Why Scernetta exists
We are a haulage company ourselves, with more than 40 trucks. Every month the data of every driver has to be evaluated, and with the programs we had, that meant opening every .ddd file one by one. Those programs were old and slow, and it cost us a lot of time every time.
So we built Scernetta ourselves, based on the public EU specification. You pick a whole folder, and the program evaluates everything at once.
The name
Scernetta is a coined name inspired by two Latin ideas: scindere, meaning “to split” or “cut apart”, and cernere, meaning “to separate, sift, distinguish, or discern”. Together, those ideas reflect exactly what the software is built to do: take complex tachograph data, separate it into meaningful structures, interpret it, and turn raw .ddd files into information that can actually be understood and used. The ending “-etta” was chosen to give the name a more distinctive and memorable character.
DDD is the file format of tachograph downloads, and anyone who works with it knows the extension on sight.
How we check
We test Scernetta continuously against real card files and reconcile the analysis with the established software. Where the timeline or a shift differs, we follow it up until we understand the cause.
We also check the rules engine against the wording of the regulation, on constructed cases with a known result. These cases follow our own reading, a lawyer has not seen them, and where the regulation allows more than one reading we leave it open.
Where programs disagree with each other, we are not sure ourselves who is right. That is why Scernetta shows both views side by side on screen, while under EU law the report carries the reference view.
Who is behind it
Behind Scernetta is DON Logistik GmbH in Köln. If you write to us, the reply comes from Mouayyad Alissa Alkhalaf, the managing director.
The desktop program exchanges the licence once at first start and verifies it offline after that. It keeps working even if it can no longer reach us.
If you have questions, just write to us. We answer ourselves, and usually quickly.