Important Terminologies you need to know in Fleet Management System

Summary

The blog explains the terminologies that one should know in Fleet Management System (FMS). It includes GPS Tracking/Fleet Tracking, SIM-based tracking, Geofencing, Fuel Cards, API, Asset Tracking, HOS, Vehicle Idling, Telematics, Coasting, Tachograph, Vehicle Uptime/Downtime, and their importance in fleet management. 

Understanding these terms helps fleet owners to communicate effectively with their partners, dealers, and co-workers in the fleet industry.

Are you familiar with fleet management terms and concepts?

Suppose you’re just starting a fleet business and facing a rough path in handling your entire fleet or new to the fleet management systems and finding it difficult to operate your overall fleet operations. We’re here to help you to use FMS quickly and reliably. It’s essential to know the concepts to talk business with your dealers, partners, or co-workers. We call it “Fleet language” to understand the business terms used in the fleet industry.

 Are you confused about where to start from? 

Don’t worry! We made it easy for you to understand. In this article, We have compiled the terminologies with explanations to know about Fleet management’s world.

Vehicle Checklist

The earlier global positioning system is used only to track a person, asset, or vehicle. GPS in fleet tracking has come up with an up-gradation like to capture the location of the vehicle to stay in touch with the drivers and record the vehicle events like the distance traveled so far, traveling speed of the vehicle, the number of stops made during the journey,  details about dispatching, delivery and time en route to increase reliability.

2.SIM Based Tracking

SIM-based tracking is a cost-effective solution that detects a vehicle’s location captured by the nearest cellular network. The SIM is enabled in the driver’s phone to track their location without installing conventional GPS tracking devices. Real-time SIM monitoring ensures the safety and keeps track of products until it reaches the consumption point.

3.GEOFENCING

Before the evolution of automotive technology, fleet managers had no idea about geofencing and active time monitoring other than manual checking of vehicle’s location, driver reports, calling the driver for every task concerning arrival and destination activities. 

So, What is all about GEO- FENCING?

Geofencing service is all about placing location virtually in the real-world geographical boundary using GPS or RFID that enables software in your mobile device to create an alert when a vehicle arrives or leaves the specific area. 

Implementing Geofence in your fleet increases productivity and detects the vehicle’s unauthorized usage or movement with the security alert. 

 

4.Fuel Card

The biggest problem fleet drivers face is spending money for refueling either by cash or debit cards, and later they submit the receipts for reimbursement. Instead of wasting time on the whole process, it is better to utilize fuel cards to save expenses from the employee’s pocket. 

What is the use of Fuel Cards?

Each fuel card is updated with individual driver ID details by setting the location and usability limit to monitor their spending nature. Using fuel cards is of the most considerable significance to the business as they provide discounts with the vendor’s network. 

Using Fuel cards reduces the consumption of time instead of wasting time in conversations related to fuel refueling and getting approval for every trip. The whole process will be done in one step transaction and get the vehicles back on the road securely and efficiently.

5.API

Industries involved in fleet business found it difficult to retrieve information about the vehicle like odometer reading and accurate estimate of the trip.   With the rise of telematics technology, API integration made it possible to access real-time data to check versatility and functionality.

6.Asset Tracking

Most people wonder in what way asset tracking will be helpful other than Vehicle tracking. If you own a business, you would have faced stock obsolescence. This results in a loss of value in business. The effective way to prevent obsolete stock is through Asset tracking. It helps to keep track of the records and improves product life cycle management.

7.HOS(Hours Of Service)

Most road accidents happen because of the degradation of Drivers’ health and their distracted driving. Fleet drivers are prone to drive continuously for long hours without proper sleep, and they are subjected to health issues. 

In the US, 12 to 15 hours is the standard driving time for fleet drivers, and between these hours, there must be 3 hours of break. With the completion of every trip, 10 hours of rest time should be given by considering the drivers’ health to reduce accidents.

8.Vehicle Idling​

Is Idling suitable for your vehicle?

Idling is all about leaving your vehicle engine running when the vehicle remains stationary. The estimated time of idling for large fleet vehicles is about 7-9 hours, and we all know it’s unavoidable. 

But it could impact fuel economy and damage the fleet’s internal parts, leading to high maintenance cost. It’s advisable to integrate FMS into your business to monitor the driver activity.

Telematics is a booming technology that incorporates vehicular technology, telecommunication, IoT technologies to capture and process information. It is used to monitor a wide range of information relating to an individual vehicle or an entire fleet to promote safe driving.

10.Coasting

Is Coasting safe?

Most vehicle owners and drivers drive the clutch down without giving acceleration and allowing the car to freewheel to save fuel. It is not safe to go in this technique as it may be prone to accidents, especially in hill driving. Whenever you press the clutch or apply the brake, the fuel is consumed and leads to brake wear.

11.Tachograph

A tachograph is a tracking device to track and record a vehicle’s traveling speeds. It is available in Analog and Digital versions that function through tacho symbols to curb and deter heavy-duty vehicles’ speed to reduce fatal accidents.

12. Vehicle Uptime/Downtime

Every vehicle belongs to the road; its purpose is to do daily operations functioning at its best without any hindrance. The Vehicle uptime is all about loading and delivering the goods regularly with periodical maintenance to boost business. 

Vehicle downtime is when a vehicle is not in an operational mode and unavailable, whether it is planned or unplanned downtimes like repairs, replacement, and involvement in high maintenance costs.

13. Short Haul/ Long Haul

Transporting goods via vehicle over a short distance of time is termed as Short Haul. i.e., the travel time of the vehicle is comparatively short. 

The vehicle travels the maximum distance for hours for each journey. Some vehicles have a long trip up to 12 to 15 hours to deliver the goods to the end customer. 

14. Route optimization

Why is route optimizations necessary?

To tackle the scenarios like traffic congestion, shortage of vehicles, and availability of the vehicle to plan a trip. Finding the best route and shortest route to achieve cost-effectiveness is vital for any business. This feature helps to plan the trip most efficiently and eliminates the mid-way constraints to carry out the delivery protocols.

15. Standstill

When situations like protests, the entire private and public vehicles will shut down from functioning, and also the vehicle remains halted while changing GPS position. Standstill is all about the vehicle is stopped at the moment and set to go after the situation gets clear. 

16. ETA

Timing Delivery is the key for any business. The arrival time and departure time are predicted for transport, person, or product to reach a specific place or delivery location. The delayed delivery could lead to huge revenue loss.

17. Fuel Consumption & Fuel Efficiency

Fuel is the soul of a vehicle; without consuming fuel, no vehicle can touch the roads. The wastage of fuel or fuel usage depends on the vehicle type and the one who drives it. Based on that, the fuel efficiency is calculated as per the journey traveled.

Earlier the operations like fuel expense, vehicle maintenance, trip planning are evaluated individually and recorded in paper works. Nowadays, the rise of SaaS technologies and vehicle technologies has given a helping hand for fleet managers to monitor in computerized systems or with mobile technologies to carry out the overall operations in one system.

19. Fleet optimization

The company ensures to complete their tasks on time and maintain their consistency to keep up their workflow. Optimizing is all about looking for solutions to make the process better and cost-effective or find the best practices for fleet operations. 

20. Fuel Theft and Fuel Monitoring

No one can find why the fuel levels change often; it may be because of your driver or someone involved in suspicious activities like fuel theft or overconsumption of fuel due to the vehicle’s poor maintenance. 

There is a way to find these activities by the fuel monitoring system, and it gives an accurate solution to monitor fuel levels in real-time with the help of fuel sensors.

21. Fleet Operating Cost

Fleet managers feel nerve-racking when it comes to managing the entire fleet operational cost. The contributing factors that can increase the expenses are fuel cost, toll charges, maintenance cost, driver violation charges. The high amounts can be minimized using the FleetOS app. 

22. Dashboard

It is a key performance indicator visually that shows the vehicle’s real-time activity and constantly updates the information to foresee the entire fleet’s performance.

23. Service Intervals

The vehicle’s lifetime can be maximized by consistent periodical maintenance to identify the problems and issues existing in the vehicle and need to be taken care of to increase the vehicle’s longevity and productivity.

24. Saas

Software as a service(Saas) is a platform that allows users to connect with cloud-based software over the internet. The benefits of using the Fleet management system in the Saas platform has access over the internet for many advanced applications. 



25. Savings Calculator

Savings calculator is also known as Return on investment calculator, a web-based tool to estimate the business’s revenue and evaluate how much time they can save using fleet management software.

26. GNSS

The Global Navigation Satellite system helps identify the location by using satellites through timing signals. It allows the receivers to give the area precisely. GPS is one among them.

27. GPRS

General packet radio service helps transmit high-speed data by enabling end-end internet services for mobiles, computers, and other internet-based devices. 

28. GIS

A Geographical Information system(GIS) or business information helps capture, analyze geographical location or information on a map to make better decisions relating to route management.



29. Business Integration

Introducing FMS software to the fleet shouldn’t affect the existing operations, and for that, choosing a software suitable and best for your business plays a significant role. It helps to organize the daily operations most efficiently and effectively.

30. Fleet Service and Maintenance

Continuous operations of a fleet provide profit and efficiency. At the same time, it won’t give smooth operation unless you provide a regular service to manage by using the best tools to assign the work to each department. And periodical maintenance to maximize the fleet operations. 

Here we have the complete A to Z terms to understand fleet terms and how it functions. Theoretically, we gave an entire structure to walk in the right direction related to the fleet management system. To know how a fleet software works and wish to use it in your fleet, download the Fleet OS app on the google play store or Apple App store. If you have any doubt, get in touch with our Vamosys experts to know more. 

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Sushanthi is a Content Writer who wishes to be the voice of brands to project their innovative ideas and stories through her writing skills.

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