Introduction to TLP

The diverse nature of the activities of logistics companies poses many challenges. Resources need to be balanced to ensure good outcomes. Extensive investment in equipment items of various types must be managed to ensure a positive return is being realised on those assets. The various types of jobs, which can range from a simple cartage job to a multi-faceted contract involving the use of many items of equipment and other resources such as company staff, suppliers and inventory, must be managed to ensure deadlines are met and profit realised. And of course the logistics company may be responsible for client’s inventory and have a need to manage this, and also to ensure related storage and activity functions realise a positive return for the company.

The TLP Software suite has been designed with recognition of this diversity and a goal of presenting Logistics Companies with the ability to manage all aspects of their operations in one integrated system, while allowing the company to utilise specialised accounting applications for the things they are suitable for.

This document introduces one of these modules, providing an overview of the facilities provided and describing how it fits in with the system as a whole.

Introduction to Fleet Management

The extensive investment in equipment and the need to manage these equipment items for a suitable financial return for the company is the focus of the Fleet Management module.

A significant amount of information relating to equipment is obtained from the Transport Management module. This module allocates revenue to equipment items and costs the usage of equipment based upon modelled costs such as kilometre rates. It also records operational data such as tonnes carried etc. This data is obviously of use but does not tell the full picture about the financial return from your fleet.

The Transport Management module provides profitability reporting of operational aspects based upon a modelled cost. It is obviously important that this modelled cost is as close to true cost as is possible if correct decisions are to be made based upon Transport Management derived information. This is the prime role of the Fleet Management module.

In order to ascertain the true cost of an equipment item the Fleet Management module must obtain actual costs from a number of areas such as;

• Workshop servicing costs
• Running costs such as fuel, tyres, drivers wages and RUC
• Ownership costs such as insurance and depreciation
• Administrative costs such as licences, fines and so on

These costs need to be related to the prime operational measurement of kilometres so a method of recording this data is required also.

Workshop servicing has its own demands as not only is it necessary to record the costs of this servicing it is also necessary to ensure and record compliance. This necessitates the instigation of processes to ensure accuracy and minimise the potential costs of non-compliance. To assist with this the Fleet Management module includes a Workshop Management facility which will provide benefit not only for a company with their own Workshop operation but for any company that has a focus on compliance.

This overview describes the Workshop Management facility, the recording of distances travelled by your equipment items and the recording of the various costs that can be applied against equipment.

Distance Recording

Distances are recorded within a log provided for that purpose. The distances are used for reporting purposes and for service scheduling.

A distance log entry is quite simple. The Start ODO reading is set by the system based upon the previous End ODO reading. The current End ODO reading is entered and from this data the distance travelled is calculated.

From this data the system builds up a history of equipment usage. For example the log above shows a gradually deteriorating usage of the equipment item, possibly due to service requirements, possibly declining work.

The data for the Distance Log may be entered manually or alternatively may be imported from another entity if this is required and the party is able to export the data for you to import.

Workshop Management

The Workshop Management module is designed to give you a strong yet easy to use system to assist with the management and recording of this function. We recognise that Workshop staff do not want to spend their days on the computer and therefore all functions are designed to be quick and efficient for the user.

Service Schedules

The Workshop module is based around the use of service schedules which are built up for each equipment item. These schedules are based around usage (A Service, B Service etc) or time period (Warrant of Fitness). The service being scheduled can be constructed manually but generally a template will be used in order to make the process speedy and accurate.

This is an example of a service template that can be applied to a job. It has descriptive details and budget details, for time, stock and external purchases.

The service template also has a checklist of actions to be taken. The checklist will be printed on the job card for the mechanic to use.

The Worksop Manager will periodically use the Service Schedule facility to display all items that meet certain criteria. For example all items that will require a WOF next month, any A Service due next week and so on. The results are displayed on a screen such as that shown below.

The Manager can decide can select what scheduled service is to be undertaken by using the tick boxes to the left. Once he has completed the selection he ticks a button and all necessary Workshop Jobs are automatically created.

Workshop jobs can also be created manually, a facility that will be used for non-scheduled work.

Service Jobs

The day to day management of the Workshop Jobs is done using an enquiry facility created for this purpose. This allows the Manager to determine the actual dates that each job will be carried out, assign the work and print job cards.

The issue of stock is largely automated by the provision of a button, accessed once job is opened in a detail view, that allows all stock to be automatically issued by the system, a great saving in time and of course assists accuracy.

Tyre Management

The Workshop Management module provides you with specific functionality that will help you manage your tyre stock and issue. The display below shows a list of inward movements and issues of tyres, giving you a balance in terms of quantities and value on hand.

You can view any tyre issue records such as the one below. This shows details of the Workshop Job applicable to this issue along with details of the tyre issued including the relevant position.

The system provides tyre tracking facilities such as that shown below. This allows you to view tyre details for any equipment item and see the history of all tyres put on the item, and the position.

Tyre rotation can also be recorded with an issue being recorded for every movement.

Fleet Cost Recording

Costs relating to the Fleet are entered into this module for costing and reporting purposes. These costs are then exported for the accounting system to process in terms of payment and company level financial reporting. The prime two methods of cost entry are currently Supplier Invoices and Time Sheets although we will shortly be adding a depreciation calculation facility to augment these.

Time Sheet Processing

Time sheets are entered into TLP for use in various areas such as costing Workshop Jobs and recording Driver costs against equipment items. Overhead time (holidays, admin etc) can also be entered to ensure time entries are balanced although these are not used by TLP. All entries are exported for the payroll to process as required.

The time sheet shown above is for the Workshop. You will notice that all time has been recorded against Workshop Jobs and through these to the actual equipment items.

TLP allows for the Workshop to make a profit to recover Workshop overheads. Hence the financial transactions have a Workshop Cost and Workshop Revenue figure. The Workshop Revenue becomes the equipment cost for this work.

Supplier Invoice Processing

Supplier Invoices are entered into TLP for use of the Fleet Management system. These could relate to Workshop costs, Equipment costs or company overheads, the latter not being used by TLP. All invoices are exported to the accounting system for processing, payment and company financial reporting.

The invoice shown above is for petrol purchased. This is costed directly to the equipment items and is not allocated to a Workshop job.

Invoices can be for any of the following;

• Workshop jobs
• Equipment costs
• Stock purchases
• Tyre purchases
• Company overheads

Fleet Reporting

The system is provided with a small library of standard Fleet Management reports. In addition to this reports can be prepared specifically for you. This section describes some of the standard reports and illustrates the type of information that can be obtained.

Fleet Profit and Loss Report

This report focusses on presenting a profit and loss for each equipment item and to give you the straight forward means to compare your modelled cost, being used in the Transport Management system, with the actual cost.

The report above is for all equipment items. This could be trucks, types of trucks etc. The time period selected is a three month period but any required period could be reviewed.

In this example the Transport Management System is showing a profit yet when we compare with our actual costs a loss has been incurred. Obviously something is wrong and you need to investigate further.

This can be done by investigating individual trucks, or groups of trucks. In our example below we find that Truck 1 is a possible cause of our problem with actual costs being much more than the model.

This does of course raise more questions such as;

• What costs were incurred that cause such a difference
• Is this a one off cost or can we expect it to continue to cause us to lose money

The next report illustrates how you can look for answers to such questions.

Fleet Profit Trend Analysis

The Trend Analysis allows you to view the individual periods in the range you are investigating and to see exactly where the actual costs were incurred.

As you can see the actual costs look reasonable and would seem to be on going. This would lead to the conclusion that the modelled cost in the Transport Management system requires correction.

This type of reporting is very powerful and gives you in depth accurate information about the performance of your assets and the return realised.

Workshop Labour Analysis

The Fleet Management system also provides you with specific reports to assist with the management of the workshop.

In this example you are able to obtain a list of the time processed for each day of the week, a useful administrative tool.

When previewing the report on the screen you can decide to drill down by clicking on the plus symbol. This takes you to the next level down, in this example showing what jobs the mechanic worked on during the selected day.