Getting Started - Tools
Quick Start Guide
Welcome to TrackAbout! This Quick Start Guide will provide you with information and tools to lead you through your implementation.
The Quick Start Guide is divided into three segments:
- Getting Started: This page leads you through setting up your TrackAbout environment.
- Capturing Data - Tools: Now that your environment is ready to go, it's time to start collecting data.
- Reviewing Data - Tools: Finally, now that you have data, this page will instruct you on how to use it.
Your OnTrack Implementation Specialist will be available to answer any questions you may have. If you have not yet been assigned an OnTrack Implementation Specialist please contact support@trackabout.com.
Logging in
Your TrackAbout representative will create your first system administrator user for the site. You will receive an email from TrackAbout with a link for you to set a password and then log into the site. You can log into TrackAbout in a few ways:
- Go to https://www.trackabout.com/public/login.aspx.
- Go to trackabout.com and click the "Login" link in the upper right corner of this page.
Check out Navigation for info about how to get around the website.
System Requirements
There are certain Software and Hardware requirements for using the TrackAbout website and mobile applications. Please see these pages for information about those requirements:
- See TrackAbout System Requirements for information about minimum software/hardware requirements for utilizing TrackAbout applications.
- See Smartphone App Requirements for minimum smartphone requirements for running TrackAbout iOS/Android applications.
Setting up Mobile Units (Android/iOS smartphone or tablet)
Next, you need to download the necessary TrackAbout Mobile software.
For iOS/Android Smartphones and Tablets: Download the app from the respective App Store. See the Smartphone page for assistance.
Setting up Basic Information
Your environment has been configured to work with basic tool company requirements. These next steps will help you set up your business specific data into the system. If you need assistance with any of these steps, please feel free to contact TrackAbout Support.
Locations
TrackAbout "Locations" refer to any place where an asset can be located. Your locations could be warehouses, branches, service trucks, vans, or trailers.
Your job sites may be considered locations, but only if you are not using pre-assigned order numbers to track deliveries to job sites. If you will be using orders and tracking deliveries, you will set up your job sites separately. If you do not plan on using orders or deliveries but still want to track tools to your job sites, you can add them as "branches" under the locations.
NOTE:
When adding your locations, you have the option to choose from a branch or a truck for the type of location. All of your inventory locations should be added as a "branch." You should only be using "truck" if you are adding a delivery truck used in conjunction with the Truck Load/Unload module.
Setup your locations from the List Locations page, found under the TrackAbout Config menu on the site.
Refer to the Locations page or watch the video for more detailed information about TrackAbout Locations and how to create them.
Owners
In TrackAbout, ownership refers to who owns a particular asset. This is used to keep track of vendor, supplier, and customer owned assets, as well as your company owned assets.
Most likely, your company will be the "owner" of all of your tools. However, if you have any rental tools or customer-owned tools, you may want to add them as an ownership.
- Owners are created and managed via the Ownerships page on your TrackAbout website.
Refer to the Ownership page for more detailed instructions about how to manage Owners.
Users and Mobile Roles
Mobile Roles
Mobile Roles are used to limit the actions of the handheld to just those actions that a given kind of user needs to have access to. They are necessary whether you are using TAM6 or iOS/Android. You already have a default role available to you:
- Admin - Provides all available Tool Tracking actions.
You will be able to assign users to mobile roles when setting up your internal user accounts.
If you need additional roles, or would like to edit current mobile roles, you can set them up and manage them through the List Mobile Roles page. For more information about how they work and how to set them up, refer to the Mobile Roles wiki page.
Internal Users
You can set up accounts and log-in information for your TrackAbout users from this TrackAbout webpage: Internal Users. You can also find this page is in the TrackAbout Config section of the site.
For detailed instructions on managing users, please see more information on the Internal Users wiki page.
Each user will be assigned to the website and also a mobile role(s). These determine what permissions users have within the system. System Administrator Role and Requirements
You will be defining the mobile roles for your users and already have a role available to you:
- Admin - Provides all available Tool Tracking actions.
Mobile Users
A mobile user is any user that will be using TrackAbout from a mobile device. This includes foreman, warehouse workers, truck drivers, and anyone else who will use the handheld computers.
You will need to setup all of your mobile workers from this Internal Users page.
Once you have your mobile users set up, you will be able to set and/or limit their actions via mobile roles. These users can also have website permissions (see next section).
Important: You will need to decide if your mobile workers will be required to use a password to log into the mobile units. The password is used by most TrackAbout customers to ensure that the person logged into the handheld is authenticated. This is a configuration that TrackAbout support can turn on or off for your entire site. Either you will always require passwords for logging into your mobile units or never require these passwords. This is not an option for the smartphone app.
Website users
You will also setup website users from the Internal Users page.
The website users must all use passwords to log into the website.
It is recommended that you send your website users a 'Welcome email' from the TrackAbout site that will allow them to setup their own password. In this way, nobody knows the user's password except for the user.
If any users do not have an email address, you can set them up with a username instead, and manually set their initial password. Once logged in, these users can change their password, but they are not forced to change their password.
Having trouble receiving emails from TrackAbout? See this page for information about how our emails are sent out.
Asset Classifications
Product Codes
In TrackAbout a Product Code is the code used to indicate a specific kind of asset. It is also normally called your part number, item number, stock number, model number, product number orSKU. It is the code used by your business system to track your inventory and sell things to customers.
Product codes should be set up with a level of specificity that matches your needs for tracking inventory and employee needs for locating tools. Please consult with your TrackAbout Implementation Specialist for additional guidance and recommendations.
These codes are stored in a 4 level hierarchy inside of TrackAbout called your Asset Classification. This will consist of a Category, Group, and Type. Your product codes will be structured within this hierarchy.
Refer to the wiki page Adding Asset Classifications and Product Codes for more information about Asset Classifications and for instructions on how to manually create additional Classifications and Product Codes.
- See here for Product Code Tracking_Status.
- See here for Mapping New Product Codes.
Job Sites
Do you want to track tools to and from job sites via deliveries and orders? If not, please skip to the next section.
In TrackAbout, job sites are referred to as Customers. Customers are any external location that you want to track tools to.
Job sites are able to be managed and added through the Customer List page.
- For detailed information on how to add a new job site, please see the Customer page.
Bulk Load Job sites
If you have a large job site base, you can upload your sites in bulk. To do this:
- Download this template and add your job site information:File:LoadCustomersTemplate.xlsx
- Save this as a tab-delimited text file.
- On the website, use the menu bar and go to Integration > Import Customer Info.
- Follow the instructions on the page.
Note: If you need a specific import format other than the one provided here, please contact your support specialist.
NEXT: Capturing Data
Congratulations! You have now set up your TrackAbout website and are ready to begin your business processes.
Let's start scanning.
Please click below to go to our Capturing Data page to learn about Business Processes and how to navigate these processes on the Smartphone App.