With DeDeNet’s digital telematics solution, Steber-Tours streamlines the entire dispatching and tour planning process, from quotation to execution to billing, making it faster, easier, and less error-prone. By optimizing planned routes and eliminating paper documentation, the company also makes a significant contribution to sustainability.
The challenge: Planning a wide variety of journeys and flexibly taking customer wishes into account
Not all bus trips are the same. Tour groups, school routes, ambulance transport and scheduled services form a broad portfolio that the family-owned company Steber-Tours covers with its fleet of buses. Steber attaches great importance to keeping the entire vehicle fleet at the cutting edge of technology and environmental friendliness at all times. In both deployment planning and day-to-day operations, there was a desire to transition from paper-based tour plans and records to a digital alternative. Monthly planning lists in passenger transportation are often outdated by the time they reach the vehicles. The need for subsequent corrections is correspondingly high, involving all the associated challenges, from the legibility of handwritten entries to incomplete documents. One example is the planning for a large vocational school with numerous classes, schedules, times and corresponding organizational variables: Thus, several hundred kilometers accumulate daily for a customer, which are to be driven efficiently, in a resource-saving manner and, above all, realistically feasible.
Managing daily tasks out of habit might still be possible in this form, but participating in tender processes becomes a Herculean task. Steber-Tours regularly participates in municipal tenders and thus required reliable route, fleet and deployment planning. In addition, quotation calculation, route optimization and job accounting were to be automated and the transfer of information between drivers and headquarters facilitated. DeDeNet has developed the industry solution DeDeFleet Passenger Transportation 4.0 for precisely these tasks, which supports the entire dispatching of driving personnel and vehicles with a database. The solution also offers a special app for communication with drivers.
DeDeNet GmbH thus fully met the requirements of Steber-Tours. Hardware and telecommunications contract provided by mutual partner Telekom Deutschland.
The solution: From paper to app - operating flexibly and planning optimally with the right telematics solution for passenger transportation
From paper to the app: Some crucial information gets lost in the paper-based operation. The data import via interface reliably provides all required information. Admittedly, acceptance can be a challenge when it comes to digitization measures. At Steber-Tours, however, it took only a short time to get even older employees excited about using the app, because DeDeFleet makes their day-to-day work noticeably easier. This means that even in the event of order changes, they always have up-to-date information on the tours with specific notes and can update the order status directly. Time-consuming telephone queries from the head office about the tours driven are now just as much a thing of the past as cumbersome documentation of the trips made. This creates flexibility for Steber-Tours employees to confidently handle changing tasks and adjustments in tour scheduling while accommodating customer requests.
With DeDeFleet, Steber-Tours also fulfills the documentation requirements that apply to passenger transportation companies. DeDeNet’s extensive experience in this field ensures the necessary security of personal data. The data itself is hosted and maintained by DeDeNet and is available to customers at any time in the DeDeFleet portal.
Every coordination process requires a lot of exchange. At Steber-Tours, the entire process can be accessed digitally at any time thanks to DeDeFleet Passenger Transportation 4.0, so that everyone involved can access the same data status in real time and document their results directly. Different versions and outdated documents are a thing of the past, as are long paper lists. With the direct connection to existing ERP solutions such as SAP or MS Dynamics NAV as well as transport management systems such as WinSped or CarLo, the workflow is once again significantly simplified. Information only needs to be entered once, and once the tour is complete, all the necessary information is ready for billing.
The result: Lean processes, efficient tours
DeDeFleet displays the current and actual status at the push of a button. For drivers, manual time and route recording is no longer necessary; the relevant data is immediately available for payroll. The necessary documentation of journeys is also liberated from paper floods, making it significantly more flexible and environmentally friendly. Existing information on customers and orders can be easily transferred to the DeDeFleet portal via various import functions and interfaces. At Steber-Tours, the actual implementation of DeDeFleet Passenger Transportation 4.0 was therefore successfully completed after just a few weeks.
✓ Simpler quotation calculation
✓ Faster driver information via app
✓ Transparent job accounting
✓ More efficient workflow through interfaces to customer systems
