Basics for everyone

This section describes concepts that apply to all TotalMail® users and companies must understand at a high level.

  • Forms and text messages

  • The path that forms and text messages take between drivers and dispatchers

  • The TotalMail standard workflow

Forms and text messages in the TotalMail system

Drivers and dispatchers interact primarily through TotalMail forms and text messages. During each workflow, especially at each stop, drivers and their devices must send many forms, and sometimes text messages, to their dispatcher.

In this product, text message means an in-app communication like a simple email, not a phone text or instant message.

Examples of forms and text messages

You might receive forms and text messages like these from your assigned drivers:

  • Report arrival and departure times

  • Report cargo that is loaded or unloaded

  • Request driving directions

  • Ask for more information about a company or stop

  • Report the location

  • Report an accident, delay, breakdown, bad weather, or other event

About forms

Drivers can complete most routine tasks by sending forms to the dispatcher. Trimble customizes forms to meet your company’s unique needs. To change a form, a TotalMail system administrator can contact Trimble Support.

How forms work

The TotalMail system pulls a lot of form information from the driver’s device and the database, such as location, time, and date. The TotalMail system sends only the unique form ID and the data from each field. It does not send any of the form questions, field labels, or clutter. The form ID allows the recipient to see the form and all data. TotalMail uses the ID to recreate the form on the recipient’s end.

The benefits of custom forms

TotalMail custom forms simplify and improve communication in many ways for drivers, dispatchers, and companies.

  • They improve driver and dispatcher productivity.

    • Forms are customized for your business.

    • Forms ask for the data that you need, and nothing extra.

    • The TotalMail system pulls some, or all, form data from the driver’s device and the system databases.

      • This minimizes the data entry time for your drivers and dispatchers. Time saved equals profit.

      • Because forms cover most situations, drivers and dispatchers don’t need to make many telephone calls or write long text messages.

  • They increase data accuracy. Form data obtained from the drivers' devices and system databases eliminates frustration and human error for those routine questions, like time, date, and location. Drivers and dispatchers only enter specifics for each form.

  • They reduce data transmission costs and time. TotalMail exchanges only the form ID and the data that was entered for it. It does not send the field names, questions, or other form clutter.

    This is especially helpful on metered service lines and on low-quality network connections in remote areas.

  • They improve the data value. Custom forms provide companies and users all of the required data, in the best format for their purposes. Everyone now has the facts that they need to work efficiently.

As you see, custom forms help drivers and dispatchers work smarter, not harder, by reducing data entry frustration and telephone calls. They also save your company money by reducing data transmission costs.

Text messages

If no form applies to your situation, then you can send a text message. Text messages are short messages that are like email. Examples:

  • Do you have an update on the construction work that caused a traffic detour on my last trip?

  • Note: I will be out of town next week. River Lee will fill in for me.

The delivery path for messages

This is the delivery path that TotalMail forms and text messages follow from a driver to a dispatcher.

  1. The driver’s device in the tractor

  2. A cell signal or, sometimes, a GPS satellite

  3. The mobile communications vendor’s equipment

  4. One or more TotalMail agent computers

  5. The TMWSuite and TotalMail databases

  6. The dispatcher’s computer

If a dispatcher sends a form or text message to a driver, reverse these steps. For example, a dispatcher can update (change) a driver’s trip.

Connections between the parts of the system

Each form or text message sent contains data. A form or text message follows the standard delivery path described above. As the data passes through each step, some or all data is exchanged through various connections.

From the driver to dispatcher example above, these connections occur:

  1. The driver’s device in the tractor connects to a cell signal or GPS satellite.

  2. The mobile communications vendor connects to the cell signal or GPS satellite.

  3. The mobile communications vendor connects to the TotalMail agent computer.

  4. The TotalMail agent computer connects to the TotalMail database. TotalMail form or text message data goes through this connection.

  5. The TotalMail database connects to the TMWSuite database. Some of the TotalMail data and TMWSuite data goes through this connection, as-needed.

  6. The dispatcher’s computer connects to the TotalMail database.

The TotalMail standard workflow

The driver’s device in the tractor exchanges forms with the dispatcher’s computer.

  • The TotalMail system expects forms to be sent in a standard order.

  • Forms are sent at each point in the TotalMail standard workflow.

  • If the driver and dispatcher exchange forms in the order below, then many workflows can finish without more dispatcher interaction.

These points, in this order, are the TotalMail standard workflow.

  1. The dispatcher sends a load assignment, also known as a trip or workflow, to a driver.

  2. The driver begins the workflow.

  3. The driver arrives at the first shipper.

  4. The driver departs from the first shipper.

    Zero to many stops can occur between points four and five in a real workflow. The driver can pick up or unload cargo at each stop.

  5. The driver arrives at the final delivery, or consignee, stop.

  6. The driver unloads the trailer.