Fleet & Equipment management/asset system

Fleet and Equipment Management and Asset Sytem

The requirements and detail specification of Fleet and Equipment Management Systems for use within the Fire and Rescue Service will require a more complex specification than would normally be used for General Transport Operation.  Heads of Departments who are legally responsible for Fleet and Equipment Management and workshop operations should bear this in mind when looking for or developing a system.

It will be a matter of choice, dependent on local circumstances and technology, whether Vehicles and Equipment are served by the same system or separated into two systems.  For example, an Equipment Management system that provides a tracking and tracing facility for several thousand items of Operational Equipment may not be compatible with a Vehicle Management system that requires  the capture of complex information regarding the status of several major areas of each vehicle.  Alternately the use of hand held scanners capable of recording periodic inspections of Equipment, carried out by Operational Personnel, will produce many thousands of records within a short time scale.

Wherever possible the system should be flexible and “user friendly” in operation and provide facilities for the user to make some changes and write their own reports from the data built up in the system.

The professionalism of Head of Fleet/Transport is in the use and operation of transport and equipment.  Therefore it is important that the software provider is made completely aware of the system needs in relation to this.  Many problems arise from the software writer stating the system will provide information when the requirements from the end user have been not clearly understood.  Any computerised vehicle and equipment management system must provide all information to meet statutory requirements, the authority’s standing orders and provide a proper audit trail.

Vehicle and equipment records

The recording of vehicles/equipment, their repair/inspection history and operating costs are vital to the efficient management of a fleet.  There also is a statutory duty to record, and be able to produce details of, the inspection and maintenance history particularly following an accident, personal injury or RTC.

The purchasing costs, specification details and location history should be kept on file, together with the maintenance history and running costs of the item.  Any database should enable costs to be identified together with maintenance patterns and other statistics that will enable the Fleet and Equipment Department to achieve best value for money.

The module must be capable of producing Job Records and a fully detailed and costed invoice to enable the service to trade with third parties if required.

Outline system requirements for consideration

3.1 Manage Replacement/Refurbishment Programme of Vehicles
  • When vehicles are purchased and put into operational service the system would record a “life end” or replacement date. Ideally in month and financial year format (e.g. Feb 2014/2015). This feature is critical for reporting on vehicle lease end dates.
  • It is required that the system recognises programmed replacement dates and is capable of reporting on vehicle replacement needs in any year up to 15 years (minimum) in advance.
  • Once established the system should allow for refurbishment or replacement schedules to be reported on per year, by type and scale.
  • Manage inspection and maintenance schedules of vehicles and equipment through time and/or mileage parameters for the “Client” side of the organisation.
  • Manage MOT/DOTs or other annual tests that are completed by internal or external contractors.
  • Manage vehicle Road Fund Licence (RFL) renewals.
  • Manage service, inspection and maintenance scheduling in the workshop (“Contractor” side).
  • Manage time recording for workshop mechanics/technicians against services, inspections and repairs. The preference would be for real time automated logging.
  • Manage local workshop Stores items which are either directly ordered from Suppliers or sourced from internal supplies/stores.
  • Management of accident damage repairs.
  • Manage equipment allocated to vehicles, with servicing, inspection and maintenance schedules.
  • Fuel allocation – record money spent on each vehicle for fuel, either by volume taken from private pumps or issued from external sources (used on fuel cards).
  • Management reporting for cost spent, resource management, performance management.
  • Defect reporting at devolved fire stations and other locations via a web enable tool.
  • Record and store complete “Birth to Death” records of all vehicles and equipment.
  • Examples of Asset Data fields can be found at Appendix A, B, C.

3.2 Fleet management system requirements

  • Maintain a detailed and reportable record of all vehicles and equipment both in and out of service and those to be purchased in the future that have been disposed of.
  • Manage vehicle and equipment allocations to location, vehicle or individual.
  • Manage vehicle and equipment replacement programme, based on agreed lifecycle, age, condition and type of vehicle.
  • Manage lease programmes for vehicles and items of equipment and report on expiring leases

Scheduling

  • Manage rolling and fixed service, inspection and maintenance schedules for vehicles and equipment, based upon make/type of vehicle/equipment and time, mileage or hours since last service.  This needs to allow for different types of service for a vehicle (eg annual service, quarterly inspections) and allow for manual input to alter schedule to fit in with available resources.  Equipment allocated to a specific vehicle should also be serviced/inspected or maintained at the same time, if logical and practical.
  • Reporting of vehicles which are to be serviced by specified parameters such as time and the type of service they require.
  • Maintain the maintenance history of all vehicles and equipment.
  • Manage equipment allocation to vehicles – view what inventory of equipment is allocated to a vehicle, location or individual.
  • Manage scheduling and recording of any externally completed maintenance event.
  • Manage RFL of vehicles by vehicle type.
  • Monitor fuel usage by vehicles and allow for data input via a web page, in the form of spreadsheet upload or manual input and allow for detailed reporting by vehicle/mileage/cost/quantity/type etc.  An advantage to have the ability to record pumping time against usage.
  • Management Reporting:

–               Costs of vehicle by specific vehicle, vehicle type, vehicle make and model, vehicle year.  (Parts, labour, outside contractors costs, tyres, lubricants, MOT/DOT charges)

–               Monitor actual spend against budgets.

–               Service and inspection schedule plans.

–               Vehicle downtime – time from arrival in workshop (or collection from base) to despatch (or return to base) of completed vehicle.

–               The ability to create or design reports.

  • Ability to identify “reserve” (spare) vehicles and to provide an audit trail to record location and allowance (which vehicle it is replacing when and for how long).
  • Mechanism to provide evidence and audit trail of all legal requirements for the provision of Fleet Management Systems as defined by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) and the Department of Transport.
  • System to provide mechanism of storing pre-procurement documents i.e. drawings, specification, and test documents against unique record number that can then be changed to registration number once vehicle procured.
  • The system should be able to flag vehicles and equipment that are in their last year of life when job cards or work orders are being raised.

3.3 Accident damage management

  • Manage and allocate work orders to internal or external repair organisations.
  • Link multiple scanned documents (including photographs, claims, reports and estimates) against an accident document note for insurance claim purposes and audit requirements.
  • Ability for end user to record accident details directly into the system.  Must be able to capture all data specified in the fields on supplied accident form.
  • Ability to amend vehicle/equipment status to be made unavailable if it is not serviceable following an accident.
  • Ability to workflow accident web form or document to any other interested party i.e. health and safety, corporate risk, insurance dept.
  • Report on any accident detail recorded in the system to meet audit, freedom of information and management requirements.

3.4 Defects

  • Produce a list of defect for a defined time period, identifying vehicle/equipment, station and type of defect rectified.  A parent vehicle record should also trigger outstanding defects on allocated (child) equipment records as necessary.
  • Manage and allocate job cards and work orders to internal or external organisations.
  • Ability to differentiate between defect categories by codes and sub-codes.
  • Ability to identify non-servicing/inspection work
  • Ability for end user to record defect details directly into the system via a web form that can be embedded into a SharePoint site Defect type.  Minimum detail required:
  • Vehicle or equipment details
  • Defect Description
  • Time/Date
  • Reported by
  • Urgency
  • Ability for system to automatically generate email/SMS text alerts on receipt of a defect.
  • Low priority defects calls: add the defect as line(s) on the next scheduled maintenance date.
  • Record time taken to process the defect, this may need to be completed retrospectively if the repair takes place off site.
  • Update vehicle or equipment records/service history with full details of defect, rectification and parts used.
  • Update availability of vehicle.
  • Ability to view priority defects without associated job cards or with job card started and not completed and closed.

3.5 Equipment and Stock Control

  • Maintain an inventory of all equipment directly associated with vehicles, locations or individuals i.e. ladders, LPP’s PPV’s etc.  Record unique serial number or bar code for each piece of equipment and warranty period.
  • Assign equipment to a vehicle, station or alternative record.
  • Automatically maintain maintenance history and schedule of equipment.
  • Assign equipment to a vehicle and integrate the equipment’s maintenance/ service schedule with the vehicle’s maintenance/service schedule.
  • Maintain lifespan and replacement schedule for equipment (time-based).
  • Ability to add/remove equipment by authorised users when equipment has been moved/lost/swapped off site.
  • Look up equipment via serial number or other criteria and find where it is recorded as assigned (station, vehicle, and individual) and re-assign if needed.
  • Ability to identify supplier/manufacturer by asset number and type.
  • Goods receipt purchase orders to update stores levels with new deliveries and update stock value by value of stock added.
  • Update Purchase Orders (POs) to allow for invoice to be paid.
  • Check for existing indents that need to be despatched and raise indent/pick list for items to be allocated to a job crate.
  • Ability to do goods returns back to supplier.
  • Ability for both automated procedures linked to job card scheduling and for Fleet Management System users to order/book parts to the correct vehicle including a method for authorisation processes.
  • Ability to order materials with information regarding size or/and colour features.
  • Ability to link indents to individuals, vehicles or stations/departments for orders.
  • Link PO’s/job cards to individuals or jobs.
  • Raise pick list/ indent for items, checking whether the items are in stock and the person requesting is entitled to order the item.
  • Adjust stock levels when pick list is raised.
  • Identify items out of stock/ low for re-ordering.
  • Create reservation for items that are not in stock and allocate when items are in stock.
  • Record what has been allocated to individuals, vehicles, station/departments and when.
  • Update inventory of equipment assigned to individuals, vehicles, station/departments when items are ordered/delivered.
  • Keep a record of all items in stock with:
    – Quantity (quantity needs decimal places – e.g. litres of oil)
    – Part number
    -Location (rack, shelf, bay, bin) (some parts will have more than 1 location)
    -Value of stock (taken from value in orders – TBC)
    – Description
    – Re-order level
    – Minimum/Maximum stock level
    – Unit of measure
    – Order number
    – Warranty Detail
    – Serial numbers
    – Suppliers (items can have many suppliers; suppliers can supply many parts)
    – Obsolete stock
  • Ability to manage impress stock.
  • Report on what items need to be re-ordered because they are running low/out of stock and prepare relevant orders.
  • Stock take report – report of items in stock with quantity and location for user-specified locations.
  • Able to reconcile value of closing stock at month end = value of opening stock at beginning of month + value of Goods in (should be reconciled to value of invoices) – value of goods out ± adjustments.
  • Adjust stock levels with audit trail and reasons.
  • Add new lines of stock (with audit).
  • Ability to store supplier detail to include:

–               Supplier name and detail

–               Contact detail – name, address, phone, email address

–               Alternative supplier detail

–               Supplier detail to be updated from service financial system supplier list.

  • Ability to store preferred supplier against a part.
  • Allocate items from stock on demand to a job card and/or job card line
  • Adjust stock levels for parts allocation
  • Add parts and cost to job card line
  • Look up previous orders for part, make/model of vehicle and supplier, orders raised between dates.
  • Maintain record of parts and supplier.
  • Raise orders for parts, either for a particular job card or for stores goods in.
  • Authorization workflow for approval of raised orders.
  • Interface with service financial system
  • Orders need to be raised to the central service stores or external suppliers to maintain stock levels in the stores via the goods in process.
  • Configurable pricing uplift for external customers.

3.6 Fuel

  • Record usage of fuel by vehicle/driver.
  • Import fuel card data directly into the system.
  • Ability for end user to record fuel taken from service bunkered supply directly into the system via a web form that can be embedded into a SharePoint site.
  • Reporting tool that can be configured by end user to access and report on all areas of the fleet system.
  • Ability to export data in CSV format.
  • Performance reporting on defect fix times against predefined SLA.
  • Reporting tools for defect analysis.
  • Ability to report on time booked to equipment maintenance.

HGV Inspection Manual (update June 2022)

The Heavy Goods Vehicle Inspection manual will be shortly undergoing a review by the NFCC Transport Officers Group and as such, is currently unavailable to download from our website.

Please contact Peter Warner if you have any queries in relation to this.