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When CM looked at Winhaul 2000 back in February, we were impressed by a simple and inexpensive piece of fleet management software— so impressed that we decided to seek out more. This month, in the second of an occasional series looking at software for hauliers, Robin Meczes takes a hands-on look at Rapid FM Plus, a new package just launched by Tranman Solutions...
III anaging a fleet of commercial vehicles efficiently can be a complicated business. So it's no surprise that modern fleet management software should be, well, highly detailed. And if its detail you need, then Rapid FM Plus, a new entry to the field from Tranman Solutions, is for you, Rapid FM Plus is one of three fleet management packages from the company, the other two being Tranman FM2000, a bigger mixed fleet package with more bolt-on modules, and Rapid FM, an entry-level system for car and van fleets.
Sitting midway between these, Rapid FM Plus is an entry-level mixed-fleet system which not only allows you to record and manage information about drivers, vehicles, costs and suppliers, but also features a useful line in accident recording and analysis, and even has a system to alert you to when a vehicle needs servicing or an inspection is overdue.
The software
Moving around the software is simple enough and, although a lot of detail is included, the screens are divided up in a logical way that doesn't make you feel overwhelmed.
Data entry was pretty easy, and if you don't want to fill out all the details (and there are a lot of them) for every vehicle, driver or supplier, you don't have to— it's up to you.
However, though the software is easy to use, it would have been a great help to have decent on-line help within it. Sadly, there were several areas listed under Help for which none seemed to be available—just an invitation to contact your vendor.
Coupled with the facts that the software came with only very slim documentation (a few typed sheets) and that training is not included in the price (see panel below for details), this software is not the easiest in the world to start using. This needs to be addressed in future versions— comprehensive on-line help isn't a luxury these days.
There were one or two other areas about Rapid FM Plus we felt needed improving. For instance,
although the software includes a database for your suppliers which is as detailed as those for drivers and vehicles, it doesn't include any element of job scheduling or any way of tracking actual workshop activities (these form part of the software's costlier older brother, FM z000), We also think it would have been useful had there been an option under Action Dates for the software to warn you automatically when critical vehicle dates were approaching, or even when they had passed. As it is, you need to trigger the program to perform the check. A secondary complaint about Action Dates is that it doesn't allow for any personnelrelated dates, such as the expiry of driving licences.
The built-in backup utility works efficiently, automatically naming files with the day's date and storing compressed backup files in the directory of your choice. However, it doesn't allow you to create new directories on the fly—you'd have to do so in advance. And although the file names it provides are logical enough, there's no option within the utility to use different names.
Finally, the software failed our idiot test—happily allowing us, for example, to enter details for a io-year-old driver and allocate him a vehicle, even though we gave him an expired licence just for good measure.
It would have been valuable if it had queried the date of birth when we entered the driver in the first place, or had at least alerted us to his expired licence when we put him in charge of a 4o-tonner.
Conclusion
Despite this, we found Rapid FM Plus to lie an impressive piece of software. Simply in terms of keeping all the information about your vehicles in one place, it would be a major benefit to many a busy transport manager.
Add to this the Action Dates and Accident Records facilities, and you've got him a seriously smart assistant.
Hauliers might or might not want some of the the mixed fleet options (for example, company car listings and tax status), but even if you never use this side of the software we think it's still good value for money.
According to Tranman Solutions, the oddities we found are for the most part being addressed in time for Version 2.o, due for release in mid-June. And as regards the lack of workshop tracking or job scheduling—well, you can't have it all for under
,moo, can you?
Right: All sorts of information about accidents can be recorded easily in the Accidents option, along with scanned images of the vehicle's condition.
" ' II The software iiistalleu tsell automatically from the CD iriiust under two-anda-half minutes, taking up a paltry 10MB of disk space for the main program plus just under 7MB for the Borland database engine it uses.
An icon for the package duly appeared on the desktop as well as under
1 4Programs" on the Windows Start menu. `. On start-up, the software's main .screen—the Selection Menu—pops up without fuss; a deceptively simplelooking set of buttons that belies the complexity of the program behind it.
Entering information about drivers and vehicles is pretty simple, although it can take quite a long time if you fill out all the possible boxes. When you're done, you can review your vehicles or drivers with a simple click of the appropriate button on the Selection Menu, which then brings up a full list plus some basic information.
For vehicles this includes registration . number, fleet number, allocated driver, icost centre, vehicle model and current status, but double-clicking on any vehicle in the 2list calls up further information—assuming
you've put it in, of course--including registration date, body type, maintenance provider, finance method, asset number, vehicle trim and vehicle location.
Further clicks bring up even finer detail. Under technical information, for example, you can store vehicle colour, livery tyre size, fuel type, fuel card type,
fuel key number, ignItion key number, door key number, mobile number, radio code number, gearbox type, engine capacity, engine number, chassis number, gross train weight, gross vehicle weight, payload and vehicle dimensions. You can even add a set of scanned Triages of the vehicle. Phew!
Usefully, the software offers an option for noting important vehicle dates, such as when services are due. The Action Dates utility can then run through all your vehicle records on demand, find the key dates, and provide a list. This makes the whole business of remembering them a doddle.
Of course, successful fleet management isn't just about vehicle details, it's also about cost control. Here, too, Rapid FM Plus makes life easier, allowing you to enter budgets for running costs and compare them with actual costs.
It's also about managing staff. The Drivers section of Rapid FM Plus allows you to enter and view their details with ease and, as elsewhere, a mass of information, including driving licence and employment details, can be held, as well as images.
The Accidents option can be used to hold information about all accidents, including time, place, road, light and weather conditions, police involvement, injury, progress of any claim or legal action, and so on.
Rapid FM Pius allows you to put in an impressive amount of detail about incidents, and the ever-available facility of storing scanned photographs could be particularly useful here.
Needless to say, a variety of reporting options makes it relatively straightforward to analyse all this data, whether you're checking on which drivers have had the most accidents in bad weather or how many vehicles you've had ser. viced this month.
THE BOTTOM LINE
A single-user version of Rapid FM Plus costs £999 ex-VAT. A time-limited demonstration version is available free.
Training costs £150 per person for a one-day course at Tranman Solutions Bristol premises, or 1350 plus expenses for a multi-student course at the customer's site.
Technical support is free for the first three months, then 25% of the purchase price annually.
Minimum recommended PC specs are Windows 95, 98 or NU, Pentium 100 processor, 32MB of RAM, 10MB of free hard disk space (17MB including the Borland database engine), CD-ROM drive and SVGA monitor.
Contact: Tranman Solutions on 01454 874000.