Company Solution

Service Organization

A service organization operating in the Czech Republic had decided to equip their technicians' vehicles with the Commander system. The main objective was the option to control utilization of company vehicles and to monitor the customer service activities. Because the technicians were often transporting an expensive equipment and components, it was necessary secure the vehicles too, and their identification was requested because one car could be used by more technicians.

The Commander unit was installed into 30 vehicles, and the unit was expanded by safety sensors (a wheel level difference sensor, cargo load area monitoring sensor, crash sensor), an emergency push-button, siren, voice communication module between PCP and the vehicle, and a driver identification module using the Dallas chip). According to the customer"s request, the GPS output for PDA was installed, thus the drivers could also use the Commander system for navigation. Based on customer’s request, eight user accounts with different authorization levels were set for the company managers. The vehicles were supposed to move primarily in the Czech Republic, therefore, the detailed maps up to the street resolution and Europe survey maps (up to the city districts) were made accessible, and for each vehicle the card with detailed identification data was created for cases of alarm activation.

The customer had requested the area movement limitations activation for some vehicles: during crossing the limits of such area, the alarm went off, the PCO watch unit could communicate with the driver, and the driver’s manager was to be notified too. The assumption was moving only around the Czech Republic territory, thus the option to automatically determine the vehicle’s location every minute was chosen. When traveling abroad, to save the cost, the communication "to order”, meaning the SMS based on a request with inquiry is sent to a Commander unit, and it returns the actual data.

The primary benefit has been an immediate decrease in vehicle operation costs and productivity increase. Some employees had left or had been compelled to leave after finding out that besides utilizing the vehicles for company tasks, they were using the vehicles for illicit odd jobs too. On the other hand, the honest employees had appreciated the higher comfort thanks to a possibility to utilize the navigation and automatic Book of Trips creation; the administration related to their activities was significantly simplified.

Even in this case, the Commander system security functions were evaluated in an overly positive way: after stealing one of the service vehicles, the alarm went off and PCO operators together with partners in the field started to trace the vehicle; after the visual contact was reached, the car was immobilized at the lucid area by the activation of the Commander unit function, and offenders ran out of the vehicle; the expensive technical instruments valued more than the price of automobile itself were left undamaged.