helps cut the authority's carbon footprint, and protects lone workers.
Oxford City Homes, the arm of Oxford City Council that services 8,000 council homes, has fitted 116 vehicles with SupaTrak, the vehicle tracking system developed by CMS Global Technologies of Swindon.
Oxford City Homes is responsible for the collection of rent and service charges, tenancy and estate management, and property repair, maintenance and improvement services for all council homes. It services 8,000 homes, 650 leasehold homes and nearly 2,500 garages, operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Oxford City Homes general maintenance teams respond to emergencies and carry out planned maintenance tasks. The SupaTrak system enables Oxford City Homes to determine the precise location of each vehicle used by the maintenance teams and helps them to efficiently deploy resources.
Sean Fry, Operations Manager at Oxford City Homes, said: "We are able, using SupaTrak, to allocate the job to the maintenance engineer that is geographically closest.
"This reduces the time taken for an engineer to arrive on site and ensures fuel efficiency by deploying the engineer to who will use the least amount of fuel to reach the destination.
"We needed a robust management tool that would help us to respond to the needs of our customers whilst providing value for money.
"CMS SupaTrak is receptive to our bespoke requirements. They have provided Oxford City Homes with a customised approach that meets our needs."
SupaTrak's ability to facilitate efficient job scheduling is also helping Oxford City Homes reduce their carbon footprint. Oxford City Council is committed to reducing it 2005 emissions figure by 25 per cent by 2010, and the use of SupaTrak will help them to achieve this target.
The system also protects their vehicles from theft, as they can locate any vehicle at any time using the web-based system.
In the three months since they have been using SupaTrak, Oxford City Homes have seen cost savings through reduced fuel consumption, and productivity has increased.
SupaTrak also enables employers to comply with their duty of care obligations towards their employees by helping to protect lone workers.
Working alone can create extra health and safety risks so Oxford City Homes is trialling SupaTrak's lone working solutions. They are using hand held computers (PDAs) that are tracked and feature an emergency panic switch that can be discretely activated at the touch of a button. SupaTrak can also locate the panic alarm inside a vehicle. Once activated the necessary help can be deployed.
For more details about SupaTrak and what it can do, along with an online demonstration, see www.supatrak.com