Fleet management using custom-designed software

Trimble

An Example of a Custom Application Developed for the Fleet Management Industry A large pipeline company was looking for an application which could help them to manage the maintenance of equipment used along their pipeline. The equipment being maintained by the company included things like vehicles, pumps, bulldozers, or firefighting equipment used as part of pipeline operations in the field. After researching several commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) applications, the company contacted us to develop an application which met their needs.

Background The company manages about 800 miles of pipeline used to transport oil from one location to another. Part of the pipeline operations included the maintenance of equipment used along the pipeline. Mechanics in the organization had a process for performing this maintenance which relied on a trail of paper checklists and file storage. This process was inefficient and lacked the type of auditing and searching functionality required to meet deadlines. As more equipment was brought into the organization, the amount of data was overwhelming and became hard to manage.
Solution An application was developed to help the organization track the preventative maintenance of vehicles. This web- based application tracks the maintenance records of the equipment and provides guidance for mechanics when performing maintenance on specific vehicles. Using a rugged Windows Mobile device, the mechanic is provided with a checklist that guides him through the process of performing specific maintenance tasks. The checklists, along with any digital photos taken during the maintenance activities, are uploaded to the centralized maintenance database after maintenance is completed. Using the Web Portal, users can easily research and view past work done on a specific vehicle.