Responding to the growing need among fleet managers for help with ensuring driver compliance with fleet policies, Wheels, Inc., a fleet-leasing company, announced on July 27 a push-email component called Driver Communications in FleetView, its online fleet management tool. The company said it is rolling out additional functionality in early August with future releases planned. FleetView enables fleet managers to leverage Internet technology to complete tasks ranging from inventory management and truck upfitting to driver communications and report generation. "We've seen an increasing demand among fleet managers for tools that speed up and automate the process of ensuring driver compliance with fleet policies," said Stratford Dick, Wheels' director of e-commerce. "Adding push-email improves communication between drivers and the fleet office by automatically providing drivers with up-to-date information on such items as vehicle order status and reducing or eliminating unnecessary phone calls. The results can be seen on the bottom line as costs are reduced while productivity is increased." Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Gordon Food Services, a large, privately held foodservice distributor, relies on its fleet for on-time delivery and service to its 30,000 customers. "Driver Communications eliminates the manual process of researching, identifying and investigating compliance issues and exceptions. It allows me to focus on repeated exceptions and to quickly discern whether there's a driver compliance issue or a breakdown in vendor communications and intervene to correct the problem," said Chad Roberts, manager of fleet administration. "It's also the only push-e-mail I'm aware of that is bi-directional, allowing the driver to immediately respond." Roberts estimates that the tool saves a full day of his time that can be better used investigating and resolving true compliance issues. FleetView Driver Communications offers:

• Automatic Notification or Reminder Templates - Drivers can be automatically notified of any policy event or action that is due, or overdue, based on criteria specified by the fleet manager. A full array of templates is provided for additional ease of use.
  

• Custom E-mail Messages - Managers can create messages covering virtually any topic that can be delivered on a pre-specified basis. Typical scenarios would involve an email reminder about logging mileage to be sent automatically on a certain day of every month, and advising the fleet of a policy change.
  

• Anti-Spam Controls - To ensure that drivers aren't inundated by excessive emails, Wheels Driver Communications provides control features including limits on how often a driver can receive the same message type within a specified timeframe, and the ability to consolidate multiple messages addressed to a single individual into a single message delivered just once during the day.
  

• In-depth Reports and Searches - Detailed reports are available listing messages sent, messages returned and driver replies. Advanced searches by individual driver, vehicle or email address are supported.