Case study

DC Water Uses Adaptable Fleet Software to Boost Asset Utilization

By Ellen Sowerby
16 December 2021

When you put in place smarter fleet management systems, you can also tie in better management of assets and people too, as DC Water discovered.

 

 

DC Water – the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority – has improved the standard of employees’ driving, made numerous efficiencies to its fleet and enhanced many processes for looking after assets, right down to the security of laptops and keys. And all of this has come about through the introduction of fleet management software.

Having operated FleetWave for more than four-and-a-half years, DC Water has been put to work across not just the fleet, but the whole organization.

For example, our telematics system feeds driver behavior information into FleetWave. This allows us to generate reports that highlight poor driving practices that lead to unnecessary fuel usage. The system also sends automated “bad practice” alerts directly to personnel and management on a daily basis while also linking to training programs to help support a culture of improvement.

FleetWave’s integrated key control and reservation system means we can now manage how equipment is provided to DC Water’s staff – including pretty much any asset from rugged laptops all the way to vehicle keys. These items are stored in secure locking compartments so that our people can access their allocated property with a secure reservation code and employee ID. This has made sharing equipment across departments and the wider business much easier while increasing the utilization of our assets.

A fundamental reason for the use of FleetWave in this way is its adaptability, which DC Water has taken advantage of in innovative ways, pulling various elements of the business together.

“A lot of software offers some level of customization but ultimately the business must adapt to the software’s structure. Instead, FleetWave has been truly adaptable to our exact business requirements,” says Timothy.

DC Water also became genuinely paperless as a result, with all organizational information managed within FleetWave, reaching well beyond just fleet-specific tasks.

 

Business improvement based on data and feedback

It’s not just top-down management and control that DC Water uses FleetWave for. The insight the system gives them allows everyone involved to understand what is going on in the business and use data to suggest ways of improving the operation.

The system has enabled us to create a way of not only analyzing and controlling all of our business performance but provides us with an environment where employees can be cultivated to understand processes and their value to the authority. Our team now champions improvements through use of the system and we are always discussing new ideas. This unique capability and the overall reach of the software across our organization is why internally we now call the system simply ‘Wave’. I tell my people that if the data isn’t in the system then the job hasn’t been completed, and I don’t allow them to use separate spreadsheets or bits of paper because that quickly leads to disparate process and data.

Timothy Fitzgerald
Fleet Director

Integration provides fueling insights

DC Water has also taken innovative steps when it comes to fueling its vehicles, ensuring there is no wastage or misfuelling, while generating accurate reports that gives them information on spend and efficiency.

DC Water has been able to interface the software with its fueling system (EJ Ward), telematics platform (Geotab) and FleetWave’s motor pool and key control system – and manage all of these systems through FleetWave while generating simple to understand reports with actionable intelligence.

Timothy said: “We use the EJ Ward system to fuel our vehicles. There are approximately 10 fueling stations across the city and our drivers can access the fuel pumps using Wi-Fi devices located in the vehicles. This technology recognizes vehicles and the fuel and, of course, integrates to our fleet management software to provide us useful fuel information from fuel usage to alternative fuel usage, compliance and costs.”

DC Water has received international recognition for its utility fleet management efforts and widely acknowledges FleetWave’s significant part in its on-going improvements. FleetWave was even a headline article in a recent company newsletter.

With a fleet of 600 and assets of 1000+ hear from Fleet Director, Timothy Fitzgerald from DC Water on his challenges and how he has overcome them, their plans for the future and his advice for fleet professionals. Watch now.

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