Why is it said that IVMS incorporates logic at 4 levels? This is why:
Level 1 – inside the vehicle. IVMS units are high-end GPS units that are programmable to make decisions inside the vehicle. These are decisions like warning a driver that a violation is about to be reported and it may consist of 3 short beeps, followed by a long beep and a violation notification if the driver ignores the warning. This can be classified as local IVMS.
Level 2 – on the base system. All IVMS systems have an online interface from where replays can done. An online IVMS request could be “show all seatbelt violations for driver A” or “how many kilometres did driver B do on 17 June?”. This is base IVMS: an online database that can be queried and transgressed by a user that knows how to use the online interface.
Level 3 – an online live display. Some customers have a control room from where vehicle movements and violations can be displayed and highlighted as and when they occur. Although this form of IVMS implementation is less common, it can still be a useful tool if the resources are available to monitor vehicles and drivers during movements.
Level 4 – post processing reports. IVMS at this level entails giving summarised reports based on violation criteria. For instance, a manager would receive a report every morning listing all drivers that had more than one speed violation during the previous day, or a list of all drivers that spent more than 6 hours on the road. This can be classified as interpreted IVMS: intelligence derived from a set of rules and produced in a summarised format from where high-level IVMS related decisions can be made within a few minutes. This form of IVMS is most commonly used in Australian mines, where the focus is less on on-the-spot monitoring and more on summarised information delivered through overnight reports.
IVMS has come a long way since its inception in the mid-nineties and, if used correctly, becomes a driver safety tool at a number of levels, fully paid for by cost savings in terms of vehicle usage and damage resulting from harsh driving.
