1.1 Introduction
Fleet management system is used for monitoring different kinds of motor vehicles such as cars, vans, trucks, aircraft, ships as well as rail cars (Coffee et al, 2003). Fleet Management is a function which allows companies which rely on transportation in business to remove or minimize the risks associated with vehicle investment, improving efficiency, productivity and reducing their overall transportation and staff costs, providing 100% compliance with government legislation (duty of care) (Dabbiere, 2001) and much more. These functions can be dealt with by either an in-house fleet management department or an outsourced fleet management provider (Coffee et al., 2003). Fleet Vehicle registration and tracking is the registration of a Fleet Vehicle with a government authority, either compulsory or otherwise. The purpose of Fleet Vehicle registration and tracking is to establish a link between a vehicle and an owner or user of the vehicle (Wikipedia, 2021).
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
Fleet (vehicle) management can include a range of functions, such as vehicle leasing and financing, vehicle maintenance, licensing and compliance, supply chain management, accident management and subrogation, vehicle tracking and diagnostics, driver management, speed management, fuel management, health and safety management, and vehicle re-marketing. Fleet Management is a function which allows companies which rely on transportation in business to remove or minimize the risks associated with vehicle investment, improving efficiency, productivity and reducing their overall transportation and staff costs, providing 100% compliance with government legislation (duty of care) and many more. These functions can be dealt with by either an in-house fleet-management department or an outsourced fleet-management provider. The number of light duty vehicles registered in commercial fleets in Europe as of 2016 was 15 million, and 19.5 million in North America Even with these record numbers of registration, light duty vehicles represent only 62% of all fleet sales.
The vehicle tracking systems are designed to assist corporations with large number of automobiles and several usage purposes. A Fleet management system can minimize the cost and effort of employees to finish road assignments within a minimal time. Besides, assignments can be scheduled in advanced based on current automobiles location. Therefore, central fleet management is essential to large enterprises to meet the varying requirements of customers and to improve the productivity (Krishna et al., 2010). So taking in action all these things we are going to design and develop a machine, which will track the real time location of the vehicle using blue tooth technology with the help of an android base mobile phones. The ability to accurately detect a vehicle's location and its status is the main goal of automobile trajectory monitoring systems. These systems are implemented using several hybrid techniques that include: wireless communication, geographical positioning and embedded applications. The vehicle tracking systems are designed to assist corporations with large number of automobiles and several usage purposes. This system can minimize the cost and effort of employees to finish road assignments within a minimal time. So taking in action all these things we are going to design and develop a machine, which will track the real time location of the vehicle using blue tooth technology with the help of an android base mobile phones. The main goals of this project is to design and develop an economical model, which requires less power with less complex in structure, easy to implement. An additional setting could be implemented to interface the system to the car's alarm to alert the owner on his cell phone if the alarm is set off.
1.3 Statement of the Problem
Fleet Vehicle registration and tracking is a job that requires accuracy of data and this exercise is required for every new registration. Manual system does not allow fleet manager to online record and hard to keep track on the record of truck. Consequently, difficulty in manual process makes the need for computerized web based application to be developed to solve manual problems in the area of truck management. Therefore, going by this method a lot of problems are encountered which includes:
- Conflicting multiple registrations; caused by assigning a unique identification number to more than one vehicle.
- Difficulty in information retrieval; because of the bulk of registration papers consuming a large space.
- Loss of revenue due to fake registration papers generated and issued to naïve drivers by some fake DOT officials.
- Waste of time caused by manually verifying the validity of a commercial vehicle.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to design and develop a Fleet Management and Tracking System. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows to design and develop a software that will:
- Provide a better, easier and more efficient method of fleet vehicle registration and tracking.
- Allow for the generation and assignment of an infinite unique identification number to fleet vehicles for tracking purpose.
- Provide an accurate and reliable database of fleet vehicle and ownership, for new and existing vehicle registration and tracking.
- Provide an information system for managing daily tax of fleet vehicles.
1.5 Significance of Study
A Fleet Vehicle registration and tracking integrated with a ticketing system for effective task management will be implemented for the directorate of transport will:
- Provide confidentiality by detecting double registration, and provide useful information to track every completed registration.
- Provide integrity as data cannot be modified undetectably from unauthorized users.
- Provide a basis for accurate auditing of tax account, because the system will generate a periodic report on the taxes/tickets paid for.
The research project will help solve the numerous problems associated with the manual way of doing things. Errors, waste of precious time will be eliminated with the system. This will in turn enhance productivity and efficiency in the organization.
1.6 Scope of the Study
The study focuses on the Design and Implementation of Fleet Management and Tracking System using Kaduna State Transport Authority as a case study. The system will be designed using MYSQL and PHP programming languages.
1.7 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet).
1.8 Definitions of Terms
Commercial Vehicle: This is any vehicle used within the campus for commercial purposes.
De-registration: This is the process of cancelling all registration pertaining to a vehicle
Directorate of Transport: This is a department in every campus mostly controlled by the student’s union government that oversees the activities of commercial vehicles.
Drivers Permit: This is the permission given to vehicle owners and drivers to do business with their vehicle on the campus
Ledger: This is a principal book or computer file used for recording monetary transactions generated each day at various parks in the campus.
Multiple Registrations: This is a term used to refer to problems caused by assigning a registered unique identification number to more than one vehicle.
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