An investigation of organisation fleet management systems. Case study: American Embassy Kampala

Abstract

Background The purpose of this study was to analyse fleet management systems in organisations with the aim of establishing if they have met the expectations of the organisations. The study explores fleet management in organisations, studies the financial implication of fleet management systems and measures the effectiveness of fleet management systems in the organisation.

Methods This study was done using a case study specifically, the American Embassy in Kampala. Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data. Data was collected and analysed using online tools that required a subscription on surveymonkey.com and presented in a descriptive nature.

Study Findings Findings indicated that the U.S. Embassy established an in-house fleet management system to solve challenges with manual management of the fleet. The findings show that the fleet management system has met the expectations of the U.S. Embassy by providing vital information for financial and managerial decision making and planning. The fleet management system provides benefits that include improved driver behaviour, reduced accidents, improved fuel efficiency, management analytics via a simplified and summarised dashboard, route planning and improved vehicle maintenance schedules.

Recommendations Recommendations were made to further increase the benefit derived from implementation of the fleet management system. These include, obtaining immediate feedback from users, provision of an offline FMS to allow faster learning for new users, setup a call centre that is in the same time zone for swift problem resolution, and cross training of staff to improve proficiency in the entire system as opposed to only those modules they work with daily.