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liorld wide wisdon
Page 32
Page 33
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ossibly the inter net's greatest attribute is its efficiency as a distribution medium. But while it's not terribly well suited to the kind of distribution most Commercial Motor readers are primarily interested in, it absolutely excels at distributing information. allowing users all over the world to log in to a site and collect what they need.
And so it is with FleetWave, a new fleet management software package launched earlier this year by Chevin Computer Systems. While it is possible to run FleetWave on your own computers, the ability to run it instead on Chevin's hardware allows you to access the software whenever you want from wherever you want, while Chevin has the headache of performing the daily backups and ensuring the system is always up and running for you. We like the sound of that.
We also like the software itself—a rich mix of modules designed to help you manage your vehicles and drivers without too much fuss, while providing enough options to build up a hugely detailed database, as long as you're willing to enter all the data.
And there is a lot to enter, if you want to take things all the way in FleetWave. Take the vehides module, for instance: put in your registration number, vehicle make and model, mileage, key servicing, MoT, insurance and licensing dates, tax class, engine and chassis numbers, driver name....are we tired yet?...and you haven't even covered half of the default fields under "basic" information. A whole lot more can be entered on the vehicle specs, including, we were pleased to note, all the relevant plating information, full chassis dimensions, and even a record of the make and size of tyres it sports and the kind of battery that's fitted. Oh, and let's not forget all the vehicle finance information, too.
Information
It's a similar story elsewhere. You can enter all manner of information about your drivers, their employment and driving history, and perhaps most usefully, their licence—including the last time you inspected it. You can even upload a thumbnail sized picture of them to remind yourself how pretty they are.
Other core modules comprehensively cover vehicle accidents and repairs—the option to upload pictures is particularly useful for the former—and, close to any goods vehicle operator's heart, fuel consumption and costs. There's even a module to keep a track on workshop activity and all of it, of course, can be accessed by the wide-ranging reporting feature so you can look up pretty much anything about any vehicle, driver, repair or journey and analyse their performance. There is also a diary module to help you keep up-to-date with licence checks, vehicle services and pretty much any other fleet management activity you care to name.
So what's it all like to use? The short answer is that, by and large, it's very easy. Everything from the non-intimidating home page with hyperlinks to the core modules through to the simply laid-out screens as you move around the software is easy to understand and intuitive to navigate around. Those of you still struggling along on dial-up phone line internet access may find moving from screen to screen a bit slow but we were lucky enough to be using a high-speed, broadband internet connection so any delays truly momentary.
All the screens are logically. out and if you don't fancy fill out the many fields in each for each vehicle or driver, don't have to. Entering and say data is straightforward, as is c ing up any of the huge varlet; reports on drivers, vehicles, a dents, important dates—even quantity of spares you have fi particular vehicle, thanks to stock module.
We didn't encounter muck the way of trouble during dabbling except for a little ini difficulty accessing the repo This turned out to be noth more than a missing plug-in Internet Explorer which downloadable from Chevi
web site.
Apart from this minimal (41% download, installing the softw was unnecessary as it runs Chevin's servers so you're mei accessing it across the web. long as your internet connect can be relied upon, there isn't: reason to worry about this—an
:xt-intensive
s provide the option to access software and your fleet data ri any web-enabled computer idwide, which could be useful nu're always on the move.
fyou do run into trouble when ag the software, or just need a e guidance, there's some basic Me help, as well as a more aprehensive downloadable p file which effectively fulfils role of manual.
Ve weren't able to test all ects of the software exhausly—in particular we couldn't Dad new drivers or vehicles also weren't in a position to perly test the diary feature,
m the nature of the demontion version we were given ess to. But overall, we liked software and could find very e wrong with it. It doesn't con: any facility for tracking inchial delivery jobs or customers, fly invoicing module to charge rn once the job's done—but
n it doesn't purport to do anymore than help you manyour fleet of vehicles and in respect, it does its job well n what we can see.
haps the worst thing we can is that the text-intensive !ens within it were a bit bor-in fact the home page is ut as graphically exciting as !tWave gets. But, let's face it, :'s hardly a complaint that's ag to keep anyone up at night overall, FleetWave is a cornent and well-thought out kage that will provide most of Lt fleet managers want from r software.
he pay-as-you-go option. ch starts at £1.50 per vehicle month, seems like excellent re for money—use it on a 25ide fleet for a year and you've only spent I4 50—but we're so sure about the purchase e, which starts at a hefty ,000. Frankly, though, we
t see why you'd bother buying at least not initially—when can just pay as you go at these es for the first year or two and any purchasing decision e you've had a chance to see 'ourselves what it can do,
re suspect that this, combined the user benefits of web'd operation and the core zlionality of the software, will FleetWave a definite hit hard-pressed hauliers. World e web? Well worth including 'our short] ist.