Overview 

This document will explain how ASR handles automatically creating users within Geotab when first signing into Eleos. This process allows effective use of user creation for clients who use both the ASR Integration and Geotab. 


Please check with your Geotab Reseller to see if your Geotab environment has specific password requirements (such as AT&T CSO). Certain password requirements like length minimums, letter casing, impacts automated provisioning done through the Geotab API which may prevent you from using integrated designs (i.e. your Geotab password will not have the ability to match the Eleos password with padding, drivers will have to adhere to the reseller database requirements for password security).

Details

The process works by utilizing Eleos’s API, calling a telematics object to enable the telematics integration for users. The information for the telematics object is sourced from ELEOS schema database procedures and functions that define the requirements for the telematics object to be called. The following are some of the properties of the telematics object used to create the user: 

provider – A required property that should be directly set to ‘geotab’. 

username – Specified to be the username used with the created account. 

authority_name – Shown in ‘HOS Settings’ in MyGeotab for the authority name of the created user. 

authority_address – Also shown in ‘HOS Settings’ in MyGeotab for the authority address of the created user. 

prompt_on_logout – Can be true or false if true the user is prompted to walk through additional logout steps for Geotab when logging out. 

team_drivers_enabled – Can be true or false if true it allows a second driver to log into Geotab simultaneously to manage HOS. 

Hours_of_service_rules – A required property that should be directly set within the procedure to the ruleset used such as ‘America8DayBig’. 

Once the API call is made, an account will automatically be created for the driver in Geotab using the required information along with any additional specified information that was passed. 

 Figure 1. Here you can see an example of a test user in MyGeotab. 


Potential Issues with User Creation

Clients may run into issues where the user is not automatically being created in Geotab. This section explains some common reasons as to why this may occur and potential on how to resolve. 

 

Driver Mismatch in ID 

If a Driver can sign into their mobile application but when trying to access Geotab Drive, either their login fails or their HOS placard does not synchronize, this can be due to a mismatch in the User ID between the TMS and Geotab.  

 

When a Driver does not yet exist in Geotab, it can create the new User without an issue. Drivers User ID must match in TMW and in Geotab. The matching ID is the ‘link’ that the API looks for, if there is a mismatch there is no way to tie these together. If there is a change made in TMW to the ID this causes the mismatch and breaks the link. The solution is to change the username manually in Geotab to re-establish the link. 

  • Example: issue with the TMWSuite Driver MIDSAR01 so they had to rename the user “MIDSAR” to “MIDSAR01” in MyGeotab so they matched. 

 

There has been a recorded issue where the appsettings.json CreateUserOnLogin setting was disabled. This should be checked if the above doesn’t address. 

 

Geotab Restriction with License Number 

We also see a Geotab restriction around license number. There is not a way in Geotab to automatically retire drivers. If a new username is attempted to be established with the same License Number and State combination, Geotab stops it with “Duplicate Data Error” because you cannot have records with the same License Number and State. 

The solution is that the company must: 

  • take the license number off the old User ID. 
  • archive the old driver in MyGeotab. 
  • allow it to auto-create the new User ID when they sign into Eleos again. 


Potential Issues Moving Forward

There can be situations where a Driver is not able to log in due to lockouts or being non-active in Geotab.

User Locked out of Geotab

If the Geotab Drive app senses multiple failed login attempts, this can lock a user out of Geotab. A user can be unlocked in MyGeotab by someone with administrative permissions by following the steps in Geotab’s article: How to Unlock a User.


A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated


This is a security feature, and the failed attempts, authentication, and lockout periods are all controlled with the client MyGeotab database settings.   For instructions on how to change these settings, Geotab has the following article: How Long Is the Lockout Time for Users?


 

Reactivate a Driver

If a driver was ever archived in Geotab, they may need to be reactivated and unlocked, so they can log into the application.  For instructions from Geotab: How to Reactivate an Archived / Historical User