Purdue University Transportation Service has decided to automate the management of its 160-vehicle fleet operation, which logs nearly 4-million miles per year on and around its West Lafayette, IN campus. The announcement was made by Agile Access Control, Inc., (Agile), creator of FleetCommander fleet and motor pool software.
Officials at Purdue say the current paper-based management of their fleet will be automated with FleetCommander with the goals of simplifying the reservation process, offering its customers an online reservation capability, and collecting fleet data needed to make management decisions. The transition is set to be completed by December of this year.
"We're fortunate to be moving from a paper-based operation to an electronic system that will provide historical data, and improve our efficiency and customer service," says Carol Cox, transportation service director. Cox says the entire university population has access to rental vehicles, who annually log more than 12,000 trips. Fleet reservations are currently being handled by hand via email, phone calls, and faxes and a schedule board. The fact that fleet drivers will soon be able to reserve vehicles online around the clock will greatly improve service to customers and free up staff time, Cox says.
Half of the Transportation Service vehicles are in the Purdue motor pool, the other half are assigned, with the assigned vehicles being rotated to address mileage. Cox says managing both the motor pool and assigned vehicles electronically has been something the university has wanted to do for several years. Once implemented, FleetCommander's capability to send automatic reminder emails is expected to cut down on no-shows.
"We are thrilled to have Purdue join the growing family of FleetCommander users in the university community. We're confident that once implemented, FleetCommander will offer the the efficiencies they are seeking for both fleet staff and university drivers," says Ed Smith, President of Agile.
FleetCommander is currently in place at universities and colleges such as Cornell University, Villanova, American University, Virginia Tech, Ball State, Cedarville University, and many more.
