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1. Request a Vehicle: Users call, email, or fax the motor pool dispatcher. The dispatcher would review the request, complete missing information where possible, and on occasion call the driver back to request additional information. The dispatcher would then manually write the reservation in pencil on a 2 1/2’ x 4’ calendar laid out on a large desk. Each dispatcher had unique and challenging handwriting. Each 2 1/2’ x 4’ piece of paper represented 10 days and included a single vertical row for each vehicle. Requests that spanned multiple weeks required entries on multiple pages of the large calendars.
2. Approve Request: There was no consistent method to confirm with each driver that a vehicle would be available if a request was faxed or phoned in. At best, an email reply was sent for approved requests that were sent in via email.
3. Change Request: Drivers that required a change to a reservation would generally call the dispatch office. The dispatcher would look for the pencil entry on the large calendar and erase or embellish the existing entry.
4. Dispatch the Vehicle (with keys): Users would arrive at the dispatch window to pick up a vehicle. The dispatcher would manually search through the pencil entries on the large calendar for the driver’s name. There may be hundreds of pencil-written names on each page of the calendar. The process typically took a couple of minutes. On occasions when multiple drivers showed up simultaneously to get keys, the wait time to get a vehicle could be from 15 to 20 minutes.
5. Policy Enforcement: Little or none.
6. Data Entry: All data entry was done after the fact. All data entry was the duplication of information already provided in an email, fax, or phone call.
7. Reporting: Reporting was of little value due to the limited amount of data entered manually by fleet dispatchers.

The driver’s experience: Drivers are now provided on-line access 24 x 7 to request vehicles. Data is validated and policies are enforced when the driver submits a request. Intuitive error messages help fix data entry issues. Automated email responses are sent to the driver to let him/her know that the request was received. And, once the request is approved, an email is sent to the driver. The process of picking up a vehicle is quick and easy. The tools available to the dispatcher have reduced the average time to get the keys and a detailed, printed travel sheet to less than 30 seconds. Likewise, the time to return a set of keys is less than 30 seconds.

The motor pool staff experience: The dispatcher’s job is now almost effortless. An automatically-updating fleet dashboard provides a time-sorted list of drivers that are expected to arrive at the dispatch office to either pick up or drop off a vehicle. When a driver arrives at the dispatch window, the dispatcher just clicks on the driver’s name on the dashboard, prints a travel sheet, and hands the keys to the driver. All of the critical metrics associated with this transaction are automatically recorded. When the driver returns, the process is similar. The dispatcher clicks on the driver’s name on the fleet dashboard, records the time/date-in, mileage, and parking space number. A graph updates every five minutes on the dashboard that shows the capacity (how many vehicles are in the pool) and demand (how many vehicles are being used) on an hour-by-hour basis. It clearly shows when people will be picking up and dropping off vehicles. This is useful for something as trivial as deciding when to take a lunch break. The bottom-line is, nearly all paper is removed from the dispatch office and metrics are captured effortlessly.

Value-added by the fleet software: Fleet policies are automatically communicated and enforced by the software, including drivers license checks, training course checks, restricting access to authorized vehicles, and more. This fleet now has the metrics to see hour-by-hour and day-by-day utilization for all types of vehicles in the motor pool. Fleet staff and fiscal officers alike can easily see whether the appropriate number of vehicles is available to support the mission of the motor pool. Dozens of fleet-specific reports are accessed with the click of a mouse. And, the turn-over rate of staff in the motor pool has dropped to zero.