Exploring the Features of the Odoo Fleet Management Module

Fleet management is a complex, sophisticated process that involves managing and supervising an organization’s fleet operations, such as fleet driver management, vehicle repair and maintenance, cost control, compliance and regulatory management, etc. Odoo offers a dedicated app for fleet management, which provides an easy-to-digest overview of vehicles, costs, drivers, contacts, repairs, and much more.

This blog explores the features and capabilities of the Odoo fleet management module for streamlined transportation.

Understanding Fleet Management 

A fleet refers to a collection of commercial vehicles, such as aircraft, buses, cars, trucks, etc., under the control of an organization. Many businesses, including petroleum, construction, cab services, delivery services, and logistics & transportation, have their own fleet to manage their operations on time.

Well, managing a fleet comes with its own challenges. It becomes essential for businesses to maintain their fleet’s operational efficiency and safety and ensure compliance. This is where the role of fleet management comes into play.

Fleet management is a systematic process of organizing and coordinating work vehicles to optimize their use, control costs, improve efficiency, and ensure safety. This process requires a combination of a fleet manager, technology, and data for effective management.

Did you know that the global fleet management market in 2020 was evaluated at approximately $19.47 billion and is estimated to reach around $52.50 billion by 2030? 

The benefits of fleet management are manifold; a few of them are as follows:

• Locate and track fleet vehicles
• Reduce gas and labor costs
• Enhance fleet and driver safety
• Regular vehicle maintenance
• Comply fully with state and federal regulations

Generally, fleet managers leverage fleet management software to gain a clear, comprehensive picture of their organization’s fleet operations.

But what exactly is this software? Let’s discuss it below.

What is the Need for Fleet Management Software? 

A fleet management software is a digital solution that offers insights assisting organizations in maintaining and managing smooth fleet operations. It offers real-time data into vehicles, vehicle routes, road conditions, and operational progress.

In short, a fleet management system manages all vehicle-related operations, from purchasing new vehicles and their repair and maintenance to managing the crew of drivers.

Why do you need fleet management software? 

Consider that you purchase or lease a vehicle for business use. There are a lot of factors in the cost that come with the ownership of a vehicle, such as insurance, storage, gas prices, maintenance, etc. This is just for a single vehicle. Now, imagine the same for a fleet of five to six or more vehicles.

Isn’t it strenuous and burdensome? Obviously, yes! As a result, organizations use fleet management software.

However, the major issue with these software systems is they require integration with multiple third-party tools to manage other business aspects, such as accounting, inventory, human resources, etc.

Odoo ERP solves this issue, as it is an integrated platform that offers numerous modules for different business operations. It offers dedicated Fleet Management software that considerably simplifies fleet management.

Features of Odoo Fleet Management for Streamlining Transportation

Odoo Fleet management is a comprehensive solution to streamline your organization’s fleet operations. Whether it is handling vehicle contracts, vehicle costs, fuel log entries, vehicle tracking, or vehicle insurance, Odoo does it all efficiently without requiring you to use any other systems.

In addition, Odoo’s user-friendly interface allows you to manage everything with ease. It simplifies managing leasing and all other contracts for your vehicles with a warning email that indicates the expiry of a contract. Visual tools are put together to help you remember the renewal of contracts.

More interestingly, the Odoo fleet management module seamlessly integrates with other Odoo modules, such as Employee, Accounting, Expense, Project, Approval, Sign, and Website. This eliminates the hassle of managing multiple software systems for different purposes.

Odoo automatically adds all costs associated with your vehicles and recurring contracts to the accounting. Plus, a reporting tool helps you visualize the costs related to each vehicle and service. It provides useful insights into the effective returns on each vehicle.

Let us now explore the features of Odoo Fleet Management in detail.

• Vehicle Organization 

Streamline the vehicle acquisition process by creating and organizing all its stages, including request, to order, ordered, registered, reserved, waiting list, and many others. Odoo’s dashboard supports the Kanban view that lets you easily observe the status of each vehicle in your fleet.

• Fully Customizable 

The dashboard is fully customizable, allowing you to create categories depending on your organization’s fleet needs.

• Driver Management 

Odoo Fleet Management makes driver management effortless. You can select the current driver and call the next driver scheduled for that specific vehicle.

• Model Details

Odoo provides a form for each vehicle in your fleet where it has a section to enter all the detailed features and specifications, such as the color, number of doors, seats, vehicle brand, model number, registration number, etc.

• Document Organization 

You can create a repository where you can store all your vehicle’s documents, from service records to warranty information.

• Engine Specifications

Another section in the vehicle form is allocated for engine specifications, which include horsepower, CO2 emissions, etc.

• Fuel Log

This feature keeps track of the replenishment of every vehicle to get a clear idea of fuel consumption. To accomplish this, Odoo provides a predefined fuel card for each vehicle that records transactions automatically.

• Service 

Odoo Fleet Management logs every repair and maintenance of each vehicle. It enlists all details, such as the type of service, vendor, cost, and other necessary information.

• Cost Management 

This feature lets you see the total money spent on each vehicle, either by the time period or vehicle. You can distinguish the cost associated with every vehicle’s contract and service.

• Odoometer

With Odoometer, you can keep track of the mileage of any vehicle at any time.

Remarkable Benefits of Odoo Fleet Management 

Here, we have enlisted a few noteworthy benefits of using Odoo Fleet Management for your organization:

• Centralized Data Management

Odoo Fleet Management allows you to record and store all information about each vehicle in your fleet, such as maintenance cost, vehicle details, fuel consumption, etc. This data centralization allows you to fetch information about any vehicle with a single click.

• Cost Control 

As you can keep track of all costs (insurance premiums, maintenance, fuel expenses, etc.) associated with every vehicle, you can cut down unnecessary costs or manage your budget effectively.

• Fuel Management

With a fuel log, you can know the fuel restoration of every vehicle. You can optimize fuel usage and reduce fuel expenses by optimizing routes.

• Optimized Route Planning 

Odoo’s Inventory module offers a feature of Advanced Routes, where you can use push and pull rules to create custom routes. You can plan and optimize routes for your vehicles and reduce travel time, fuel consumption, and fuel expenses.

• Analysis and Reporting 

A reporting tool provides insights into costs associated with each vehicle. It lets you know which vehicle’s cost is high, what types of services are performed on each vehicle, what is the cost of each service, and many other aspects. Plus, extract insights into the effective return of each vehicle so that you can improve fleet investments.

Conclusion 

Fleet management involves a plethora of activities, which makes it challenging for fleet managers to handle them accurately and on time. However, fleet management software, like Odoo Fleet Management, significantly reduces the overhead of fleet managers by streamlining operations and offering valuable insights into every vehicle’s performance and costs. Plus, this software is a part of Odoo ERP, which facilitates integration with other modules like accounting, employees, expenses, etc. This eliminates the need to manage multiple third-party systems.

Are you a fleet management company looking for a personalized solution to manage and streamline fleet operations? If yes, look no further than Ksolves, an Odoo Gold Partner. We are an Odoo development company with an experienced team of highly skilled Odoo specialists who listen to customer needs and develop and deliver tailored ERP systems. Whether it is Odoo implementation, migration, customization, or integration, Ksolves has everything to offer. In addition, we are an Odoo consulting company where we connect you with our specialized Odoo consultants to ensure your needs are met.