Trimble Smart Workflow is an Android mobile application that provides a seamless flow of information between the back office and drivers as they complete their daily stops. Smart Workflow integrates directly with Appian’s Enterprise apps (DRTrack, Daily Planner, and Resource Calendar) so that: 

  • The back office can easily create, manage, and dispatch routes to drivers, and know a driver's GPS location.
  • Drivers can follow a pre-planned workflow to complete forms that are immediately synced with the back office.
  • Drivers and the back office can better communicate and solve problems in real-time.


An Export to Trimble Smart Workflow feature is built directly into the dispatch boards of each of the Appian applications for ease of use.


This guide is intended to take you through the steps needed to set up Smart Workflow with your Appian applications. A separate guide is available for using Smart Workflow  with your Appian applications in the back office.


Features of Smart Workflow with Appian

With the combination of Appian desktop products and the Smart Workflow mobile app, the back office can:

  • Plan and dispatch orders and routes to drivers.
  • Create custom location content, including geofences and custom entrances and exits, with Trimble's ContentTools.
  • Customize driver workflow and forms, and view and manage forms captured by drivers while they're still on the road.


Drivers can:

  • View details for an entire trip, including stops and time windows.
  • Navigate to stops with CoPilot GPS commercial vehicle navigation.
  • Complete DVIRs, and capture PODs and signatures.


Prerequisites

Smart Workflow requires version 24.2 or higher of Appian DRTrack, Daily Planner, or Resource Calendar. The table below details the mobile device requirements for Smart Workflow and CoPilot navigation.


RequirementMinimum Recommended
Android version8.1Latest Supported Version
Memory3GB RAM4GB RAM
Resolution720 x 12801080 x 1920 or higher
Screen size5-inch6-inch or larger
Storage space500 MB
1.5 GB if CoPilot is used		1GB
3GB if CoPilot is used
Wireless network4G LTE5G


Contact

Contact us to learn more about Appian or Smart Workflow or to request a demo. 


Smart Workflow Setup

Step 1: Set up Smart Workflow with your Appian Application

Appian applications send route information to Trimble Smart Workflow. Forms, photos, and signatures captured in Smart Workflow are sent back to the Appian app.


This connection between Appian in the back office and Smart Workflow on mobile devices is set up at the account level using unique Driver IDs for every driver in the fleet. To start using Smart Workflow, you must first: 

  1. Enable Smart Workflow in your Appian app.
  2. Install Smart Workflow on your mobile devices.


View Smart Workflow Setting in DRTrack

Once you have purchased licensing for Smart Workflow, the connection with your Appian applications is set up by our support team. You can confirm that Smart Workflow is enabled in the DRTrack's Configuration Manager.


From your DRTrack site, navigate to Admin > Site > Settings & Configuration and be sure the box for EnableTrimbleSmartWorkflow is checked in the Value column.


Smart Workflow Mobile Installation

As an Android app, Smart Workflow is available for download on the Google Play store.

  1. In the Play Store, Search for Trimble Smartdelivery and download it to the device.
  2. Open the Smart Workflow app right after you download it or open it from the device's home screen.
  3. Accept permissions related to location permission and camera access. (Smart Workflow will not open without these.)
  4. Tap the Authenticate button to continue. You are taken to the Trimble ID log in screen where you enter the Account ID provided by the Appian Team and Username, which is the DriverID from Appian.


The next time the user attempts to log in, the Account ID should be retained and they will only need to enter their Username.


Step 2: Activate CoPilot Navigation (Optional but Recommended)

CoPilot provides voice-guided GPS navigation for commercial vehicles. It is not required to use Smart Workflow but we recommend it to provide your drivers with guidance to their stops. CoPilot is installed with your Smart Workflow app but requires separate licensing to activate. 

  • CoPilot licensing is managed through Trimble's Account Manager. In Account Manager, you enter your assets, and then assign CoPilot licenses to those assets. In most cases, your assets will be your list of vehicles that you already maintain in your Appian application.
  • Account Manager is also where you can select and assign fleet-wide settings for CoPilot. This includes Vehicle Routing Profiles, which are a collection of settings that describe a vehicle and the fleet's preference so CoPilot generates safe and legal routing to every stop.


If you are not using CoPilot, you can skip ahead to Step 3 in this guide. If you are using CoPilot, follow the steps below to assign licenses and settings to your assets.


Add Assets and Assign Licenses

Assets (vehicles) can be entered into Account Manager one at a time or uploaded "in bulk" via a .csv file from a spreadsheet program. Read more about Adding Assets and assigning licenses. 


Configure Your Fleet Settings (Highly Recommended)




After adding assets, you will need to configure your fleet's CoPilot settings. The settings ensure all of your drivers—or specific groups of drivers—are running CoPilot with the same settings. (Otherwise, settings need to be entered individually on each device running CoPilot.)


In Account Manager's Configure Fleet Settings screen, you create CoPilot settings and assign them to groups of vehicles. We recommend the following steps:


Step 3: Create Custom Location Data

Smart Workflow uses Trimble's Places feature to provide location information. A Place is a collection of data about a location—ranging from mapping location information, such as its name, address and GPS coordinates, to details about its amenities, truck entrances and exits, parking, hours of operation, and more.


Without CoPilot, this data is used in Smart Workflow to:

  • Monitor geofences around locations to trigger arrival forms and give the driver the ability to indicate arrival.
  • Display a map of the location, including an overview of the site's polygonal geofence.
  • Display details about a location's hours, contact information and amenities.



With CoPilot, this data can also be used to:

  • Navigate to custom entrances and exits.
  • Create an approach path to those custom entrances and exit gates.
  • Provide drivers with custom notes upon arrival to a location. (Any information the fleet finds useful.)


Verified and Custom Places

Trimble's Places data includes:

  • Verified Places in the Trimble database for hundreds of thousands of commercial locations across North America that serve the transportation industry, including distribution centers, intermodal terminals, manufacturing plants, truck stops, and more. These are available to all users, and many include Sites with polygonal geofences.
  • Custom places that you can create specifically for your fleet. These could be anything from company and customer locations to preferred rest stops. 


How to Create Custom Places

Custom Places are created in the ContentTools web tool. A ContentTools Company Administrator will be assigned at the time you license Smart Workflow. That administrator can then assign additional administrators or Users to create content for your fleet. Below are resources for how to create Custom Places:


Only your account will initially have access to the Places you have created. Trimble may review the Place for inclusion in our public Places database available to all users. If we do, we will collect only non-personal commercial data regarding the Place.


How Custom Places are Used

In Smart Workflow


Automatic arrivals and departures

Smart Workflow can automatically mark a driver as arrived at or departed from a location when they cross the Place's geofence. (Note: Geofenced arrivals only work on the next stop in the stop list. Drivers can arrive at stops out of order, but will need to use manual arrival/departures for those.)


When a dispatch is sent to Trimble Smart Workflow, its stops are usually sent as latitude & longitude coordinates. Smart Workflow takes those points and: 

  1. For each stop, Smart Workflow automatically checks Places to see if the coordinates are within a Verified Place's geofence. If it does match, Smart Workflow uses the Place's polygonal geofence for the Entry, Arrival, and Depart calculation.
  2. If you have Custom Places, Trimble Smart Workflow will prefer them over any Verified Place that may share the same area. 
  3. If there is no Trimble Place at the stop, Smart Workflow uses the radius defined in the Dispatch from the TMS for Entry, Arrival, and Depart.
  4. If there is no Place, and no radius defined in the Dispatch, Trimble Smart Workflow will apply a default radius to create the arrival geofence for any stop.


Location details

In the Smart Workflow app, drivers can view location information, including geofences and other information about your Custom Places. That information is displayed on each stop's DETAILS screen. 


Place details displayed in Smart Workflow


In CoPilot

In ContentTools, Custom Places are organized into sets. To use Custom Places in CoPilot, you first need to assign sets to vehicle groups, similar to how you assign Vehicle Routing Profiles to those groups.


Places with polygonal geofences (called Sites in ContentTools) can significantly improve Copilot routing. 



Place details displayed in CoPilot navigation


Step 4: Create road preferences (CoPilot users only)

In addition to Custom Places, you can also create Route Modifiers in ContentTools. Route Modifiers are road segments that you want to avoid, favor, or close when a route is generated. Some resources for how to create Custom Places: