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drivers a tool that is easier to use, potentially even
automated, customized to the type of information
that needs to be collected, is a benefit of moving
to a digital version. "
Clarity of communication is also increased
through digitization.
" Going digital also provides a certain opportunity
to have less room for errors, " Aires continued.
" Digital forms are going to be easier to use. It is
going to be more legible. This improves the entire
operation of the business, reducing the time that it
may take for the back office to have to verify some
of the information or potentially re-communicate
and get in touch with drivers to ask questions. By
bringing it digital, it reduces a lot of those errors
that you may see on the paper side. "
Reports will be cleaner, and so will the sharing
of reports - particularly for drivers.
" You are not having to go out, get a piece of
paper, fill it all out, make sure you hold on to it,
turn it in at the end of the day, make sure it is
in the right slot, grab the new one, look at that
one from an old driver, hope you find it in the
cab of the truck, those kinds of things, " Teletrac
Navman's Flores said of the paper and pencil DVIR
method. " When it is electronic, it is literally right
at your fingertips. If you can articulate the value
of what it is that that tool is meant to do, then
you can climb that mountain a little bit easier, " he
continued, speaking to driver adoption.
eDVIRs also establish accuracy and legitimacy
in reporting practices.
" There are bad habits that can result from
paper-based forms, " Aires warned. " Habits [such
as] simply checking the box, or there is something
that drivers have been known to do, which is what
I'll call 'batch-filing' of reports - basically filling out
all of your inspection reports the last day of the
week when you are returning to the office and you
are handing over a stack of DVIRs, ultimately not
doing them in the moment, but doing them at the
very end. The immediate on-time nature of a digital
form is going to prevent some of those bad habits. "
Additional safety nets of the reporting process
are integrated in some eDVIR offerings.
" [The driver] has to do that pre-trip inspection
before it will let him basically go on his trip, " Adler
explained of Trimble Transportation's built-in
safety feature within their eDVIR solution. " He
can't leave with the truck unless he goes through
the inspection. "
Adjustments can be made to establish best practices
going forward once digital reporting structures
are in place. If a better way of doing things is
revealed to a fleet through the use of eDVIRs, the
fleet can implement that new process immediately.
" If eDVIRs are coming in and they are getting
real-time reported, and if there is a regulatory
issue that you were written up for, this would
allow you to assess that and change your inspection
checklist, " Bedard posed. " From that day
forward, or from that millisecond forward, once
you make the change to your daily inspection, that
would not be missed because it would be part of
your inspection process. "
Challenges and how to curb them
Doing things in a drastically new manner can
certainly be challenging. This is not lost on eDVIR
32 Fleet Maintenance | June 2021
solution providers, as they express common
pain points that may arise in the adoption of a
new technology and offer practices to realize a
successful implementation.
" The biggest challenge is buy-in, " Geotab's
Sutarik said. " Working with the drivers, getting
their feedback, and making sure that they are
trained properly ... Everything is about habits
and getting them to go from A to B is a challenge. "
Driver buy-in is the first hurdle. Introducing
a new technology can be difficult, but ensuring
that the technology's platform is not a foreign
concept can expedite adoption. Accessing
eDVIRs on mobile devices reinforces such an
approach. By not introducing a foreign tablet
that has its own operating and navigation
system (which could cause another level of
complexity for adoption) and, rather, using
familiar devices and processes can help new
users quickly adapt to using eDVIRs. The initial
user experience is going to help drivers get over
that hurdle of technology adoption.
" We are really focused, at Ryder, that the expe»
Using mobile devices to complete eDVIRs
leverages a familiar platform for drivers.
67959440 | Michał Rojek | Dreamstime.com
" When [DVIRs are]
electronic, [data] is
literally right at your
fingertips. If you can
articulate the value of
what it is that that tool
is meant to do, then you
can climb that mountain
a little bit easier. "
Oswaldo " Ozzie " Flores,
product manager, Teletrac Navman
rience is intuitive, " Bosch emphasized. " That it is
easy to use, at a minimum. It has to be on par with
the paper approach, and ideally, it is much better
so that the adoption is something that the customer
is accepting, and it is not just forced on them. "
People today have general expectations as to
how a mobile application experience and navigation
should look and feel.
" One of the places that we put a lot of focus in
is making sure this experience works 100 percent
of the time, " noted Bosch, in reference to the
RyderGyde mobile app. " We are really trying to
empathize with the users and empathize with the
drivers. Put yourself in the driver's shoes: It is the
first time somebody told me to do [a DVIR] digitally
and I am already a little bit hesitant, possibly.
If I go through the experience and it just doesn't
work, well we really have one shot to get them to
use it, and understand it, and be happy with it,
because as soon as it fails, [a driver] will just go
back to paper. We are putting a lot of effort in to
avoid those types of situations. "
The goal for any deployment of new technology
is that the user can pick it up and use it immediately
and do so seamlessly.
" We have a huge focus on user experience
in general, " Aires said of Verizon Connect's
approach. " We employ quite a large team whose
sole role is to make it easier for our products to
be able to be used. "
Though if an eDVIR is so simple to use, will
drivers be able to " cheat the system " and simply
click away on their device? A sort-of digital pencil
whipping? Solution providers have considered
this as well.
" Our mobile app utilizes something that I will
call smart detection software, " Aires stated. " It
actually helps ensure that the driver has physically
walked around and inspected the vehicle.
In addition to going through a checklist, that
mobile technology is also doing a check using
accelerometers in the phone, ultimately detecting
and verifying that that driver has gone outside
the vehicle and done his or her inspections ...
We have employed mobile detection technology
that does provide an extra layer of verification to
the inspection report, ultimately giving the back
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