Improved Fleet Management features for VRM

Victron dealers and installers are expanding their installation fleets and we are seeing an impressive increase in the number of VRM users who are now in control of not just hundreds but THOUSANDS of systems.

VRM has just added some new features and improvements specifically in response to feedback we've received from these large system fleets.

The majority of these updates are concentrated in the Installation Overview section of VRM, where all websites linked to your VRM user account are displayed.

For users who manage a single or a few sites, the installation summary may not be a heavily used section. Typically, they would click through to a specific website to view the dashboard, advanced data widgets, or device list.

But for fleet operators, the installation overview becomes the nerve center of their business. The ability to quickly find the sites you want and access the information you need is critical.

New additions

Even small improvements to the user interface can greatly improve the installer's experience when dealing with these large fleets.

We've introduced a new "Add" button at the top of the installation overview. This eliminates the need to scroll through hundreds or thousands of installations when adding a new one.

We've also made the search bar more prominent, requiring fewer clicks and making it faster to use.

The total fleet has been moved to the top of the installation list, preventing them from getting lost at the bottom. This feature now also displays the total number of systems and the number of active alarms (if any).

The quick drop-down menu allows you to view all active alarms for your fleet and then click to go directly to advanced data for that location for further investigation.

If the alarm comes with specific documentation (such as the MPPT and VE.Bus error codes), you can click through to the description to see exactly what the alarm code means and find troubleshooting suggestions to clear it.

Map improvements

The systems visible on the map now filter the visible systems shown in the installation list below. This can be combined with another new feature: the visible map coordinates are now displayed in the browser's URL field.

This means you can customize the visible system views to your liking and then bookmark the page in your browser for quick access.

This feature becomes even more powerful for systems with a dynamic position set by a GPS. For example, if you operate a fleet of Victron systems that include a GX unit and GPS module, you can create a location bookmark and filter view to only display systems in your service shop.

Please note that the visibility of the filter may vary depending on the width of your browser window. Different devices may display a different list of systems from the same link if the screen resolution varies.

We've added a button to the map to reset the zoom level to see all your installations.

Tags

The clarity and ease of use in the tag selection area has been greatly improved.

VRM automatically generates tags for a site when it is added to an installation group, and also when a linked installation is part of a group group.

VRM also automatically applies tags if a site has an active alarm. Alarm labels are specially color-coded for increased visibility.

Some installers also add dozens of custom tags to manage their thousands of systems.

Tag visibility can now be turned on or off by type to reduce clutter, and tags are now also sorted alphabetically.

The tags you have actively selected are now visible in the browser's URL field. This allows you to create browser bookmarks for your specific tag groups, saving you time if there are some you want to see regularly or want to share with another user who has access to the same installations.

Tags are an indispensable tool when managing large groups of systems. They are flexible and can be added to filter your installations in any way you prefer.

The ways to use them are virtually limitless and depend entirely on the needs of your team.

Some examples of tags we've seen include:

Service Agreement Locations: Multiple systems may appear offline due to on-site network issues, but you only want to filter to show those where the customer has paid extra as part of a service agreement with the installer for active system monitoring and high-level service for that type of fault.

Different types of equipment: For example, a certain type of generator or managed lithium battery.

Special customers with multiple sites: Tags are more flexible than just a prefix to the system name.

A special type of installation: Solar pumps, various models of hybrid generator units or container systems.

System sizes: Show only systems with solar panels larger than 10 kW.

Year of Installation: Filter to show which systems may be nearing end-of-life or need a time-based service call.
There are thousands of actively used system tags in VRM, so this only begins to cover their potential.

Note that users will still only see the installations they have access to. Therefore, when you share a tag view, the installations displayed may vary between different logged-in users.