Admin Setup Guide

Set up your fleet management system from scratch. This guide covers company configuration, user management, fleet records, service workflows, operations modules, and alert settings.

System Overview

Motrix Cloud uses a multi-tenant architecture — each company's data is completely isolated from other organizations on the platform. As a Fleet Manager, you have access to all configuration features and are responsible for setting up the system for your fleet. (A separate Global Admin role exists for platform-wide administration, but it is reserved for Motrix staff.)

Key areas you will configure as a Fleet Manager:

• Users & Roles — who has access and what they can do
• Fleet Vehicles — your vehicle inventory with full lifecycle tracking
• Drivers — operator profiles with license and compliance tracking
• Service Templates — recurring maintenance schedules that power the Service Planner
• Inspection Templates — DVIR checklist templates for pre-trip and post-trip inspections
• Operations Modules — fuel tracking, budgets, parts inventory, and departments
• Alert Thresholds — configurable windows for maintenance, licensing, warranty, and parts notifications

Trial & Onboarding

New organizations can start a self-service 60-day free trial at app.motrix.io/trial — no credit card required. Trial signup walks you through a 5-step setup wizard that creates your company and your Fleet Manager account, after which you can work through the configuration steps in this guide.

Managing Users

New users join via the self-service trial signup or through email invitations sent from the Team Members page. Each user is assigned a role that determines their permissions and navigation visibility. Roles are permission presets — individual permissions can also be customized per user. Motrix currently includes 6 built-in roles:

Team Members & Invitations

Navigate to User Menu > Team Members to manage who has access to your company. From this page you can:

• Invite by email — send an invitation to any email address with a chosen role. Each invitation generates a secure token link valid for 7 days.
• Accept flow — existing Motrix users click the link to join your company immediately; new users create an account (name + password) and are logged in and attached to your company automatically.
• Pending invitations — view and revoke invitations that have not been accepted yet.
• Per-user permissions — expand any member to see checkboxes for all 22 permissions across 11 groups. Selecting a role preset auto-populates the matching permissions, and you can then toggle individual permissions for custom access.

Two guards protect your account from lockout: you cannot remove yourself from the company, and you cannot remove the last Fleet Manager.

Company Profile

Navigate to User Menu > Company Profile to manage your organization's information — company name, phone, contact email, and address. You can also upload a company logo (JPG or PNG, up to 2MB).

Navigation by Role

Motrix changes the navigation based on the signed-in user's role. Fleet Managers and Global Admins see the full application, while Drivers see a simplified workflow focused on inspections.

Fleet Manager / Global Admin Navigation

• Dashboard — Fleet Health Score, operational status cards, reports hub, critical alerts, and recent activity
• Fleet — Vehicles, Drivers, Assignments
• Service — Service Planner, Maintenance Records, Service Templates, Work Orders, Inspections
• Operations — Fuel Tracking, EV Charging, Budgets, Parts Inventory, Departments
• Reports — all 12 report entries, including Client Attendance
• Dispatch — Trip Board, All Trips, Runs, Clients, My Trips, My Runs, New Trip
• Shop — Shop Board, Service Bays, Time Tracking, Parts Requests, Shop Metrics
• User Menu — Profile, Manage Companies, Company Profile, Team Members, Alert Settings, Logout

Driver Navigation

• Dashboard — a simplified dashboard with My Trips, New Inspection, and My Inspections cards
• Inspections — inspection history plus the + New Inspection workflow
• My Trips — assigned trips with dispatch and close buttons
• My Runs — today's and tomorrow's run manifests with the tap-to-stamp workflow
• User Menu — personal account actions only

Drivers do not see the Fleet, Service, Operations, Reports, or Shop menus, or the Quick Log button. On mobile, the driver menu is intentionally reduced to a simple task flow so operators can file inspections and work trips quickly without sorting through admin features.

Adding Your Fleet

Navigate to Fleet > Vehicles > Add Vehicle to begin building your fleet inventory. Motrix tracks vehicles through their full lifecycle from acquisition to disposal.

Required Fields

• Year — model year of the vehicle
• Make — manufacturer (e.g., Ford, Chevrolet, ElDorado)
• Model — vehicle model name
• VIN — 17-character Vehicle Identification Number
• Status — current operational status
• Current Mileage — used to calculate service due dates

Optional but Recommended

• License Plate — state plate number
• Fleet Number — your internal unit number
• Fuel Type — gasoline, diesel, CNG, propane, electric
• Purchase Date & Price — for cost-per-mile calculations

Extended Specifications

• Body Type — cutaway, minivan, transit bus, etc.
• Seating Capacity — total passenger seats
• Wheelchair Capacity — number of wheelchair positions
• Engine Type & Transmission
• GVWR — gross vehicle weight rating

Insurance & Registration

• Policy number, provider name, and expiration date
• Registration expiration date

Compliance

• DOT Inspection Expiration — tracked and shown on dashboard
• ADA Compliance Status — for paratransit reporting

OEM Warranty

• Warranty provider, type (bumper-to-bumper, powertrain, etc.), start and end dates, and mileage limit

Vehicle Photo

Upload a photo in JPEG, PNG, or WebP format up to 5MB. Photos help drivers confirm they are inspecting the correct unit.

Vehicle Statuses

Setting Up Drivers

Navigate to Fleet > Drivers > Add Driver to create driver records. Driver profiles track operator credentials separately from user accounts.

Key Fields

• Name — driver's full name
• Phone & Email — contact information
• License Number — CDL or state license number
• License Class — Class A, B, C, or D
• Issuing State
• License Expiration Date — automatically monitored for alerts

License expiration alerts appear on the Dashboard automatically once the expiration date falls within your configured alert window.

Vehicle Assignments

Navigate to Fleet > Assignments to assign drivers to specific vehicles. Assignments include a start date and optional end date, providing a historical record of which operator was driving each unit and when.

Current and historical assignments are listed per vehicle, making it straightforward to determine who was operating a vehicle on any given date — useful for incident reviews and compliance audits.

Configuring Service Templates

Navigate to Service > Service Templates to define recurring maintenance schedules. Templates are the foundation of the Service Planner — they tell the system when each vehicle is due for each type of service.

What Each Template Defines

• Service Type — name of the maintenance task
• Mile Interval — trigger service every N miles
• Day Interval — trigger service every N days
• Estimated Cost — used in budget projections
• Default Vendor — pre-fills work orders

Both mile and day intervals can be set simultaneously. The Service Planner triggers on whichever threshold is reached first.

Pre-Loaded DOT Templates

Configuring Inspection Templates

Navigate to Service > Inspections > Manage Templates to configure DVIR checklist templates. Templates define the items drivers check during pre-trip and post-trip inspections.

Pre-Loaded Templates

Three standard templates are pre-loaded for immediate use:

• DOT Pre-Trip Inspection — 22 items across 5 categories
• DOT Post-Trip Inspection — 12 items across 4 categories
• Paratransit PM Inspection — 47 items across three cascading PM levels (A/B/C)

Item Categories

The template builder offers 16 category options for organizing checklist items:

• Engine / Cab
• Exterior
• Interior
• Safety Equipment
• Fluids
• Fluids & Filters
• Under Hood
• ADA Equipment
• Brakes
• Drivetrain
• Suspension & Steering
• Electrical
• HVAC
• Chassis & Frame
• Emissions & Exhaust
• General

You can create custom templates for specialized vehicles or agency-specific requirements. Each item includes a name and an optional description to guide the driver during the inspection. Items are organized by category within the checklist form.

When a template's type is Preventive Maintenance (PM), each item gains PM-specific fields: a PM level (A, B, or C), a value type (pass/fail, numeric, text, or dropdown), unit labels and min/max thresholds for numeric items, and a comma-separated options list for dropdown items (e.g., "Good, Fair, Poor, Replace").

Work Orders

Navigate to Service > Work Orders to manage repair and follow-up activity. Work orders can be created manually by a manager or generated automatically when a DVIR defect is submitted.

What a Work Order Tracks

• Priority — Low, Normal, High, or Urgent
• Status — Open, In Progress, Completed, or Cancelled
• Vendor / Technician — who is handling the repair
• Labor and Parts Costs — captured for reporting and budget analysis
• Documents — invoices, photos, and supporting PDFs attached to the record

Minor DVIR defects keep the vehicle active and generate a normal-priority work order. Major defects immediately place the vehicle out of service and create a high-priority work order until repairs are closed out.

If your company uses the Shop module, work order creation also supports Smart Bay Assignment suggestions so the system can recommend the best available bay for the job type before the repair starts.

Return to Service

When a work order on an out-of-service vehicle is completed and no other open or in-progress work orders remain for that vehicle, the vehicle is automatically returned to Active status. A manual Return to Service button also appears on the work order page whenever the vehicle is out of service and the work order is completed, so Fleet Managers can return the unit explicitly. While the vehicle remains out of service, a red warning banner on the work order shows the vehicle status, and a Related DVIR Inspection card links back to the originating inspection report with the driver name, defect count, and inspection date.

PM Inspections (Preventive Maintenance)

Technician-driven preventive maintenance inspections filed from within a Work Order. PM inspections use cascading A/B/C levels with measurement fields, threshold auto-flagging, and automatic defect-to-work-order generation.

PM vs. DVIR

PM Levels (Cascading)

Selecting PM-B automatically includes all PM-A items. Selecting PM-C includes all items.

Filing a PM Inspection

1. Open a Work Order and click File PM Inspection.
2. Select a PM template and PM level (A, B, or C).
3. Complete the checklist — items may be pass/fail, numeric (with unit labels and min/max thresholds), or dropdown (e.g., Good/Fair/Poor/Replace).
4. Out-of-range numeric values are automatically flagged as defects with an "Out of spec" warning. The technician can override back to pass.
5. Mark defect severity (Minor or Major), add notes and photos (up to 5 per defect).
6. Sign with the canvas signature pad and submit.

PM Defect Handling

• Minor defects: Vehicle stays active, a child Work Order is created with normal priority.
• Major defects: Vehicle is set to Out of Service, a child Work Order is created with high priority.
• Child Work Orders include measurement values in the description and link back to the PM inspection.
• Defect photos are copied to the child Work Order as documents.

PM Compliance Report

The PM Compliance Report (accessible from Reports menu) tracks preventive maintenance inspection compliance for FTA audits and shop management. It includes:

• Summary cards: Total PM inspections, pass rate, defects found, PM-A/B/C counts
• Overdue vehicles warning for active vehicles with zero PM inspections
• PM Inspection History table with level badges, results, and work order links
• Out-of-Spec Measurements section highlighting items outside acceptable thresholds
• Technician Workload breakdown with pass rates per technician
• PDF export in landscape format

Operations Modules

Navigate to the Operations menu to manage day-to-day cost, energy, and inventory controls. These modules connect operational data back to the dashboard, reporting, and alerting system.

Fuel Tracking

Fuel records capture date, station/location, odometer, gallons, total cost, and price per gallon. MPG is calculated automatically, and CSV import is available when you need to load historical transactions in bulk.

EV Charging

Use Operations > EV Charging to log charging sessions for electric vehicles. Charging records capture kWh added, cost, odometer reading, start/end battery percentage, charge duration, charger location, and charger type. Motrix calculates cost per kWh and battery gain automatically, and higher odometer readings keep preventive-maintenance planning current for EV units.

Budgets

Navigate to Operations > Budgets to create monthly spending targets. Budgets give you a real-time view of fleet spending against plan.

Configurable Thresholds

• Total — overall fleet spend target
• Fuel — fuel purchases
• Maintenance — scheduled service costs
• Repairs — unplanned repair costs

Once budgets are set, the Dashboard automatically shows a Budget vs. Actual comparison. Variance is color-coded for quick interpretation:

Parts Inventory

Use Operations > Parts Inventory to track stocked items and replacement components. Part data supports low-stock alerting, cost visibility, warranty reference, and the Parts & Warranty report.

Departments

Use Operations > Departments to group vehicles and spending by organizational unit. Departments make it easier to review utilization, costs, and maintenance patterns across programs or divisions.

Quick Log

The Quick Log (+) button provides fast fuel and maintenance entry without leaving the current page. It is permission-gated rather than tied to a role: any user with the fuel.manage or service.manage permission sees it — by default, Fleet Managers and Department Managers. It is intentionally hidden for Drivers.

Alert Settings

Navigate to User Menu > Alert Settings to configure maintenance alert thresholds. These settings control when the system flags upcoming and overdue service across the dashboard, Service Planner, and daily email summaries.

Configurable Thresholds

• Days Before Service (1–90 days, default: 10) — alert when maintenance is due within this many days
• Miles Before Service (50–5,000 miles, default: 500) — alert when a vehicle is within this many miles of a service interval

Critical Alert Types

• Maintenance — overdue maintenance and services due within the configured threshold
• Fuel Efficiency — vehicles falling below 80% of the fleet average MPG
• Driver Licenses — expired licenses and licenses expiring within 30 days
• Out-of-Service Vehicles — vehicles pulled from service after a failed DVIR inspection
• Vendor SLA — vendors exceeding a 72-hour average repair time
• Inventory — low or out-of-stock parts

Alert Email

Optionally specify a dedicated email address for maintenance alerts. If left blank, alerts are sent to all Fleet Manager users in your company.

Where Alerts Appear

• Dashboard — overdue and upcoming maintenance listed by vehicle
• Service Planner — color-coded status for each vehicle/service combination
• Daily Email — consolidated digest sent at 7:00 AM listing overdue and upcoming items
• Weekly Fleet Summary — automated Monday morning email with 7-day operational snapshot: fleet stats, weekly costs, work order activity, action-required alerts, top expensive vehicles, and inspection pass rates

Dispatch Module

Navigate to Dispatch > Trip Board to manage paratransit trip scheduling. The Dispatch module handles trip creation, driver/vehicle assignment, and real-time status tracking. Users with the Dispatcher role can also create and manage trips.

Trip Lifecycle

Key Features

• Auto-generated trip numbers — sequential per company per day (TRP-YYYYMMDD-NNN)
• Passenger tracking — name, phone, count, wheelchair required, mobility aids, trip purpose
• Trip Board — dispatcher calendar view grouped by 30-minute time slots with color-coded cards
• My Trips (driver view) — today's trips with touch-friendly Dispatch/Close buttons
• Quick-assign — inline vehicle + driver dropdowns on the trip detail page

Passenger Transport (Clients & Runs)

For agencies with recurring riders, the Passenger Transport module builds on Dispatch with saved client profiles, standing schedules, and automatic daily trip generation.

Client Profiles

Navigate to Dispatch > Clients to manage rider profiles. Each client record stores phone, emergency contact, home address, default destination, funding source, and a wheelchair-required flag. Clients with any trip history are deactivated instead of deleted, so ridership and billing history is preserved.

Standing Schedules

Each client can have one standing schedule, edited inline on the client detail page: days of the week, AM and/or PM legs with per-leg pickup times, a run label that groups clients onto the same run, and an effective date window. The AM leg runs home → destination; the PM leg returns destination → home.

Run Manifests

A run groups trips for one date, direction (AM or PM), and run label, with an assigned driver and vehicle, odometer start/end, and facility arrival/departure timestamps. Navigate to Dispatch > Runs to see all runs for a date; drivers see their own manifests under My Runs.

Automatic Trip Generation

Every day at 4:00 PM, Motrix generates tomorrow's trips and runs from all active standing schedules. Generation is idempotent — any client who already has a trip for that date and direction is skipped, so re-runs and manual edits are never duplicated.

Driver Tap-to-Stamp Workflow

On the run manifest, drivers work the run with single taps: Start Run (starting odometer), Picked Up per client, Arrived at Facility (AM runs — one tap auto-completes every on-board trip), Departing Facility (PM runs — one tap boards everyone), Dropped Off per client, No Show with an optional reason, and Complete Run (ending odometer). See the Driver Guide for the step-by-step workflow.

Client Attendance Report

Completed runs feed the Client Attendance report — per-client monthly ridership with CSV export for billing and funding-source submissions.

Auto Shop Management

Navigate to Shop > Shop Board to manage in-house maintenance operations. The Shop module extends work orders with service bay tracking, technician time tracking, and parts requisition workflows.

Shop Board

The Shop Board is the primary workspace for shop foremen. Each bay card shows the current work order, vehicle, technician name, and a running clock. Unassigned in-house work orders appear in a sidebar for bay assignment.

Service Bays

Navigate to Shop > Service Bays to create and manage bays. Bay types include Lift, Flat, Pit, Wash, and Other. Bays are automatically released when a work order is completed or cancelled.

Smart Bay Assignment

When creating a work order, the system suggests the best available bay based on keyword matching against 60+ maintenance terms (e.g., "brake inspection" → Lift bay, "battery" → Flat bay).

Technician Time Tracking

Navigate to Shop > Time Tracking for per-technician, per-work-order time entries. Clocks start automatically with the "Assign & Start Clock" option on work order creation. Running clocks are visible on the Shop Board.

Parts Requisitions

Navigate to Shop > Parts Requests to manage the parts requisition workflow. Technicians request parts from inventory against work orders. Fleet Managers approve or deny with stock levels visible. Approved requisitions automatically decrement inventory.

Shop Metrics

Navigate to Shop > Shop Metrics for throughput analysis: jobs completed, jobs per day, average hours per job, bay utilization, and technician hours breakdown.

Data Import & Export

Motrix supports bulk CSV import for vehicles, drivers, and fuel transactions, plus one-click CSV export from every major entity index page. All import and export tools require the Fleet Manager role.

Vehicle CSV Import

Click Import CSV on the Vehicles index page (route: /vehicles-import) to bulk-create vehicles. Only Year, Make, and Model are required — optional columns include VIN, License Plate, Mileage, Status, Color, Engine, Body Type, Seating Capacity, GVW, Wheelchair Lift, and Fleet Number. Column headers are matched case-insensitively with common aliases, and vehicles with a duplicate VIN are skipped with a clear error message.

Driver CSV Import

Click Import CSV on the Drivers index page (route: /drivers-import) to bulk-create driver records. Name handling is flexible — either separate "First Name" and "Last Name" columns or a single "Name" / "Full Name" column ("Last, First" format supported). Drivers with a duplicate license number are skipped.

Fuel CSV Import

Click Import CSV on the Fuel Records index page (route: /fuel-import) to bulk-import fuel transactions. Vehicles are matched by VIN first, then unit/fleet number, then vehicle name. Duplicate records (same vehicle, date, and gallons) are skipped, and price per gallon is calculated automatically.

Each import page includes a downloadable CSV template with sample rows, and every import ends with a summary showing total rows, imported count, skipped count, and a detailed error list.

CSV Data Export

Every major entity index page includes a green Export CSV button for one-click data export. Exports are available for vehicles (32 columns), drivers (13 columns), work orders (17 columns), fuel records (11 columns), and maintenance (14 columns). All exports are company-scoped and formula-injection-safe.

Available Reports

Motrix includes 12 report entries accessible from the Reports menu. All reports are automatically scoped to your company's data — the 11 analytics reports support one-click PDF export, and Client Attendance exports to CSV.

• Cost Analysis (Reports > Cost Analysis) — fleet-wide cost breakdown, per-vehicle cost comparison, monthly trends, and cost-per-mile calculations.
• Vendor Performance (Reports > Vendor Performance) — job counts, average downtime, total cost, and average cost per job broken down by vendor.
• DVIR Audit (Reports > DVIR Audit) — inspection pass/fail rates, defect severity breakdown (minor/major), compliance gap detection for vehicles with zero inspections, and resolution time tracking. CSV export for auditors.
• Parts & Warranty (Reports > Parts & Warranty) — component tracking by vehicle, OEM and component warranty status, spend-by-vehicle visualization, and most-replaced components.
• Fleet Utilization (Reports > Fleet Utilization) — per-vehicle utilization and availability rates, assignment days, idle days, downtime analysis.
• Fuel Efficiency (Reports > Fuel Efficiency) — total fuel cost, gallons used, fleet average MPG, monthly trend, and per-vehicle fuel cost analysis.
• Service Planner (Reports > Service Planner) — printable view of all upcoming and overdue maintenance with urgency badges, grouped by service type and by vehicle.
• Work Orders by Vehicle (Reports > Work Orders by Vehicle) — work order volume, labor/parts costs, and status breakdown grouped by vehicle.
• Service History (Reports > Service History) — unified maintenance and work order timeline per vehicle with cost, vendor, and date details.
• Technician Labor (Reports > Technician Labor) — workload per technician, completion rates, labor cost allocation, and average turnaround time.
• PM Compliance (Reports > PM Compliance) — preventive maintenance inspection compliance for FTA audits, including pass rates, defect counts, PM-A/B/C breakdowns, out-of-spec measurements, and technician workload.
• Client Attendance (Reports > Client Attendance) — per-client monthly ridership for billing and funding-source reporting: days attended, AM/PM trips, no-shows, and cancelled trips, with a month picker and CSV export. Fleet Manager only.

Admin Tips

• Set up service templates before entering vehicles — templates feed the Service Planner automatically. Add them first and the planner populates as soon as vehicles are entered.
• Configure alert thresholds early — the default 10 days / 500 miles works well for most fleets, but adjust based on your service intervals and staffing capacity.
• Add vehicle photos and VINs — photos help drivers confirm they are inspecting the correct unit. VINs are required for warranty tracking and recall lookups.
• Keep parts inventory current — low-stock alerts and the Parts & Warranty report are only useful if receipts and usage are logged consistently.
• Review the Service Planner weekly — a 15-minute review keeps you ahead of maintenance and prevents vehicles from going overdue without warning.
• Check the Dashboard daily — the Fleet Health Score gives you an instant snapshot of overall fleet condition. Declining scores indicate maintenance backlog building up.
• Create both pre-trip and post-trip inspection templates — DOT regulations require both. The pre-loaded templates cover standard requirements; customize them for any specialized equipment in your fleet.
• Use departments consistently — assigning vehicles and spend to departments makes reporting far more useful during audits and budget reviews.
• Add drivers before assigning vehicles — driver records must exist before you can create vehicle assignments or have drivers selected in inspection reports.