Prepare for the Working Time Directive & Digital Tachograph

Compliance Management in a Mixed Fleet Environment

Integrated effective real-time compliance analysis and management reporting for Hours Law and Working Time Directive

By Chris Telfer, Sales and Marketing Director - TruTac Limited

The clock is ticking. The working time directive is now a reality. The last minute details are being finalised - yet, there is still talk of implementation being delayed. Whether it is introduced next March or weeks later, every haulier should now know what they are expected to measure and control and must now be concerned about the technology investments, policies and processes required to support the new regulations.

The working time directive will mean that driver availability; driver utilisation and operational costs will have to be better managed than ever before, if fleets are to stay competitive. This will happen before digital tacho's become widely available and for several years of mixed fleets. The challenges, therefore, of managing working time and hour's law infringements, within the framework of Compliance Management for a mixed fleet of analogue and digital tachographed vehicles, should be very much in the mind of all transport management.

The regulatory changes should not, however, be taken in isolation of an integrated solution approach. The vision is an "effective real-time integrated solution" that supports:

Compliance management with Tachograph analysis available within a day of duty.
Working Time analysis (inc. Periods of Availability), infringement reporting and duty planning for up to 26 weeks of driver duty.
A mixed fleet environment of digital and analogue tachographed vehicles. (A driver may alternate, daily, between analogue and digital based vehicles. His duty breakdown must be available to the resource planner in effective real-time to ensure that the driver is legally allowed to carry out scheduled duties). Extensive management reporting across the company so that effective business decisions can be taken on overall fleet performance in effective real-time.
Integrate with many other business applications where critical business decisions are taken, for example Time and Attendance systems, HR/Personnel Systems and particularly payroll systems.
The exploitation of current day technologies and is guaranteed to provide a consistent level of service for the duration of a mixed fleet environment.

Such a solution does indeed exist today. Many leading road hauliers are already one step ahead in managing working time, driver training and business planning; consequently they expect to be substantially compliant to the new regulation in advance of it becoming law.

Many hauliers already recognise that near real-time analysis of driver duty is a very powerful method of driving performance improvements, reducing costs and providing effective planning capability for forward resource utilisation.

"Effective" real-time analysis of the Tachograph means having the information available as soon as the day after duty. The understanding of the risks and exposure to the new legal framework is, therefore, current, accurate and immediately useful in business decisions. Near real-time duty information has many real quantifiable benefits:

More accurate duty information derived from a single source i.e. the Tachograph.
Management information on current working times that differentiates driving, other work, rest and importantly periods of availability.
"Effective" real-time infringement management to improve quality and performance of the driver by reducing infringements, costs and increasing quality of the driver teams.
Quality planning information for the driver, vehicle, and routing that maximises utilisation of resources; whilst demonstrating compliance to the legal requirements and demands of the customer.
On-line management information of performance, at many levels of driver categorisation (shift, agency, depot, region, division, company level).

Traditional analogue tachograph analysis cannot provide reliable data in time for operational purposes. It is prudent, therefore, to consider a solution provider that has an integrated approach to your business.

There is technology today that offers a fantastic opportunity for the management of any size fleet to embrace the legal changes and to plan to maximise the benefits. The Working Time Directive and the Digital Tachograph will be introduced and unless hauliers invest now in improved processes and the associated technologies that will ensure the introduction is smooth and as pain-free as possible - the risks to their business continuity will be considerable. The clock is ticking.....

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