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Bus Ride Magazine: Wading Through a Sea of Software and Landing the Right System for You

By Shawna Rae Kemppainen
Printed in Bus Ride Magazine, May/June 1999.
Copyright 1999 Bus Ride Magazine. Reprinted with permission.

Will you cross a "bridge" today, without ever leaving your desk? Can you retrieve the "bitmap" of a road map? You know buses, but do you know what a "bus" is? You are an expert at transporting people and operating coaches. Don't feel guilty if you can't write a "cookie" that won't crumble. After all, Bill Gates probably doesn't know when his brakes need refining, or what ADA stands for.

In business, figuring out the right question to ask is often half the battle. This is especially true when faced with the challenge of purchasing new technology.

If you're considering investing in new fleet management software but aren't certain where to begin or what specifically to ask for, considering this first set of questions should help.

• Is your hardware getting old and starting to fail?
  
  
• Is the software you have no longer supported and starting to break down?
  
  
• Is your current system more a series of manual independent functions than integrated network?
  
  
• Are you unable to find new ways to use the software you have to keep up with company growth?
  

If you answer yes to any of these questions, then a new fleet management software system may be the solution you're looking for. Consider the following when searching for transportation software that is right for your company.

Involve everyone in the decision

"Quite often management takes control of the purchasing decision without consulting the front line operations people who will be using the system," says Bill Harnett, general manager of RBS, a software provider and developer based in upstate New York that specializes in motorcoach systems.

Reservation takers, planners and dispatchers are the employees whose work will depend on what eventually ends up on the desktop. Including them in establishing criteria, selection and evaluation of software needs will help them feel connected to the company and be less resistant to system changes.

If you have key employees who fear computerization, pay for introductory computer classes to show you are dedicated to their success. Investing in your quality personnel now will pay off in the future.

Know and rank your priorities

"As you review your options, determine what the software absolutely must do for you, then rank the niceties," says Charles Johnson, principal at Total Contract Solutions (TCS), a transportation industry consulting firm out of Houston that specializes in contracting and procurement.

Identify key statistics and know what software is involved for custom reports, such as response time by time-of-day, demand by zone, passengers per revenue hour and the like.

Plan for growth

Buy for your present needs but anticipate what you will need in the future. Harnett encourages customers to "take an evolutionary rather than a revolutionary" approach to integrating new technology into their operations. He says a modular approach to systems integration allows you to spread out the cost and puts less stress on personnel. It is easier to learn one thing at a time than everything at once.