Revitalize Your Fleet Operations With Our Newest Trimble Appian Tools

The last several years have brought numerous changes to the transportation industry, and as private fleets strive to adapt, it’s critical that the technology they depend on can keep up. That’s why we’ve recently enhanced the Appian suite of solutions to feature more robust, versatile and capable tools than ever before.

Recent enhancements include an array of new features and solutions, including the new Appian Resource Calendar and Trimble Smart Workflow for Appian, as well as Appian Daily Planner and our Customer Communications Manager. Plus, we’ve recently updated the applications to use the rich commercial data provided by Trimble PC*Miler. Each of the new and refreshed Appian tools are designed to help fleets optimize their operations, provide a superior customer experience and ensure the best possible outcomes when they need to move freight.

Stay on Track With a Purpose-Built Calendar

Designed to support the lumber and building material distribution industry, Appian Resource Calendar (ARC) is a Cloud-based solution that digitizes whiteboards, spreadsheets and calendars used for routing and incorporates them into Appian. With ARC, dispatchers and fleet managers can plan their operations with a simple drag-and-drop calendar interface, or use a lasso to visualize and organize orders on Trimble’s proprietary maps.  

ARC enables users to plan and view routes by asset or driver days, weeks or even months in advance. It offers a robust reservation system that creates placeholders for future deliveries, which is especially helpful when specialized equipment or a specific day is required. And a new “Point of Interest” tool helps mark specialized, personal locations.

ARC helps to automate the routing process, so companies can move faster and make better use of their team. It provides organization-wide visibility on current and future schedules, so employees across departments can easily view delivery information. And by streamlining the planning process and ensuring the right equipment and driver is assigned the right delivery and day, companies can reduce transportation costs and ensure customers are satisfied with the service they receive. 

Leveling Up Your Workflow

Trimble Smart Workflow for Appian is an integrated solution designed to enhance the driver experience and increase efficiency by automating the freight delivery process and creating custom driver workflows. This utility helps ensure that drivers and their back office dispatch team can perform their jobs as effectively as possible, all while providing an exceptional customer experience.

Smart Workflow includes:

• • Pre-Trip Planning – Provides drivers with detailed route and customer information, ensuring they are well-prepared before hitting the road.
  • Customized Workflows – No matter how your business operates, your driver’s daily workflow can be configured to your business’s or customers’ needs without compromising quality or service.
  • Streamlined Processes – Easily automate arrival/departure at stops with custom geofences to ensure a smooth delivery
  • Industry Trusted Commercial Navigation – Trimble CoPilot is directly integrated with Smart Workflow, so drivers get access to the most precise commercial navigation and last mile guidance in the industry, with real-time updates on traffic conditions, road closures, weather alerts and alternative routes to avoid delays and maintain fleet safety and compliance
  • Post-Delivery Reporting – Simplifies the documentation process with electronic proof of delivery and data capture, enabling drivers to quickly and accurately record delivery details and any issues encountered.
  • Clear, Consistent Visibility – Driver-friendly task organization allows drivers to see what dispatch sees, so they can spend less time on the phone and focus on their work. Real-time updates on routes, orders and ETAs help better connect the back-office and cab.

The Power of Good Planning

Most large fleets are already using some kind of fleet management software to automate their processes. Many are focused on advancing and fine-tuning their processes to stay on the cutting edge of the supply chain’s technological demands. But our recently launched Appian Daily Planner (ADP) takes a holistic approach to private fleet operations, by incorporating every stage of the planning and routing process in a simple workflow.

A planner’s job is difficult. They must ensure all customers are satisfied and all drivers are happy and safe, all while ensuring the fleet uses the right number of resources for the job to keep costs in check. This process can be time consuming and frustrating. The daily demands of a planner and a back-office team are high, and the pace is fast. Managing multiple vehicles, driver schedules, vehicle maintenance, freight volume and customer orders, simultaneously, requires strong organization skills, attention to detail and the ability to troubleshoot on a dime.

ADP uses powerful algorithms and easy workflows to create routes based on the fleet’s complex parameters and constraints. The software pulls and integrates data from various sources, including digital maps, traffic information, vehicle specifications, customer sources and more to enable fleets to make informed decisions when planning routes. And with our newly released PC*Miler Web integration, fleets can be assured that the ETAs ADP creates are  the most accurate in the industry. 

ADP helps private fleets build customer-centric routes, track their fleet’s progress against plans, provide dynamic ETAs based on what’s happening on the road, and more. Data can be accessed for each local market, and routes and guidance can be personalized to support every stop, turn and delivery in an efficient and cost-friendly manner. Route planning solutions allow multi-stop fleets to optimize stops to the number of available vehicles, sequence stops in the most optimal manner, and allow for last-minute additions or subtractions when needed. 

The Importance of Clear Communication

When it comes to purchasing and moving goods, customers have high expectations of what their experience will be like. They want clear, concise and reliable communications regarding their shipment; when it will hit the road, where it is in transit and, of course, when their order will arrive. The Customer Communication Manager for Appian facilitates simple, streamlined communication between a driver and their back office support, the back office staff and customers or customers and carrier fleet management via email and text message.

Messages can be sent according to specific parameters for each customer and customized with a company’s standard branding in a quick and easy template designer. Every message includes a personalized tracking portal link, so customers can access a progress map and shipment details. The best part? Once messages are set up, rules are established and the templates are customized, Customer Communication Manager operates automatically, allowing your fleet management team to set it and forget it.

Get Started with Appian’s Suite of Tools

Together, these new tools help Appian become a more versatile, modern and essential solution for your operation. While the initial investment of time and resources when onboarding a new route planning or freight management solution can seem daunting, the long-term benefits provide an invaluable competitive edge. 

Contact our team for a no-obligation consultation to get started streamlining your organization’s workflow and optimizing operations with Appian. We’ll work to understand your business needs and recommend the custom deployment your team needs to achieve your goals.