Zone Analysis Rules: Configuration and Entry/Exit Logic
Zone Analysis Rules act as the building blocks for your automated Virtual Shift Tickets (VSTs). Each rule describes a specific movement pattern or travel lane (such as "Loader/Excavator to Asphalt Plant" or "Asphalt Plant to Paver"), instructing FleetWatcher on how to classify that time and activity.
Prerequisites for Building Rules
Before you can successfully build Zone Analysis Rules, the foundational data must already exist in your system. Ensure the following are configured:
Zones and Projects: Your physical locations (Plants, Jobs, Dump Sites) must be established as Geozones or Projects.
Scale Integrations: Ensure your scale integrations are correctly mapping plant and project numbers into FleetWatcher.
Equipment: The assets being tracked must be actively reporting in the system.
Defining the Entry/Exit Logic
A Zone Analysis Rule is built by establishing a clear Rule Starts trigger and a Rule Ends trigger based on when a truck crosses a geozone boundary.
Navigation: Go to MMS > Virtual Shift Tickets > Zone Analysis Rules.
How to configure a new rule:
Rule Starts (Source): Define the beginning of the cycle. Select When: (Entering or Exiting), choose the Zone Type (e.g., Project, Project Category, Equipment), and select the specific Zone.
Best Practice: When creating a rule based on a project, it is recommended to use the Project Category rather than the Project Type.
Rule Ends (Destination): Define the end of the cycle using the exact same Entering/Exiting logic for the destination zone.
Charge Assignment: Check the box for either Charge to Source or Charge to Destination to dictate where the billing or payroll costs for this cycle should be applied.
Naming the Rule: You can rely on the system-generated Default Title (e.g., "Entering Fargo Plant / Exiting Fargo Plant") or enter your own Custom Title.
Click Add New Rule to save.
Setting Default Materials and Phase Codes
You can configure a rule to automatically apply a specific material and phase code to any VST cycle that matches its travel pattern.
Click the List of Zone Analysis Rules link located below the "Add New Rule" button.
Select a rule to edit, and use the Choose Default Material and Choose Default Phase Code dropdowns at the bottom of the screen, then click Save Defaults.
Important Override Rule: If the Shift Ticket Phase Code field shows "N/A" on a ticket, it means the phase codes are being filtered by Job. By design, this Job filtering will completely override any Default Phase Code you set on the Zone Analysis Rule.
Applying Updates: If you edit an existing rule to add a new default material or phase code, you must manually recreate any existing shift tickets if you want the new defaults to apply to them.
Editing and Deleting Rules
Because rules form the backbone of your payroll and billing data, access to create, edit, or delete them is restricted strictly to users with administrative permissions.
Editing a Rule: Changes to a rule affect all future analyses where this rule applies. It will not automatically recalculate historical VSTs.
Deleting a Rule: Deleting a rule removes it from all Rule Sets where it is currently used and prevents it from being used in future analyses. Existing Virtual Shift Tickets are not automatically recalculated or retroactively altered.
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Contact: support@fleetwatcher.com