Implementation Guide
21 mins to read
Geotab Drive: ELD — Compliance and Implementation Guide
Implementation Guide
21 mins to read
Explore resources to help you understand the basics behind Hours of Service, ELDs, and compliance. Learn how to successfully deploy Hours of Service to drivers, supervise driver use of the app, and troubleshoot potential problems.
Compliance and Implementation Guide
May 2022
✱ NOTE: Use of the Geotab Drive App and Geotab’s ELD solution elements outside of the manner in which they are presented in this document and associated documentation may not be compliant with Hours of Service and or ELD regulations. Please reach out to your Geotab Reseller or Support for questions.
The purpose of this document is to provide all the information necessary for successfully deploying a customer’s Hours of Service. This document is split into several sections:
Review this section for details on the ELD Mandates in both USA and Canada, Hours of Service, Rulesets, Frequently Asked Questions, and more.
Start at this step for Basic ELD Implementation (USA and Canada).
This section covers the steps you should take before purchasing mobile device hardware or deciding on a GO device for your needs. It also covers how to set up mobile devices, installing GO devices, and optional hardware.
! IMPORTANT: The use of Cloud ELD is largely the same in both USA and Canada despite the differences in each Country’s ELD mandate. Implementation or differences in use are noted in the respective guides. Please follow the steps in Step 2 and 3 whether implementing ELD in either country.
This section completes the setup and deployment process of the ELD, including the setup of Vehicles, Trailers, and Drivers within the MyGeotab system. This section also looks at Training, Administration, and initial supervision of the ELD.
The Basic ELD Implementation is complete after finishing Steps 2 and 3.
This optional section covers the recommended steps to take to ensure proper use of the ELD system and compliance with the ELD mandate.
Review this section if you run into any issues or have questions.
This section contains useful tools and tips for ELD use. It is recommended to review and follow the instructions for anything that may be relevant to your use cases.
The documents in the sections below will help you understand the basics behind Hours of Service, ELDs, and compliance. Some sections contain videos that provide additional information on the aforementioned topics. It is critical that you go through this material and understand the various features of the system before progressing with the pilot or rollout.
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The Driver’s Guide to Hours of Service provides an introduction to HOS, duty limits, and duty status logs.
This video will help you understand what Hours of Service (HOS) are and why they’re required. It will walk you through the FMCSA’s 60-hour/7-day ruleset and how it works.
The regulations can be found here.
The regulations can be found here.
This video will walk you through the ELD mandate in the United States of America, and will help you understand what an ELD is, why it is required, who is exempt from the ELD mandate, and what the required functionality of an ELD system must be.
Click here for the official FMCSA ELD website.
2020 changes: Click here to learn more about the changes to Hours of Service implemented in September 2020 in the USA.
✱ NOTE: These changes may not be reflected in some older Geotab training material.
This video will walk through the similarities and differences between the USA and Canadian ELD mandates. There are far more similarities between the two Countries’ ELD mandates than differences.
Click here for the official ELD website from Transport Canada.
The Hours of Service Ruleset Matrix document explains each ruleset and exemption supported by the Geotab system.
Read all about the most commonly asked questions surrounding Hours of Service, the ELD Mandate from the FMCSA, and the Geotab Drive ELD solution here.
This document explains how Geotab Drive works, including how the various parts of the system come together; in addition, this presentation can be useful when presenting to customers.
For more information, refer to the Administrator's Guide to the Drive App to learn about the basics of Geotab Drive and its interaction with MyGeotab.
Although not required by the FMCSA, Geotab has prepared an ELD certificate explaining what the Geotab Drive Cloud ELD product is self-certified to be compliant with.
The official documentation/proof of Geotab’s self certification in the USA with the FMCSA can be found on the ELD list from the FMCSA here. Geotab’s third-party certification in Canada with Transport Canada can be found on the ELD list from Transport Canada here.
The following steps detail the setup requirements for compliance with the ELD mandates in the USA and Canada. Please reach out to your Reseller for details and limitations of using Geotab Drive for compliance in other jurisdictions.
Geotab Drive - Compliance and Implementation Checklist: To help with the deployment process, use this checklist to make sure nothing is missed and your company is fully compliant. For further details concerning the HOS Pilot and Onboarding Plan, review this presentation.
This is an important step before deploying Geotab Drive to the entire fleet. Use the Fleet Setup Project Sheet to assist. Please follow the steps below:
allows for remote access.
✱ NOTE: To learn more about data purging, please review the blog post How Long Does Geotab Keep My Data?
✱ NOTE: The three required documents can be found in the ELD Info Add-In on Geotab Marketplace in electronic format, which is allowed within the ELD mandates.
✱ Best Practice: Train drivers to log out of the Drive app at the end of the day.
With the use of reports, your customer can monitor and review how their drivers are using the system. For additional reports, see the Reports section below.
Driver supervisors need to review the reports below to ensure the system is being used properly:
✱ TIP: Unidentified driving logs should also be monitored on a daily basis. For more details on how to view these logs, please review the Administrator's Guide to the Drive App and the Driver's Guide to the Drive App.
Go through the monthly What’s New blog post and let your customers know about any new features added to the system.
If any issues arise during the pilot, please read through the following guides. If you’re still unable to find a solution, escalate the issue to Geotab Support.
The Geotab Drive Android Troubleshooting Guide is designed to assist drivers who are experiencing issues with Geotab Drive on Android devices.
The Geotab Drive iOS Troubleshooting Guide is designed to assist drivers who are experiencing issues with Geotab Drive on iOS devices.
The Geotab Drive Troubleshooting & Useful Information Guide is designed to help Resellers troubleshoot Geotab Drive-related issues before escalating them to Geotab.
The Driver's Guide to the Drive App is a comprehensive, step-by-step guide on how to use the Drive App for maintaining Hours of Service compliance.
The Driver’s Guide to Roadside Checks is a short guide for drivers if a roadside inspection is required.
The Driver’s Guide to Hours of Service is a short HOS instruction guide for drivers to learn how to use the Hours of Service features in the Geotab Drive app.
The Driver's Guide to Asset Inspection is a short introduction for drivers to the Asset Inspection (DVIR) workflow within the Geotab Drive App.
The Administrator's Guide to the Drive App is a comprehensive, step-by-step guide on how to set up the Drive App in the Fleet Management Application.
Before using Geotab Drive as an HOS solution, please ensure that you have followed the steps outlined in the Administrator's Guide to Hours of Service.
These reports are intended for dispatchers and Administrators to better understand their fleet and to use the system to its full capability.
ELD: Number of Drivers Placed ON Duty (Dashboard)At the beginning of a pilot or rollout, drivers may forget to log in to the system before operating their vehicle. This report is intended to help you understand how many drivers are actively logging in to the system. This report is intended to capture the number of drivers that are placed ON duty daily. It is recommended that this report’s date range be set to Yesterday and the report refresh period be set to Daily. https://www.geotab.com/marketplace/custom-report/eld-drivers-placed-on-duty ✱ NOTE: This report only works well when drivers are proactive about logging in and out of the system daily. This report is not useful for carriers whose drivers remain logged in for multiple days at a time. |
ELD: Egregious HOS Violations Cost (Email & Dashboard)The FMCSA considers any driver who continues to drive for more than three hours beyond their driving limits as an egregious violator. The carrier can be fined up to $16,000, while the driver can be fined up to $3,750. This report captures any egregious hours of service violations that are longer than three hours and plots the total potential cost of these violations to your organization on a graph. It is recommended that this report’s date range be set to Previous 7 days and the report refresh period be set to Weekly. https://marketplace.geotab.com/solutions/egregious-hos-violations-cost-report/ |
ELD: Excessive Personal Conveyance (Email or Dashboard)This report allows the carrier to see when drivers are abusing personal conveyance rules. The carrier is able to specify the value they consider to be excessive use of personal conveyance. By default, excessive use is set to be over 47 mi. or 75 km per driver. It is recommended that this report’s date range be set to Previous 7 days and the report refresh period be set to Weekly. https://marketplace.geotab.com/solutions/excessive-personal-conveyance-eld-report/ ✱ NOTE: This report also has a version for Excessive Yard Move: https://marketplace.geotab.com/solutions/excessive-yard-move/ | ||
Custom Report | ELD: HOS Exemptions Report (Email or Dashboard)This report is intended for small fleets looking to monitor when drivers are utilizing exemptions such as adverse weather, 16-hour exemption, yard move, and WT (Waiting Time). It is recommended that this report’s date range be set to Yesterday and the report refresh period be set to Daily. |
ELD: HOS Driver Violation Alert (Email)Receive an alert (within 30 minutes) every time a driver drives in violation of their daily HOS limits and review the violations. It is recommended that this report’s date range be set to Previous hour and the report refresh period be set to Every 30 minutes. https://www.geotab.com/marketplace/custom-report/eld-driver-violations-alert/ |
ELD: OFF Duty to Drive Instances (Dashboard or Email)This report lists all instances of a driver switching from the OFF duty status directly to the Drive status. Generally, drivers must first be in the ON duty status to perform a vehicle inspection before switching to the Drive status and driving their vehicle. This report will flag instances where the ON duty status was absent. It is recommended that this report’s date range be set to Last week and the report refresh period be set to Weekly. https://www.geotab.com/marketplace/custom-report/eld-off-duty-drive-instances/ |
ELD: Total ELD Violations by Reasons (Dashboard)This report provides a snapshot of the current HOS violations within your organization. It is recommended that this report’s date range be set to This week and the report refresh period be set to Weekly. https://marketplace.geotab.com/solutions/hos-violations-eld-report/ |
ELD: Unverified Logs (Email & Dashboard)This report lists the drivers who have not verified their logs. It is important to note that drivers only have up to 14 days to sign off on their logs. It is recommended that this report’s date range be set to Previous 14 days and the report refresh period be set to Every 2 weeks. https://www.geotab.com/marketplace/custom-report/eld-unverified-logs/ |
ELD: Drivers Approaching Limit (Email)The purpose of this report is to alert (within 30 minutes) a manager or dispatcher when a driver is approaching one of their HOS limits. It is recommended that this report’s date range be set to Previous hour and the report refresh period be set to Every 30 minutes. https://marketplace.geotab.com/solutions/drivers-approaching-limit | ||
ELD: Advanced HOS Logs Report (Email or Report View)The Advanced HOS Logs Report is designed to allow administrators to view advanced details across their drivers’ Hours of Service logs. This ELD report is based off of the default Advanced HOS Logs Report within MyGeotab, but it includes additional details on drivers by groups and details the shipping commodities as well. It is recommended that this report’s date range be set to Previous 7 days and the report refresh period be set to Weekly. https://marketplace.geotab.com/solutions/advanced-hos-logs-report | ||
ELD: Diagnostics and Malfunctions (Email or Dashboard)The ELD Diagnostic & Malfunctions Report is designed to capture data diagnostic & malfunctions events by vehicle. This ELD report can be set up as an emailed or dashboard report within MyGeotab. The Summary tab provides a detailed view of data diagnostic & malfunctions events by vehicle and event counts. The Count tab provides a quick overview of the data diagnostic & malfunctions events by type. Similarly, the Graph tab provides a total count of all events. It is recommended that this report’s date range be set to Previous 30 days and the report refresh period be set to Weekly. ✱ NOTE: ELD diagnostic & malfunctions events follow the vehicle, not a user. https://marketplace.geotab.com/solutions/eld-diagnostics-malfunctions/ |
Small Fleet Driver Payroll (Email)This report helps to accurately track the number of hours a driver clocks in and out through the use of Geotab Drive. It is recommended that this report be used as an e-mailed report for fleets with less than 50 drivers. It is recommended that this report’s date range be set to Last 14 days and the report refresh period be set to Last 2 weeks. This report is best viewed as a PDF. https://www.geotab.com/marketplace/custom-report/eld-small-fleet-driver-payroll/ |
To install the following Add-ins, click the Marketplace tab from the MyGeotab main menu, and search for the desired Add-in by name. Select the Install button, or manually add it to the database by following the steps in each link below. | |
ELD Information Add-InThe ELD Information Add-In provides instant, driver-friendly access to the Reseller Support Helpdesk. View the latest ELD information required for roadside inspections in accordance with §395.22 (h), or stream the latest How-to videos for Geotab Drive. | |
ELD Settings ValidatorThe ELD Settings Validator Add-In is a MyGeotab Add-In designed to help administrators view important driver and vehicle information necessary for roadside inspections. Verify that the driver and vehicle are set up correctly across your database. These details are necessary for error-free ELD data transfers at roadside inspections. | |
Fuel TrackerThe Fuel Tracker Add-In helps Drivers add their Fill-Up information like Volume, Cost, and other pertinent information. Once the application has been added, ensure that the following clearances have been enabled for any driver using the application: “View fill ups and fuel transactions” and “Administer fuel transactions clearances to work.” | |
Import HOS Logs Add-InThe Import HOS Logs Add-In allows you to quickly import Hours of Service logs of drivers that were previously in another system to the MyGeotab portal. | |
Ruleset SwitcherThe Ruleset Switcher is a MyGeotab Add-In designed to allow drivers and co-drivers to switch between any two rulesets within Geotab Drive. The changes are implemented immediately upon switching to the selected ruleset. | |
HOS Driver SummaryThe HOS Driver Summary is a MyGeotab Add-In designed to provide a summary report for driver HOS logs. With the ability to select the drivers and time periods included in the report, ensure you get exactly the data you need. |
The Import Driver tool allows you to import your drivers in bulk into the Geotab system.
This Geotab Kiosk tool allows drivers to log themselves as ON duty or OFF duty at a kiosk. When the driver logs in to Geotab Drive, later in their day, this log will be present. This kiosk tool allows for more accurate logging and provides the company with a simple punch-in-punch-out system.
Many carriers move their vehicles within their own yards overnight, whether for maintenance, cleaning, or loading. These moves are usually done by drivers who are ELD exempt, and won’t log into the ELD for short moves. However, the ELD will create unassigned logs for these movements (this is an ELD requirement). In order to help identify these moves and annotate them correctly, Geotab offers a feature, described in this blog.
For more helpful how-to videos, visit the Geotab YouTube Channel.
Driver Videos | Admin Videos | |
What’s New! | ||
Please refer to the What’s New section of the website to see new updates in the world of Geotab Drive and MyGeotab. | ||
ELD and Roadside Inspections | ||
This webinar was hosted by Officer Kimberly Hill, a Motor Carrier Inspector with the Indiana State Police. The video covers common questions you may have about the roadside inspection process, and also gives some helpful tips to make the inspection run smoothly. | ||
Continuing our webinar series with Officer Kimberly Hill. Getting in Gear for the Canada ELD Mandate. This webinar covers the differences and similarities between the Canadian and USA ELD Mandates. |
Date | Major Changes | Added By |
August 2020 | New Add-ins listed | ELD Team |
April 2021 | Updated Webinar and Blogs | ELD Team |
Sept 2021 | Updated public links | Technical Writing Team |
April 2022 | Updated the What’s New Section | ELD Team |
May 2022 | Document formatting and edits | LDT Learning Content Writer |
Jan 2024 | Updated links and deprecated add-ins | ELD Team |
March 2024 | Removed DVIR report section, since we now suggest email notifications instead, | ELD Team |