MODERN TECHNIQUES IN MONITORING OF VEHICLES – PIOTR NOWAK FOR THE FLOTA MAGAZINE

2015-04-29

The development of new information technologies offers many opportunities to improve fleet management such as: monitoring the mileage and the costs of vehicle use, fuel consumption and driving styles. Each fleet manager must define key areas that they wish to monitor and decide how to achieve objectives in line with the internal company fleet policy. Once we already know the goals and needs of the company, we can focus on the selection of appropriate tools and the extent to which they are to be used. It is important that the selected tools and software be scalable – correspond to current needs, and also live up to the challenges and demands that may arise in the future. The system should also be open to the possibility of sharing and downloading data from other sources, so that we can get an overall picture of our fleet. Another important element is the ability to automate processes so that most tasks are carried out by the system, with the least possible involvement of an external user.

The quality and quantity of data

A smart system is based on the best solutions and technologies that provide data to users quickly and safely, and in an accessible form. Today we must face information overload that we are not able to process and assimilate, so the next important thing is to make the person monitoring a car fleet receive maximum content with their least work and time involvement. In TRONIK we made sure that the customers receive data in the form of accurate and clear reports, because the quality and quantity of data are crucial to customer fleet industry. The larger the fleet managed by customers, the more support they need from the system in their daily work. Therefore, it is crucial that the system be equipped with the option of automatic completion of reliable data and its processing as well as the option of automatic report or application transfer to the appropriate recipients. In practice, e.g., the information on driving style is sent directly to a particular driver, the data on the use of vehicles for private purposes – to the accounting department and data reporting visits at traders’ in particular facilities – to their superiors.

Correlation with other systems

Another important element is the choice of flexible tools and automation of their work as well as integration of data from different sources, e.g. from fuel cards, vehicles, financial and accounting information, etc. Solutions of this kind enable automatization of most of the processes thanks to which a large fleet operates flawlessly and is not exposed to additional costs. If a customer needs the maximum amount of data, it often happens that they simultaneously use multiple systems which are scattered in different departments of the company, where, for example HR department is responsible for working time and logistics department – for controlling cars and machines. However, in order for the customer to receive, at the end of a clearing period, a concise package of data that comprehensively meets their needs, it is important to be able to connect data from different sources. The GPS ATRAX system is often integrated with fleet management programs, such as PasCom Fleet II, accounting and financial systems and transport exchanges, for example TimoCom, and many others. In practice, this means much more advanced studies and reports than those from only GPS or only from data obtained from websites (ASO) and fuel cards. This solution greatly facilitates data flow within a given company, since each department receives selected data that are of interest to them. The whole process takes place automatically during periods designated by those in charge.

The article was published in the April’s issue of the Flota magazine