1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176 
PLAT NUM
Page 48
Page 51
Page 50
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
To mark the launch of our new Road Transport website in the New Year we've teamed up with DBS Software to offer readers its Platinum transport management package for free. Robin Meczes finds out whether this software is as precious as its name suggests.
There are plenty of transport management software offerings to choose from -but while many medium and large firms would say they can't afford to be without them. much of the software on the market is beyond the budget of smaller firms.
This is a market gap DBS Software addresses admirably, with a range of software that starts at £99 and progresses through various, increasingly feature-rich versions to the sort of multi-user, multi-depot system that will suit even the largest players.
Three or four stages up from the most basic Bronze package is the Platinum product, normally priced at £999 for a single-user system.Thanks to a tie-up with DBS. however. you can get hold of this version absolutely free for a limited period. Look out for the details in our 28 January issue.
But what's it like? The short answer is that it's basic, yet competent. simple and highly expandable. At the core of the software is the traffic sheet, which shows all current and future jobs. A traffic-light colour-coding system shows the status of each job-red for those that haven't vet had all their resources allocated to them, orange for those in progress and green for those that have received proof of delivery (POD) confirmations.
Adding new jobs is straightforward-enter the date it is for, where and when to pick up, who's driving, which vehicle they'll be using and where the consignment is to be taken, and the programme will automatically number it.
If you have a copy of Microsoft MapPoint to hand, as we did (and if you don't,higher versions of the DBS software include it), Platinum will use that to calculate journey distance and time. and display the route in a mini MapPoint window. You can add as many stops as you like between start and destination and the software will calculate the revenue per trip, based on the rates per mile you enter for each customer for particular vehicle types.
Once a job is complete you can enter the POD confirmation data (name,time etc) before sending the job for invoicing. To help you keep track of this process, it is easy to call up a list ofjobs still awaiting PODs.
In the invoicing area, completed jobs are listed much as they are in the traffic sheet and printed invoices are a click of a button away. The software can also export invoices in CVS format for other accounts packages to use.
You can use the software to quote for jobs. These are kept separately ,but are easily transferred into the traffic sheet when they become current.
Entering data is easy, whether for vehicles, drivers. subbies or customers. Important vehicle action dates can be put in at this stage services, tacho inspections and insurance renewals, for example and three days before the due date the software will flag them up every time you start it up.
Major limitations
In terms of reports. Platinum is fairly limited. but you can still call up standard reports on drivers, customers, vehicles and jobsin each case identifying what work has been done in a given period and what it has been worth.
Platinum does have some major limitations compared with many more expensive offerings. Perhaps the main one is that you can't tweak it yourself -for instance how the traffic sheet is displayed or invoices are presented.There are also some functional limitations. Reports on vehicle activity, for example,are limited to vehicle types-you can't request a report on just one vehicle.
And while the software will calculate journey distances and revenues,it is not possible to put in fixed or variable costs for vehicles and get the software to calculate journey costs. You can, however, manually input a cost for a particular journey to get an overall profit figure for it.The information you can enter about drivers and subbics is also limited -there are wages and holiday tabs for drivers.but these are greyed out.And there is no capability at all for trailers.
Much of this is based on DBS's philosophy of providing a very basic core system and getting users to buy in development time to tweak the software as they want. If you buy the system at the normal pric,e,you receive a month's development time. enough to unlock many of the areas mentioned above. If you get the software free, however,the only development you'll get is invoice formatting to tailor the way invoices look when printed.
Whether you pay for Platinum or not, you can obtain more development timi upgrading to Platinum Plus for an extri which sounds like a good deal to us. 0 might be willing to work within the con of the basic, unmodified system for free We did have a few other issues with ti software. Using Map Point within it mai PC hang quite a lot. We couldn't see inv on screen we could only print them ot Almost no documentation was provide with Platinum,and there were no help I anywhere in the system that we could se
Our conclusions
Despite these limitations, we rather like the DBS approach. If you don't want to pay for any development, you get a basi computerised transport management p for freealbeit one with simple functioi that you can't tweak. If you want to tail( things, meanwhile, you can go as far as y like and the development charges don't outrageous.
We'd like to have seen a lot more functionality in the basic package for its £1.000 price tag hut, given that in our isle Year offer you'll he able to have it for fn chock full of useful features for absolute nothing.To us that really does sound Ulu platinum proposition... • THE BOTTOM LINE
Costs
• DBS Platinum normally costs £999 for a single-user version, which includes up to a month's work by DBS tailoring the system tor you. In January it will be free to CM readers for a limited period, albeit without that extra month's work (though invoice formatting is included). If you want more tailoring, the next version up Platinum Plus costs an extra £500 (whether you've bought the Platinum version or had it for free) and additional user licences are £100 each.
Training
• A day's training (individual or classroom), either at your place or a DBS location, is included in the normal purchase price. Unofficially, this also applies to the free versions although DBS may claim travel expenses for any training at your site.
Technical support • Tech support is offered 8.30am-5.30pm, Mondays to Fridays, with 2417 e-mail support and an account manager's mobile number out of hours for purchasers of the system. 'Free' users may also phone tech support.
Minimum system requirements
• Any Windows 2000 or XP PC. Windows 95 and Windows 98 are also supported.
Contact
• 1213S Software can be contacted on 0870 900 1801 Alternatively, e-mail info@ databasebusinesssystems.com or see wvvw.databasebusinesssystems.com
USER VIEWS
Car transporter specialist DF Services, based near Sheerness in Kent has been using DBS's software for more than three years to keep track of the national and international jobs undertaken by its 50strong fleet. It started off with the Platinum version tested here, but has since upgraded its software.
IT implementation manager Craig Arthur says the low cost of the package was an important issue.
"As a transport operator, the cost was a major factor for us and going for DBS def initely worked out: it really could do what it was offering for the price," he says. "Other firms were charging much more up to double in some casesand were only doing the same."
Another issue was the developer's willingness to tailor its system for clients. "DBS just bespokes it to what you need. If you want an upgrade of some sort, you just say so and DBS goes away and does it," says Arthur. That tailoring needn't cost a fortune either. "With some other systems, there's no available upgrade unless you spend at least £30,000. But it only cost us around £3,000 to invest in the DBS system. It's very good value for money."
Overall, he gives the software eight out of 10, "There's really nothing else we need.'
Air cargo specialist Circle Express, based at Heathrow, uses the DBS system to handle around 3,000 jobs a day across its eight depots and 300-strong fleet, which ranges from small vans to topweight artics.
"We got into DBS after a disastrous experience with a US software developer. We spent four years and £250.000 trying to develop a system with them, but when we tried going live, it all went wrong," says director Richard Crook.
"On our way out to lunch one day. we happened to see an evaluation CD of the DBS system in a magazine and gave it to one of our managers to try. By the time we came back an hour later, he had it up and running and was telling us how easy it was... so we decided to look into it further."
The firm spent 18 months developing a top-end system with DBS, which successfully went live across all eight depots simultaneously.
"It's a perfect fit for what we do. We were able to get it developed just as we wanted and that's really one of the things that won us over the complete flexibility OBS was offering," says Crook.
Like DF Services, Circle Express was also attracted by the relatively low cost of the system. "Actually, we shied away from it a bit initially because it was so cheap," says Crook. 'We thought if it was that cheap, it couldn't possibly do everything we wanted but they proved us wrong."
Crook gives the software the maximum 10 out of 10 overall. "It works well, the support is good and it does exactly what it says on the tin," he says.
"DBS has done a really good job.
"We're now running a £25m turnover company on the back of it with complete visibility over every job in every depot something we've never had before."