Claire Vincent says her main concern in her job is to look after people. As fleet and travel co-ordinator at the Waipa District Council in New Zealand, Vincent’s role is to look after the staff who use the council’s fleet of 165 fleet assets – including light, heavy vehicles, mowers, tractors and diggers.
Fortunately, she says the role became a lot easier in late 2023 when the council implemented a new telematics system to monitor and track fleet assets.
Today, Vincent uses a technology solution which seamlessly integrates fuel and telematics data from Teletrac Navman 360 into a series of ten customised dashboards in a Microsoft BI environment.
She also worked with the vendor to develop a new booking system which integrates with the data and analytics solution, creating a template which is being offered to other councils in New Zealand.
The result is that fleet management at Waipa has been transformed.
“We have been able to implement features such as geofencing, which has been really important to council,” she says.
“We can send out alerts – if there is a road accident we can alert our staff, or if one of our vehicles has an incident – we get this information through the system.
“And we’ve been able to do more car-pooling so we can utilise our fleet better and reduce our carbon emissions.”
Through the booking system Orcoda, for example, staff travelling from the council’s two main sites will be able to see if other colleagues are also making the journey, “so they can jump in with them at the same place and time.”
The insights produced by the system also create an up to date and changing ‘leaderboard’ of the best drivers in the council, as rated for safety and efficiency, and this has been keenly embraced.
Where the previous telematics system was simply a “black box” recording data in the vehicle, the new system also has a portable device – which includes the dashboards – which the driver can access while they drive, or remove it and take it into the office with them.
“We have a really good driver culture, and we have a lot of rivalry to be the top ranked drivers of the day,” says Vincent.
Safety, however, is Vincent’s priority and she says the insights also help improve this across the fleet.
“We are carrying out overspeed event reporting, and doing incredibly well with this,” she says.
“And through the portal I reach out to the drivers and ask them to report anything which doesn’t seem safe, and also send tips and tricks on safety. We need to remember that safety is paramount, and also that the drivers in our vehicles, which have the council’s name for all to see, are great driving ambassadors because they are constantly in the public eye.”
Where the previous system installed telematics only in vehicles, the new solution has been extended to the council’s mowers, tractors and diggers, enabling Vincent and her team to also track these assets.
“This really gives us peace of mind as well because this equipment is the bread and butter for much of what council does,” she says.
“If these are out of action or we lost them in some way then we wouldn’t get a lot of work done, so these features and in particular geofencing is really useful.”
The new system is not only enhancing the user experience, but also helping council save funds.
Like many local government authorities worldwide, Waipa is under budgetary pressure.
The improved management of the vehicle fleet, says Claire Vincent, means the council is better able to manage assets and prolong their useful lifecycles, which delays the need for capital replacement.
Vincent completed IPWEA’s Fleet Management Certificate as part of her professional development, and is passionate about her role.
“I love the fleet, but it’s the looking after the people and making sure they are safe is the biggest thing I care about,” she says.
“It’s the people who use the fleet, and if I can make the fleet safer and more efficient then I’ve really done my job.”
