Tue, September 23, 2008 — CIO — With a greater percentage of the global workforce going mobile, the demand for innovative technology products and service to assist those workers while in the field, as well as to help organizations manage them, has never been higher. Mobile-services-vendor TeleNav is looking to capitalize on that demand via its GPS and location-based services (LBS), like TeleNav Track and TeleNav Navigator.

Since March 2007, TeleNav has offered the TeleNav Track mobile-phone-based GPS tracking service with built-in audible and visual, turn-by-turn driving directions, electronic time-sheet reporting, bar-code scanning, jobs alert and change capability, electronic forms and progress reports. But new enhancements to the service, including team timecard functionality, overtime controls, remote signature and image capture, and more, make an already feature-packed mobile resource management (MRM) product better-suited for smaller, crew- or team-based organizations, such as landscapers, roofers and painters.

We reviewed an earlier version of TeleNav Track back in June of 2007, and truth be told, the basic functionality hasn't changed too much. (For our full review, check out "TeleNav Track Uses GPS to Manage Your Mobile Workforce.") Still, there are a number of noteworthy enhancements— an a few noteworthy limitations that remain.

TeleNav Track: An Overview

The Web-based service works in conjunction with software that runs on handhelds. A user clocks an electronic time sheet on a handheld; afterward, the user's workday actions are recorded, including specific locations, where he's going and at what speed, and progress toward completing the day's tasks. Depending on the handheld used and administrator settings, some users are tracked whenever the phone is turned on.

Administrators use a Web interface to monitor their mobile workers. Specific users or groups can be assigned to different administrators, so workers are monitored by their supervisors. And the interface can show maps of employees' specific locations, trails of where they've been--called breadcrumb reports--job completion status or whatever other criteria you may set.

Driving directions are also available thanks to TeleNav's GPS Navigator service, along with a local business finder that can pinpoint the nearest restaurants, hotels, gas stations and movie theaters.

  What's New in TeleNav Track 4.1 >>