How BI Fills the Gap Between Fleet Data and Actionable Reporting

Michael CarrAugust 5, 2022

Leveraging fleet data effectively is becoming more and more critical to a successful fleet operation. Fleets today are collecting data into many systems all geared to track different things – usage, maintenance, fuel, cost and much more.  Data is a powerful tool, but the inherently siloed nature of these systems makes it difficult to track fleet ops and gather actionable insights.

 

Modern fleets need a Business Intelligence solution to act as a tech layer on top of all fleet data systems to clean, standardize and unify into a single environment where custom built analytics can be built from. Once fleet data is streamlined and scrubbed, a data-agnostic BI solution is the tool to deliver the insights an enterprise fleet needs.

 

The process begins with high-quality data – reliable, error-free and unified onto one platform. Merging various data streams, such as FMS, telematics, fuel cards and ERP, allows for a multi-angle view of fleet performance. From this point, custom reports can be built around corporate KPIs.

 

With high-quality data powering custom reports, managers are able to see exactly where data visualizations are coming from and make key decisions that aren’t based on guesswork.

 

 

Working with your goals

 

From utility fleets to municipal fleets, many organizations share some major goals in common: cost reduction, operational efficiency and fleet sustainability.

 

 

Cost reduction

 

Any business striving for success likely wants to keep costs minimal and boost profitability. However, without knowing which unnecessary costs are driving up your annual spend, it becomes difficult to become fully cost efficient.

 

From usage and fuel to maintenance and asset bloat, there are several different areas in which your fleet could be overspending in comparison to similar fleets. Our Business Intelligence platform gives fleet managers access to comprehensive reports, such as:

 

    • Fleet Rightsizing Report
    • Replacement Scheduling
    • Total Cost of Ownership Reporting

 

These reports become a powerful tool for managers, breaking down bigger figures into “per unit” “per usage day” and “per mile” metrics. From this data, managers gain insight into their recommended fleet size based on utilization and availability, which vehicles would be most impactful to replace, direct comparisons to industry peers and so much more.

 

 

Operational Efficiency

 

Boosting efficiency of day-to-day operations is another common goal that fleet managers have. The goal is to be both efficient and effective in all facets of fleet operations.

The BI platform helps managers achieve this by measuring resource allocation and streamlining resource utilization and maintenance, fuel consumption, staffing and downtime reduction. Data dashboards can quickly show you metrics such as maintenance cost per unit, vehicle usage by department and average productive shop time.

 

Some key dashboards here include:

 

    • Technician Productivity
    • Staffing Levels
    • Safety Scorecarding
    • Preventative Maintenance & Downtime Reduction

 

In addition to streamlining daily operations, Business Intelligence helps you protect the health of your fleet and prevent major unavailability due to vehicle maintenance. Preventative maintenance reports help managers to diagnose small problems before they become expensive problems, keeping workflow going and increasing vehicles’ lifespans overall.

 

 

Fleet Sustainability

 

While some consider sustainability an afterthought to fleet management, more managers are realizing that increasing sustainable practices is greatly beneficial to your organization, customers and employees. Luckily, fleet data makes it easy to understand which approach to sustainability works for your fleet in order to then take action on these findings.

 

Sustainability can look different for every single fleet, so strategizing around what you think a fleet is “supposed” to do can be like shooting in the dark. Our BI platform analyzes your fleet performance to provide insight into your options – whether that be EV implementation, fuel optimization or switching to alternative fuels.

 

Key reporting can cover:

 

    • Electric Vehicle Initiatives
    • Greenhouse Gas Reporting
    • Fuel Optimization
    • Alternative Fuel Initiatives

 

With the help of business intelligence, you can translate your metrics as fleet technology evolves and as your fleet changes with the times. As governments and organizations increase mandates around sustainability, some critical insights for fleets today surround GHG emissions. By breaking these numbers down to GHG per vehicle and GHG per fuel type, we help you get a closer look at any problem areas that need to be improved.

 

 

The bottom line

 

Our BI platform organizes your data into a single environment to build a deeper understanding of your performance and enable key decisions. At the end of the day, using multiple different systems to make decisions leaves you with a partial understanding of your fleet, which can result in unnecessary costs and an inefficient operation. With comprehensive analytics dashboards, industry benchmarking, lifecycle reporting and custom solutions for your fleet, BI gives you the playbook for making key decisions and driving overall success.

 

 

 

 

If you’re interested to learn how our BI platform and team of analysts are driving fleet success, schedule a demo with us today.

Michael Carr

Michael Carr is an account manager at Utilimarc, previously attending Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. If you can't find him on a golf course, watching documentaries or a Formula One race, you can count on him being in the northern Midwest with a dog or two by his side. See more from Michael


Book a Demo