip Planning users have a seamless experience by utilising up-to-date maps. However, there may be instances where the map does not display the desired location. In such cases, we recommend entering a nearby location instead. To prevent any confusion, the user can include a comment in the purpose field specifying the desired location.

Why aren’t major locations not appearing when I search for them?

This is because the user’s Language/Culture setting hasn’t been set to the correct region. This must be done for every user. See Language/Culture settings earlier in this guide for more information.

What is the default booking duration in Trip Planning?

Just like with Calendar bookings, the default booking duration is 45 minutes.

What are the vehicle requirements, filters, that the users will see in Trip Planning?

The list of vehicle filters comes from the vehicle register. If a tag is applied to a vehicle, it will automatically appear in the vehicle filter list.

What will be the displayed Cost Centres and Project Codes in Trip Planning?

The users of Trip Planning will still be able to see the cost centres and project codes that have been defined by the Fleet Manager. Also, Fleet Managers can add and modify cost centres and project codes as they used to do.

Can users create retrospective bookings?

Trip Planning users cannot make retrospective bookings. However, elevated users, Sysadmins, Pool Managers, and Pool Officers can make retrospective bookings, if needed, via the Calendar View booking.

What methods of making bookings can the Sysadmins, Pool Managers, and Pool Officers use?

Users with elevated rights can choose between two options for making bookings: Trip Planning or Calendar View bookings. If the user clicks the Trip Planning button on the upper ribbon, Trip Planning will launch if it has been activated by the Sysadmin. Alternatively, if the user clicks the "Booking Calendar" button, the Calendar View will be displayed (See below screenshot)

I cannot see the Driver Details when making a booking using Trip Planning

Yes, this feature is not supported by Trip Planning. However, the fleet manager can still see the booker details as per the stored details in the system.

Does Trip Planning support KeyMaster bookings?

Yes, if a user makes a booking using Trip Planning, the bookings will be synchronised with KeyMaster and the user will be able to see those bookings when commencing the trip.

Does Trip Planning Support Keyless Bookings?

Users who make bookings via Trip Planning can unlock/lock the vehicle via the Mobile Site and the Mobile App. They can also do this via the “my bookings” page telematics tab.

Troubleshooting & Support

 If you require support, please raise a ticket in the Smartrak Service Desk - https://smartrak.atlassian.net/servicedesk/customer/portal/3