Manual fleet reporting and physical vehicle paperwork are now things of the past. These days, local governments can rely on data to improve their operations while considering community needs.
Modern fleet management systems can help you stay abreast of relevant metrics affecting your daily operations. Today, nearly three in four government fleets (or 72%) rely on fleet management systems, enjoying deeper insights that lead to cost-effective decisions for fuel, accidents, and routes.
This article explores how fleet managers can benefit from the data that they gather from software. Let’s discuss each of the most relevant topics in greater detail.
Types of fleet management systems for governments
Not all fleet management systems are built alike, which can empower government decision-makers to make more accurate decisions regarding the needs of specific vehicles within their fleet.
These days, government entities throughout North America have access to the following fleet management systems:
- GPS: GPS stands for Global Positioning System, referring to technology capable of tracking the location of your fleet. Implementing the right tool can help you track vehicle locations, monitor past routes, and determine idle averages.
- In-cab video: In-cab video tools enable you to keep an eye on drivers and hold them accountable for daily driving habits. You can also use modern solutions to monitor driver behaviors, keep tabs on driving phone use, and minimize distractions.
- Maintenance: Unlike the first two management systems, fleet maintenance tracking doesn’t always require in-vehicle installation. The right cloud-based software can help you supervise vehicle maintenance, track overall costs and value, and assist with inventorying available in-house parts (if desired).
If you want to use more than one management solution for your public fleet, find a vendor that implements all three, so you can generate relevant insights for your government agency.
Insights that you can glean from fleet management systems
Fleet management systems empower your government agency to make more informed decisions today and tomorrow. With modern fleet management systems, you can keep an eye on the following.
Safety metrics
Safety means everything to the modern government fleet, especially when it comes to protecting local communities. It’s critical to understand how your vehicles are performing and how drivers are upholding your safety standards.
You can use fleet management systems to monitor your vehicles and supervise the drivers who operate them every day. First, look into your driver-vehicle inspection reports to decrease your liability and avoid expensive fines. Second, use driver behavior metrics to track accidents over time and help you determine if there’s a need to take action.
Safety metrics from fleet management systems can help you answer the following questions:
- How safe are your drivers?
- How safe are your vehicles?
- Do we need to make adjustments to protect our fleet?
Maintenance metrics
The maintenance costs of a fleet vehicle might eventually surpass its purchase price. Therefore, the purpose of maintenance metrics is to help you make informed decisions about finances, budgets, and replacement allotments.
There are three potential use cases for maintenance metrics in your fleet management system. First, you can boost your technician productivity by streamlining the creation of work orders and maintenance requests. Second, you can track and inventory parts, as vehicle parts make up more than a third of your maintenance costs. Third, you can track your asset utilization ratio by looking at DTC codes, engine fault alerts, and the service history of individual vehicles.
You can use maintenance metrics to answer the following questions:
- Are certain vehicles requiring more maintenance than others?
- What do their lifecycle costs look like?
- Do I need to replace the more expensive vehicles in our inventory?
Location metrics
It’s important to monitor the location of fleet vehicles as they go about their daily tasks. A solid understanding of their routes, speed, and idle times can help you discover new ways of optimizing your fleet.
You may want to consider acquiring a fleet-tracking app so you can monitor vehicles from any device. Alternatively, you can corroborate fuel costs with daily drive times to determine if your vehicles follow the most efficient route.
With location metrics, you can make more informed decisions about the following questions:
- How long are vehicles idling in one spot?
- How long does it take your vehicles to get from here to there?
- Is there a better, more cost-effective, or more fuel-efficient route available?
Keep in mind that you can use fleet management systems for many other optimization purposes, including EV transitioning, replacing vehicles, or rightsizing your fleet.
How local governments can acquire fleet management systems
The traditional method of fleet management system acquisition occurs through an RFP. However, local organizations managing public fleets may lack the time, money, and resources required to compose such a complex request for proposal.
Instead, governments can turn to cooperative contracts to meet their needs faster. With Sourcewell, the process takes just four weeks or less:
- Complete the registration process using the online form.
- Browse competitively solicited contracts with no obligation.
- Directly contact suppliers for more information.
You can work directly with Sourcewell to determine the right solutions for your local or state government entity.
See how easy it is to optimize every aspect of your fleet—cut costs and improve safety using Sourcewell’s cooperative purchasing program. Streamline the public procurement process by choosing from hundreds of suppliers already on contract. Sourcewell’s procurement experts competitively solicit and award contracts on behalf of 50,000 participating agencies in North America. Sourcewell is a government agency that has been empowering other government organizations since 1978. Check out our contracts here.
