When you’re starting your search for fleet and asset management software, reporting should be an important factor in the software you choose. What type of information do you want it to show? How easy is it to manipulate what you’re looking for? Is it easily put into graphs? Is it configurable?
There are a lot of questions to ask yourself. The goal is to have the reports be obtainable without spending too much time on them.
Reports are important for many reasons and are different for each user. By effectively using reports you can improve shop productivity, manage your inventory consumption more efficiently, know the full status on equipment maintenance and purchases, and budget easier. Those are just a few examples.
So how will the reports help you and your business?
Start by using reports to help increase productivity within your shop. By pulling data from the software you can see how long each technician takes to do a service and how efficient they are. If another technician is more efficient, then you can see that in the report and make the changes needed and reassign. You can also see how long work orders are open. If the technicians are taking too much time to do simple tasks or if a job you thought would take 30 minutes has been averaging about 45, then you have the data to justify staffing changes and implement a change. Many benefits come from reporting and and their ability to help you improve your shop’s overall productivity.
Another advantage of having a good report is being able to manage your purchases for inventory. Your on-hand inventory is always going to fluctuate due to services, preventive maintenance upkeep and unplanned repairs. Having a report pull information on what services that were done in the past and what it can foresee in the future is going to help with over and under stock that you could potentially have. These types of reports are going to help increase your overall productivity by saving time and money where needed.
Reporting is also helpful when you are keeping track of equipment upkeep and your newly purchased equipment. When you service your vehicles you often want to keep them on schedule for your preventive maintenance such as a specific date or once they reach a certain mileage. Running a report for these items can help you see what overdue or coming due for maintenance. You’re able to pull reports on every vehicle and see dates and services done. This will help you when you need to use the information for your maintenance records or if selling a vehicle for a new replacement. When you have new equipment, it’s good to keep track of all records from start to finish. The report will hold the historical data for you and you’re easily able to see the information in any report or graph.
Conclusion
Reports are meant to be used by all departments. Think about your end user and how they plan to view and use the information. Think about how will they be able to interpret the information and how often will they be pulling the reports. When you’re working with many different departments within the company, you’ll want to make sure the data is clear for everyone. With good fleet and asset management software, you shouldn’t have any doubt that you’ll be able to get the information you need.
