The first week of every month
An account manager looks after a dozen clients. In the first week of the month, each one needs a report: cost per vehicle, fuel spend and economy, services completed and overdue, licence checks, accidents and fines. The data comes from the fleet system, three fuel card files, the supplier invoice system and the licence check provider. It is exported, pasted, tidied, charted and written up.
By the time the last report goes out, it is nearly the middle of the month, and there is little time left to actually talk to clients about what the numbers mean.
Why reports are built by hand
Your fleet system has reports, but each client wants something slightly different, and the data they want lives partly outside it.
- Fuel card data, licence checks and supplier invoices sit in separate systems.
- Clients want their own cost centres, depots or divisions, which are held in spreadsheets.
- Formats differ: one wants a PDF pack, another a spreadsheet, a third a slide deck for their board.
- Numbers are checked by hand because mistakes in previous reports have been embarrassing.
- Each account manager has their own template.
The price of hand-built reports
Account manager time, which is the most expensive time in the business and should be spent on clients. Late reports. Numbers that differ from one month to the next because the method changed slightly. And reports that describe what happened without anyone having time to say what should change.
The reporting layer we build
- Data is pulled on a schedule from your fleet system, fuel card files, supplier invoicing, licence check provider, fines records and accident records, into one reporting database.
- Each vehicle is tagged with the client's own structure: division, depot, cost centre or driver grade.
- Standard measures are calculated the same way for every client: cost per vehicle, cost per mile, fuel economy by vehicle type, services on time, checks overdue, incidents per vehicle.
- Each client's report is set up once in their chosen format and generated automatically at month end, with checks that flag anything unusual in the data before it is sent.
- The account manager reviews the draft, adds commentary and sends it.
- Clients who want it get a portal with the same figures updated daily, so they are not waiting for the monthly pack.
| Report section | Source | Example measure |
|---|---|---|
| Costs | Fleet system and supplier invoices | Cost per vehicle and per mile |
| Fuel | Fuel card files | Economy by vehicle type, exceptions |
| Maintenance | Service bookings and invoices | Services on time and overdue |
| Compliance | Licence checks, grey fleet | Checks overdue, consents outstanding |
Commentary still comes from people
We can draft a short summary of what changed month on month using a language model, clearly marked as a draft, but the account manager decides what it says. Clients value the judgement of the person who knows their fleet. The point is to give that person the time to add it.
Reports out on time, with room to talk
For an account manager with a dozen clients, the first Monday of the month changes shape. The drafts are waiting. One is flagged because a depot's fuel spend doubled, which turns out to be a new card provider file that arrived in a different layout and has already been corrected. The rest need a paragraph of commentary each, and the afternoon is free for the client calls that used to be squeezed into the following week.
Reports are generated overnight at month end and reviewed in the first days of the month. Account managers spend their time on the commentary and the client conversation. Figures are calculated the same way every month and for every client, so trends are real. New clients get a report set up in their format once, not rebuilt each month.
Is month end swallowed by reports?
- Account managers spend days building client reports.
- Data is exported from several systems into spreadsheets.
- Each client wants a different format.
- Numbers are rechecked because of past errors.
- There is little time left to discuss what the numbers mean.