SAP Fleet Management: two new innovations

The SAP fleet management project we started this summer is moving forward nicely, and we've continued to innovate our fleet management solution for companies on SAP in two notable ways.

First, we've enhanced the fuel management interface with improved navigation for correcting odometer reads. It's now even easier to make and verify odometer corrections, which help determine when to bring vehicles in for service. We've also built standard reports that enable fleet managers to track vehicle usage along a time continuum to detect underuse or misuse based on miles driven, miles per gallon, and fuel consumption.

Second, we've automated the process for setting up new vehicles in SAP. Rather than enter each fleet unit individually in the SAP GUI, which is time-consuming and error-prone, we've added an "easy button" to the HPC Fleet Panel (shown above) that uploads multiple vehicles' master data from a single spreadsheet. This process not only creates many new vehicles in minutes, but also creates the appropriate measurement points and measurement documents automatically. Following that step, our fleet solution for SAP automatically assigns the correct maintenance plan and schedules the notification for the first service. This greatly streamlines the work involved in getting new fleet units into your SAP ERP the right way, the first time.

To learn more about how the HPC fleet template for SAP can benefit your organization, please contact us.

SAP Fleet Management for utilities

We're starting another SAP Fleet Management implementation for a utility company this month, based on the HPC Fleet Template and our proven best practices for preventive maintenance schedules, notifications, and fleet costing at utilities on SAP.

This latest project will consolidate several legacy fleet systems into SAP using standard SAP Plant Maintenance and Materials Management functionality—plus HPC America's "fleet dashboard" that provides easy, user-friendly access to common fleet management tasks in SAP for mechanics, fleet managers, and other administrators.

The HPC Fleet Dashboard provides quick access to the daily functions required to maintain vehicles in SAP from purchase through retirement. 

SAP Fleet Management and Fuel Fraud

Our recent work integrating SAP Fleet Management with fuel consumption data has raised the issue of identifying potential fuel fraud. Large fleets face the risk of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars in unauthorized fueling, so distinguishing fraudulent and legitimate consumption is critical.

When a fleet is vulnerable to siphoning, side fueling, cloned fuel cards, and other shady behavior, Fleet Managers should of course watch out for unusual purchases such as multiple pump transactions in quick succession, irregular fueling locations, and purchase quantities that exceed a unit's actual tank capacity. Some of these occurrences may have perfectly acceptable explanations and reasonably easy fixes—for example, a driver who fills up his truck and the equipment it's towing with the same gas card, contrary to policy of using cards unique to each asset.

But other situations require a bit more detective work when reviewing mileage and odometer readings in SAP. Dramatically lower fuel economy could be due to hauling something heavy—or an indicator that fuel purchased with the company's card may be going into another vehicle. A new odometer read that's lower than the prior read could simply be an inadvertent transposition error—or a bungled attempt to hide an unauthorized fuel purchase. The HPC Fleet Management template for SAP pinpoints these anomalies, such that Fleet Managers can interpret the data within the full context of their departments: who's driving, which vehicle, where and for what work? And in our experience, that's key: while the data in SAP is foundational, results come from the analysis of it and a real understanding of staff behavior.

SAP fleet management & Wright Express integration

Over the last several months, we've been implementing SAP fleet management with integrated fuel consumption data for a utility company based on HPC's SAP fleet management template. As we approach go-live, here's a rundown of the business process scope and benefits:

• SAP Easy DMS for digitizing documents and photos for each vehicle
• Wright Express Integration to monitor fuel consumption, miles driven and MPG automation
• Preventive and Corrective Maintenance via the SAP Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) module
• Automated Fleet Rentals through Kronos Timesaver fleet usage and integration to SAP via ePersonality and Excel uploads

Once live, the SAP system will know the exact mileage for each vehicle via the Wright Express integration. This means that our customer will no longer be required to collect odometer reads manually or calculate mileage on Excel spreadsheets. SAP will do all of this automatically, including calculating service notifications in real time and generating work orders for Preventative Maintenance. The system will also accommodate Corrective Maintenance with user codes already in place.

All labor and external parts invoices will be entered into SAP, so a full costing for each vehicle will be performed. At go-live, the manual processes associated with the customer's old Maximo system—odometer reads, fuel consumption, MPG, wage rates, new order requests, actual cost data entry, Maximo timecards, etc.—will no longer be required, so the customer will simply be able to stop performing them.

When fleet units are acquired, inspected, and sold, all associated documents (e.g., bills of sale, DMV records, etc.) will be scanned and uploaded via SAP Easy DMS. The days of misplaced titles and smog records are over.

Other benefits include significantly reduced manual data entry, far greater integration of important data in SAP, and several big steps towards eliminating Maximo and all of its associated costs.

Learn more about our approach to SAP fleet management and integration with fuel consumption data.

SAP Fleet Management and fuel consumption data

As we mentioned earlier in the month, HPC has developed a template for improved fleet management on SAP by integrating mileage and fuel consumption data. Our approach retains preventative maintenance schedules and costs in SAP; allocates fuel costs per vehicle; and derives truly accurate fleet rental prices based on actual cost of service. And all with a single point of entry that improves operational efficiency. Learn more about our SAP fleet management settings for utilities.