CCJ

May 2017

Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal

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42 commercial carrier journal | may 2017 technology Upgrading the shop Dossier Summit presents new ways to keep equipment running BY AARON HUFF C ompanies that develop fleet management software are making life a lot easier for drivers, technicians, fleet managers and executives alike. Fleet maintenance soware systems track maintenance-relat- ed activities and costs. Many of the soware's functions center on the repair order process, from identifying vehicles in need of maintenance to entering and approving repair orders and purchases, and then tracking all of the labor, parts and other costs associated with repairs. e soware systems now being demoed at user conferences have new dashboards with graphical objects, known as cards, to display various metrics tailored to individual user responsibili- ties and preferences. As part of these new designs, soware companies have given their customers the flexibility to build workflows that simplify steps for users to identify and act on the exceptions. In many cases, it only takes a mouse click to complete a process that used to take minutes or hours. At the Dossier Summit, held April 18-19 in San Antonio, fleet maintenance personnel were given a preview of a new system they can expect in 2018. Although no official announcement was made, Dossier Systems is working on a major redesign of its flagship maintenance management soware. To date, the Dossier soware has been designed to run on Windows PCs, and an online or Soware-as-a-Service version also is available. e future release will have responsive design elements to adapt the user interface to any device, mobile or PC, with many new features that improve the user experience, said Bob Hausler, vice president of technology and marketing for Dossier Systems. Now on the market e 2017 conference also was about what fleets can do today to improve asset maintenance with technology by using the new- est version of Dossier 6.6. e Active Alerts notification system is enhanced to give users more flexibility to specify who can receive and re- spond to automatic messages. e system can be configured to send alerts when certain conditions have been met, such as when preventive maintenance work has become due based on mileage or hours. A fleet could set up an Active Alert to notify a driver and a dispatcher that a PM service is due. A text message could be sent to the driver's phone asking him to contact the shop and schedule the PM service. Another alert could notify the driver when the repair order is closed and the vehicle is ready to return to service. Also on the mobile front, drivers and technicians can use personal devices to login to a mobile version of Dossier called Dossier Lite to input odometer readings and enter items in need of repair as "work pending." Dossier Lite comes with the base Dossier system for no extra charge. Dossier 6.6 also offers new integrations with third-party sys- tems, including an automatic import for Technician Hours data from timekeeping systems such as Kronos. A new prepackaged General Accounting Export integration groups maintenance costs into standard accounting buckets for easier import into business systems. e system also supports additional integrations with telematics providers through the Dossier On-Board module. rough Dossier On-Board, diagnostic trouble codes enter the Dossier system as work-pending items. With one click, a user can create a repair order. Likewise, integration with electronic driver vehicle inspection reports from telematics providers give users a simple workflow to approve and create repair orders for items that fail drivers' pre-trip inspections. Once the repair order is completed, a mes- sage is sent back to the driver to confirm the work was done. Dossier On-Board now integrates with Omnitracs XRS, add- ing to existing integrations with Zonar and others. in focus: MAINTENANCE SOFTWARE Fleet maintenance software systems track shop-related activities and costs.

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