Fleet Management Software Features
Defining fleet management systems and software
Fleet Management Systems, generally abbreviated as FMS, search to centralize various monitor analytics that concerns automobile fleets. Such analytics embody routing, vehicle situation and fuel status, real-time location updates, incident reporting, driver habits monitoring, and different vital metrics and information. The sensors of vehicles relay such actionable data to administrators and managers, which might, in flip, inform data-driven selections and proactive measures.
In this pursuit, fleet management software solutions sometimes use telematics; IT that enable fleet automobiles to relay such data to central locations. Devices that assist this technology might differ, however, they normally take the shape of a compact black field that’s related to both the On-Board Diagnostics II (OBD-II) port or the Controller Area Network (CAN) bus port. Through GPS and onboard diagnostics, telematics units constantly document such related data.
The significance of fleet management systems
This yr’s distinctive circumstances, notwithstanding, effective fleet management systems are essential for any enterprise that instructions an average or massive city fleet. In terms of budgeting alone, fleet management entails considerable prices; deprecation, fuel prices, upkeep prices, taxes, licensing, administration, and insurance and repairs. The need for such management and the final quarters’ challenges each arguably fueled, partially, the American Trucking Association’s Moving & Storage Conference that seeks to advocate for the business’s interests.
Essential features of an effective FMS
The metrics mentioned above ought to all permit companies to optimize workflows, scale back prices, and restrict potential risks. Most FMS solutions present completely different useful modules to adapt to a fleet’s particular needs at a specific time limit. Nonetheless, the important features of an effective fleet management system must be universal in their sensible advantages, regardless of an enterprise’s scope and circumstantial needs. Such features might differ in scope, actual performance, or implementation, however, they sometimes fall beneath particular categories.
Route management
Routing data can be offered by GPS trackers and drivers’ smartphone gadgets, however, telematics can also present such information. FMS solutions optimize processing such information by filters and search features, which might help in pinpointing particular indicators of significance.
Such data sometimes includes real-time location updates, mileage, and standing updates. FMS options can, in flip, analyze visitors, stops and cease length, and different components to help with optimizing fuel-efficient routing. Finally, the flexibility for managers to create customized maps can optimize seasonal routes, making certain higher route management all year long.
Asset monitoring and management
An invaluable asset towards vehicle identification and management, asset monitoring is an important feature of an effective fleet management system. FMS solutions can present centralized databases of a fleet’s vehicles, wherein managers can identify vehicles based mostly on vehicle type, mass and capability, colour, seats, mileage, repair history, and different notable components.
This information can inform insights on vehicles’ life-cycles and assist optimize vehicle deployment. Simultaneously, radio frequency identification (RFID) systems can complement GPS techniques to facilitate monitoring in low-signal areas, ensuring uninterrupted monitoring management.
Fuel management
Fuel-efficient routes apart, fuel management is of paramount importance. Engine idling is arguably the most notable misuse of fuel; companies search to keep away from it to cut back prices, and lots of US states have strict anti-idling legal guidelines in place.
In this regard, FMS solutions can produce automated alerts to inform managers of extreme idling. At the identical time, distant fuel tank monitoring capabilities can inform fuel management selections to scale back pointless prices. Through access to a vehicle’s Engine Control Module (ECM), telematics may also help produce actionable fuel management reports.
Vehicle upkeep
An equally vital consider fleet management lies in proactive vehicle maintenance. Vehicle upkeep modules can employ the asset management information that FMS collects to inform managers of routine checkups and urgent diagnostics. Through remote diagnostics tools, FMS can permit managers to determine which fleet vehicles must be prioritized for maintenance. Finally, such information may help produce correct Driver Vehicle Inspection Reports (DVIRs) in accord with FMCSA laws.
Driver profile and habits monitoring
As the active customers of automobiles, drivers themselves require their due consideration by any effective fleet management system. In this regard, driver management modules permit managers to create accessible, organized driver profiles. Notably, such profiles sometimes embody licensing data and medical data. Through such profiles, managers can obtain automated alerts about license renewal intervals, in addition, to monitor drivers’ mandatory medical checks.
Furthermore, driver behaviour can yield fleet management advantages as well. FMS solutions discover driving habits by utilizing a built-in accelerometer to measure g-force, most notably figuring out aggressive driving behaviour. In this regard, Chevin Fleet reports that expert, prudent drivers can cut back the chance for accidents and thus cut back fleet prices.
Digital documentation
Finally, an important feature of an effective fleet management system arguably lies in digital documentation. Through the standard fleet management software compatibility with cell units, drivers can consolidate electronic client signatures, proof of delivery, and other related documentation. Similarly, managers can consolidate such information as buyer invoicing, inquiries, and other administrative documentation right into a central FMS database. Document templates provide accessible document editors that may streamline fleet management, cut back operational prices, and optimize one’s workflow.