Making Sense of Data Using a Centralized Fleet Solution

This also helps you get used to how the data is displayed within the platform so you can easily skim the page and find what you need.

SEATTLE (Waste Advantage): Waste management fleets dealing with disparate data can run into major difficulties when it comes to getting a full understanding of their operation. Implementing a fleet management technology that integrates with other fleet and business solutions allows for consolidated data collection and aggregation, enabling fleets to access a comprehensive view of fleet-related data in one place.

The value waste management fleets provide their communities is often overlooked when things are running smoothly, but if a truck breaks down and routes must be rescheduled, customer complaints can start to get loud. Many fleet managers today recognize the need for robust data collection to help avoid this kind of unnecessary downtime and to help benchmark their fleet’s efficiency while highlighting operational issues. But, while fleet technologies are growing and evolving at a quick pace, the implementation learning curve can be steep, causing a barrier to adoption , which ultimately defeats the purpose of having it in the first place.

For fleets using multiple technologies, like telematics, fuel cards—or even onsite fueling systems—and finance and business management software, things can start to get a little hectic. Tracking down data spread across multiple sources can be every bit as time-consuming as manually tracking data in spreadsheets, which is where optimization platforms come into play. A fleet optimization platform acts like a single source of truth, pulling in data from various sources through either integrations or a public application programming interface (API). This connectivity allows you to see a comprehensive view of asset health and expenses on a single platform, in real time, so you can make informed decisions to ensure your fleet’s success.

What a Centralized Platform Does
While using a centralized fleet platform can provide many benefits, that can mean little if you are not tackling specific goals. Are you trying to improve uptime? Or maybe looking to lower operating costs? Do you need to justify certain expenses like increased labor hours or new asset acquisitions? Maybe you want to increase inspection and preventive maintenance (PM) compliance rates.

Because a significant amount of data touch points can factor into these metrics, having that work done in the background makes it easier to properly analyze what you are seeing, therefore making it easier to source the cause of issues. Asset use and performance, for instance, leverages data like cost-per-mile, total cost of ownership, downtime rates, and fuel consumption, so you can monitor how your assets perform and whether their operating costs are negatively impacting your bottom line. Plus, you can estimate optimal vehicle replacement windows based on use, depreciation, and operating costs, and use these reports to bolster your argument for any additional needed resources.

When integrating other fleet solutions into an optimization platform, the software will automatically pull in additional data around things like driver behavior, GPS tracking, fuel consumption, and DTC faults. It then aggregates this data automatically, so you can easily see which assets are underperforming, whether routes need to be optimized, if any vehicles have recurring mechanical issues, and if there has been any fuel misuse/theft.

Managing a massive influx of data, however, can pose a significant barrier to gaining value from fleet data analysis. A centralized platform automates a majority of data management and displays it visually, as well as provides in-depth reports so fleets can see the results at a high level and, if desired, dig deeper to gain a better understanding of that data point.

Data Visualization and Reports for Easy Analysis
The data aggregation provided by a centralized platform goes beyond the mere collection of data points; it involves summarizing data from multiple sources to increase the value of insights and allows fleet managers to follow an audit trail to identify and address issues quickly.

A customizable dashboard presents data visually, making it easier to identify patterns, trends, and discrepancies in the metrics key to your operation. Fleets can take advantage of these platforms’ customizable dashboard to organize fleet-related data from highest to lowest priority and can limit what is on the dashboard to reduce chances of data overload. Gain a high-level overview of key information, including (but far from limited to):
• Inspection compliance
• Asset assignments
• Asset locations
• Service reminders
• Work order status
• Inventory purchase orders

These dashboards can be as bare or in-depth as you need. When first starting out with a new software, it can often be the case that the dashboard seems overloaded with data and overwhelming to look at—and sometimes it has data that you do not necessarily need to see daily. A good way to get over the initial shock of dashboard overload is to hide everything, which can typically be done through a menu bar. This gives you a clean slate to work with, and from here you can start adding in the data you want to see based on your prioritization list. This also helps you get used to how the data is displayed within the platform so you can easily skim the page and find what you need.

A customizable dashboard also allows you to sort maintenance data according to priority so you can easily see actionable tasks like active work orders, work orders needing approval, and even inventory purchase order status. This helps you more easily stay on top of maintenance and parts acquisitions while increasing service workflow efficiency. Likewise, if inspection data is of high importance, you can prioritize your dashboard to show not only compliance rates, but also inspection item failure rate, overdue inspections, and inspection submissions.

While the dashboard displays data at a high level, you can easily click on a data point of interest to pull up more in-depth information, such as asset assignments for overdue inspections. All the information available from your dashboard can also be accessed as reports that you can share with other stakeholders. Keeping your dashboard organized and sorted by priority makes the time you spend in front of the computer more productive and manageable so you can tackle the more important day-to-day activities.

A centralized fleet management platform enables waste management fleets to overcome the challenges of disparate data through automated data collection, consolidation, and aggregation, providing managers with real-time insights into the metrics most important to daily operations. Plus, leveraging the platform’s customizable dashboards and data visualization and reporting tools makes data analysis simple, so fleets can make data-driven decisions, improve workflows, and address inefficiencies both quickly and effectively.

Courtesy: www.wasteadvantagemag.com

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