Relatively new technology like this includes: vehicle inventory management systems, vehicle servicing scheduling systems, scheduling VI systems for the inspection & testing for commercial vehicles and fuel usage and control.

One of the latest users of the Trace system is Daventry District Council. Its Transport Manager, John Hutton, has already had experience of fleet management systems. He comments:

“We selected Trace because it is so simple to use. It does everything we want and everything they say it does. Trace is the 'Ronseal' of fleet management systems”.

With over one hundred vehicles and mixed items of plant and equipment Daventry DC records costs on items ranging from strimmers to 32-tonne refuse vehicles, including lawn mowers and tractors.

Three users include the workshop foreman raising job cards, entering time and parts, the office administrator and John Hutton entering other data and running reports and analyses.

“We wanted a simple but efficient system to record and analyse costs, produce reports and help us become more efficient, John says. “The price includes all the training we need which we are receiving at a pace tailored to our needs. That suits us well,” he confirmed.

Reigate & Merton LAs

“This system has enabled us to monitor fleet costs accurately, focus on high cost areas and accurately measure fleet availability,” reports Ken Dodds of the Reigate & Banstead Borough Council.

“Using Trace we can maintain comprehensive vehicle history records and produce meaningful management reports, which can be tailored to suit our needs. Trace is relatively simple to use and is proving to be a cost-effective fleet management tool. Back up has been to a very high standard.”

Another user, Rod Willis of the London Borough of Hounslow, comments:

“With our mixed fleet of 300 municipal vehicles we rely on Trace. It is a good tool. We use Trace to handle vehicle history, workshop jobs and parts store, purchase ordering and invoicing. Because all the data is in Trace, we know the exact cost-per-vehicle and we know we never miss claiming on warranty and never miss or duplicate a service.

“With Trace, the information is always instantly available for the ten or more people who use it for fleet management, workshops and stores through to accounts and in finance for depreciation calculation.”

The London Borough of Merton operates a mixed fleet of 200 municipal vehicles on Trace and use it for workshops and stores, purchasing and invoicing. Borough spokesperson Beverley Edmonds feels the system works very well: “With Trace we are able to find information and run reports easily.” The Trace Help Desk and user support is very good. Trace helped with a massive questionnaire into vehicle capacity.” Cleanaway at Croydon

Used since early 2001 at Croydon, Karen Marsh describes her system as 'a brilliant tool to monitor vehicle running costs and time recorded by workshop staff'. She says: “With Cleanaway we are now monitoring workshop time with Trace and see an improvement in workshop time utilisation and total hours charged at the correct rate to the right customers.”

“Trace Staff and Help Desk are very efficient, helpful and friendly. They are good at listening and responding to our requests. So we are very pleased with the after-sales support. We would never want to go back to the days before Trace. It is very user-friendly and it is customised to how we want it.”

Fourteen users in Croydon use the Trace System which also receives Triscan fuel data. Three Trace modules, vehicle history file/fleet management, workshop management and parts store management are in full use on some 450 vehicles, plant and educational transport passenger vehicles.

Because Trace is a real-time system there is better monitoring of stock lines and up to date costings on job cards, say users. At Croydon, Cleanaway sees better control of stock levels and better parts availability while keeping to pre-set maximum stocking and inventory levels.

More information? Contact: Bill Davies, Trace Systems, 18 Queens Road, Coventry CV1 3EG. Tel: 024 7622 0226 Web: www.tracesystems.co.uk