Data-driven visibility into fleet card programs

Transcription

1 Data-driven visibility into fleet card programs By: Jeffrey Pape, Senior Vice President, U.S. Bank Transportation Solutions Data. It s the watchword for succeeding in today s business environment. More and more, we re being told to let the data be the guide. Quality improvement initiatives stress the importance of making decisions based on verifiable data rather than assumptions and guesswork. According to the Six Sigma gurus, Managing by data is always defensible. Gut instinct will not be valued in business much longer. 1 Nowhere is this more true than in fleet management, where there is a growing need to optimize data in order to enhance security, reduce cost and improve overall visibility. Let data drive your fleet s success One industry observer aptly notes that Top performing organizations use data to drive decisions across the organization. Insight into driver behavior, asset/vehicle performance, and service status provides immeasurable intelligence for the service and fleet operation. 2 The fuel card is an important part of this equation. In discussing the advantages of the focused fuel card over non fuel-focused solutions, Merchants Fleet Management writes, The ideal fuel-focused solution is designed to provide the fleet manager with data and control, and the fleet with efficiency and accountability. 3 Industry best practices call for taking advantage of the fuel-focused card for the significant benefits it offers fleet managers and drivers: The power of a secure, established network that ensures widespread acceptance The ability to limit purchases based on pre-authorized parameters The ability to capture detailed transaction data that can be flagged for exceptions, audited regularly and allocated appropriately across the organization When it comes to managing fuel costs, the fleet card wields significant advantages. A recent article in Automotive Fleet points out that new available technology makes managing fuel costs not only possible, but within easy reach. 4 The key is having data-driven visibility into your fleet program, at the level that your organization needs. The technology behind today s best fleet and fuel card programs can help integrate that data into your internal systems for greater visibility and control.

2 You have to be able to manage on an exception basis, and getting that data allows you to do that so you can set parameters. John Rettiger Mansfield Oil Company Assessing your data needs The first step in gaining more visibility is figuring out what kind of data you need, at what level of detail and granularity. If your fleet department operates out of a general fund, you may not need to know much more than the total of how much you spent on fuel or maintenance this month, for overall expense management. However, more and more organizations are moving toward a structure of internal service funds, where each department is its own operating center with its own budget to manage. In that environment, there s greater need for accountability, and that requires more robust and more detailed data. For example, you may need to track costs not only on a vehicle or equipment basis, but also on a line-item basis where each transaction is brought into your system and the costs allocated out to the departments that own them. Rather than just knowing that Driver X had $100 in fuel expenses this week, you may want to drill down to what kind of fuel was purchased and where, what the odometer reading was, and whether these things correlate appropriately. That way you have the data you need to allocate costs appropriately, but you can also assess the potential for fraud, and identify whether additional communication or training is required. Data-driven visibility into maintenance expenses is also a critical part of effective fleet management, especially when there are regulatory reporting requirements involved. If the Department of Transportation comes in and wants to verify tire purchases or inspection dates, having that data available from your card provider is imperative. A good fleet card program can help you manage your spend and set controls to match your internal policies, so that you can manage by exception. John Rettiger, Senior Vice President at Mansfield Oil Company, addressed this issue when he served as a panelist at the NAFA Fleet Management Association Institute and Expo in April 2015 on the topic of optimizing fuel-card data for greater security, lower cost and better overall fleet management. You can t look at every single thing, says Rettiger. You have to be able to manage on an exception basis, and getting that data allows you to do that so you can set parameters. Fleet Data Visibility White Paper Page 2 of 6

3 Top performers integrate data from different sources to build a clear picture of the story being told. Aly Pinder Aberdeen Group Data integration powers results When it comes to managing that level of data, a good dashboard is imperative. During the same panel discussion, Calvin Kretsinger, General Executive, Emission Control Commodities and Fuel Business Development at Ameren Missouri in the greater St. Louis area reveals, In our case, we operate on the internal service fund. We bring the data into our internal fleet management database, but it s not very friendly for reporting against. So I rely on my fuel card provider s dashboard to generate the reports I need for individual data. One example is the Fleet Commander Online dashboard which supports the U.S. Bank Voyager Fleet Card. In some cases you might be getting the data exported out of our system into your own portal, or you might simply be leveraging our portal or a similar one, says Ramel Lindsay, Group Product and Program Manager for U.S. Bank. The key is being able to define and easily access the data you re looking for. You might have multiple pieces of information floating around purchasing card data, corporate travel card data, and fuel card data. Trying to compile everything into one place might be difficult, says Lindsay. That type of portal, such as Fleet Commander Online, provides you with that simplicity. You ll be able to pull up all the information related to your fueling transactions. Having that overall dashboard view of your fleet card data gives you an important ability to see the macro view a valuable tool for senior management looking for the big picture. Integrating the data further into the organization s financial management system can help you see and adjust how your fleet is affecting overall company profitability and other metrics. Data in silos is clearly counterproductive, writes Aly Pinder of the Aberdeen Group. Top performers integrate data from different sources to build a clear picture of the story being told. 2 Fleet Data Visibility White Paper Page 3 of 6

4 Improved fleet management for cost savings, security and control One of the best things you can do for cost control is to make sure that the people who are actually spending the money actually get the reports and see where their money is going, says Calvin Kretsinger. For example, perhaps data shows that fleet drivers are buying premium unleaded fuel when regular unleaded would suffice for their vehicles. Significant cost savings could be achieved by addressing that situation through additional training and education to reinforce appropriate fuel purchasing criteria, and ensuring that the fleet organization is doing what s best for the company. When retail fuel prices vary considerably from station to station, price and site locators can help guide drivers to an optimal fueling route. Additional data-driven visibility into fuel card spending allows you to score and evaluate drivers on how they are complying with those parameters, and provide valuable corrective feedback to improve performance. Best practices call for fleet managers to use the fuel-card data to check for unusual product codes, inconsistent fuel quantity, and unusually large transaction amounts. Exceptions can then be addressed with the driver. Fleet Data Visibility White Paper Page 4 of 6

5 Whatever you don t look at is subject to abuse. Calvin Kretsinger Ameren Missouri Another important factor in datadriven visibility is the flexibility of being able to pull up the information at any given point in time, with realtime transaction capability. Calvin Kretsinger describes one way he s found that to be useful with a surprising unintended benefit as well. We really brought costs down through decline alerts, he said. I m sitting at my desk and I see a decline alert pop up on my screen, and I can see that one of our employees is having trouble using his credit card. It could be that he is trying to use a card that was reported lost or stolen, and then later found. It could be there s a problem with the station or with the software. But for some reason, this person is having trouble with the transaction and knowing about it right away via U.S. Bank s Fleet Commander Online portal can help you take action. So- I ll look up the vehicle and find out who the normal driver is and call his supervisor. Remember, this is in real time, says Kretsinger. He calls the driver on the company radio, they work through things, the transaction gets through, the driver gets his fuel and he s on down the road. That was the intended goal. But an added unintended benefit for Ameren was passive control. The driver got back to headquarters and told the other drivers how the situation was handled so quickly and how the company knew within minutes that there was a problem with the transaction. Whatever you don t look at is subject to abuse, says Kretsinger. Once the word got around that we kept an eye on this, our miscellaneous expenses went down from $5,000 to under $1,000. Kretsinger describes another way in which real-time card data is useful to his organization. As an electric utility, from time to time Ameren receives mutual aid requests to help restore power along the Gulf coast after an event like a hurricane. Traveling through areas where they may or may not have fuel, we have found it very helpful to be able to call our fuel card provider, Voyager U.S. Bank, and through real-time data they can tell us what stations are open because they know real-time which stations are processing transactions. Fleet Data Visibility White Paper Page 5 of 6

6 Big data, big picture, big results Drew Rockwell, CEO of Lavastorm Analytics, stresses the growing importance of data at the top level and bottom line of every organization. The financial winners across the globe over the next decade will be those that use their data most effectively, keep regulators happy, and keep stakeholders satisfied, all while improving operational efficiency. 5 It s clear that fleet management plays a part in this important quest. Next steps and recommendations What can your organization do to move the needle in the right direction? 1. Determine your data requirements 2. Review your options for fuel and fleet card solutions 3. Implement a program that provides the greatest value 4. Monitor and refine over time for maximum results To learn more, contact your Relationship Manager or visit bankonus.usbpayment.com. References Things a Green Belt Should Know, Six Sigma, accessed May Pinder, A. Fleet Management Trends: Mobile Assets Move Beyond the Map, Aberdeen Group, August Focused Fuel Cards Drive Cost Savings, Accountability & Efficiency. Merchants Fleet Management, Winter Fletcher, L. How to Manage Fuel Expenses Like a Pro. Automotive Fleet, May Rockwell, D. Why Treasurers Need to Take a Lead Role in Analytics. Treasury & Risk, March U.S. Bank. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners B (04/17) CR CPS 3963 Fleet Data Visibility White Paper Page 6 of 6