What features should the ideal fleet management system have

With the rapid development of innovative technologies supporting telematics systems, more and more dedicated applications are appearing on the market to make managing vehicle fleets easier. These systems contain a great many features created for the needs of the fleet market, and some even have separate modules grouping together functionality that supports the day-to-day needs of Fleet Managers.

Does every company with company cars need an IT system and telematics to manage them?

In this article I analyse which arguments we should consider when deciding whether we want to invest in buying and implementing such a system.

The analysis should start with a workshop with the main stakeholders to define the key expectations they have of the person managing the fleet.

These could be, for example, the following goals:

1. The fleet is to be functionally fit for purpose and ready to carry out the assigned tasks, and always in working order.
2. Fleet costs are to be fixed in advance on the basis of, for example, long-term rental agreements and budgets for fuel, consumables, car washes and tyres.
3. The company's drivers must not cause any accident in which any road user loses their life.
4. Annual comprehensive insurance premiums are to be at most x%.

With the goals defined by the stakeholders in this way and a consensus reached together with the Fleet Manager, we can now move on to defining the methods and tools that will support achieving them.

It is also necessary to define what data the Fleet Manager will need in order to pursue the four initiatives above in an informed way.

A good practice here may be to create a dependency matrix in which, on one side, we list all the data we need to achieve the goals above and, on the other side, we define which features of the fleet management systems we know will allow us to collect the required information.

Key data supporting fleet management

Here is example data that we should collect to achieve the goals:

• A vehicle file with the ability to record the necessary equipment.
• A file of all servicing, inspection and maintenance activities, or those ordered by the Fleet Manager.
• A register of vehicles and their downtime, with particular attention to the reason the vehicle is off the road.
• A register of vehicle assignments to drivers, together with handover and return reports containing all the necessary data accompanying the handover, such as the odometer reading, equipment, damage noticed or other irregularities found.

• All costs booked in accounting periods against individual vehicles, such as lease instalments, service instalments, insurance instalments, fuel costs, consumables, car wash costs, or tyre purchase and replacement.
• Costs of ending rental contracts, costs of excessive wear and tear, costs of exceeding the contractual mileage limit, costs of returning a vehicle before the end of the contract, insurance excess costs and the costs of handling fines.
• Data on how far the contractual mileage limits for individual vehicles have been used up, together with a forecast of any surcharges at the end of the contracts resulting from exceeding the permitted mileage, taking into account the per-kilometre rate specified in the contract.
• Records of all claims reported under the at-fault party's third-party or comprehensive insurance.
• Detailed accident analyses including claim costs, causes, number of claims, average claim value, the most frequently recurring causes, and rankings of the drivers with the most claims.
• Data on drivers' offences, fines, penalty points and the validity of driving licences.
• Insurance brokers' recommendations on reducing accident rates.
• Data on drivers' driving style, speeding, over-revving, harsh braking, sharp cornering and rapid acceleration.
• Data on performance against the planned budget broken down by individual cars, organisational units of the company and defined cost groups.

Main features of fleet management systems

Now, based on the IT systems supporting fleet management that we know, we can present the main features they include and outline some example uses:

1. Vehicle monitoring and tracking (GPS)

• Real-time vehicle tracking on a map.
• Analysis of routes driven and identification of inefficient journeys.
• Setting geofences (e.g. the company car park, prohibited zones).
• Alerts for speeding or stopping in an unauthorised place.

Example uses:

• The company can set geofences: if a company car is used outside the permitted area (e.g. a trip abroad without permission), the system sends an alert.

2. Cost management and TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) optimisation

• Integration with fuel cards: analysis of fuel consumption and anomalies (e.g. refuelling at weekends/on public holidays or during leave).
• Calculation of the total cost of ownership (TCO) of vehicles based on all the fleet's cost invoices imported into the system.

Example uses:

• Analysis of TCO reports shows that specific cars deviate strongly in cost over the period examined from the average for that model and mileage.

3. Technical and service support

• Reminders of deadlines for inspections, oil changes, tyre changes and roadworthiness tests.
• Notifications that insurance needs to be renewed.
• History of repairs and servicing costs for each vehicle.

Example uses:

• The system informs the car user and the Fleet Manager that the inspection is due in a week, so we avoid penalties and the risk of driving a vehicle without a valid test.

4. Monitoring compliance with the fleet policy

• Monitoring private use of company vehicles (e.g. at weekends).
• A system assessing drivers' driving style (e.g. harsh braking, rapid acceleration, sharp cornering).
• Recording instances of speeding.

Example uses:

• The system detects that a given driver regularly speeds and generates high fuel costs; the Fleet Manager can request that the driver be sent on additional eco-driving training.
• The fleet has a set limit on private journeys; if a driver exceeds it, the system automatically charges them for the additional kilometres at the agreed rate.

5. Handling reports and incidents

• A module for reporting damage and breakdowns with the option of attaching photos.
• Recording collisions and automatically generating documents for the insurer.
• Archiving the report history for each vehicle.

Example uses:

• After a minor collision the driver fills in a description of the event in the app, attaches photos of the damage, and the system automatically generates a claim for the insurer.

6. Reporting automation

• Generating monthly running cost reports.
• Reporting CO₂ emissions to meet environmental standards.
• Analysis of vehicle utilisation efficiency

Example uses:

• The Fleet Manager finds that some vehicles are used only sporadically and can decide to reduce the number of cars in the fleet.

7. User and permission management

• Assigning drivers to vehicles.
• Monitoring driving entitlements and their expiry dates.
• Notifications that medical examinations and health and safety training need to be renewed

Example uses:

• The Fleet Manager receives a notification that one of the employees has an expired driving licence and can take action before a problem arises.
• The system reminds employees about mandatory eco-driving training, in line with the company's fleet policy.

8. Integration with company systems

• Integration with accounting systems (e.g. SAP) for invoicing.
• Connection with the HR system, e.g. for automatic charging of costs to company car users.
• Cooperation with external service providers (e.g. fuel card systems, insurers)

Example uses:

• An employee leaves the company: the HR system automatically informs the fleet management system so that the company car is returned to the pool of available vehicles.

How to choose the right fleet management system?

Remember that the market offers a very wide range of IT solutions supporting fleet management. The job of every good salesperson is, after all, to sell their product or service, preferably as a complete package. Let us not be tempted; instead, let us coolly carry out a very detailed calculation of which features we really need, because they support the main goals set by the stakeholders, and which features we can consider later, because at present we would not use the data they provide.

Integration, usability and AI: what must a modern fleet management system have?

When analysing the choice of the ideal system, let us also not forget ease of integration with other systems already implemented in the company and with external applications. Let us not allow a situation in which employees perform inefficient tasks whereby, in order to feed data into the system we have chosen, they first have to export data from another system, perhaps tidy it up and fit it to a template, and only after doing all that import the data.

The ergonomics of operating the system is also an extremely important issue to pay attention to when testing the software we plan to buy. Tests should be carried out on our data, by our employees, on our servers, on our workstations and on our Wi-Fi network, because only then can we be sure that nothing will surprise us at go-live.

The icing on the cake when choosing a modern fleet support system is undoubtedly the use of artificial intelligence algorithms. Based on the data collected on fleet costs, kilometres driven, drivers' behaviour on the road, claims, fines, inspections and audits carried out, we can predict whether our fleet will exceed the planned budget at the end of the year, whether long-term rental agreements will need to be renegotiated because of, for example, higher mileage, how to prepare for negotiating insurance terms, and finally what preventive action to take to avoid a situation in which an accident occurs in the company in which any road user is injured.

Finally, I will pose this question:

Is it worth investing in fleet management support systems?

Companies have different views on the need to implement fleet management support systems, and on the costs, which depend heavily on the choice of individual features or available modules. In my view, however, the main problem lies in the inability to properly weigh up the outlay incurred against the benefits that can be achieved. Remember that the life and health of an employee cannot be valued by any measure. Systems of this type, enriched with well-defined prediction, can prevent genuine crisis situations that no business owner would ever want to be part of.

So let us buy systems, but first let us prepare for it properly.