Using Form Validation to Keep Your Operating Costs Lower
I had a conversation the other day regarding a fine for over $10,000 because drivers were driving with improper insurance and tractors/ trailers did not have permits for specific licenses. While the immediate solution might be that the Horizon trucking software should prevent this right off the bat, we specifically don't because not every company uses the expiration fields for the same purposes.
However, with Form Validation and the Customizer, you can do a few things to assist your dispatchers in this regard:
1. Highlight drivers / carriers with pending expirations.
This is a first step measure. It relies on your dispatchers to notice that a driver has a highlight that indicates a pending expiration date and then acting on it. It works well in smaller offices where everyone is aware of what is going on. To do this, view the demonstration right here: http://www.mtihorizon.com/show/drivercheck
2. Create a Validation Rule.
The next step is to PREVENT your dispatchers from being able to assign a driver, carrier, tractor or trailer that is about to expire in either permits or something else. This is a fairly drastic step and you should ensure all your data has been filled in before taking it. If not everyone in your company is aware of this, it may frustrate them when they try to do something that they think they should be able to do , when in fact, you don't.
There is a trick with creating a validation rule though on dates. If your rule simply says LKUP("DRIVER","DRIVERNO",cdriver1,"LICEXPDATE") < DATE( ), the system will include Empty dates in that condition.
So it might be useful to ALSO create an additional rule for empty dates in your Driver Master file to ensure your dispatchers fill in the necessary fields.
Suggestion: Set up the Validation Rule but mark it as a WARNING instead of a rule. The dispatchers will still be notified but at least they can move on from it and it won't hold them up.
posted by Andrew MacNeill @ 11:12 AM
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