External Device Services in D365
- Megan Stanage (Unlicensed)
External Device Service
Logistics Execution > Setup > External Device > External Device Service
The External Device Service form displays external device services configured for the active operation.
Set up an external device service to pull data from to generate useful information within Transport + Deliver (e.g., Omnitracs, Geotab).
Buttons
There are several buttons you can access to further configure your external device service.
| FIELD | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|
| Parameters | Click this button to open the External Device Service Parameters flyout window. The available options depend on the service you are setting up.
Note Session Age Date Time and Session ID do not need to be set by the user and are shown for troubleshooting purposes.
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| Collection Data Map | Click this button to open the Collection Data Type Map form. This form allows you to map data that you capture while processing activities. Example You are starting an activity and want to capture the current fuel level at each location. Use this form to map that data as it comes in.
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| Action Mapping | Click this button to open the External Device Action Mapping form. This form allows you to map actions to macros. You can configure which action should run when a specific macro is found in the data pulled from the external device service. When the system finds a macro value that you set, it will look to the set action to know what to do. Note A macro cannot be assigned to two different actions, but different macros can share an action (e.g., two macros can both be tied to an arrive action).
Example In the screenshot above, when Transport + Deliver finds a 16 in the XML received from the external service, it will execute the COMPLETE action. |
| Change Password | Click this button to set or reset the external device password. This is the password that ties into the user name for the external service and allows you to pull information. Passwords are encrypted. Click OK to save the password for use when the service is called.
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Move Up | Click this button to move the value up. Important The Pull External Device and Execute External Device jobs will run in the configured sequence. Use these buttons to rearrange in the desired sequence. |
| Move Down | Click this button to move the value down. Important The Pull External Device and Execute External Device jobs will run in the configured sequence. Use these buttons to rearrange in the desired sequence. |
| External Worker Mapping | Click this button to open the External Worker Mapping form. This form allows you to map external systems to Transport + Deliver. While an external system might have a number that correlates to a worker, Transport + Deliver has only the worker name and no knowledge of the number. Add the external worker ID and the worker name here to map the two together for use when running the designated service.
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External Device Jobs
Now that you have configured a service, you need to set up a periodic job to:
- pull the data
- execute the data
The system will ping the external service, pull the data you have not received yet based off the last pulled token, and then execute that data depending on your action mapping.
Pull External Device
Logistics Execution > Periodic > Pull External Device
Navigate to Pull External Device to set up a job to periodically pull the data from the external device service.
The system—progressing in the order set up on the External Device Service form—checks if the service is enabled.
If so, it uses the external service credentials to connect and pull any records accumulated since the last pulled record. The data is pushed into the Inbound Process Queue (action items) or the Inbound GPS Queue (GPS point trying to keep track of where asset is during an activity.)
Important
It will only attempt to pull data for external device services that are enabled.
Important
This job will be run in the sequence set on the External Device Service form. Keep the sequence in mind if there is a dependency (e.g., the hours of service job needs to be done second).
| FIELD | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|
| Batch processing | Turn on the Batch processing toggle. |
| Monitoring category | Select Integration from this drop-down list. |
| Recurrence | Click this button to enter you start date and time, your end criteria, and your recurrence pattern. Click OK. Note Make sure to think through how often this needs to run. There is potential to get a lot of records back if you are not running this job often enough.
|
Execute External Device
Logistics Execution > Periodic > Execute External Device
Navigate to Execute External Device to set up a job to periodically execute the data from the external device service using the Action Mapping form.
The system processes the pulled records that were pushed into the Inbound Process Queue or the Inbound GPS Queue using the specific rules you set for the external service. It uses the worker to find the activity, associate that action to that activity, and process the activity.
It will only attempt to execute data for external device services that are enabled.
This job will be run in the sequence set on the External Device Service form.
| FIELD | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|
| Batch processing | Turn on the Batch processing toggle. |
| Monitoring category | Select Integration from this drop-down list. |
| Recurrence | Click this button to enter you start date and time, your end criteria, and your recurrence pattern. Click OK. Note Make sure to think through how often this needs to run. There is potential to get a lot of records back if you are not running this job often enough.
|
Inbound Process Queue
Navigate to the Inbound Process Queue to view assets from the external device service.
Actions in red indicate that the execution attempt failed (e.g., not in right status, no matching activity found).
Note
There is overlap here with the Deliver app so some failures come from the app (e.g., cannot hit Start because someone didn’t finish out the activity in the app).