June/July 2007

When you have to deal with unplanned call-outs, you need to be able to communicate quickly with mobile units, and have confidence that the fleet is always up to scratch. We look at some classic applications

Windscreen replacement: Autoglass takes the guessing out of job allocation

If you want to improve cash flow, reduce the payment cycle, reduce errors, improve productivity, reduce travel time and enhance customer services, you could take a leaf out of Autoglass's book.

The company has 1,200 mobile technicians on the road, working out of 119 branches. Its national glass repair and replacement service serves over 1.3 million customers every year.

Before the company put in its mobile job management system, the administration of its repair service used a paper-based system that required a significant amount of data to be entered for every job.

Technicians had to visit their office twice a day to collect and drop off paperwork, and when they required additional job information they had to take up the time of call centre agents, who would simply read out the details on the phone. Payments were processed on a weekly basis once all paperwork was collected.

The solution? The company put in an end-to-end mobile application from Momote. Remarkably, this was developed in just four weeks, and initially was rolled out to 150 Autoglass repair technicians, who now carry handheld terminals that connect them via GPRS to the company's main system.

The service automates repair jobs from beginning to end. At the start of each job, ownership of the disabled vehicle is validated and the owner's insurance checked to see whether it covers windscreen repair. This is achieved via an interface to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority.

Data is entered directly into the technician's device in front of the client. This takes just a few minutes per job and completely replaces the previous paperwork process.

A particularly neat aspect of the system is that the handheld device allows technicians to take photographs of the windscreen before and after each repair Ð invaluable for validating the work. Legislation requires certain types of windscreen damage to be repaired, particularly if the damage is in the area swept by wipers. With the new system, the evidence is on the record.

Finally, the client's signature is captured on completion of the job, and a fully itemised receipt is printed.

According to managing director Nigel Doggett: "Our clients are delighted to be offered such a professional, customer-focused service. They love to see technology in use, making the whole process so quick and easy.

"By freeing up time spent recording information on paper and getting that paper to our local depots, technicians now complete typically one or two extra jobs per day. We have also significantly reduced our travel time and costs.

"Finally, less time is spent in conversations between our technicians and our call centre Ð enabling the call centre to talk to more customers. All of these simple factors ensured that the service paid for itself in just a few weeks."

Fire protectors: Contract Fire Security plans journeys better with TomTom

In the past, the classic challenge for any operation with a roving workforce was to find the most appropriate mobile operator to respond to ad hoc call-out requests. Historically, the phone was the only answer, and even with the advent of mobile phones, an operator might have to ring round several members of its team to find one who was free, and was near the destination.

That was exactly the challenge faced by Contract Fire Security, a long-established integrated fire and security solution provider based at Sutton Coldfield in the West Midlands. The company covers the country with a fleet of 55 sales and engineering vans, whose drivers have a daily schedule of planned visits, but also need to be able to respond to emergency call-outs.

The company decided to find a solution that would allow its staff to allocate the mobile team to jobs and also communicate with the drivers more efficiently. It also wanted a solution that would support faster processing of timesheets.

Its wish list also include the ability to produce accurate private and business mileage audit trails for tax purposes, and to produce precise timesheets to correspond to working time directives.

The solution chosen by the company is TomTom WORK Connected Navigation. Although TomTom is known internationally as a supplier of satellite navigation systems, TomTom WORK goes far beyond this, adding the kind of functionality you would expect from the fully-fledged fleet tracking and mobile job management system.

Certainly satnav is a major component, and Peter Martin, the operations manager at CFS, is delighted with it. "Satellite navigation is great," he says. "We finally got rid of maps, and could navigate easily from place to place."

However, he also cites a whole list of other benefits achieved with the system Ð not least of which is the invaluable ability to find the nearest engineer to an unplanned call-out.

Alongside this are other appealing features. "Particularly attractive was the functionality," Martin says Ð "messaging and routing from job to job." He also likes the "logbook" functionality, which he describes as "excellent and easy to use"

He explains: "Our human resources department particularly wanted a system where employees could use their vehicles after hours and not be tracked at the same time."

Since adopting the TomTom solution, CFS says it gets more accurate mileage claims and has reduced travel times, which in turn is leading to fuel cost reductions.

After only a short time it also became clear that more jobs could be completed within a day, and improved productivity and customer service are now expected.

"TomTom WORK UK support has been really helpful," Martin says. "They made us aware of the positives and also the possible shortfalls compared to other products out there, and satisfied us that TomTom WORK is a value-for-money solution."

Ambulance management: Northern Ireland streamlines fleet management with Chevin

When you're running an ambulance service, the importance of fleet management takes on a whole new meaning. So when the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service was looking for a new system, it was determined that the chosen solution should be capable of handling its extensive operation reliably.

The requirements were formidable, including the ability to handle a minimum of 300 "live" vehicles and associated equipment, with ten concurrent users based at a minimum of seven sites. It also had to be capable of expansion if required.

The organisation decided to opt for a true Web-based system, and chose the FleetWave software system from Chevin Fleet Solutions.

The list of its features is impressive. It can handle all the activities involved in the running of a vehicle fleet, including vehicle and equipment histories; mileage and fuel records; servicing, inspection and defect reports; test renewal dates and reminders date reminders; and spares stock management. There are also numerous reporting capabilities. It is fully-compliant with VMRS and ICME industry data standards.

A key added benefit is that FleetWave has allowed NIAS to facilitate scheduled maintenance of all specialist equipment, whether it is attached to a vehicle or not. For example, NIAS can allocate emergency equipment such as a defibrillator or a stretcher to a given vehicle, and then track that same piece of equipment even if it is moved to a different vehicle.

According to fleet manager Michael Heasley: "FleetWave from Chevin Fleet Solutions has proved to be an excellent choice for us. The flexibility it affords NIAS helps provide a platform that allows us to work in a modern, effective and efficient manner, consistent with other best performing ambulance services across the globe."