Best Practices for Managing Device Health

Establishing a regular cadence of reviewing device health and taking recommended actions helps ensure that the necessary data is available when needed. To maintain optimal device health, Samsara recommends the following practices:

• Weekly: Review devices in the Needs Attention category (see the Gateway Health Report) and perform the recommended actions.

• Monthly: Review devices in the Monitor category to address issues proactively (for example, low battery).

To ensure efficient issue resolution and device management, consider assigning responsibility for the following areas:

• Support coordination, including opening tickets with Samsara Technical Support and managing hardware troubleshooting

• Device lifecycle management, such as activation, configuration, naming, and tagging

• Field operations, including device installation and hardware returns to Samsara

• Vehicle Gateway (VG) Device Health: Definitions and Troubleshooting

• Camera Device Health: Definitions and Troubleshooting

• Sensor Device Health: Definitions and Troubleshooting

• Scheduled Reports enable you to configure a report to be sent to a group of internal or external recipients on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.

  For example, you can schedule Samsara to send the Gateway Health Report to a group on a regular basis.

• The Camera Specific Report provides you with a quick and easy way to visually inspect all of your installed cameras and identify any issues in road-facing or inward-facing camera visibility.

  Review this report daily or weekly to make sure cameras are facing the correct direction and are not being obstructed.

  You can enable the Inward Camera Obstruction safety alert for coaches who want to receive alerts when the view of the driver is obstructed. The Inward Camera Obstruction feature checks for violations just after a trip starts (not continuously). This feature is only available for dual-facing dash cams.

• You can create and manage alerts to increase operational efficiency with complete visibility into fleet performance and driver behavior. The Alert Guide lists the alerts you can configure on your dashboard. The following are specifically related to device health:

  • Vehicle Unplugged: In the event that a vehicle gateway is unplugged from its vehicle, this alert will be triggered.

  • Device Battery Level: If the battery is low on the device the Admin will be notified.

  • Dash Cam Disconnected: In the event that the Dash Cam is disconnected an alert will trigger.

  • Connection: The Connection alert is triggered when the device is offline for either 15 mins or 60 mins based on your preference.