Santa Barbara Offers 24/7 Access to its Motor Pool

How the County of Santa Barbara Integrates AssetWorks FleetFocus™ with its Automated Key Dispatch System

Santa Barbara County has been a AssetWorks fleet management customer for over twenty years and uses the FleetFocus Motor Pool Module to manage its staffed locations. In 2006, the county added a fully automated motor pool dispatch and online vehicle reservation system. This new motor pool model allowed for increased fleet efficiency and 24/7 vehicle access without the need of any additional staff.

Reducing overall fleet size and improved utilization of the county’s vehicles has been a key performance objective for the county fleet department. Transitioning the fleet more towards a motor pool model has been instrumental in helping the county fleet achieve its goals.

With the introduction of the new automated system, provided by INVERS Mobility Solutions, the county was presented with a new challenge: they now had data storage in two separate databases from two separate companies – AssetWorks FleetFocus and INVERS. The county turned to AssetWorks to build and deploy a motor pool dispatch and return interface with INVERS.

Mitch Guenthart, Santa Barbara County Fleet Manger stated, “I called AssetWorks to inquire whether they would assist me with an interface that would link the county’s two important fleet systems. To my delight, AssetWorks embraced the idea and was very enthusiastic about the project. With a noncompetitive and cooperative spirit, AssetWorks worked hand in hand with INVERS to find an innovative solution to linking our INVERS automated motor pool system with our FleetFocus database.”

Mitch Guenthart cites the following advantages of vehicle pooling:

• Fewer number of assigned vehicles meant fewer replacement vehicles would need to be purchased annually
• Maximizing use of the pool fleet would result in lower vehicle rates for all users
• Pool vehicles could be properly serviced and maintained by vehicle operations staff for employee safety
• More shared vehicles would result in more available parking spaces at important county sites
• “Ride Share” users can benefit from shared trips to common destinations
• Increased accuracy of record keeping (via automated systems), and less internal “soft” costs often associated with processing personal vehicle reimbursement claims

Guenthart notes, “Santa Barbara County now has a seamless method of sharing information between the two systems. Throughout the project, AssetWorks provided Santa Barbara County with outstanding customer service. AssetWorks was a delight to work with and I very much appreciate their professionalism.”

How it works:

County employees access the INVERS on-line reservation system (using their employee number and PIN) where they specify individual reservation details (type of vehicle, time/date required, location of vehicle pick-up) to reserve their desired vehicles. A confirmation e-mail providing the reservation details and a confirmation number is sent to the employee. The reservation information is updated in AssetWorks FleetFocus through MAXQueue.

At the time of dispatch, the employee may be served at one of the staffed kiosk locations or may obtain the vehicle keys from the KeyManager™ box, located at various manned and unmanned motor pool sites throughout the county. Each pool vehicle is equipped with an immobilizer device developed by INVERS, which functions both as a security feature and a data collection tool (date, time, mileage driven, etc.). To collect the key from the box, employees either enter a reservation confirmation number or swipe a motor pool smart card DataFob™ to open the KeyManager™ box. He or she can remove the key for the reserved vehicle, gaining access only to the vehicle for which he or she has a current reservation. Attached to the key ring is a transponder, called the DataKey™, which is used to disable the immobilizer and record trip data via an onboard computer. At the end of the trip, this information is transmitted to the KeyManager™ via the DataKey™ when the vehicle key is returned. All the trip information is then transferred into AssetWorks Fleet- Focus™ for accurate trip billing.

Mitch Guenthart continues, “There is a trend towards optimizing vehicle utilization, fleet size reduction and car sharing. These are all areas where an automated motor pool gives the customer an immediate and large return on investment.”

Some immediate observations from the project were noted in the county’s assessment of the project:

• Expansion of motor pool services without increasing staff
• Departments in Lompoc with underutilized vehicles are now turning in cars and using the motor pool
• A reduction in the number of assigned vehicles has helped alleviate parking problems
• The automated system was very well received by county employees