What is Virtual Risk Manager (VRM)?
Your company may choose to use the online manager’s portal called Virtual Risk Manager (VRM). Although Mentor gives managers important driving data at their fingertips, VRM allows access to even more data and context to their team’s driving scores.
VRM is a driver risk management platform that looks at five interrelated components that measure driving risk:
- Incidents
- Collisions
- License Violations
- Risk Assessment
- Telematics data (if available)
Features and benefits:
- Dashboards are interactive, allowing managers to determine criteria, run reports, and spot risks.
- Visual data, such as charts and graphs, is color-coded (red, yellow, and green) to draw attention to areas of risk or noncompliance.
- Focus on the manager’s entire team or narrow the focus to individual drivers who may need extra support.
- Determine actionable steps to support the most at-risk drivers with added training, coaching*, and other resources.
Watch Virtual Risk Manager® (5:02) to learn more about VRM.
VRM Dashboard
Your VRM Dashboard shows your team’s analytics and highlights important information that may need your attention (such as potential risks or areas of noncompliance).
DriverINDEX® Risk Exposure Summary: displays the number of drivers classified as Low, Medium, and High Risk.
VRM Population: shows the number of active, inactive, pre-hire, and on hold employees.
DriverINDEX Scores: shows the average scores of active drivers over the last 12 months.
DriverINDEX Events: categorizes the most common types of events that have affected active drivers’ scores over the last 12 months.
RoadRISK: shows the distribution of scores on the RoadRISK assessment, which calculates risk of being involved in a collision based on driver’s behaviors and attitude toward driving.
FICO® Safe Driving Scores: shows driving score results for Mentor telematics users week over week.
Detailed Driver View
Along with driver data summaries of your team, you can support your most at-risk drivers with a detailed view of a specific driver’s data.
From the Driver Record, you can see their driving scores (DriverINDEX® Score, Company Points, and / or FICO® Safe Driving Score), activities (such as courses completed and certificates earned), and event summaries (such as collisions, incidents, violations, and risk assessments). You can compare driving performance from the current period with the last period to see how it has changed over time. You can find Coaching reviews and activities as well as historical events and Mentor ratings and graphs (monthly data per 100 miles).
Coaching Dashboard
The Coaching toolkit creates a safe atmosphere for a two-way dialogue between managers and drivers. The purpose is to further reiterate the importance of creating a Crash-Free Culture® and ensure that drivers return home safely at the end of each day. Active participation is critical so drivers can change their behavior and reduce their collision risk.
If the Coaching feature is turned on, sessions may be assigned to your team's drivers in VRM or the Mentor app. You can view which team members need a coaching session for the month from the DriverINDEX: Scorecard page under the DriverINDEX: COACH column. If your company does not have monthly coaching, managers can use the Coaching Assignments report, if it is available.
Any driver indicated as Required will need a Coaching session which you, the manager, will schedule either in person or over the phone.
Note: Coaching may also be available in the Mentor app.
New Incidents, Collisions, or Violations
Newly reported incidents, collisions, and violations will be highlighted on your VRM Dashboard to alert you of increased risks. Login to the portal and click the tile for MVR.
Under the MVR+: MVR Check Results pages, managers can see details following an active driver’s MVR check, including details of license restrictions and past violations. You can see the date the report was returned, the last monitoring date, the MVR status, results, and any violation codes.
New driver MVR reports can be found in the VRM portal under MVR+. Once you access the MVR Check Results page, you will see details about your team’s MVR results.
- Order Date and Return Date: Shows the date the most recent license check was submitted and the date when the results were received. No date indicates an order has NOT been submitted.
- Last DRM: Displays the date of the last Driver Risk Monitoring (DRM) activity.
- MVR Status: Shows the status of a license check that is being completed.
- Hit / Clear: Shows whether a violation or clear record has been reported. Hit means a violation was found, and Clear means a violation was NOT found.
- SVC Codes: Lists the violation codes in the system for the selected driver. The description and date of the violation will be shown in a tooltip when hovering over the code.
- License Details: Includes the current class, status, description, and expiration date.
- Full Report: Attaches a detailed PDF-version of the report.
Reports
Managers have a range of tools available on the VRM portal to support a safe-driving culture.
- Driver Reports: See driving information about your team or an individual driver, including their FICO® Safe Driving Score and trip data.
- MVR: Access details following an active driver’s MVR check data (violations and restrictions), registration information, and administrative action items (such as consent forms).
- Vehicle Reports: Provide details of vehicle inspections conducted by their drivers to identify damage and alert managers to issues that need to be addressed.
Note: Reporting defaults to drivers with an Active status.
Culture
VRM’s Culture tab houses various documents needed to support your company’s safe-driving culture. The following are various topics that can support a Crash-Free Culture®:
- Privacy Notice: Review what information is used and how your team’s privacy is protected.
- Driver Policy: See which drivers have consented to the roles and responsibilities specific to your company.
- Authorization to Drive: Review which employees are authorized to drive for work purposes.
- Traveling for Work: View more details about employees who are driving for work purposes.
- Driver Details: Allows drivers to submit details about their license and vehicle information.
Other VRM Tools
You can find various Mentor Guides and FAQs in your VRM Portal. You may also have access to documents uploaded by your company to support your driver safety program. View the Guides / FAQ tab in your portal to see more information.
You may also have access to the External Training Report tab, which tracks training to ensure all drivers are compliant with your company’s various requirements. Click the External Training Report tab to see more information.
How can I use Mentor to support my team?
As a manager, Mentor can help encourage safe-driving habits and support at-risk drivers based on real-time data. Managers can easily see their drivers’ risks in the Mentor app so they can foster the right communication at the right time.
Mentor allows you to enforce company expectations when it comes to safe driving. Details from your drivers’ dashboards (such as required training and recent activities) should be discussed in your regular check-ins with your drivers, or more urgently if a driver enters the risky range.
How do I know if drivers need Coaching?
Coaching assignments are designed to walk you through meetings with your drivers. Once you open a Coaching session, the screen will provide open-ended questions with empty text boxes to facilitate collaborative discussions. You can document your session in the text boxes, save your comments, and refer to them in the future.
In the Mentor app, the number of drivers who need Coaching will be displayed in a card on the dashboard. Tap the tile to see a detailed view of those drivers and the title(s) of their required training.
Managers can easily view the progress of their team’s Coaching.
- Required: shows the number of drivers who are required to complete at least one Coaching module but have not started it yet. Managers should schedule a session as soon as possible because manager support is a required and essential part of staying safe.
- In-Progress: shows the number of drivers who have started their required Coaching with you but have not completed it. Managers may need to check in with these drivers to finish their session or submit a completed session that has yet to be submitted.
- Optional: shows the number of drivers who have Coaching available to complete but have not started or completed it. Although Coaching may not be required for these drivers, managers may wish to meet to discuss safe driving principles to support their company’s program.
- Closed: shows the number of drivers who previously had Coaching assigned, but the modules are no longer available. Managers will still need to monitor continued learning to keep collision risk low.
- Complete: shows the number of drivers who have completed their required Coaching modules and are in compliance. Managers are encouraged to review completed sessions to prepare for upcoming meetings, celebrate their drivers’ accomplishments, and adjust their team’s driving goals as trends change.
If reporting damage on the pre-inspection, do drivers still need to report it post-trip?
If there is new damage to report, you will need to report it post-trip. As you complete your post-trip inspection, choose YES to be directed to the full DVIR checklist.
What if my team has privacy concerns?
Drivers’ personal data collected by Mentor is confidential and will be subject to the terms of their employer as well as the Privacy Policy of eDriving℠.
No Personally Identifiable Information is transmitted from a smartphone to Mentor servers. The Circles feature shares driving scores (such as the FICO® Safe Driving Score / DriverINDEX® score / Company Points), behavior / event breakdown, and outstanding Playlist modules with other members of the designated Circle — no location data is shared.
Drivers have the option to turn off sharing with other Circles members. To adjust share settings, select the desired Circle and tap Edit to toggle on / off Sharing. Although the driver can turn off sharing between their peers, their score and risk ratings will always be shared with their manager.
For telematics app users, Passenger and Personal trip data is not included in the FICO Safe Driving Score calculation (drivers must remember to identify Passenger or Personal trips at least once every 7 days to keep their score accurate).
Drivers’ trips, mileage, and driving scores will not be public, but rather, only viewable by their managers in the same organization, or by members of any Circle in which a driver chooses to participate.
Where can I see Coaching and Playlist information?
You can access Coaching and Playlist resources from your Mentor Dashboard.
Coaching: Coaching resources are available for managers to complete with drivers. You can view past Coaching sessions and complete new ones with drivers. You can also access recommended Coaching and other resources to support your drivers in need of extra support.
Playlist: Playlist items are regular courses automatically assigned to drivers based on their driving scores and are designed to support areas they need to improve the most. You can see which drivers have Playlist items to complete on their driver’s profile. Encourage drivers to stay up-to-date and in compliance to improve.
How will I know if a driver has a new violation?
If your team has continuous monitoring, your Mentor app may display any new violations for your drivers. You can also view all event history for your drivers by tapping on their profile and selecting Collision, Incident, or Violation.
What is RiskCOACH®?
RiskCOACH training provides drivers with interactive courses in their Playlist that cover specific topics related to defensive driving. These engaging 5–10 minute courses reinforce driving best practice and expand knowledge about how to stay safe in various situations.
What is One More Second?
One More Second is a 3–hour defensive driving course that reinforces driving best practices and expands knowledge about how to stay safe in various situations. The course is fully narrated and divided into bite-size segments so the information can be easily digested. Full-motion video journeys help drivers explore the unique hazards of rural, highway, and urban driving. Drivers can practice spotting threats before they become more dangerous, and knowledge checks ensure that critical information is understood and retained.
What does my team need to do to achieve safe scores and risk levels?
To achieve safe scores and risk levels, drivers on your team must display consistent safe-driving behaviors. If using the telematics of Mentor, your drivers need to achieve smooth maneuvers while avoiding harsh maneuvers and dangerous behaviors, such as speeding and distraction. Drivers must also minimize their incidents, violations, and collisions.
Achieving a Very Low Risk or ★★★★★ trip score is the result of safe driving behaviors. A driver must display a high proportion of smooth maneuvers out of all the maneuvers during the trip while avoiding unsafe behaviors.
For example, a trip with 3 smooth stops out of 12 stops total will reflect a higher-risk score than a similar trip with 2 smooth stops out of 3 total stops.
A FICO Safe Driving Score at or above 710 represents Low- and Very Low-Risk ratings. Drivers at these levels are 30% less likely to be involved in a future collision as compared to drivers who maintain Medium-, High-, or Very High-Risk scores.
Another essential aspect of a safe driving culture is continued learning and support. Mentor can identify areas that need improvement and assign or suggest Playlist items and Coaching to reinforce defensive driving best practices. Mentor features, such as Circles, also help foster a community of safe drivers while allowing teams to celebrate their accomplishments together.
Can my team interact with Mentor while driving?
Your drivers cannot interact with Mentor while they are driving. If they tap the Mentor app when a trip is in progress, a popup will block drivers from interacting with the app.
Additionally, phone manipulations will trigger a Distraction event, which will affect their driving score. Advise your drivers to wait until they are safely stopped to interact with their phone.
With trip-based settings, Mentor will end trips after three (3) minutes of being stopped, when it senses motion, such as walking, or when drivers manually end their trip in the app.
Encourage drivers to stow their phone in a secure location before they begin their drive (such as in a charging cradle) so their device does not slide around and unintentionally trigger a Distraction event.
How can my drivers mark a trip as a Passenger or Personal trip?
For trip-based drivers, all trips will default to Driver. Any trips that are marked as Personal or Passenger are not scored and do not contribute to the overall score, miles, hours, or trips driven and are not included in the Dashboard. There are several ways for your drivers to mark a trip as Passenger or Personal.
To have drivers change the status of their trips to Personal or Passenger and exclude these trips from their driving score, have them tap on the icon next to a trip and choose Passenger or Personal in the pop-up window. They can also swipe left on the trip box to change the status to Passenger or Personal.
They may also have the ability to change multiple trips at once by tapping on Edit in the upper right-hand corner of the Trips page. They can then select multiple trips to change the status.
All trips must be marked correctly within seven days of taking the trip. Trips marked Passenger or Personal will be excluded from the overall FICO Safe Driving Score.
Some drivers may have access to Work Hours to automatically capture trips taken during their shift as Driver while excluding trips taken outside their shifts.
How can I support drivers with High-Risk or poor performance ratings?
As a manager, Mentor can help encourage safe-driving habits and support at-risk drivers based on real-time data. Managers can easily see their drivers’ risks in the Mentor app so they can foster the right communication at the right time.
Encourage your drivers to review their trips regularly and stay up to date with their Playlist items. Foster a culture of community that reinforces continuous improvement. Coaching may also help drivers who struggle with higher risks and poor performance ratings.