DES PLAINES, IL – Steven Loos, chief information officer of Wheels, Inc., delivered a keynote presentation at the 2008 Computerworld Business Intelligence Perspective Conference.

The conference, held last month in Phoenix, Ariz., aimed at exploring best practices in developing and implementing world-class business intelligence and data warehousing solutions. 

In his presentation, Loos stressed the importance of delivering business intelligence solutions directly to the customer.  He included highlights of Wheels' new Decision Tools – Expense Variance and Cost Projection – and the ways they help clients easily understand and manage their expenses.  The Decision Tools are available on FleetView, Wheels' online fleet management system.

"Our Decision Tools are a first-of-their kind in fleet management, and we really feel that they represent the best technology that the industry has to offer for helping customers effectively manage fleet costs," Loos said.

The Expense Variance tool allows Wheels clients to drill down into seven different fleet expense categories in order to quickly and accurately identify where and why their costs have changed over time. This feature uses best-practice guided analysis to help clients review expenses from one period to the next. Clients can easily recognize the factors that are driving their fleet expenses, and understand and explain the complex mix of cost levers across thousands of transactions.

The Cost Projection tool is an online modeling application that focuses on the major elements that affect their fleet costs, such as fleet size, capitalized cost, and fuel prices. The tool contains prior-year and year-to-date data, as well as calculators to help clients make accurate forecasts and weigh alternative budget strategies going forward. With this capability, their budgets can be created in minutes rather than days.

"These tools reinforce our commitment to our investment in customer solutions that focus on the delivery of easy-to-use, analytical capabilities to enable well-run fleets," said Loos. "The conference provided a terrific forum for demonstrating the value of our Decision Tools not only as they apply to fleet, but how similar budget mapping technology could apply to numerous other applications and industries in a time when dependable financial analysis and forecasting are at a premium."