Measure fleet utilisation and capacity

Use journey totals, hardware activity and booking demand to understand whether the available fleet matches the work being requested. This can reveal vehicles that are regularly unavailable, vehicles that see little recorded use and periods where work could be redistributed.

Utilisation data supports a capacity decision; it does not make the decision by itself. Vehicle capability, safety, location, servicing, seasonal demand and contingency requirements can justify keeping a vehicle that has low journey totals.

Before you start

Define the question before choosing a report. Examples include:

• Can suitable vehicles be shared between teams?
• Are booking conflicts caused by total fleet size or by availability at one location?
• Is a specialist vehicle underused, or is it retained for necessary standby work?
• Which vehicles carry most of the distance or engine hours?

Choose a review period long enough to include normal demand and known peaks. Confirm vehicle access, archived records, driver assignments and tracker health before comparing vehicles.

Steps

1. Compare recorded travel

1. Open Reports > Journey Summary.
2. Select the review period and relevant vehicles, then run the report.
3. Compare journey count, distance, journey duration and stopped time. Record vehicles with consistently high or low values for further review.

A low journey total does not necessarily mean the asset is unused. Equipment can operate while stationary, a tracker can be offline, or a vehicle can be reserved as emergency capacity.

2. Measure operating events where available

1. For compatible hardware trackers, open Reports > Utilisation and select Options.
2. Choose the engine or connected-equipment event that represents productive use.
3. Set a duration benchmark, target count and working days that match the operation.
4. Run the report for the same period and review event rows with the charts.

Keep the option values with the results. Changing the event, benchmark or target makes the next report a different comparison.

3. Compare demand with availability

1. Review the reservation calendar for rejected requests, overlaps, repeated peak periods and vehicles that are booked but not used as expected.

2. Separate a location or permission problem from a capacity problem. A suitable vehicle may exist but be unavailable to the requesting person or held at another depot.
3. Check maintenance periods, archived vehicles and known offline trackers before counting available capacity.

4. Test an allocation change

Choose a reversible change, such as adjusting vehicle access, moving one suitable vehicle between depots or directing bookings to an equivalent underused vehicle. Record the start date and affected teams.

Rerun the same Journey Summary and Utilisation reports after a comparable period. Review booking conflicts and service outcomes alongside the tracking measures.

What happens next

Use repeated evidence before adding, disposing of or permanently reallocating a vehicle. A capacity decision should include acquisition or lease cost, service history, vehicle suitability, replacement lead time and the operational cost of having no spare vehicle.

Where dashboards are available, add a small set of journey, idle or utilisation cards for ongoing monitoring. Keep the underlying report as the reproducible source for formal decisions.

Troubleshooting

• A vehicle appears unused: Check tracker connectivity, Journey and Raw GPS data, stationary equipment activity and reservation records.
• Vehicles cannot be compared fairly: Group vehicles by role, capability, depot and expected working days before comparing totals.
• Driver grouping is incomplete: Driver-based utilisation requires a known driver assignment during the event. Group by vehicle to inspect the underlying activity.
• Reservations show conflicts despite spare vehicles: Check vehicle permissions, location, approval state, maintenance and whether the alternatives meet the request.
• Results change after editing options: Restore the original event, benchmark, goal and included days before comparing periods.
• A low-use vehicle is operationally essential: Document its standby, specialist or contingency purpose rather than treating low distance alone as a reason to remove it.