Data management

Online bookings of coach holidays are booming, according to John Roe, managing director of specialist software supplier Roeville Computer Systems.

“They’re being made in stunning numbers and the average value of the holidays being booked is rising too,” he reports. “People seem to be spending.”

Roeville is responsible for developing WebRes, an online reservations package. It’s now in service with a growing number of well-known businesses, including National Holidays, Chandlers, Yorks and Crusader.

“Some firms are now getting up to 20 per cent of their total bookings via their web site,” he says.
Many operators are spending a lot more money on their sites and doing all sorts of things to capture and retain the attention of prospective customers, says Roe.

“They’re making much more use of animations, not to mention on-screen brochures that you click on to turn the pages,” he says. “We’re also seeing more happening in terms of YouTube links, Twitter feeds and blogs.”

It’s part of a growing understanding that sites need continuous development. You cannot simply set one up and leave it as it is for ever and a day.

“Some of our bigger clients are reviewing their sites at least once a year,” he says. “They realise that the internet has come of age and that their web site is their shop window; and they’re offering more incentives to encourage more people to book online.”

Online bookings are cheaper and quicker for operators to handle than those made over the phone or by post. What’s more, the speed and flexibility of the internet makes it easier for them to offer special deals if, for example, a tour isn’t selling as well as they expected and they’ve got vacant seats they need to fill in a hurry.

If they’re in this position then they can also look at past booking histories and contact people who tend to buy holidays at the last minute.

One thing that they’re starting to appreciate is that some consumers are willing to spend time exploring sites in depth to hunt down the holiday they’re looking for.

“The conventional wisdom used to be that it had to be possible to find whatever you wanted in no more than two or three clicks, but that notion has gone,” he observes. “Nowadays consumers are happy to click a lot more so that they can, for example, see which tours have joining points that are close to them.”

While pointing out that there are still coach firms that don’t have web sites at all – to the likely detriment of their future prospects – Distinctive Systems believes that some of those that do are without doubt extending the functionality of the sites they’ve set up. It offers clients the ability to create and maintain a website without the need for any specialist knowledge by using Coach Manager Online.

As well as continually refining WebRes, Roe and his colleagues are continuing to develop t3, a passenger reservation system designed with high-volume operators in mind.

“One thing we’ve done is give users the ability to sell travel insurance completely separately from a holiday booking in line with regulatory requirements,” Roe says. “Something else they can now do is send clients SMS messages advising them of changes in joining times if a coach is delayed; or simply to say thank-you for travelling with us.”

Developed to match the needs of smaller firms, its t2 reservation system is under continuous development too in areas such as, for example, the emailing of booking confirmations and travel documents to clients.

“We’ve been doing more work on our Ph2 private hire package as well,” says Roe. “We’ve just added the ability to email documents such as quotations and confirmations to customers and to send a list of pick-up points direct to a driver’s PDA.”

Roe makes the point that anybody looking to take payment over the internet – payment for a coach tour for instance – is likely to be asked for a PCI certificate of compliance by their bank. With the aim of enhancing payment data security, the PCI Security Standards Council has been set up by companies such as Visa, MasterCard and American Express.

Roeville can help WebRes customers obtain their certificate.

“Thanks to modifications we’ve already made, WebRes sites have been meeting PCI’s compliance requirements for a number of months now,” says Roe. “That doesn’t mean to say that an individual site will pass a PCI check right away though because they’re all different in design and functionality and may require some work done on them first.”

A site has to be scanned at least every 90 days to ensure that it passes the PCI security and vulnerability checks.

PCI certification also requires businesses and their IT provider to complete an annual questionnaire that may include, for example, questions about the anti-virus software they use and how they store card numbers. Roeville can help WebRes clients fill the questionnaire in.

It charges a one-off fee of £50 to set up a PCI account with an annual charge of £200 thereafter. In exchange it will take all the steps necessary to enable its customers to obtain a PCI certificate for their site, including any modifications that may have to be made to WebRes, and an overall compliance certificate for their company.

Modest outlays given the amount of revenue web sites now generate.

Software is having a big impact on bus operation too, and at a variety of levels.

For example, First Berkshire’s on-street revenue inspectors are now making extensive use of Omnibus’ PocketBUS.

Loaded onto a PDA, a smart phone or a mobile data terminal, it can display timetables, departure lists and journey details sent directly from Omnibus’ OmniTIMES package so that inspectors can answer enquiries from members of the public instantly without the need to refer to a timetable book. All scheduled journeys can be seen from any timing point.

PocketBUS allows service data – bus numbers, actual departure times, weather and so on – to be inputted instantly too. It can then be downloaded into a central database and examined in relation to performance targets.

Previously First Berkshire’s inspectors kept paper records, which took a long time to process. They also had the drawback of solely giving reliability figures for the entire network rather than comprehensive data on individual routes.

PocketBUS however allows reports to be produced by depot, route, day of the week or time of day. As a consequence it’s possible to for example identify a timetable change that will result in passengers getting a better service.

So enthusiastic about PocketBUS is Matthew Wooll, who manages First Berkshire’s on-street inspectors, that he’s had it loaded onto his personal smart phone.

“I use it on my way to and from work, when I’m out and about on business or on my days off when I just happen to see buses and coaches in service,” he says. “The extra data I record helps to build a better picture of what’s happening as I quite often make recordings at times when other employees may not be about.

“Drivers know that there could always be somebody out watching them and early running or customer complaints about buses not turning up are now almost unheard of.”

One reason why buses may not arrive of course is because they’ve broken down as a consequence of disorganised maintenance. Workshops have to be managed effectively, and Vehicle Systems Management (VSM) believes it can help.

It offers a workshop control software package under the Trace banner that for example helps operators schedule servicing, MoT tests, statutory inspections and so on.

“One facility it offers is the ability to set up what we refer to as a dummy job card so that time spent by technicians on training, in meetings, cleaning the workshop or simply standing around waiting for a part can be recorded,” says VSM consultant, Bill Davies. “That way, managers can look at their productivity and see how it can be raised.

“We’ve seen Trace users increase technician productivity from 70 to 75 per cent to nearer 90 to 95 per cent,” he adds.

Sometimes that’s achieved by employing a workshop cleaner or somebody to refuel vehicles rather than getting technicians to do it themselves. Technicians are paid more per hour than cleaners or re-fuellers which means that switching them to semi-skilled or unskilled tasks is an uneconomic use of their time.

Another way of boosting productivity is opting for an impress parts stock so technicians aren’t forced to down tools because the local factor’s parts van hasn’t arrived  yet. If the items they need are there already then they can get hold of them and carry on working.

“If you maintain vehicles for other people as well as your own fleet then Trace automatically registers the charge for each job as it is being done at the hourly rate agreed with each customer,” says Davies. “That makes it easy to email an invoice to the customer the minute the job is completed.”

The quicker you send the invoice out, the quicker you get paid. That’s good news for cashflow.
“What’s more, Trace issues a red alert when any job takes longer than the standard time,” says Davies. That should prompt somebody to investigate why.

As well as flagging up when statutory inspections are needed, Trace helps ensure that the inspection timetable is continually adhered to.

“If an inspection was due on 1 May for the sake of argument, but didn’t take place until 7 May for some reason, then Trace will calculate when the next inspection is due by reference to the earlier date rather than the latter one,” Davies says. That should bring the inspection schedule back on course.
VSM is by no means the only software specialist to supply workshop packages. Technopoly offers one under the Accelerator banner while Distinctive markets one called Vehicle Maintenance System.

Never forget that a poorly-run workshop and sloppy record keeping when it comes to MoT tests and inspections will attract the attention of the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency sooner or later; and its inspectors do not look kindly on slipshod behaviour.

That could spell bad news for your O licence.


www.autoprosoftware.co.uk

www.distinctive-systems.com

www.omnibus-systems.co.uk

www.roeville.com

www.technopoly.co.uk

www.tracesystems.co.uk