Getting Started

Introduction

This documentation is designed to help you move confidently through your migration journey. We have split the process up into digestible phases and highlighted the tools, resources, and support you’ll need at every step. Here’s everything you need to upgrade from PULS.

General Information

Here are some tasks you will need to perform to get started:

• Create an account: Ensure that you have a Purchase Order to proceed with account creation. If you don’t have one, reach out to our team to get started.
• Manage your users and devices: Create user accounts and assign different access rights and permissions based on the roles in your organization. This will help you control data and permission settings for managed devices and users. Start adding new users and assigning roles in your account, using guidance from our platform User Guide.
• Create groups: Organize and manage your devices in flexible groups to quickly deploy changes. Groups defined in PULS will automatically transfer over to CTC.
• Migrate files: File migration is a separate process from device migration. Send a list of files to be migrated to our team. Any files you do not send in a list or transfer yourself will NOT be migrated. PEG1 and PEG2 scripts will automatically have their maintenance URL updated as the files are migrated.

To help guide your onboarding process, the following checklist outlines the phases and associated tasks to ensure that your account is ready to upgrade from PULS to CTC.

New Device-Management Features

Our new platform provides the following features:

• A modern web application (graphical user interface [GUI]) for device management.
• Over-the-air (OTA) updates:

  CTC supports up to 50,000 devices per update.
  You can configure the order of file updates.
  You can schedule bulk device updates.

• The administrative tools use a built-in hierarchy to enable you to control data, manage device settings, and adjust user permissions.
• Our set of programmable APIs and developer tools enables you to build and scale end-to-end telematics experiences.

Technical Documentation for Device Management
The technical documentation here will provide you with step-by-step details on preparing and setting up your account, as well as supplemental information on getting the most out of your platform.

FAQs

You can find answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the migration process here.

What are the advantages of the new CTC device-management platform?
The new platform is built using a state-of-the-art microservices-based architecture that makes it highly available, reliable, secure, and scalable. It has many innovative and cost-saving features such as a jobs framework for bulk updates, logs for troubleshooting, self-serve user management for efficiency, a dual instance for better compliance, and hierarchical accounts to manage your business and operations.

How is the new CTC device-management platform better than competitors’ solutions?
The new platform is designed to be a best-in-class solution. No competitor offers the features and functionality CalAmp offers for the markets we are in. Some of our differentiated features are a jobs framework for bulk over-the-air (OTA) updates, OTA updates of custom apps (edge apps), a hierarchical system for self-serve user management, role-based access control, and stronger compliance.

Can you tell me any customer stories?
Yes! The first one is from a channel customer who was delighted to see CTC’s hierarchical account management and role-based access control feature. They can simply give an admin login to their own customers and let them manage their operations themselves while still having full visibility of their devices and business.

Another story is from a customer who reported that one of their users was very happy when he troubleshooted devices that stopped reporting using audit logs. The audit logs helped him understand that changes were made by a different user that caused problems. He quickly reverted and saved the day.

What are some examples of specific actions I can do to make the most of the new platform? How can I save work, save money, and delight my own customers?
Here are some suggestions:

• Channel customers should take advantage of the hierarchical account management and role-based access control to let their customers do their own management. This will help save support cost.
• When working with the platform, make sure to use the smart search feature to quickly and easily find what you need to work with.
• Use the audit logs to troubleshoot, diagnose, and fix issues. Soon you will also be able to create alerts on health issues such as ESN 0 and failsafes.
• Use the jobs framework to handle updates in bulk.

Which devices are supported?
All devices based on 8-bit, 32-bit, and edge-core platforms are supported, as long as they have the minimum firmware versions. The LMU-5530/41 is supported but requires a minimum firmware level of 4.1i.

How would the migration of devices from PULS to the new CTC device-management platform occur?
CalAmp has developed sophisticated tools to migrate your devices. After you conclude your commercial negotiations, network readiness, and API readiness, if applicable, depending on the install base, the migration team will work with you to set up your network and CTC Admin access. You will shortlist the devices that are live and need to be migrated for the team and make sure that the minimum level of firmware is on your devices.

Would the update history be migrated from PULS to the new CTC device-management platform?
Logs of historical data of devices will not be migrated. Historical data related to any type of OTA updates will not be migrated.

Only current file history will be available for migrated devices. The files currently on a device will not be visible on the Files tab of the device’s details window until an OTA update is applied via CTC. After the device checks in, you will be able to see its current files on the ID Report tab.

The historical data will remain in PULS for a limited time period for ongoing debugging by CalAmp.

How would migration of my scripts occur?
The CalAmp migration tool will automatically migrate your existing scripts to the new CTC device-management platform; it will also modify your scripts automatically to point them to the new IP address and port.

For new orders that are yet to be shipped, you can download the scripts from PULS. Make the following changes and upload to CTC for use:

• 2320,0 – maintenance URL: Change from puls.calamp.com to dm.calamp.com (US) or dm.calamp.co.uk (EU).
• 2310,0 – maintenance IP: This will be automatically populated by the LMU firmware by the result of the DNS lookup and should NOT be populated.
• 2311,0 – maintenance port: Make sure that the port is set to 20500.

What happens if I do a factory reset on the migrated devices?
If you factory reset a device, it will revert to pointing at PULS. To move the device back to pointing at CTC, you’ll need to update parameter 2320 via SMS or a serial connection:

• US: dm.calamp.com
• EU: dm.calamp.co.uk

What happens to devices in PULS post end of life (EOL)?
Any devices that are not selected for migration by you are considered to be dead, and any PULS data related to them will be lost with PULS EOL. This does not mean that those devices are wasted or useless. If they are active, they will continue to operate. Only OTA update functionality will be lost.

Is there a document I can use to help figure out how to use the new platform?
Yes, go to the User Guide for guidance.

Will I have to change how I contact Customer Support?
No, you can continue to contact Customer Support the way you currently do for PULS.

Will I have to change how I give feedback and make feature requests?
No, you can continue to provide feedback and request new features the way you do today for PULS.

Are there any online training sessions my users and I can attend for the new platform?
Yes, go to CTC Device-Management Webinar to find the dates of the upcoming webinars and register for one that works with your schedule.

Is there a way to test-drive the new CTC device-management platform to get a better understanding of how things will work?
We are happy to let you test-drive the system as part of your migration process as long as you understand that the change is not optional. You’ll need to migrate to CTC because PULS will eventually be shut down.

Why do I have to choose an EU or a US instance?
The instances help CalAmp to better comply to area-specific regulatory requirements. Be aware that you can use only one of the instances; if you have any international business outside the United States, you should use the EU instance.

I’ve been asked to assess our API readiness as part of the migration process. What determines “API readiness”?
PULS had limited API support. The CTC device-management platform has APIs for all the use cases in PULS and more; however, the APIs are completely different. Refer to the User Guide and to API Readiness to understand how the application and APIs work.

If you had scheduled reports from PULS, you’ll need to schedule similar reports in the new platform on the Scheduled Reports screen. The three main reports of your interest are Device Basic, Advanced Device Details, and Device File Updates.

Do I need to worry about API readiness if I don’t have any custom APIs planned?
If you have never used any PULS APIs, then no, you do not have to worry about it.