FitAWare User's Manual

FitAWare

FitAWare is a service provided by AWare Technologies, designed to promote healthier lifestyles in the corporate community through a combination of physical activity monitoring and social networking.

FitAWare is comprised of three components; a wireless “ActionTracker” for each participant, receiving consoles for the office and a website which automatically tracks and displays the step count. Participants can simply wear the ActionTracker and forget about it. Every step taken, whether walking, running or climbing stairs, is automatically sent to the website. Participants can compare their activity with one another through the website.

The AWare ActionTracker

The AWare ActionTracker is available in belt clip and lanyard models. The orientation of the ActionTracker is not important, but most accurate results are obtained when it is worn on the torso. Remember, the ActionTracker only counts your steps while you are wearing it. The ActionTracker is able to determine the number of steps you take in real time and will upload its data automatically. You can also force an upload by pressing the button when you are close to the receiving console.

ActionTracker Life Cycle

ActionTrackers collect, analyze and store step counts in 4-hour epochs (increments) which are standardized to start at midnight, 4:00 AM, 8:00AM, noon, 4:00PM and 8:00 PM EDT. The ActionTracker stores your step count in 32 four hour periods. This means that it stores slightly more than 5 days worth of data at a time. If you exceed that amount of time before uploading your data, you will lose your data in the periods prior to the most recent 32. As such, try to be sure to get within range of a console at least once every four or five days.

Once the ActionTracker has a full bin with new data it attempts to upload all its stored data every 30 minutes. If the transmission fails, further attempts will be made at 30 minute intervals. If you are near the console for a half hour your data should transfer automatically. If you will be in proximity of the console for a shorter time period press the button to initiate a transfer manually to ensure transmission.

ActionTracker Button

The ActionTracker has a raised molded plastic circle on its face and a button in the center of this circle. This button is purposefully stiff to avoid accidental triggering. This is the button referred to when button pressing is mentioned in this document.

ActionTracker Indicator Lights

The ActionTracker has an LED in the upper right hand corner which should blink green once every 10 seconds to indicate that it is working properly. A red LED which blinks twice in quick succession indicates the battery is beginning to run low. Please contact AWare Technologies, and we will ship a replacement ActionTracker shortly. Certain circumstances may cause your blinking green LED to change color. A blinking yellow LED indicates that the ActionTracker has not successfully transmitted within a 24 hour period. This will not affect your data as the ActionTracker will hold data for 5 days.

A successful button press will change the LED to solid yellow indicating that the ActionTracker is searching for a console. The LED will change to solid green once it has found a console and is uploading the data. This transition may be very fast. Upon completion a red LED that blinks once per second for five seconds indicates that the transfer was not successful. The most common reason for this occurrence is losing your connection to the console during transmission. If the red LED blinks immediately proceeding the yellow LED it indicates that a connection was never established with the console. In either case the Action Tracker will search for a console again in 30 minutes.

Logging In

You can access your uploaded ActionTracker information by visiting the FitAWare website at actiontracker.awaretechs.com. Click the “login” button on the upper right hand corner, and enter your username and password in the appropriate fields.

The website will timeout after 20 minutes of inactivity for security purposes. You will need to log in again to continue interacting with the site.

Personal Information

Change your personal information by clicking on your name under the “You and Your Goals” header, then clicking the “edit” button on the lower left side of the page that appears. Here you can enter, confirm and save your new password, as well as review and update all of your information as needed. Please make sure you change your password the first time you log in.

Graphs

When you “Click here for graphs”, a graph of your activity is displayed, with the x-axis representing days and the y-axis showing the number of counted “steps”. A solid red line on the graph indicates your goal, and a dotted line shows your average steps per day over the time period shown.

Directly beneath the chart, you may use the “+zoom” or “-zoom” links to yield displays in increments of a week, two weeks and four weeks. Hovering your mouse over any point on the graph will display the period the point represents and the number of steps taken in that time. The average and goal lines are not shown in the detail view. The links “<<Previous” and “Next>>” will show your data over the period immediately preceding or following the current display.

To compete against a co-worker, select their name in one of the drop down menus at the top of the page, and your name in the other and then click the refresh button. This will display both parties' data in different colors on the graph. To display only a single user, keep their name in one drop down menu, choose the blank space in the other drop down menu and click refresh again.

You & Your Goals

Aside from the links to your personal information and the graph, “You & Your Goals” contains other pertinent information. It displays the date when you first started tracking your step count, your total steps during the course of the program, and your daily goal. The daily goal will show as a solid red line on your graph, to allow for easy visual comparison.

Your Programs

“Your Programs” displays your company, as well as any programs you are in. Usually there is only one program per company, but as we expand our services, there may be several.

Your ActionTracker

“Your ActionTracker” displays the identifying label of your ActionTracker. It also has links to this User's Manual, the FAQ and Support.

Support

If you are having technical problems with your ActionTracker or the web interface, refer to the FAQ. If the answers there do not solve your problem, click on the “Support” link to submit a support request. This will generate an e-mail message to support@awaretechs.com, complete with your name and your ActionTracker label. Just enter your questions or concerns in the body of the e-mail and send it off. You should receive a response to your support requests and feedback by the next business day.

Also be sure to check out our FitAWare FAQ.

Updated April 21 2008.