To track drivers and assets (such as vehicles, trailers, and equipment) by specific characteristics, you can use attribute labels. Attributes can be used to filter dashboard views and reports helping you to view, manage, and segment your data more efficiently.
After you define the attributes you want to track, you can assign them to relevant drivers or assets and then use them when managing your fleet or running reports. For example, you could create an attribute for License Classification and dispatch all drivers with a certain license type. You could similarly create an attribute for Fuel Type and analyze all vehicles for utilization data based on the specific Fuel Type.
For more information about attributes, see the following topics:
Attributes differ from tags which are primarily used to control dashboard access and permissions. Attributes are highly customizable in that you can define both the characteristics and lists of associated values that matter most to your fleet. This allows for more simplified and efficient management of your drivers and assets.
Use the appropriate feature for your use case:
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Tags: Use when the characteristic you are looking to define has implications for user access.
Tags enable you to restrict the access of users to certain drivers, vehicles, trailers, or equipment (e.g. I want to set up the dashboard so that the district manager for Houston can only see the drivers and vehicles in the Houston branch). This is often done by mimicking the organizational structure of the company.
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Attributes: Use when the characteristic you are looking to define is purely descriptive, and does not have implications on user access.
Attributes serve as a tool that enable you to more easily and effectively label descriptive characteristics of their drivers and assets, and use those characteristics to filter views and exports across our dashboard. Attributes do not have any relationship to roles or restricting user access.
With attributes, you can also filter views and reports across the dashboard down to drivers, vehicles, trailers, or equipment with a particular combination of attributes (e.g. I want to see Utilization for all of the Heavy Duty Vehicles in my fleet)
Attributes are structured with a single attribute name, entity type and associated attribute values.
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The attribute name identifies a specific quality for a dashboard driver or asset entity (such as drivers, vehicles, trailers, powered equipment, and unpowered equipment). The name you choose will be used to filter views across the dashboard and included in exports.
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The entity type is the category of entity to which the attribute applies. An attribute can only be assigned to a single entity type.
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The attribute values define the set of matching characteristics based on the definition of your driver and asset entities.
The following table displays examples of each type of entity.
|
Attribute Name |
Entity Type |
Attribute Values |
|---|---|---|
|
License Type |
Driver |
Class A, Class B, Class C, Non CLD |
|
HOS Status |
Driver |
Exempt, RODS, 100AMR, CA SOUTH |
|
License Endorsements |
Driver |
Tanker, Haz Tanker, Doubles/Triples, Haz Mat, Passenger |
|
TWIC Card |
Driver |
Y, N |
|
License Restrictions |
Driver |
Glasses, Automatic Only, No AirBrakes, Intrastate Only |
|
Vehicle Type |
Asset |
Daycab, Sleeper, Guzzler, Jet Rodder, Pickup |
|
Ownership Type Vehicle |
Asset |
Owned, Rented, Leased |
|
Vehicle Height |
Asset |
10-12’', 12-13’', 13-13’6’’ |
|
Vehicle Length |
Asset |
189", 272" |
|
IFTA |
Asset |
Y, N |
|
Liftgate |
Asset |
Y, N |
You can create up to 100 custom attributes from the Samsara cloud dashboard or using Samsara APIs. For more information on APIs, see the Samsara Developer Documentation.
To create a custom attribute from the cloud dashboard:
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Select the Settings icon (
) at the bottom of your Fleet menu to view dashboard settings.
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Select Tags & Attributes.
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Click Create Attribute and define the attribute details, including:
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Attribute Name: Enter a descriptive name for the attribute.
The name must be no more than 190 characters.
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Entity Type: Select the type of entity for which you plan to assign the attribute, Driver or Asset.
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Value Names: Enter a value for the attribute. Click Add value for each additional value you want to define.
Each attribute can have a maximum of 1000 different values.
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Click Next.
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Apply the attribute to your drivers or assets.
To narrow the results, use the search or tags.
The maximum number of attributes that you can assign to a single entity is 20.
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Click Done to return to the list of other attribute values. Repeat the previous step to apply the attribute values to other entities.
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When you are done assigning the attribute values, Save the attribute settings.
Saved driver attributes are displayed on the Driver tab and asset attributes are displayed on the Asset tab.
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Use the attributes, as needed, to filter reports and lists throughout the Samsara dashboard.
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Filter your fleet (Fleet Overview) by attribute
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View attribute values in driver and asset details
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Filter drivers by attribute
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Filter assets by attribute
Note
When you select multiple attributes, Samsara returns results for drivers or assets that contain all selected values (meaning the operation is performed as an AND query). Similarly, when you select attributes in conjunction with tags, Samsara returns results for drivers or assets that contain all selected values.
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For additional visibility in Driver and Asset lists, you can also add the attribute as a column in select reports.
For example on the Drivers report:
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Click the column manager icon on the top right of the table.
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Select the attributes for which you want to display.
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To quickly add attributes in bulk, Samsara provides a template in comma-separated values (CSV) format. When you export the template from the Samsara dashboard, Samsara includes all existing attributes and their unique Samsara ID. In the CSV file, you can add new attributes or modify information about your existing attributes.
To add or change definitions for multiple attributes:
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Select the Settings icon (
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Select Organization > Tags & Attributes.
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Select Attributes.
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Select the more actions menu ( ... ) > Upload CSV.
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Select Download Attributes List to download a template containing your existing attribute definitions or Download Blank Template to start a new template and define attributes from scratch.
You can later return here when you complete your edits to the CSV file.
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Open the CSV file in a spreadsheet application of your choice.
If you open the file in Microsoft Excel, the application identifies the ID as a scientific number. As a result, you must first set the format for the ID field as a Number and remove any additional decimal places before saving the file. If you skip this step, you will overwrite the unique ID and will need to start over with a new file.
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Make any desired changes to your attributes and save the file. Use the CSV Format table below to properly format your CSV file prior to upload. Review the following additional considerations for modifying the CSV file:
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Any changes to existing attributes (including blank or empty fields) will overwrite the definitions in Samsara upon import. Be careful in these cases so you don't accidentally overwrite existing stored data.
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Ensure that you have fewer than 50,000 entries.
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You must include the first row (the header row) in the CSV file.
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If you include a column and leave a value blank, Samsara assigns the default value for the field (typically null or blank).
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Save your file and return to Attributes in the Samsara dashboard.
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Select the more actions menu ( ... ) > Upload CSV.
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Choose the CSV file or drag and drop the CSV file.
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Preview Changes to your attribute updates.
The Samsara dashboard displays Attributes Upload, where you can view the upload progress.
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Review your changes before you commit updates to the system.
If the upload has errors, click Review Errors. Edit your CSV file to correct the errors and retry the file upload.
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Select Finalize Changes to add attributes in bulk.
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After you define the attributes in the Samsara dashboard, you can assign them to driversand assets. For more information, see:
The following table describes the CSV fields you can use to define your attributes. As you define your attributes, ensure that you make changes carefully. Any changes to existing attributes will overwrite the existing stored data.
|
Field |
Description |
Example |
|---|---|---|
|
ID |
(Required) Unique identifier for your attribute. |
10000001 |
|
Name |
(Required) The attribute name. |
License Type |
|
Entity Type |
(Required) The types of entities that an attribute can be applied to. This field can either be Driver or Asset. |
Driver |
|
Attribute Values |
(Required) The possible values for the attribute. Multiple values must be comma separated. |
Class A, Class B, Class C |
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