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Data is the power in the technological age. How about using the data to optimize, streamline and enhance investment in fleet management? However, what is the exact data collected by fleets, its benefit and how does optimizing it help simplify your fleet operations?

Refer to the article to know the impact of fleet data metrics in optimizing fleet operations and bringing effective change.

Top Fleet Data Metrics That Should Be Tracked

If you are navigating a fleet, staying on top of your game is imperative. Around 32% of GPS tracking users have highlighted a positive ROI within 6 months by using fleet data metrics. Additionally, 64% fleet managers using GPS and other fleet tracking tools with an 8% increase as of 2020. That means tracking the right metrics by understanding the data will ensure frictionless fleet management.

Check out the top fleet data metrics that should be tracked to keep your Fleet afloat:

  1. Fleet Fuel data
  2. Engine Hours Data Metrics
  3. Route Performance
  4. Fleet Inspections and Maintenance Data
  5. Hours of service violation
  6. Vehicle Health Data
  7. Fleet Driver Behavior
  8. Vehicle Idle Time
  9. Collision events
  10. Fleet Real-Time Data

Read more about it below

Fleet Fuel Management

What it is: Fuel management is essential for many reasons, especially for organizations that operate a fleet of vehicles. It helps to reduce operating costs and improve sustainability by monitoring fuel consumption, identifying areas of improvement, and implementing fuel-efficient practices.

Why this is important: 

  • Fuel management is a treasure map for fleet managers, leading them to cost savings and sustainability. 
  • By tracking fuel consumption, optimizing routes, and promoting fuel-efficient practices, fleet managers can strike it rich in reducing their operating expenses and minimizing their environmental impact. 
  • Utilizing the right tools and insights, fleet managers can steer their fleets towards greater efficiency and profitability while contributing to a healthier planet for future generations.

How Fuel Data improves Fuel Management?

  • Identifies trends and patterns in fuel consumption using odometer readings to reduce wastage and optimize efficiency
  • Monitors fuel efficiency expressed in miles per gallon (MPG), and kilometers per liter (KPL) to ensure vehicles are running efficiently and not consuming excessive fuel
  • Integrates fleet data with other systems, such as accounting or ERP software, to improve overall business operations and reduce fuel costs.

 

Fleet Engine Hours Data Metrics

What it is: Engine hours refer to the overall time taken by a vehicle’s engine that has been running, regardless of whether the vehicle is in motion or stationary. It is used as a metric for tracking engine maintenance and estimating the vehicle’s remaining lifespan.

Why is it necessary: 

It plays an integral role in monitoring vehicle maintenance needs, estimating remaining lifespan and tracking usage for equipment rental or billing purposes.

How Does Fleet Engine Hours Data improve Fleet Performance?

  • Fleet engine hours data uses metrics like GPS data, maintenance logs, and telematics to help fleet managers predict when vehicles will need maintenance based on the hours they have been in operation
  • identifying maintenance needs before they become serious, helping fleet managers to reduce downtime and minimize repair costs.
  • For accurate billing, it is useful for organizations that bill customers based on
  • equipment usage and engine hours data.

 

Route Performance

What it is: Route performance refers to the effectiveness and efficiency of transportation routes that have a significant impact on the cost of maintenance and operations

Why this is important: 

It will assist Fleet managers in tracking poor-performing routes, help reduce accidents, improve user satisfaction and reduce overall costs in infrastructure.

How does Route Performance data improve Fleet performance?

  • Improves vehicle efficiency and cuts overall cost of fuel consumption
  • Monitoring GPS data and telematics helps gain insight into vehicle location, speed, and overall route performance to reduce mileage and prevent accidents
  • Displays driver’s real-time location, route, and planned stops 

 

Fleet Inspections and Maintenance Data

What it is: it helps improve fleets’ overall effectiveness by carrying out periodic inspections to reduce the overall mileage and drive costs.

Why this is important: Fleet managers can track if the vehicle is working well and schedule maintenance to reduce costs.

How Fleet Inspections and Data Maintenance improve Fleet Performance:

  • Employ maintenance logs and inspection records to schedule preventive and predictive maintenance
  • Fuel data and GPS help in identifying areas of fuel usage and adding corrective measures to improve fleet operations

 

Hours of service violation

What it is: It aids in ensuring compliance with regulations, prevents driver fatigue, and reduces the risk of accidents, fines and legal liability for both the Fleet and the drivers.

Why this is important: It enables fleet managers to take comprehensive measures to avoid hours of service violations, optimize routes and schedule preventative maintenance.

How do Hours of service violation improve fleet performance?

  • Gain insight into accurate readings related to vehicle issues such as run time, speed, idling, and vehicle handling
  • Electronic logging devices (ELDs) aid in automatically recording the driver’s HOS data including, on and off-duty time, breaks, and idling to get a detailed record of the driver’s HOS and Implement solutions for preventing HOS violations

 

Fleet Vehicle Health Data

What it is: It refers to information collected from a vehicle’s onboard diagnostic (OBD) system, which provides insights into the vehicle’s performance, maintenance needs, and overall health. Fleet managers use the data to improve vehicle maintenance and reduce downtime.

Why this is important: It enables fleet managers to monitor the condition of their vehicles in real-time, allowing them to identify potential issues early on, schedule maintenance needed, and optimize vehicle performance, efficiency and safety.

How Does Fleet Vehicle Health Data Improve Fleet Performance?

  • Diagnostic tools are used to test vehicle components, including engine, brakes, transmission, etc. to identify when maintenance is needed and schedule it before a breakdown occurs
  • Predict when maintenance using telematics to identify real-time data like engine faults, battery voltage, etc. will be required in the future based on engine hours, mileage and other data points
  • Identify issues impacting vehicle performance like misaligned wheels, underinflated tires or dirty air filters

 

Fleet Driver Behavior

What it is: It refers to intentional and unintentional actions of fleet drivers, including reckless driving, harsh braking, and speeding while using the vehicle.

Why this is important: Fleet managers should be able to monitor driver behavior and take constructive techniques to limit fuel wastage, stop improper use of vehicles and enforce accurate speed limits to ensure driver and road safety.

How Does Fleet Driver Behavior Data Improve Fleet Performance?

  • Helps track solutions to improper driver behavior
  • Prevent fuel wastage, reduce idling and implement speed limits

 

Vehicle Idle Time

What it is: The overall time your vehicle’s engine is kept on but not used actively. Fleet data helps gather data on when the vehicle is on, battery or fuel consumption during idling.

Why this is important: Vehicles that are unused but kept ON can lead to the wastage of fuel and power. Identifying vehicles idling for an extended time enables Fleet managers to take accurate action to shut them off manually or install a device that can automatically switch off.

How Does Vehicle Idle Time Data Improve Fleet Performance?

  • Prevents unwanted wastage of fuel by reading odometer data, onboard cameras, and telematics to identify speed, braking, and acceleration.
  • Reduce battery usage by shutting off the engine when not used to save vehicle battery.

 

Collision events data

What it is: It is data related to incidents where a vehicle within a fleet collides with another vehicle or object, which is recorded and tracked for analysis and safety purposes.

Why this is important: It helps to provide valuable insights into driver behavior and vehicle safety, which can help reduce accidents, minimize costs, and improve overall fleet performance

How do Collision events data improve Fleet Performance?

  • Helps identify drivers who are at higher risk of accidents to take protective steps to address any issues
  • Identify patterns and trends that indicate specific areas where driver training can be improved
  • Schedule maintenance for vehicles that have experienced more wear and tear and reduce vehicle downtime

 

Fleet Real-Time Data

What it is: Helps in location surveillance using GPS for tracking the correct location of any object or entity remotely.

Why this is important: Real-time data helps track each vehicle’s movement. Knowing the current locations and where the assets are will help protect against theft and assist in conducting timely maintenance by locating the vehicles.

How do Fleet Engine Hours Data improve Fleet Performance?

  • Reduces overall maintenance costs by reducing the hassle of paying extra to your technician who spent hours locating your vehicle and misplaced assets.
  • It helps in quickly identifying the stolen asset using the real-time data
  • Optimize travel routes with GPS location data; your fleet manager can determine the most optimal routes to travel to reduce fuel wastage and power consumption.

 

Common Fleet Management Data Challenges

  • Excess data load

Excess data overload can make it challenging to filter out useful insights and take action to improve fleet performance.

  • Using data to bring effective change

Fleet data can be used to effect real change by identifying areas of improvement and taking action to address them. In addition, it aids fleet managers in developing action plans and evaluating and refining fleet operations’ safety and sustainability.

  • Opting for an ideal data partner

Selecting the right data partner ensures you get high-quality data that meet your business goal. You must consider the data partner’s expertise, data sources used, and how they can handle large volumes of data

Get The Most Out Of Your Fleet Data: One Single Fleet Data Management Software For All Your Data

Fleet data management software optimizes Fleet and uses cloud-based fleet data systems, software, and real-time data solutions. The objective is to improve fleet management through the maximum utilization of fleet management data to optimize the user experience.

CerebrumX brings comprehensive fleet management metrics to gather data relevant to managing fleet operations. Each of our devices is connected to a cloud-based application to send out intuitive reports and share alerts that fleet managers can check anytime to gain complete visibility of the entire operations and provide better solutions through easy integration and actionable insights. Talk to our experts today.