Formbird FLEET provides local government actionable maintenance trend data.
Brad Foan, Manager of the Fleet at Tenterfield Shire Council in Northern NSW, manages a fleet of 134 vehicles using primarily paper-based systems and Excel spreadsheets.
When approached by Formbird to trial their industry-aligned fleet management system, built on Formbird’s low-code development platform, Brad jumped at the chance.
In the past “We had to use whatever the finance team had picked for its enterprise management software,” he says. “That manages the financial side, but not much else. So we were looking for a solution that would capture all our service reports and give us reports on modes of failure and predict maintenance”.
“Previously drivers had to fill in a paper-based fault report which was then entered into the system, and there were many ways that process could fall down,” Foan says.
“Now the whole process of scheduling the vehicle for repair and returning it to the operator is tracked in Formbird.”
Brad Foan – Tenterfield Shire Council
Once the council has accumulated enough vehicle usage data into Formbird, Foan says he expects it to provide actionable information on maintenance costs and running cost trends.
“We’ll probably need to get about 12 months worth of data in there before it becomes the go-to for all information. I’m currently using Excel. Moving forward it looks like it will be a fantastic way to go once we get some data in it will schedule our maintenance out of the box.”
Formbird’s Industry-aligned SaaS delivery model also appealed to Foan. Because the council pays a monthly fee with no lock-in contract, he did not have to face the challenge of getting approval for a significant budget outlay.
Also, he believes this mode of delivery will result in continuous innovation.
“A binding contract or subscription locks nobody in, so Formbird has an incentive to keep developing so they don’t fall behind in the market.”
BRAD FOAN – TENTERFIELD SHIRE COUNCIL
GPS trackers installed in vehicles will raise an alert if the vehicle is moved before the check has been completed.
The Formbird fleet management system is accessible from mobile devices. Now drivers go through a pre-start check in the morning and report any problems immediately logged in Formbird. When issues arise out on the road, they can take photographs on their mobile and attach to the report in Formbird.
Once the entire fleet is fitted with GPS trackers Foan expects Formbird to be particularly valuable in helping the council claim its fuel excise levy rebate.
The council can claim a refund on the tax it pays for any fuel used when vehicles are not on public roads and when on public roads if engaged in road repair work. However, it isn’t easy to get accurate data on relevant usage and fuel consumption, so averaging techniques are used.
Brad Foan hopes some functionality can be built into Formbird to make this calculation much more accurate and believes it will significantly increase tax refunds. He is putting forward a business case for installing GPS to every vehicle in the fleet and believes the fuel tax refunds gained from accurate usage reporting will more than cover the costs of these.
We look forward to seeing how Brad fares in his goal to improve the efficiency, reliability and compliance of his implementation of Formbird’s fleet management solution.
Find out how the power and flexibility of the Formbird low-code development platform can help manage your fleet
