Once a driver has opened the application on the pocket pc device the GPS receiver will pinpoint their exact location to the controller / despatcher showing road name and postcode and also displays that information on a map.  At that point the driver is notified of any insurance / MOT etc data that is to expire, counting down from 21 days, see image below. If the driver chooses to ignore these messages he will be locked out and the duty controller notified.

1. accepted
2. arrived at pick up point
3. POB passenger on board
4. soon to empty
5. end of journey

With a time stamp in hours and minutes, hereby creating a journey audit should you need the information at a later date you can also plot these markers on a map to show route taken.

Once they have accepted the booking the screen shows the type of vehicle, type of journey, booking reference, and whether it is cash or account. A contact number is displayed now along with the destination, if the driver has a problem at this stage he can hit the 'Menu' Button and select from a series of canned messages to communicate with the controller.

If the driver is not sure where they are going they can hit the 'Nav Me' button which will satellite navigate them in to both the collection address or the destination

The final part of the process is entering the journey details for account or credit card journeys, here the driver enters waiting time car parking charges etc. The time details are on this final page so that the driver can work out how long he waited. 'The major benefit here is that once these details have been entered the journey is priced and ready for invoicing - after it has been checked by an administrator in your company.

Other advantages include the ability for the driver to leave the vehicle with the Pocket PC and wait in a more comfortable area, or answer a call of nature without missing a job. Also when collecting from an airport the unit can be taken with to ensure the correct spelling of the passengers name and also receive fleet messages from the controller.

Drivers also have there own self-reporting login to an area of the system, here they can print off job reports / account sheets for any period they want. For those companies that despatch early morning work the night before, drivers can;

1. Log in to the drivers portal in the evening
2. Confirm that they have received the details, a note appears to the controller that the driver has received it
3. Just before they leave in the morning, log back in and despatch the job to themselves either to their mobile phone or to their PDA pocket ps.

Breakthrough innovative technology has just given us the edge over the competition, we have changed the way that the devices communicate with our servers. For you this means that you can now source the best deal with any service provider or alternatively encourage your drivers to upgrade their existing devices and supply their own!