Bynx South Africa - specialists in the development of Oracle based IT solutions for fleet management and financial services institutions - is implementing a major IT system for Imperial Fleet Services - RTG (Rentals To Government). Imperial Fleet Services, a division of Imperial Holdings and a pioneer in turnkey fleet management solutions, established the RTG division to service a transport outsourcing contract with the South African Government.
Imperial Fleet Services - RTG, under the auspices of the Department of Transport, interfaces with and handles all long and short- term vehicle requirements for the following Government departments, namely: Labour, Transport, Health, Water Affairs & Forestry, Trade and Industry and The Directorate of Public Prosecutions.
Mike MacMurray, Bynx business intelligence director, explains the nature of the IT system developed for Imperial Fleet Services - RTG. "Imperial Fleet Services - RTG was formed as a new division on the basis of the contract secured from Government. Our operational system was then enhanced to include financial management, fleet management, fuel consumption management and long and short term rentals, ensuring that it complied with Government specifications."
"Included in the system is a high degree of business intelligence," MacMurray continues. "Imperial Fleet Services - RTG staff and their customers are able to monitor the progress of any specific elements of their business via Internet based reporting technology. This is a crucial element of the system as it allows end users continual, up to date access to information that will allow them to increase their job performance substantially."
Murray Price, Imperial Fleet Services - RTG executive director, believes that Bynx offered the most viable IT solution for a project of this scope and magnitude. "We did shop around initially - we looked at our own systems and what the development time would be for us to get online, but there was nothing that had the fit to this contract like Bynx offered. The system needed additional development, but any new system on this scale would require extra work, and really, there wasn`t a competitor to Bynx in the market for this contract."
One of the primary features of the Bynx system is its ability to handle the fuel consumption aspect of the contract, where Imperial Fleet Services - RTG charge the Government according to a `fuel consumption indicator`. This essentially means Imperial Fleet Services - RTG charges the Government for fuel according to a predetermined scale, worked out according to the predicted fuel consumption of individual vehicles.
"We take fuel uploads into the system with the fuel interface, which is the most complicated part of the Bynx system," says Price. "It`s really a full management system, it handles discrepancies in mileage and so forth, and we do all of our reporting out of that system. We offer that information via the web to our customers - so they can, for example, monitor online which vehicles are getting weekend fill ups. As we are taking the risk in terms of fuel consumption, the whole system has to be very well managed."
Online reporting and monitoring is an equally vital component of the Bynx system, says Price. "One of the contract requirements was to give the Government five virtual offices across the country, and we originally had the Bynx system rolled out over the country to meet this requirement. But it is a complex system, and you can only see single transactions and logs at a time - it does not give a management overview."
"Together with the Bynx Business Intelligence Division, we moved to web reporting, which gives you the ability to report on any aspect of the business, at any time. This has been a major benefit of the Bynx system for us. Instead of using up a costly user license for a virtual office, we can rather use a reporting tool with no restrictions on the number of people that can use it. End users, be they from within Imperial RTG itself or the Government departments, can receive instant accident reporting, they can monitor fuel usage, fraud reports, accident reports - the list goes on."
The challenge with web based reporting is end user education, says Price. "We have put together a world class reporting system. Now we have to drive the process along with Government in terms of end user education - and they are starting to take notice of the benefits - there has been a definite shift in terms of technology skills within our customer base."
Imperial Fleet Services - RTG employs a staff of 88 people, and manages a fleet of 2 200 permanently allocated vehicles, along with 1 500 - 2000 short-term rentals per month. Servicing six Government departments with this many vehicles is a challenging task, and one that requires an IT system fully tailored to the specific requirements of the contract. As such, Bynx has met the full needs of project, says Price.
"We implemented within three months, which we thought was a record breaker - to go from zero to implementation three months later with full financials and fleet up and running is some achievement. It took us 6 months to become contract compliant, and we are continuing to develop onwards and upwards. This is a six-year contract and we are sure that the system we have in place will create a long- term partnership with the Government. We offer them a system that meets all of their needs, and provides them with additional management and monitoring systems that take advantage of all of the benefits modern technology has to offer."
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