Peace of Mind (Part 3) – Why TigerFleet?

by | Feb 26, 2020 | Compliance, Employee, Fuel, privacy, Savings, security, Software, Tracking, Vehicle Costs | 0 comments

Peace of Mind (Part 3) – Why TigerFleet?

TigerFleet is a leading fleet management and compliance tool, with over 20 years of consultative development between industry experts and a range of transport companies. Our software platform has evolved to become a market leader, and it continues to grow and develop due to its associations with other specialist fleet hardware and software providers. 

Stencil of hi-vis vest on ground with the word Future? written in it

Our Background

The software concept was first conceived by Bob (Robert) Moyle in the late 1990s. Sadly, Bob is no longer with us but the software that he was so passionate about has grown to become his legacy to the transport industry, an industry that Bob worked in as an operator and trainer in for much of his life.

When it was first designed back in 2000, the software was called FleetMaster and, as all software was back then, it needed to be installed on either a company server or a personal computer, with the database kept locally. In 2010 Bob realised that the software world was changing and FleetMaster was redesigned and rebuilt for the cloud environment. The reprogramming and testing took around four years and the result was TigerFleet Management, the powerful program that we have today.

Peter Rowland has been involved with the company since its first year, initially as a designer, tester and consultant, and as the company’s senior manager since 2016. Peter has worked in the transport industry in many roles since 1984. He has fond memories of FleetMaster and can personally attest as to just how far the software has come.

In 2019, we relocated to the incredible serviced offices at the University of Wollongong Innovation Campus, to better enable us to service our client’s needs and

Our Products

TigerFleet Management

This is our flagship product. TigerFleet Management is a powerful fleet, employee, contractor and compliance saas platform. It has been trusted by enterprises, companies, sole traders and auditors to demonstrate compliance with national accreditation schemes and regulations. It has all of the tools you need to ensure you meet the requirements of one or multiple schemes, satisfy audit criteria, demonstrate compliance or regulatory guidelines. TigerFleet Management has a proven track record, with 20 years of industry development, and gives you the power you need to succeed every day.

 

TigerFleet Tracking

TigerFleet Tracking has fleet tracking, telematics and driver activity solution with a wide range of options for tracking and monitoring your assets and cargo.

Modern day logistics requires a lot of information for business optimization. In addition to GPS tracking, CANBUS trackers allow you to monitor your vehicle’s engine management system.

Advanced driver monitoring allows you to reduce operational costs, increase safety and comply with your legal requirements.

OBD-II and Engine Management (EM) Port ‘Plug & Play’ trackers can help reduce installation expenses and establish liability with real time tracking, warnings when a theft attempt or crash is detected, trace accidents & get fault reports.

BlueLink is the ideal Electronic Logging Device (ELD) to be used with smartphones or broadband tablets, for fleets looking for ELD compliance with basic fleet management. BlueLink plugs into the vehicle’s ECM port (J1939, J1708 or OBDII port), automatically detects and switches between them and sends via BLE to any ELD App the engine diagnostics data required for Fatigue Management compliance including: Odometer, Engine Hours, Engine ON / OFF. BlueLink ELD also sends additional engine data such as: fuel level, fuel consumption and major engine diagnostic codes. Simply Plugs into Your Vehicle’s ECM and Detects and Auto-Switches Between J1939, J1708, OBDII Protocols

Other products include solar-powered and battery-powered tracking units for trailers, and an RF Tag with built in temperature sensor, specifically designed for refrigerated trailers and containers.

We also have a number of smaller Bluetooth tags and sensors, all have long-life lithium batteries (up to 15 yrs), some have temperature or movement sensors, while others are slimline for pockets and bags or can be attached onto a staff members keyring or uniform. Compact, versatile and water-resistant, these RF and Bluetooth tags/beacons are ideal for tracking anything, including shipments (slip inside a box of valuables or a toolbox), hand trolleys, generators, pressure washers, signs, laptops, PCs and shipping containers. With transmission ranges of up to 500 metres these are simply placed on any asset to be monitored, they are easy to deploy and highly scalable, no IT required.

Combined

TigerFleet Tracking exports data to TigerFleet Management to help you better manage your fleet and real time alerts for approaching tasks. The most logical place to start was with the odometer readings, as the maintenance tasks of most vehicles is based on distances travelled. Vehicles fitted with a TigerFleet Tracking unit reports its odometer reading to TigerFleet Management once a day, every day, so your maintenance staff know exactly how close that vehicle is to its next service.

We are working on other integrations, including engine management fault reports, fuel levels and driver hours to name just a few.

While the two software packages are powerful stand-alone systems, when combined they are a one stop, integrated solution for any company that operates a fleet of vehicles, locally or around the globe.

Our Partners

Gyrus Solutions

The engine room behind the TigerFleet Management platform and API integration is Gyrus Solutions. Gyrus Solutions is a software development team based in Kiev, Ukraine. Founded in 2003, the team has over 15 years of experience in delivering full-cycle application development services to their clients worldwide. Their core activities include Azure cloud; Android applications development; Web-based B2B and B2C solutions; Specialized client-server ERP and data processing systems; Legacy Systems and application re-engineering; Database design, consulting & optimisation; Project recovery and rescue. They provide expertise and software development with industry-wide IT technologies: Core – Windows Azure, C#, ASP.NET MVC, Java (Android), DBMS – Microsoft SQL Server, Azure SQL.

Gyrus Solutions has worked closely with TigerFleet for over five years, consistently delivering the highest standard of service. Without them, TigerFleet would not be the success it is today.

Teltonika

Teltonika have been creating the internet of things (IoT) for over 20 years now and want their products and solutions to be used globally and to become indispensable in any business. Their team of professionals is the key to our partnership with them and the quality of service that we can offer our clients. TigerFleet Tracking uses a wide range of Teltonika vehicle tracking products, each dedicated for professional applications. They constantly upgrade their existing products and launch new ones to meet expectations of their customers. Teltonika also supplies TigerFleet Tracking with a range of accessories which are fully compatible with Teltonika Vehicle Telematics products, which enormously expands devices use cases and create a huge added value for your solutions.

Wireless Links

In 2019 TigerFleet Tracking was delighted to add the powerful Wireless Links suite of devices to its platform. With this association, TigerFleet Tracking can now offer Driving Hours Logging, CANBUS plug and play solutions and Driver Vehicle Inspection Reports as part of your existing Telematics solution or as a new, state of the art solution for your business. TigerFleet will also be working on an accredited Electronic Work Diary (EWD) solution with Wireless Links. All Telematics, Vehicle Inspection and Driving Hours data will be fully integrated with the TigerFleet Management platform to further strengthen our position the market and provide our clients with the most affordable, secure and reliable solution possible.

Nexus One

Nexus One was formed to meet the growing needs of the modern IT landscape. They are an Australian, Sydney based company, with a global reach. Their talented staff possess great enthusiasm when it comes to internet technologies, they welcome fresh ideas and try to build culture that allows them to thrive. Nexus One hosts the mainstay of their infrastructure in the Equinix SY3 data-centre. It provides their customers with the benefits of hosting within an N+1 rated data-centre, which has the state of the art facilities, including Redundant Power, Cooling and Climate Control, Fire Supression and 24/7 Security. They also offer services in the Equinix +ME1 data-centre in Melbourne which has the same N+1 rating for customers that need a higher level of redundancy.

Nexus One provide TigerFleet with Web Hosting, VoIP, Connectivity Solutions and some Hosted Services. Nexus One look after us, so we can look after you.

Our Promise

TigerFleet has risen to its current level by listening to its customers and designing the solutions they need. We are constantly researching opportunities to deliver a better, more cost-effective and increasingly seamless software solution.

TigerFleet strives to provide its customers with the best software platform, with automated or a single data entry point, which then communicates with other leading operational, compliance and financial products.

TigerFleet will POWER its customers into the future with a software solution that continues to be outstanding value for money, reliable and of the highest quality.

We believe every business or user is unique and must be treated as an individual, yet most of the challenges of managing a fleet are very common. This application has been developed using industry best practices in terms of technology selection and feature ease of use which has been provided by industry experts.

At TigerFleet we encompass the latest technology to tackle the rapidly evolving user requirements, thus making the day-to-day tasks more automated and less time consuming. Using our system means you don’t have to concern yourself about updates and installs, your platform will simply scale as your needs grow.

With an understanding of how you manage your vehicles, equipment and employees, we can demonstrate significant administrative and operational cost saving benefits. All we need to do is cover a few key questions so that we can identify the correct solution.

TigerFleet values fairness and diversity within the workplace, and empowers its employees by showing respect for ideas and creativity, providing the training and tools for their development and engaging in meaningful consultation.

Trial TigerFleet for 14 days to experience the true POWER of a complete vehicle, staff and contractor management solution.

Peace of Mind (Part 2) – Understanding Cloud Technology

by | Feb 19, 2020 | cloud computing, data, hardware, internet, privacy, security, servers | 0 comments

Peace of Mind (Part 2) – Understanding Cloud Technology

In part one of this discussion on data protection and technology we looked at some of the ways that you can protect your personal data while browsing the internet and shopping online. This part looks at the shift to cloud technology and protecting data stored in the cloud or on in house servers.

What is Cloud Technology?

Cloud technology has been around for many years now, but the levels of trust in the security of the system and understanding of cloud-based technology varies from person to person and company to company. 

Cloud-based software, simply put, is software that is stored on servers owned or leased by the software provider. The servers are typically held within secure and climate controlled third-party data centres, and all you need to access the software is an internet connection and the software provider takes care of the rest. You typically pay a subscription fee for the software and access it much the same way that you would access a website.

In House Servers

Until relatively recently, businesses that use software packages and share files and folders across their business network would have needed an in house server and a network of workstations with unique addresses. If set up correctly, a workplace network is a simple way of sharing data among employees and does not require an internet connection to operate.

With increased technology (and access to an internet connection or mobile data network) Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and Remote Desktop Connections enabled companies to share a single network with multiple physical locations, both nationally and internationally.

Hosted Servers

Server hosting is a bit of mix of the above, and is a service offered by network providers who run all the software that you would ordinarily house on your internal server on a remote server that they either own themselves or lease. You may have a server dedicated to your company, or you may share a partition of one with someone else. You typically rent/lease an amount of data storage space, same as you would rent/lease office space.

As with cloud-based software, you need your own personal computer, laptop or tablet and a reliable internet connection to access the hosted server. 

Which is Better for my Business?

For many people there is something comforting about having a large server ticking away within a data room on your own premises. You know that your data is sitting in your own building, you are in control of its fate – good and bad, and you are not dependent on a third party provider and the internet speed and stability in order to get your daily work done. But, and this is an important but, you need to protect your hardware, software and data; many companies are at risk of losing its data through inappropriate backup schedules, insufficient hardware maintenance, power surges, viruses, spyware, hacking and a host of other factors. 

Although high-end in house servers can be extremely expensive, and the cost of maintaining them can be high, if you are in an area where you do not have fast and reliable internet this might be your only option. Even if you do have good internet, your own server can be a more cost-effective solution for small businesses, and a lower spec server or a powerful PC might suit all your needs. 

Solid state drives offer faster, smaller and longer lasting computers, which may be an option for your in-house server, but these advantages come with a trade-off. Larger capacity solid state drives are expensive, especially for the better brands, which means that storing large amounts of data locally can be very expensive, and increasing your data storage capacity can be complicated.

Cloud-based systems (including hosted servers) easily allow for multiple users to access your important data in real time, from any device, increasing productivity, access to information and user independence. This reduces business risk and ensures a level of flexibility that on-premises equipment simply can’t offer. You would typically have a known cost per month to access the system and extra storage/users can be added as and when it is needed.

Providers of cloud services are responsible for a broad set of policies, technologies, applications and controls in order to protect the internet portals you access your data through as a client. They are responsible for ensuring the compatibility of the applications and services they provide with the browsers through which you access them. They are also responsible for the security of your information and take care of hardware maintenance, data backups and related services for you.

Although there are many pros and cons of each type of system, and an initial assessment may suggest that the on-premise solution is cheaper, if all factors are considered, cloud-based technology offers much greater value and flexibility.  

A Common Sense Approach

Regardless of what you decide, you still need to have systems in place to prevent data breaches and potential losses. In part one of this series, we discussed how poor password security is responsible for over 80% of data breaches, but leaving computers unlocked, having inadequate virus and spyware protection and sharing your login details with other people can lead to big problems. 

Even though you might have the latest and the best virus and spyware protection installed, the software you have is always one step behind the bad guys. To put it another way, the antivirus needs the virus to exist in the first place for it to be needed, so never ‘assume’ that you are protected from the suspicious email you are about to open.  

How does TigerFleet Store and Protect your Data?

TigerFleet’s main database is hosted on Microsoft Azure servers. Microsoft Azure has the largest global network, servicing 55 regions and 140 countries around the world. Each region is a set of data centres that are interconnected via a massive and resilient network. The network includes content distribution, load balancing, redundancy, and encryption by default.

Azure regions are organized into geographies, and each geography ensures that data residency, sovereignty, compliance, and resiliency requirements are honoured within geographical boundaries. Geographies are fault-tolerant to withstand complete region failure, through their connection to the dedicated, high-capacity networking infrastructure.

Microsoft’s datacenters comply with key industry standards, such as ISO/IEC 27001:2013 and NIST SP 800-53, for security and reliability, and are managed, monitored, and administered by Microsoft operations staff. The operations staff has years of experience in delivering the world’s largest online services with 24 x 7 continuity.

TigerFleet ensures that data stored with Azure is encrypted in accordance with their standards and maintains control of the keys that are used by its cloud applications to encrypt data. Encryption of data in storage and in transit is deployed by TigerFleet as a best practice for ensuring confidentiality and integrity of data. TigerFleet uses SSL to protect communications from the internet and even between their Azure-hosted VMs.

TigerFleet has opted for Geo-redundant storage (GRS) with Azure. GRS maintains six copies of your data. With GRS, our/your data is replicated three times within the primary region. The data is also replicated three times in a secondary region hundreds of miles away from the primary region, providing the highest level of durability. In the event of a failure at the primary region, Azure Storage fails over to the secondary region. GRS helps ensure that data is durable in two separate regions.

If a customer closes their account, they can request to have all of their data destroyed immediately. If this is not requested, their data is retained by TigerFleet for 12 months, which allows the client to export all of their data to Excel if they wish to use it elsewhere (e.g. upload to a new provider). At the end of this period, however, the data is destroyed.

Why Microsoft Azure?

Access to customer data by Microsoft operations and support personnel is denied by default. When access to customer data is granted, leadership approval is required and then access is carefully managed and logged. The access-control requirements are established by the following Azure Security Policy:

Azure provides customers with strong data security, both by default and as customer options. Azure is a multi-tenant service, which means that multiple customer deployments and VMs are stored on the same physical hardware. Azure uses logical isolation to segregate each customer’s data from the data of others. Segregation provides the scale and economic benefits of multi-tenant services while rigorously preventing customers from accessing one another’s data.

Microsoft helps ensure that data is protected if there is a cyberattack or physical damage to a datacenter. This includes in-country/in-region storage for compliance or latency considerations, and out-of-country/out-of-region storage for security or disaster recovery purposes.

When customers delete data or leave Azure, Microsoft follows strict standards for overwriting storage resources before their reuse, as well as the physical destruction of decommissioned hardware. Microsoft executes a complete deletion of data on customer request and on contract termination.

Notes Screen Searchable

by | Feb 8, 2020 | data, Employee, Software, Update, Vehicle | 0 comments

Notes Screen Searchable

Did you know that the notes you make in the TigerFleet Management Vehicle’s and Employee’s Notes screens are now searchable? 
 
We thought that this would be a great place to store all of the information that just doesn’t have anywhere else to be entered, but you would still like to be able to find easily. 

Just to get your ideas rolling, we think that notes would be the ideal place to store the past registration details of a vehicle or the Serial No./Asset Code of a piece of equipment given to an employee. Instead of looking through all of the screens, you can now search the details up straight in the main Vehicles or Employees screen quickly and easily.

TigerFleet releases new vehicle defect management functionality

by | Jan 25, 2020 | Battery, Compliance, Defects, GPS, Solar, Tracking, Vehicle Costs | 0 comments

TigerFleet releases new vehicle defect management functionality

In addition to the existing vehicle management functionality, including service scheduling, fault reporting, repairs, inspections, tyre & brake replacement tracking, and the automated reminders for upcoming or overdue tasks related to these, TigerFleet has just added Defect Notice management to its platform.

Australia has around 600,000 heavy vehicles registered nationwide, with around 200,000 of these in New South Wales.

During the June 2019 quarter 88,421 vehicles units were inspected for fatigue management compliance, valid registration and driver licences, outstanding defects, permit compliance, mass management and load restraints, and mechanical, steering and suspension condition. Of these 10,136 vehicles were issued a total of 12,749 defect notices. Around 72% of these were minor defects, 17.5% were formal warning defects, 10% were major defects and .5% resulted in vehicles being grounded (see Table 1).

Vehicles were also inspected as part of the Heavy Vehicle Inspection Scheme (HVIS), which inspects for roadworthiness and vehicle standards for registration renewal. Of the 24,237 vehicles inspected 11,419 defect notices were issued, with a compliance rate of just 55.1% (See Table 2).

Table 1. Breakdown of vehicles inspected, notices issued and compliance rates for the past 5 quarters. (Data courtesy of NSW Roads and Maritime Service)

Table 2. Comparison of enforcement programs. The compliance rate of vehicles inspected at Heavy Vehicle Inspection Scheme (HVIS) is lower compared to other enforcement programs because the vehicle inspection for roadworthiness and registration is more comprehensive than inspection at a Heavy Vehicle Safety Station. . (Data courtesy of NSW Roads and Maritime Service)

What are your obligations?

In summary, under Chain of Responsibility (CoR), the maintenance obligations of all parties include:

  • Parties must not use, or permit another person to use a heavy vehicle on the road that is unsafe.
  • Parties must not use, or permit another person to use a heavy vehicle that does not conform to an applicable heavy vehicle standard. Heavy vehicle standards arise under the Australian Design Rules and the Heavy Vehicle (Vehicle Standards) National Regulation, which set out various vehicle standards, including general safety requirements such as those relating to steering, tyres and vehicle configuration.

An operator’s responsibilities include:

  • Having an effective Maintenance Management Systems.
  • Ensuring that heavy vehicles are regularly maintained to manufacturer’s standards and inspected in accordance with the applicable heavy vehicle standards (further information can be found at https://www.nhvr.gov.au/safety-accreditation-compliance/vehicle-standards-and-modifications/national-heavy-vehicle-inspection-manual)
  • If a roadworthiness defect is detected, prohibiting the defective vehicle to be used until the defect is rectified and the vehicle is roadworthy.
  • As a minimum, daily checks should include:
  • brakes,
  • lights and reflectors,
  • windows,
  • mirrors and wipers,
  • structure and bodywork,
  • engine,
  • driveline and
  • exhaust

A driver’s responsibilities include:

  • Performing daily checks of the vehicles they are operating.
  • Notifying the operator of any heavy vehicle defect
  • Not driving a heavy vehicle with a current defect that affects safety and roadworthiness.

What penalties are involved?

Under the HVNL, the maximum penalty for a business that permits an unsafe vehicle to be used is $30,000. Jail terms have been imposed on company owners that send drivers out in vehicles that are not roadworthy, including a recent (2017) in South Australia where a 12 year sentence was handed down for offences including endangering life and manslaughter.

Are you compliant?

Check out the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator

Find out More

Follow these links to find out more about TigerFleet’s Management and Tracking software and request your FREE 14 day trial at any time.

You can also take a deeper look at the TigerFleet Management software functionality on YouTube

Disclaimer: TigerFleet has taken due care and diligence in researching the information contained above, using only reliable sources, however cannot be responsible for inaccuracies contained within source data.

Fuel for thought

by | Oct 26, 2019 | Fuel, Savings, Tax, Vehicle Costs | 0 comments

Fuel for thought

Fuel is the single biggest variable cost to a transport company and significantly affects business activities and profit margins. Although fuel costs vary depending on the age, features and condition of the vehicle and changing wholesale and retail prices, a typical bogie drive prime mover typically costs around 63.83 cents per km, or 56% of total variable costs for that vehicle; for an 8-tonne rigid they are around 23.49 cents or 64%, respectively. [Figures courtesy of Business Victoria].

TigerFleet Management tracks vehicle costs over the course of its lifetime, displaying them on the vehicle’s main info screen, and are remarkably similar to the above figures [See Figure 1 (Prime Mover) and Figure 2 (Rigid Truck) below]

Figure 1. Sample costs breakdown for Prime Mover from TigerFleet Management

Figure 2. Sample costs breakdown for a Rigid Truck from TigerFleet Management

While Australia enjoys comparatively lower diesel fuel costs than most other countries [See Figure 3], there is an upward trend in the current calendar year (see Figures 4 and 5) and the longer 40 year term averages that are placing increasing pressure on transport operators (see Figure 6).

The average value for diesel in Australia during the past month was 1.48 with a minimum of 1.47 on 19-Aug-2019 and a maximum of 1.54 Australian Dollar on 07-Oct-2019. For comparison, the average price of diesel in the world for this period is 1.95 Australian Dollar.

Figure 3 – Official statistics from the Bureau of Resource & Energy Economics (Australian Petroleum Statistics) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) show that Australia has among the lowest petrol and diesel prices of all OECD countries. The charts below show the price of petrol and diesel in Australia compared to other countries on both a pre-tax and post-tax basis. [Courtesy of AIP]

Figure 4. National diesel fuel average prices for the 2019 calendar year

Figure 5. Regional diesel fuel average prices for the 2019 calendar year

Figure 6. Although Australia’s highest petrol prices were prior to the introduction of bulk fuel shipping, recent current and real value prices are climbing towards them. Both petrol and diesel prices are seeing a rising trend, despite the welcome low in late 2018.

Fuel Management System

With the ever increasing cost of fuel, it is more important than ever to build a fuel management system to monitor and manage your company’s fuel usage. TigerFleet’s all-in-one system makes monitoring, measuring and analysing fuel usage easier than it has ever been.

Accurate Records

Maintaining accurate fuel records is the key building block of a fuel management system. The TigerFleet Management software allows you to enter fuel transactions as single records or bulk fuel transaction imports via a csv file. This data can come from any source, be it an onsite bowser or a transaction report from a fuel card supplier.

Vehicle Performance

Using TigerFleet’s powerful reporting features, a variety of issues can easily be identified that would otherwise go unnoticed. Check real time performance against established performance benchmarks for your vehicles to help you identify aberrations, the causes of which could range from an inefficient vehicle to cases of skimming or theft.

Driver Performance

A drivers handling of his vehicle has now become recognised as a major contributor to the vehicle’s fuel performance. TigerFleet’s vehicle tracking allows you to monitor key indicators of poor driver performance including excessive idling, poor route selection, harsh braking and harsh acceleration to make sure you’re getting the most out of your fuel dollar.

Are you claiming the right fuel tax credit?

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) allows eligible operators to claim fuel tax credits (Eligibilty tool can be accessed here). These credits are claimed during your normal BAS reporting, which can be monthly or quarterly, and should be done in dollars – not litres.

TigerFleet Management software enables you to bulk upload via csv or individually enter fuel data for your vehicles. If you create a ‘Fuel Tax Credit’ accreditation scheme (or a ‘Fuel Tax Credit – xxx’ for each different fuel type you are eligible to claim for) and add each eligible vehicle and plant to whichever scheme you set up. You can then easily run a monthly or quarterly report with the total number of litres purchased so you can accurately complete your fuel tax claim. Simply multiply the litres by the ATO rate. The current rate for 5 August 2019 to 31 January 2020 appears in Table 1 (below).

The ATO also has a fuel tax credit calculator where you can enter the litre values of the various fuel types and it will calculate the claimable dollar amount. This can be accessed on their website, and is a handy way to confirm that you are claiming the right rate, as rates change periodically during the year.

Note: The ATO changes these credit rates periodically during the year. These rates are announced by the ATO prior to them coming into force, so it is good practice to subscribe to the ATO Small Business Newsroom email list or check the regular RSS feed from them on TigerFleet Management’s Facebook page

Disclaimer: TigerFleet has taken due care and diligence in researching the information contained above, using only reliable sources, however cannot be responsible for inaccuracies contained within source data.