Turning It Off
Ending a deployment, changing vendor, or disposing of vehicles. The data outlives all three unless someone handles it.
Deployments end, vehicles are sold, vendors are changed. The location history survives each of these by default.
Ending a deployment
Decide what the retention obligation actually is for anything still within period — incident data, mileage records supporting tax claims.
Export what must be kept, in a readable form.
Instruct deletion of everything else, in writing, and get confirmation.
Ask what remains in backups and for how long.
Tell the workforce it has stopped, which is both a courtesy and the thing that makes the announcement credible next time.
Changing vendor
The old vendor still holds everything until deletion is confirmed.
Export before termination, not after, while there is still an account.
Check what the export contains: positions, events, or only a summary. Many exports are far less complete than expected.
Confirm deletion in writing, including backups, with a date.
Do not migrate the full history into the new system unless a retention obligation requires it. A vendor change is the cheapest opportunity you will ever have to reduce what you hold.
Disposing of vehicles
Remove the device, which is frequently forgotten on hardwired units.
A tracker sold with a van continues transmitting to an account that may still be active, which has produced some genuinely awkward situations.
Deactivate the device in the account as part of the disposal checklist.
Same for a vehicle returned at the end of a lease.
When a person leaves
Their historical records remain, subject to retention — and they are entitled to request them.
Remove any app from a personal device, and confirm with them that it is gone. An app quietly continuing to report after someone has left is a serious problem and it happens.
Remove their access to anything they could see.
And apply the retention schedule, which for a leaver's location history is usually short.
The checklist worth having
Device removed or deactivated.
App removed from personal devices, confirmed.
Account access revoked.
Export taken of anything required.
Deletion instructed and confirmed, including backups.
Workforce told.
Six items, owned by someone, because each of them fails silently and none announces itself.
Devices leave with the vehicle
The failure that keeps happening.
A hardwired tracker sold with a van continues transmitting to an account that may still be active.
Which means you are receiving location data about someone who has no relationship with you, and holding it.
Add device removal and account deactivation to the disposal checklist, alongside the lease return.
Check the active device list against the vehicle list once a year; the difference is what got away.
Connect policy to configuration
The practical choices behind this note can be compared with browse the integration directory. Keep the written purpose in control of the setup, enable only the data needed and review the result with affected workers.