Reducing reporting time by 8 hours per week
We replaced 14 Excel sheets with one automated panel for the owner of a transport company. Data updates every 2 hours.
Instead of manual data entry from 14 sheets, we implemented one clear panel. Now the owner of Trans-Lublin sees the profitability of every route on his phone screen in real-time.
The challenge
The company owner, Mr. Marek, spent every Saturday in the office over tables. He had 14 different files from drivers, GPS systems, and fuel cards. Data was inconsistent. Commas errors often occurred, which once cost the company 1,840 PLN in a single fuel settlement. Profit reports were ready only on Monday, when it was already too late to react. Honestly, it was pure information guerilla warfare.
Our approach
Our 3-person team spent 6 days at the client's headquarters analyzing the flow of invoices and GPS logs. We didn't want to change everything at once. We focused on the worst bottleneck: manual connection of fuel consumption with kilometers driven. We used simple Python scripts that download data from fuel operator servers and GPS every 2 hours. We built a database that automatically cleans errors (e.g., duplicate entries).
The solution
We delivered a central management panel available through a browser. There are no redundant charts there – only hard facts: fuel consumption, route margin, and driver working time. The system sends a notification to the phone when fuel consumption in a given truck exceeds the norm by 12%. We set everything up on a local server so Mr. Marek has full control over his data. We clean up the data, so the interface is so simple that it can be operated with one finger.
Results
Numbers don't lie: Mr. Marek regained his free Saturdays, and the company stopped losing money on calculation errors. All data is now consistent and available at hand.
Timeline
-
August 5, 2024Audit of 14 Excel sheets and GPS systems.
-
August 13, 2024Launch of automatic fuel data retrieval.
-
August 21, 2024Panel tests on the owner's smartphone.
-
August 29, 2024Full implementation and decommissioning of old sheets.
"I was skeptical about all this data analysis, but now I see a specific profit. I finally have Saturdays for my family, and the margin on every car is correct down to the penny. It was a good investment."