Decoding All Those Telematics Acronyms

Acronyms. Love or hate them, they’re here to stay and there’s every sign that we will see their numbers growing, particularly with the spread of technology (the biggest culprit) into new areas of mobile industries.

We’ll explain what some of the main telematics acronyms stand for, as these are the ones you’ll likely come across when first learning about telematics or start shopping for a fleet management system.

Compliance Acronyms

BASIC

Behavior Analysis Safety Improvement Categories

CMV

Commercial Motor Vehicle

CSA

Comprehensive Safety Analysis

DOT

Department of Transportation

FMCSA

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

GHG

Greenhouse Gas

HOS

Hours of Service

DVIR

Driver Vehicle Inspection Report

ELD

Electronic Logging Device

EOBR

Electronic OnBoard Recorder

IFTA

International Fuel Tax Agreement

Fleet Performance Acronyms

KPI

Key Performance Indicator

TOD

Time of Delivery

DTC

Diagnostic Trouble Code

HA

Hard (or harsh) Acceleration

HB

Hard (or harsh) Braking

PVA

Plan Vs. Actual

SLA

Service Level Agreement

Telematics Technology Acronyms

LOS

Line-of-sight

QoS

Quality of Service

RSSI

Received Signal Strength Indication

CDMA

Code Division Multiple Access

GSM

Global System for Mobiles

SaaS

Software-as-a-Service

Hardware Acronyms

OBD

On-Board Diagnostics (e.g. OBDII port)

OEM

Original Equipment Manufacturer

PLB

Personal Locator Beacon

PND

Personal Navigation Device

ECM

Electronic (Engine) Control Module

PTO

Power Take-Off

LMU

Location Messaging Unit

PII

Personally Identifiable Information

LCV

Light Commercial Vehicle

Map Acronyms

POI

Points of Interest

GIS

Geographic Information System

Telematics Purchasing Acronyms

RFP

Request for Proposal

ROI

Return on Investment

SOW

Statement of Work (or Scope of Work)

EOM

End of Month

YoY

Year over Year

QBR

Quarterly Business Review

RFI

Request for Information

MOA

Memorandum of Agreement

Mobile Workforce Acronyms

MRM

Mobile Resource Management

WOM

Work Order Management

Now that you’ve studied up you’ll be able to translate the world of telematics into plain English. You might even feel like making up one of your own TLAs (Three-Letter Acronyms).

Of course we’re more than happy to help explain in friendly terms any questions you might have about getting your fleet switched on to telematics. We have live chat agents available during working hours or send us an email.