Tachograph Analysis Consultants Ltd - Nigel Kirkwood
Downloading is a legal requirement and in my previous article for this website the importance of keeping records – both digital and analogue – was stressed.
Digital tachographs create electronic records rather than using physical tachograph charts. We are familiar with checking physical tachograph charts – you open the filing cabinet, or check the poles on the wall, to ensure they are there.
With digital tachographs, once we get used to them, it is just as easy – switch on the computer and check the electronic records – in the words of the apparently now famous Meerkat – Simples.
What could possibly go wrong?
So, you have a strict download policy in place that requires downloading of all digital driver cards (DDCs) at least once per fortnight and all digital vehicle units (DVUs) at least once every 56 days.
And your procedures are in line with the regulations and recommendations – w hat could possibly go wrong? These are the famous last words uttered by many an experienced Compliance Manager!
Downloading times are increasing
Over the months you have noticed downloading the DVUs takes quite a long, and ever increasing, time. When originally introduced, a full download of records from a DVU (a year of records) could take 45+ minutes. Later generation digital tachographs have improved this greatly with different manufacturers now saying they are four times faster at downloading than their rivals.
But with a fleet of 50 vehicle parked in the depot to be downloaded at the weekend, 50 x 45 minutes suddenly looks like quite a daunting task.
No problem, you say – those technological wizards have thought of a solution. Do not download all the details (a year’s worth) every the time you download, only download those new details that have been created since you last downloaded.
Such ‘partial downloads’, often referred to as ‘download-from-the-last-download’, can save significant amounts of time.
Most download devices have different settings or can be (software) configured
Most download devices, of which there are numerous, have buttons or software configurable options to allow:
- a full download of the details; and
- a partial download or a download-from-the-last-download.
Great. You are getting the details you must legally have and store, and are saving time as well. It ticks all the boxes!
By doing a full download the very first time you download the DVU, then partial or a download-from-the-last-download every subsequent time, you should have every record. By adhering to your compliance procedure of, for example, downloading from the last download once per month, absolutely nothing can go wrong.
Download-from-the-last-download
However, and it is a BIG however… are you really getting what you think you have asked for? Let’s look a little more closely what happens using ‘download-from-the-last-download’.
To complete this operation, the instrument needs to know the date of the last download – so it can ‘download-from-(the-date-of)-the-last-download’.
This date must be stored somewhere. Let’s say, for example, the last download date is stored in the digital tachograph itself. No problem, you get the details from the date of the last download.
Your monthly cycle is working well – all downloads present and correct! Or so it seems – until you get a spot visit from VOSA.
VOSA Spot-Check
Your downloads are taken, strictly in accordance with the compliance procedure, on the 1st of every month. Looking back through the records there are 12 downloads in the year – all present and correct. What you do not know is that VOSA carried out a spot check on your vehicle on the 15th of the month.
Effectively a two week gap
So, downloading from the date of the last download means you will not have a complete month’s details – you will only have from the date of the last download, the 15th of the month. The date of the VOSA download now becomes the date of the last download. Your next download will now only be from that date, effectively leaving a gap from the beginning to the 15th of the month.
To get round this problem, what about ignoring the last download date in the DVU and storing the last download date on the download tool itself. Problem solved! Until, that is, you get a new download tool (as you have lost the first one, it has stopped working etc). The new download tool has no ‘last download date’ so it cannot ‘download-from-the-last-download’ (When this happens and there is no date, typically the default setting is to undertake a full download.).
Beware and do not get tripped up
No matter which system you use, what you think you are getting may not actually be what you are indeed getting. The unwary can be tripped up, so forewarned is forearmed.
Check you have all the relevant downloads for both card and vehicle. Check them for continuity – are all the records there, are there gaps etc? Ensure any downloads by Enforcement Authorities are logged so possible ‘gaps’ in record keeping can be identified.
The moral of the exercise is – always check what you have downloaded – you only have so long before corrective action can be taken, beyond which details are overwritten and gone for ever.
Why risk the electronic equivalent?
Remember, you would not deliberately rip up paper tachograph charts and create a gap in the continuity of your records, so why risk the electronic equivalent?
If all else fails…
…help is at hand. Tachograph Analysis Consultants Limited (TACL) is a company specialising in tachographs and compliance and has a specific continuity checking service to keep you on the straight-and-narrow, together with courses dedicated to the whys-and-wherefores of digital downloading.
TACL also provides a service for storing your downloads, sending out timely reminders to do them etc.
Footnote
Now you know you have all your records, how do you store them safely and securely? This is reviewed in a future article.
Nigel Kirkwood is Technical Director at Tachograph Analysis Consultants Limited. For further information, contact Nigel on Tel: 01704 894555, E-mail: nigel.kirkwood@digital-tachograph.com or visit: www.digital-tachograph.com
Published: 18/11/2010
