How can construction companies avoid the hidden pitfalls of fleet-maintenance software implementation?
Imagine the following scenario. A decision has been made to implement a fleet-maintenance software package. The return on investment is justified, the increase of efficiency and transparency through its use are qualified, and the management team has already signed off on it. Now all that’s left to do is to implement it.
Fleet-Maintenance Software Implementation Challenges
Many aggregate and construction companies face a wide variety of difficulties throughout fleet-maintenance software implementations ranging from the initial data setup to accounting disbursement rules, batch imports/exports, and even standardization of process flow, to name a few. However, it’s not until after the implementation is complete and the system goes live that an even larger problem begins to quietly take form in the background.
This looming problem sits at the intersection of measuring the fleet maintenance system’s projected return on investment in post-go-live and managing the key performance indicators that the system is set up to capture. It is easy to have a “set it and forget it” approach once a new system has gone live and the initial operational training kinks have been worked out.
However, this mentality sets the stage for an immense and deflating problem––how do you know if this system is actually saving you money as projected and what value are you extracting from the newly available data and reporting? A good gut-check is to ask yourself, “Are the new reports clear and concise in measuring KPIs (key performance indicators) and are you able to make sound business decisions based upon the reports?”
Oftentimes the answer to the question posed above is no. If this is the case, there is a good chance that the company is at risk of not maximizing the value of the systems implementation. Further, in order to provide a more comprehensive checklist of the long-term health regarding your system implementation, review the five key factors of successful KPI-driven fleet-maintenance programs below; if the answer for all questions below is yes, then your implementation is well positioned for success in the long term. However, if any of the five key factors of KPI-driven fleet maintenance are not present then both the implementation and adoption success rates become largely compromised.
Five Key Factors of KPI-Driven Fleet Maintenance Programs
The following five factors combined have the potential to make or break an implementation project, please take a moment to review all five and reflect on how each individual item has been managed with respect to your own operation:
- Key performance indicators must be clearly stated and agreed upon. Without a unanimous buy-in from all stakeholders on the official KPIs it will be very difficult to enforce standardization of measurement.
- End-user training must be delivered on how to access and run KPI reports, followed by end-user proficiency management on execution and analysis of reports to which the company will be measured against. If key personnel are not efficiently trained to execute and analyze reports then an operation cannot achieve analytical growth or measure their own success.
- The strategic impact and projected return on investment by use of the system and its KPI reports must remain in the foreground of implementation, go-live, and support discussions to reinforce the fundamental purpose of the system’s implementation. If implementation discussions do not include time to review the official KPIs and the marked return on investment then these critical components become easy to forget and are often left out of the standard operating procedures in post go-live.
- Reports specific to KPI measurement must be run at regular, agreed upon intervals, by all operating companies and divisions (using the same parameters) to strengthen the cultural adoption of KPIs as well as to effectively manage the KPI results across companies/divisions. If a specific date/time is not established and agreed upon to run and review KPI reports at regular intervals, then the largest goal of the implementation has failed. The timing of collective report execution and analysis (at regular intervals) is imperative to understanding company trends and making informed business decisions.
- Business decisions must be guided by KPI reporting to support analytical business growth and maximize the utility of data being collected. If the company(s) is not utilizing the available KPI reporting to reinforce or guide business decisions, then the true value of the system is not being realized.
Overall, KPI-driven fleet-maintenance programs can help a company grow tremendously if used correctly. It is imperative for these five key factors to be carefully considered and built into the program implementation plan to avoid system rejection, inaccurate reporting, and negligent business decisions. By using these five tips within the planning phase and interlinking them to the deployment phase, the overall success rate of the implementation will be dramatically increased!
by Alan Welsh, consultant, Tilson.
