QuickBase and Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA)
Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) is going to transform the way carriers manage their daily operations. Those that are unable to comply with CSA will face stiff penalties and might even lose their ability to operate. The best way for carriers to stay compliant is to effectively monitor their compliance and operational data at the driver level. Unfortunately, many carriers lack an efficient method for tracking this data. Driver data is usually stored in multiple locations and few carriers have an effective method for tying this data together. One of the biggest issues for carriers is the fragmentation and storage of driver data in spreadsheets. This slows information flow and creates operational inefficiencies.
Spreadsheets carry a variety of hidden costs and risks that collectively make them unsuitable for managing driver data. Using a spreadsheet to track, update, and consolidate driver information means spending valuable time on administrative tasks – sending, receiving, and finding e-mails; cutting, pasting, consolidating, and reporting information; and reformatting, saving, and e-mailing spreadsheets – only to do it all over again on Monday. What’s more, shuffling spreadsheets translates into a lack of real-time information for decision-making and overlooked details.
No Support for Workflow
Managing drivers involves a complex series of interrelated activities. Safety managers must ensure that all pieces of the puzzle are working together. Many times this includes the safety manager checking a spreadsheet and sending an e-mail. That’s because spreadsheets weren’t designed to enable workflow. A spreadsheet doesn’t have time or activity-based alarms or triggers. It’s a single, static file.
No Audit Trail
Spreadsheets provide no historical auditing functionality to track changes – including deleted data. When an employee makes a change to a spreadsheet, it’s not recorded or timestamped. This lack of auditability is unacceptable in a time of greater regulatory scrutiny.
Manual Data Consolidation
When those spreadsheet copies come back with updates, safety managers must perform a time-consuming, error-prone, manual data consolidation process to consolidate changes into the master spreadsheet.
Lack of Security
Information in a spreadsheet is very portable and not very securable other than at a basic level. E-mailing files and/or saving them on laptops and USB drives present security risks.
No Document Management
Spreadsheets are good for storing data – not images, word documents, PDF files, etc. When using a spreadsheet you cannot attach associated driver documents.
Limited Access
Since the spreadsheet is a desktop application, the information is largly inaccessible to employees who are working remotely.
Data Integrity
The open nature of the spreadsheet means that it’s too easy to “break.” One accidental keystroke can trigger a chain reaction of data errors that are difficult or impossible to detect. According to one expert, as many as 94 percent of all spreadsheets contain errors*.
No Permissioning
Spreadsheets also lack access permission levels. A single spreadsheet doesn’t control who sees what information. Showing different information to different users requires creating multiple versions of the spreadsheet.
Summary
Carriers will enjoy the ease with which they can customize and add additional data to their QuickBase application. The following are a few examples of how carriers are currently using this application to manage DOT compliance and other operational items at the driver level.
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Schedule random drug tests and manage clinics
Schedule random drug tests and manage clinics•Monitor drivers with expiring certifications
Monitor drivers with expiring certifications•Flag drivers with CDL discrepencies
Flag drivers with CDL discrepencies•Track hours-of-service performance
Track hours-of-service performance•Track driver citations
Track driver citations •Track pending equipment services, fuel economy, and paperwork
Track pending equipment services, fuel economy, and paperworkIf you have questions with regards to application customization there is a detailed help menu and knowledgebase available.
* Pankow, Raymond R. “What We Know About Spreadsheet Errors.” The Journal of End User Computing – Vol. 10, No 2. Spring 1998. pp. 15-21 – Revised May 2008.
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