Summer 2006

Our impression

To give us a chance to evaluate the Quartix tracking system properly, the company kindly set it up in one of our own cars, so we've been able to give it an extended trial.

The Quartix telematics box is installed discreetly in the vehicle, usually in a position to make tampering time-consuming and difficult. In my case, it was placed behind the instrument panel. The box fits in a small space. Installation takes about an hour and can be done at a location to suit the customer. That's it, as far as the user is concerned. It takes a few hours for the box to be activated (Quartix advises 24 hours). Then you can start viewing data about vehicle activity.

Access to the Quartix site is password-controlled, emailed to the person nominated as the administrator.

There are two ways of viewing fleet activity. One is to simply go to the Web site and call up the daily route map for each vehicle. The other is to sign up for daily and/or weekly activity reports, which are emailed to you. There is no extra cost in doing this, and it provides a good snapshot of fleet activity.

To review activity online for a single vehicle, you simply click on the vehicle registration and then the "route map" key. Each portion of a route is shown as a separate trip (triggered by turning the ignition on and off). Splitting a day's activities into separate trips is useful because you can easily zoom in to the more explicit details for a particular part of the route.

The screen is easily navigable. The top right displays which trip is being shown on the screen, and the total trips for that day. The "forward" and "back" buttons above the map allow you to step through each of the trips of the day, and the system will select a map scale to display the whole route.

Red dots show stop and start points, while a red pause symbol indicates that the vehicle stopped, but with the ignition on (possibly because of congestion). A series of yellow symbols on the map shows the route taken.

Holding the mouse over any of these symbols brings up a box displaying time and speed information at that point, while clicking once on any of the yellow dots or arrows takes you directly to a detailed street-level map showing the vehicle's position at that time. The blue arrows around the map display allow you to move from page to page.

You can opt for daily and/or weekly summary reports for each vehicle or group of vehicles, which are available as Excel documents and in XML for importing into other applications such as payroll. Alternatively, if you need to know what is happening that day, you can get an up-to-date report online.

The flexibility to configure the reports to suit what you want is one of the most impressive things about the Quartix application. Some of them do require the assistance of the support centre to set up, but there is no extra charge.

Some of the configurable items you expect to see, such as the ability to enter custom location names for frequently used addresses. Existing customer locations appear as numbered blue circles on the map, with the list of numbers and locations shown beneath the map screen.

The "configure vehicle" screen is useful for tailoring reports to give as much or as little detail as required. You can take account of variables - for instance, eliminating short trips by increasing the trip threshold so that short trips (around the yard, for example) are not included. You can ask for idling times, and shift start and stop times.

You can group vehicles together and view each group individually to avoid having to scroll through the fleet list. One of Quartix's latest updates enables managers to allocate each vehicle to up to three subgroups - for example, according to function (delivery and maintenance), by geographic area (Birmingham and Newcastle depots) or by date.

Another useful feature is multi-site log-in capability, which allocates different log-in codes to different users. It allows national managers to overview the whole fleet (perhaps with a weekly summary) while local personnel receive the data that affects their operation.

A new feature called Extended Reporting is designed to make comparisons of fleet activity easier. The daily route chart shows the routes taken by all the vehicles in a group on any given day, while the Weekly Route chart allows you to view and analyse the routes for all your vehicles across the whole country. This is useful if you have vehicles operating from a number of depots, as it shows you the areas served by each group of vehicles in different colours, making it very easy to pick out occasions where the coverage overlaps. The plot shows seven days' worth of data on a single map, and you can turn on or off regions, groups, individual vehicles or days of the week.

The monthly summary spreadsheet gives an overall monthly picture of the data for all the vehicles in a group, with a range of analysis options. The analysis works by reading the weekly spreadsheet reports for each vehicle held on the server. The monthly report shows a summary of the trips and mileage for each day, and also calculates the utilisation of each vehicle using one of three selectable methods.

Our verdict

A very flexible system with an impressive reporting suite and fast-to-navigate browser. The daily and weekly reports we received on our vehicle did exactly what they were designed to do - provide a quick snapshot of that day's activities. If something stood out (for example, the vehicle not moving that day), it was then a simple step to logging on and investigating the activity map for the data and the vehicle. You can also get daily and weekly summary sheets for the fleet and more detailed data if required.

Specifications

Quartix

Tracking system Quartix trip counter telematics black box. Incorporates 12-channel GPS satellite receiver, housed in a heavy-duty plated-steel enclosure and GPRS data modem.

Communications From trip counter via the Orange GPRS data network to Quartix's Web servers

Electrical system Designed to work with either 12 or 24V vehicle electrical systems without modification. Ignition-on status continually monitored.

Data downloads Via internet portal. Password-protected access to two Quartix servers in London and Portsmouth are kept in complete synchronisation. Vehicle terminal units are capable of using either server.

Electronic compatibility

Approved by the Vehicle Certification Agency for compatibility with vehicle electronic systems. Fully compliant with European EMC and safety legislation.

Warranty On-site repair or replacement of faulty equipment for the life of the lease or three years for purchased equipment

Costs Three-, four- and five-year equipment leases from £11.90 to £16.80 per vehicle per month. Communication and service charge: £10.90 per vehicle per month.

Purchase price £545

Installation charge £67

Note on costs

Altogether the costs work out at between 75p and 91p per day. The cost to remove the system from one vehicle and install it in another vehicle during the same visit is £119.00.

Quartix offers a four-week trial for a cost of £295. After that you can carry on renting it for a year before making a final decision.