“Traditionally, we have relied on a paper-based fleet management process, with countries such as Sudan and Afghanistan being covered by RoadBase, Chevin’s desktop fleet management application designed for smaller or less complex fleets,” stated WFP Fleet Manager Jean Francois Milhaud from the organisation’s headquarters in Rome. The web-based vehicle tracking application, designed by an asset management consultancy and software house, was implemented first in Uganda. The transfer took place during July 2010, and will be completed internationally across the whole organisation by the end of the year.
The new technology will “now enable fleet logistics teams in each country’s office to input data such as vehicle routing, journey duration and fuel consumption,” Milhaud added. “A ‘way bills’ module gives fleet and logistics managers access to an audit trail of when and where deliveries have been successfully dropped off, providing a full chain of custody records for all aid donations.”
Milhaud stated that the move had made the organisation, as a whole, more efficient and helped them to become more cost effective without impeding their aim of providing food and other services to those in need. The vehicle tracking system is anticipated to not only promote consistent, dependable working practices on a global scale but has other benefits as well. Analysts indicate that it will open up communication channels to provide clearer visibility as well as providing drivers, engineers and fleet managers’ access to live data from any location in the world via a web connection.
Discussions regarding further upgrades down the line for the new system include ideas for an offline version of the system, which has the capacity of being updated remotely where internet access is unavailable. The information would then be automatically copied into the live system upon the return of stable connectivity. With the scope of this upgrade and the difference it stands to make to the efficiency of the WFP it may be a safe bet to assume the move towards electronic fleet management has been a welcomed one.
