FleetWatcher shows two different Cycle Time metrics:
Average Cycle Time (for shifts)
VST Average Cycle (minutes) (for VSTs / TCpT VST view)
They are intentionally calculated differently and used for different views of your operation.
1. Average Cycle Time (for shifts)
Where you’ll see it
Today’s Shifts and Completed Shifts pages (shift cards / KPIs)
Executive / KPI views that use shift‑based metrics
Integrations that use the CycleTime KPI
What it measures
Average Cycle Time for shifts is a truck‑by‑truck, ticket‑to‑ticket measure of how long your cycles actually take during a shift.
A cycle starts when a truck receives a scale ticket
The cycle ends when that same truck receives its next scale ticket
FleetWatcher uses your Location Confirmation Algorithm (LCA) data and ticket data to:
Only include time that truly belongs to that shift and that cycle
Handle transitions if a truck moves between jobs or shifts
Handle the last cycle on a truck, using the dump time and offsets when there is no next ticket
The result is a KPI that:
Represents real operating time spent in cycles for that shift
Is not derived from the TCpT report or from VST math
How it’s calculated (conceptually)
For each truck, FleetWatcher measures the time between one scale ticket and the next.
Those per‑cycle times are summed up and averaged.
The KPI is the average of those cycle times, for the shift.
2. VST Average Cycle (minutes)
Where you’ll see it
TCpT – VST View
In the TCpT report, when you are in the VST view, you’ll see:
VST Average Cycle (minutes)
This is a VST‑specific metric and is labelled that way so it is not confused with the shift Average Cycle KPI.
What it measures:
VST Average Cycle (minutes) is a simple, VST‑based average derived directly from the TCpT VST view:
In other words:
FleetWatcher takes the hours shown in the TCpT VST view (“TCpT VST View Hours”)
Divides by the count of Source‑to‑Source cycles in that same VST view
Then converts to minutes
Formula:
VST Average Cycle (minutes)
= (TCpT VST View Hours ÷ TCpT VST View Source‑to‑Source cycles) × 60
Support notes describe “This is a basic figure that is VST specific. It is simply derived from the TCpT report… it’s just total time / total loads, expressed as minutes.”
The same ticket also makes it clear:
It’s not the same figure that appears on shift cards for Average Cycle Time.
The team kept VST metrics VST‑only and did not mix in other code paths:
“We decided to keep VST based only VST, and to not cross pollinate the largely unrelated MMS code into it.”
3. How they differ
Here’s a plain‑language comparison based only on the tickets:
Aspect | Average Cycle Time (shifts) | VST Average Cycle (minutes) |
Where you see it | Shift cards / KPIs (Today’s Shifts, Completed Shifts, executive KPI uses, CycleTime in APIs) | TCpT – VST view only |
Data source | LCA and scale tickets; KPI cache | TCpT VST view (VST View Hours + VST View Source‑to‑Source cycles) |
Definition of a “cycle” | Ticket‑to‑ticket per truck (scale ticket to next scale ticket) | Source‑to‑Source cycles in the TCpT VST view |
Calculation style | Detailed, per‑truck operational cycle time using location data and ticket events | Simple total time ÷ total cycles, expressed in minutes |
What time is counted | Only time actually spent in cycles for that shift, using LCA to clean up time and attribute it correctly | Whatever is included in TCpT VST View Hours (no shift KPI cleanup logic is mentioned in FW‑30817) |
Relationship to TCpT | Not derived from TCpT hours; different total‑hours logic than TCpT | Directly derived from TCpT VST view metrics |
Labeling | Shown as Average Cycle Time / Average Cycle (minutes) on shift cards and KPI interfaces | Explicitly labeled VST Average Cycle (minutes) to distinguish it from shift Average Cycle |
“The VST Average Cycle (minutes) is calculated differently than the Average Cycle (minutes) for Today’s or Completed shifts.”
“It’s not the same figure that will appear on shift cards for average cycle time, which is why we have added the VST mark.”
4. When to use which Cycle Time metric
You can steer end‑users to use each metric for different kinds of questions.
Use Average Cycle Time (shift KPI) when you want to:
Understand how efficiently trucks are cycling during a shift
Compare shift performance over time or across plants / jobs
Report a KPI that:
Includes only verified cycle time based on real truck movement and tickets
Matches what you see on Today’s Shifts / Completed Shifts and executive KPI views
This is the “official” operational cycle‑time KPI for a shift.
Use VST Average Cycle (minutes) when you want to:
Work directly from the TCpT VST View and stay within that context
Answer questions like:
“Based on this VST view, what’s the average cycle time for these Source‑to‑Source cycles?”
Get a quick average that is:
Derived straight from the time and cycle counts you see in the VST view
Clearly marked as a VST‑specific calculation
This is useful as a simple, VST‑context average, not as a replacement for the shift KPI.
📞 📬 Need Help?
Contact: support@fleetwatcher.com