When a customer complaint about the cargo arises or a speeding ticket lands on your desk, you must to trace the exact details of a past trip. Knowing what happened and when can make all the difference in resolving issues quickly and efficiently.

With Frotcom, you can easily track every step of an operation (from start to finish), so you’re always prepared to answer the important questions and ensure full traceability. Here’s what you need to know to stay in control.

Who Was the Driver for a Given Trip?

Many companies assign different drivers to different vehicles to maximize fleet productivity and reduce costs. This is very common, for instance, in international road transportation.

The first thing you need to know is who is driving each vehicle.

In most cases, some form of automatic driver identification is required, especially when drivers are changed frequently.

Depending on your fleet’s specific needs, Frotcom fleet management software offers several methods for automatically identifying a driver.

The simpler way is to use Frotcom’s Driver app, where drivers can select their vehicle. QR codes can be used to make this operation quick and straightforward, by pointing the phone’s camera at a QR code sticker on to the vehicle’s dashboard.

The most common of these comes in the form of a small plastic unique identifier – the iButton. Once this identifier is held up to the reader inside the vehicle, the associated driver’s unique number is automatically registered.

Other possible ways to automatically identify the driver assigned are using RFID cards, or tachograph driver cards.

Either way, you always know which driver was behind the wheel for a given trip, ensuring accurate driver tracking and operational traceability.

Solution – Provide operation traceability

Under What Conditions was the Service Executed?

This question can be related to several different variables, of course.

If you want to check whether or not a speeding ticket has been correctly issued to your vehicle, first, you need to know if the vehicle was there, and then at what speed it was traveling.

Suppose a customer refuses to accept a palette of frozen food because of high humidity within the containers, which shows they were transported for some time at temperatures above the prescribed maximum. In that case,, you will doubtless want to double-check the temperature data registered during the trip since the cargo left the refrigerated warehouse. Maybe the thermostat on the refrigerated trailer was malfunctioning.

Perhaps someone calls your office saying that a specific vehicle was being driven improperly and dangerously. Of course, you must check if this vehicle was really being driven inappropriately and act accordingly.

In these scenarios, it’s crucial to have systems that can provide real-time data about who was operating each vehicle, when it was used, and how it was handled during transport. For example, if there’s a dispute regarding a vehicle’s speed, having access to a detailed record of the driver behind the wheel and their actions is invaluable.

In cases where unauthorized vehicle access is a concern, such as when  fleet security might be compromised, it's essential to ensure that vehicles are being operated only by authorized personnel at appropriate times and locations.

Detailed records of every vehicle’s journey, including its route, stops, and conditions, provide the information you need to verify whether or not a service was executed according to the specified standards. For instance, if a customer claims the temperature in a refrigerated vehicle was too high, you can quickly refer to detailed reports that show temperature fluctuations throughout the journey.

For companies managing field workers, real-time task management and service verification are key to ensuring services are executed as agreed. By capturing proof of service delivery directly from the field, managers can track each task's completion and verify conditions during execution.

What Were the Times of Departure and Arrival?

This can be useful when you want to confirm whether or not a vehicle arrived within the pre-assigned time window. Perhaps, as a result, the vehicle missed its assigned unloading time slot, or maybe the client is complaining that their operations are now in jeopardy due to the late arrival of your vehicle.

In such cases, having access to detailed GPS data allows you to precisely track when the vehicle was en route and when it arrived at its destination. With accurate timestamp information from the vehicle’s journey, you can quickly verify whether the delay was due to external factors, such as traffic, or an internal issue that needs to be addressed.

Sometimes, you may also want to know why a vehicle that was supposed to unload its cargo at a client’s location had to wait so long. This compromises your fleet’s productivity tracking, and you must to assemble enough evidence that it happens frequently at that client’s premises before checking if and how these waiting times can be reduced.

By monitoring routes in real-time, you can determine whether the vehicle was delayed due to suboptimal routing or unforeseen obstacles, and take steps to adjust the route planning in the future. Additionally, sensor data on the vehicle’s load or environment could help you understand if equipment issues or operational inefficiencies  caused delays.

Furthermore, improving communication with your clients is key to customer satisfaction. With the CRM module, you can create tracking tickets for your clients, allowing them to track their cargo in real time via a dedicated map. This transparency not only enhances customer trust but also reduces the need for manual updates on the status of deliveries. By sending an automatic tracking link to clients, you ensure they always have the latest information about the whereabouts of their goods.

Serma - Spain

"Frotcom has proved to be a reliable and professional partner with highly effective solutions."

Ángel Herrero
Head of After Sales Service
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Serma - Spain

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