Transics / ZF integration
Advanced fleet management and telematics. Automate vehicle/driver telemetry directly into your operations centre.
What is Transics / ZF?
Transics, part of ZF, supplies on-board computers for trucks together with the TX-TANGO fleet management software. Drivers use the board computer to receive their planning, register activities, answer questions, scan documents and exchange messages with the office. Other systems integrate through TX-CONNECT, Transics’ web service — the interface Transportial connects to.
What syncs between Transics / ZF and Transportial
- To Transics / ZF
Confirmed trips as planning
When you confirm a trip, it is sent to TX-CONNECT. Each load, unload, attach or detach becomes a place — or a whole stop becomes one place when grouped execution is on — with location name, address, coordinates, sequence, time window, reference or PIN, TAR, seal and remark. Goods go along as products with quantity and barcode, or in the place comment if you prefer.
- To Transics / ZF
Updates and cancellations
Changes to a trip that is confirmed, in transit, pending completion or modified update the planning on the board computer; cancelling the trip cancels it there too. Places the driver has already started or finished are not sent again.
- Into Transportial
Stop execution from the cab
When the driver starts, finishes or cancels a place, the matching stop in Transportial follows. The trip starts with the first stop and finishes when every stop is done. Driver answers, pallet counts, remarks, anomalies and scans arrive on the stop they belong to.
- Into Transportial
Vehicle activities
Engine on and off, driving, waiting and other activities become events on the vehicle with driver, trailer, place and odometer. The begin and end of an activity are paired into one event with its duration, and new activities are posted in the vehicle chat.
- Into Transportial
Tachograph activities and remaining driving times
Driving, rest and work periods become driver activities, and each driver’s remaining driving and rest times are kept up to date for planning.
- Both ways
Messages and scans
Chat messages and their attachments go to the vehicle’s board computer. The driver’s messages, messages colleagues send from TX-CONNECT (with the sender’s name) and read receipts come back into the vehicle chat, as do scans and photos with the driver’s comment.
- Into Transportial
Vehicles, trailers and drivers
Vehicles with licence plate, VIN and current driver, trailers as transport equipment and drivers are imported and kept up to date; trailers removed from Transics are switched off.
How to connect Transics / ZF
Ask Transics for TX-CONNECT access for your company: a dispatcher login (username and password), the integrator name and, if applicable, the system number.
Add the Transics integration in Transportial and enter them. Vehicles, trailers and drivers are imported on the first sync.
Link each action type (load, unload, attach, detach and so on) to the Transics activity number used on your board computers. Mapping rules can add planning configuration per activity.
Confirm a trip on a Transics vehicle; the planning appears on the board computer.
Sync frequency and limits
- Stop execution, vehicle activities and driver messages every 30 seconds; positions every minute; tachograph activities, scans and files every 2 minutes; remaining driving times every 15 minutes.
- Vehicles every 3 hours, trailers and drivers every 6 hours.
- Each feed resumes where it left off, with a one-minute overlap. On first connection, activities, tachograph data and scans are fetched for the past two days.
Typical use case
A haulier with Transics board computers in every truck confirms the next day’s trips in Transportial in the evening. In the morning drivers find their places with addresses, time windows, PINs and products on the board computer. As they start and finish each place, the plan board and customer tracking update; their CMR scans and pallet counts land on the right stop, and planners see each driver’s remaining driving time before they add another load.
Frequently asked questions
What happens when a driver finishes a place on the Transics board computer?
Within about half a minute the matching stop is marked as done in Transportial, with the driver’s answers, pallet counts, remarks and scans. When every stop is done, the trip is finished.
What if a driver adds a stop in the cab or a colleague adds one in TX-CONNECT?
If you switch on adopting unplanned actions, the stop is added to the vehicle’s current trip in Transportial. Otherwise it is left out and a warning is logged.
Do driver scans come into Transportial?
Yes. Scans and photos appear in the vehicle chat with the driver’s comment and are attached to the stop they belong to, or to the trip if no stop matches. Each scan is downloaded once.
Connect Transics / ZF to your TMS
Transportial’s integration framework links your operation to Transics / ZF and any other system you run.