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 April 16, 2008
Top 5 Fuel Purchase Misconceptions (and How to Avoid Them) Monaco Replaces SaaS Solution with Prophesy Dispatch Prophesy Flash Tour Makes Online Debut A Closer Look: New Scheduling and Assignment Capabilities Customer Feedback: Bert Matter, Inc. on SQL
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Top 5 Fuel Purchase Misconceptions (and How to Avoid Them)
The Trucking Industry continues to feel the pinch of rising fuel costs and we all expect this problem to get worse. Prophesy Transportation Solutions, Inc has a proven solution that has made a real difference for thousands of users. Today we will explore some common misconceptions about purchasing fuel over the road, and tell you more about FuelLogic, our practical solution.
1. Fuel costs, adjusting for fuel taxes, are pretty much the same throughout a geographical area.
FALSE
Truck stop prices vary greatly by geographical region and within a geographical area. It is not uncommon to find a difference of $.20 per gallon or more between truck stops within 100 miles of each other.
2. If I'm able to find a lower pump price, I'm already making the best choice.
FALSE
To maximize your fuel dollars, you must also consider the refundable taxes that are applied to the base fuel cost. For example, consider these two fueling options:
1) Buy Fuel in Indiana at $4.19 9/10 2) Buy Fuel in Illinois at $4.34 9/10
Indiana is the obvious choice, right? Not in this case! Let's look at the details:
Fuel taxes are determined by the miles you drive in each state, not by where you purchase the fuel. In the above example, one fill-up would result in a savings of $15-$30, and over time you can expect to save thousands simply by making the smartest possible choice and purchasing fuel at the lowest net cost.
Sound complicated? Not with Prophesy FuelLogic! Our software handles all calculations for you. With fuel prices updated four (4) times per day via the T-Chek national fuel network, you will always have the most up-to-date information for your drivers.
3. Effective fuel management is time-consuming and expensive, offsetting any savings.
FALSE
With Prophesy FuelLogic the cost is minimal and real-time fueling solutions can be generated by your dispatchers and sent directly to your drivers' cell phones. Best of all, FuelLogic generally pays for itself in less than a month for a fleet size of 25 trucks or more, which means those savings are then added to your bottom line.
4. The potential savings from improved fuel purchasing are not significant.
FALSE
Truck stop prices vary $.30 or more per gallon throughout the U.S. alone. A fuel purchase optimization program such as FuelLogic can easily save a fleet up to $.08 per gallon, which averages $1,000 per truck, per year.
5. Telling my drivers where to stop for fuel will result in additional stops, offsetting savings in fuel purchasing costs.
FALSE
FuelLogic can actually decrease your number of stops while decreasing your overall cost of fuel. FuelLogic's "Stop Fee" and "Minimum Purchase" parameters allow the user to eliminate excessive and/or unnecessary stops.
6. There's finally fuel purchase optimization software available for any company that buys fuel over-the -road.
TRUE!
FuelLogic® by Prophesy. Time-tested, Trucking Industry-Preferred. Email usernews@mile.com or call 800.776.6706 for more info today!
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Monaco Replaces SaaS Solution with Prophesy Dispatch
Monaco Trucking, LLC, is a successful long-haul trucking company based in Grand Rapids, MI. Founded in 2006, their fleet of dry vans, flat beds, and straight trucks haul everything from furniture to food products. Monaco selected the Prophesy Dispatch Solution in December 2007, when rapid growth required them to adopt a more powerful dispatch system.
Monaco began managing its trucking operation with a SaaS dispatching solution. (SaaS, or "Software as a Service", applications reside solely online and are maintained by a provider company for a monthly fee.) At first this seemed sufficient to track their loads, but they quickly became aware of many weaknesses of the online system including inaccurate IFTA reporting, a clumsy fuel card import, and the difficulty with accessing data and information for viewing, customizing, or exporting to other applications.
"I had to jump through hoops to manipulate my data," said co-owner George Mohr. "To send accounting information to QuickBooks, I had to download an external data file from our provider's website, open QuickBooks, and then manually configure and import the data from the file. This was a serious waste of time and only got worse once our company began to grow."
Monaco's strong commitment to solid customer service and fair driver treatment soon helped them grow their fleet to nearly 40 trucks. On top of their disappointment with many features of their current online system, they simply could not justify the growing monthly per-truck charge. At this point Monaco decided to switch to a more robust dispatch system where the cost of the software was not based upon the size of their growing fleet. They felt that they were being penalized for their success.
During a thorough review of various dispatch packages, Mohr discovered the Prophesy Dispatch Solution and liked what he saw. He was surprised to learn that the price of the Prophesy Total Dispatch system was less than he would normally pay to his online software provider in a single year. What's more, the Prophesy package included integrated modules for dispatch, accounting, IFTA tax reporting, log auditing, driver compliance, and much more.
Immediately upon implementation the Monaco team began to reap the benefits of this enhanced functionality. Aside from the obvious advantages in dispatching, their previous difficulties with IFTA reporting and fuel card imports were resolved via Prophesy's IFTA, fuel card transaction import, and EDI capabilities. Using Prophesy's QuickBooks Interface, Monaco now enjoys totally seamless integration between their dispatching and accounting software.
"I am so relieved that we have made the switch to Prophesy," said Mohr. "We have much more visibility and control over our daily operations. Things like tax reporting and accounting are no longer a headache for us. The bottom line is that Prophesy is a whole lot more software for much less money in the long run. We can confidently continue to grow as a company, and that is very important to us." Pairing their own impeccable reputation with the power of Prophesy, Monaco anticipates further growth with the addition of another twenty (20) trucks by the summer of 2008.
For more information about Prophesy's Total Software Solution for Trucking, email usernews@mile.com or call (800) 776-6706.
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Prophesy Flash Tour Makes Online Debut
Prophesy is pleased to announce the unveiling of its new company overview, "The Prophesy Experience", designed to give those in the industry a comprehensive snapshot of the Prophesy Family of Solutions and how they interact. This 4 minute online tour can be viewed at www.mile.com/overview, or by clicking the "Prophesy Experience" graphic on our home page.
The Prophesy Experience tour is the latest development in Prophesy's "Explore. Expect. Exceed." campaign. This initiative projects our strong commitment to providing the best in cutting-edge software and services to you, and in turn allowing you to provide the very best to your customers.
For more information on how your trucking company can Explore, Expect, and Exceed with the Prophesy Total Solution for Trucking, give us a call at (800) 776-6706 or send us an email at usernews@mile.com today.
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A Closer Look: New Scheduling and Assignment Capabilities
Significant new features have been added to our Industry-Leading Dispatch Software to allow intuitive driver and load scheduling, as well as major updates to existing resource assignment functionality. These new features are available at no charge to all Dispatch customers currently enrolled in SIPP, our software maintenance program, as part of our ongoing effort to provide the best product on the market.
The new Load Scheduler window allows drag-and-drop assignment/reassignment of loads to drivers. All drivers and their availability are shown here, and alerts are displayed to warn of conflicts with previously assigned or enroute loads, upcoming time off, physical exams, CDL expirations, and more.
Load Scheduler
The new Driver Schedule window allows you to view drivers' assigned and enroute loads as well as schedule upcoming time off. All time off is color-coded based on reason for easy recognition.
Driver Scheduler
The Assignment screen has been significantly redesigned for improved functionality and convenience. More details are now displayed such as the resource's proximity to the load's pickup point, and warnings now alert you to upcoming physical exams as well as CDL and insurance expirations.
Resource Assignment
These three features work together seamlessly to deliver a truly robust scheduling and assignment module. Never again worry about resource conflicts as all timetable information is available to all office personnel in real-time, giving your company the edge it needs to excel in today's fast-paced trucking industry.
To learn more about Prophesy DispatchSeries software, email usernews@mile.com or call (800) 776-6706 today!
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Notes from the Training Team
New to Trucking? New to Computers? We can help!
By Jennifer Boileau
Two major training hurdles can arise when implementing any new software for your trucking business. The first is training a new employee that may be familiar with computers but is new to the trucking industry. The second is training an employee with many years of industry experience but with very little knowledge of the latest computer technologies.
Chances are if a new employee is from another industry or just out of school, trucking will give him many new terms and policies to learn. Using new software that requires strong familiarity with trucking terms can be frightening to new employees that aren't sure what a "load" is or what "settling a driver's pay" really means.
Here's the other side of the equation: Suppose you have been in trucking for the last 5, 10, even 20+ years, but you are reasonably new to the computer world. What is a "database", and how will it help you get organized? What are "user permissions", and do you need them? Sometimes learning new technology can feel quite confusing.
Our Prophesy Training team can help with either scenario. We provide new employees with the tools they need to transition into their new job role in the trucking industry. For companies with plenty of trucking experience, our training staff will help to ensure that their new Prophesy investment is utilized to its fullest, pairing your company with the best tools available in Prophesy Dispatch to make it easy and efficient.
Our instructors will adapt to the unique needs of your company, to ensure that your Prophesy implementation will make your office better organized and more productive than ever.
Call (800) 776-6706 today to enroll your company in training with the University of Prophesy Team.
See you in class!
~ Jennifer Boileau
To learn more about Prophesy's Training & Consulting services, email usernews@mile.com or call (800) 776-6706 today!
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Ask the Tech Team
Today we will discuss some useful functions that can quickly resolve certain common issues: resetting user views and clearing flags.
When you adjust columns or other visual elements of a screen, these settings are retained as a "user view" so that next time you open the screen it will appear as you had previously set it. Resetting user views can be very helpful for setting the visual elements of one or more screens back to their default settings in one click. For example, if you have moved and resized several columns in a window and are unhappy with the results, it may be easier to reset this window's view settings to their defaults than to manually fix each column.
To reset user views:
"Flags" are simply indicators that tell the program that an action is being or has been performed, such as whether you have posted an invoice to your accounting system or are currently viewing a report. In the event that your computer stops responding or is turned off while you are performing certain actions in the Prophesy software, the system may continue to think that you are still performing the action and will not allow you to begin it again. If this occurs, you can easily clear the appropriate flags to tell the system that you have in fact stopped the action so that you are able to perform it again.
To clear flags:
Ask a question! If you have a question for the Prophesy Tech Team, email it to usernews@mile.com and you could see it answered in a future issue of the Prophesy eZine.
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Customer Feedback: Bert Matter, Inc. on SQL
Hi there Kevin -
I just wanted to say THANK YOU for whatever you did to the Prophesy program. I absolutely LOVE it. It is so incredibly fast! It amazes me how much faster I am able to whip through my work, and to be able to change screens quickly -- no more waiting. I love it, thank you thank you thank you. Have a great week!
- Julie @ Bert Matter
P.S. Let me know next time you're coming in and I'll make you cookies.
~~~
In December of 2007, the team at Bert Matter, Inc. implemented the SQL Server upgrade for their Prophesy DispatchSeries Software. The above email was sent on the very day they installed. Julie could immediately see a dramatic difference in processing times (and also in the time it took to get her job done). We are proud to share the progress and feedback of our users.
If your company has not yet made the transition to the SQL Server upgrade, please take a moment to discuss this option with your dedicated Account Manager. We are here to help you to maximize the capabilities of your software investment. Contact us today at (800) 776-6706 or via email at usernews@mile.com.
Besides lightning-speed processing, here are 4 more reasons to make the switch to SQL!
For details on switching to SQL, contact your Account Manager at (800) 776-6706 or send us an email at usernews@mile.com.
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Copyright 2008 Prophesy Transportation Solutions, Inc.
All trademarks property of their respective owners |
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