Case Study
Three clocks, not two: one compliance tracker for a fuel fleet.
- Industry
- Fuel Distribution
- Operation size
- Multi-plant regional distributor
- Engagement
- Ongoing on-site work: fleet compliance
Anonymized: Client name withheld; no approval for named publication is on file. Supplier, system, site and staff details are generalized. The work, the checks and the current status are reported as they stand.
By Jacob Johnston | Published | Updated
Summary
A Colorado fuel distributor tracked cargo tank tests, vapor tests, maintenance, driver files and hours of service in separate folders and spreadsheets, with no single place that said what was due. TNDS built one compliance hub that owns the unit and driver keys, calculates what is due and overdue, imports cost exports for cost per mile, and pulls exceptions from the fleet's ELD and telematics platform on request. The newest exception pulls passed more than 430 automated checks and are waiting on the owner's go before they touch the live workbook.
What the operation looked like before
Cargo tank test records sat in one-year and five-year folders. Maintenance, driver qualification and hours of service lived somewhere else. There was no single list of what was due this month, and no way to see what a truck or a driver cost per mile. The company had just added an ELD and telematics platform, but nothing tied its warnings to the compliance records.
What was actually broken
Two folders, three clocks
The one-year and five-year test folders actually held three separate due dates, and one shop visit could complete two of them, so a single visit had to log as two events.
A seasonal rule hiding in the dates
This build uses an October-to-April planning window for the fleet's applicable annual gasoline vapor tests. The tracker brings a summer anniversary back to April 30; the compliance owner reviews applicability and exceptions.
Assumptions that did not hold
The working assumption was that most drivers were local short-haul. The telematics records showed most drivers on a longer duty cycle with out-of-state runs, so the hours-of-service lane got bigger, not smaller.
Telematics data that lies quietly
The platform reports in UTC unless told otherwise, so a date window could land six or seven hours off. A truck with no gateway and a truck whose gateway stopped reporting looked the same.
What TNDS did
Start with the clocks that carry the most risk, then grow one hub instead of a pile of trackers, and keep every pull read-only and on request.
Step 1
Get the clocks right first
A cargo tank and vapor test tracker with a register, an append-only log and a calculated due status. It treats one visit as two completions and pulls summer due dates back to the prior April 30.
Step 2
One hub, three modules
The hub owns the unit and driver keys and carries every compliance lane plus fleet cost. Trip permits and driver files are separate modules, linked by those keys. Driver files sit in a restricted file. Cost exports from the ERP feed cost per mile and cost per gallon by unit.
Step 3
Telematics on request, read-only
A read-only recon tool first mapped what the telematics account can reach and how far back it goes, with location data pulled only on explicit opt-in. Then came three daily exception pulls: unidentified driving by unit and age, gateway health that separates no gateway from a stopped gateway, and inspection report defects. Every request carries the local time zone.
Step 4
Built to be run by the client
A menu split into first-time setup and daily tasks, a summary after every action, red, amber and green status, a user manual and a developer manual inside the workbook, and alerts that go to a named person. Distances are converted at the door, and the client's own telematics settings are never changed.
Tools used
Workbooks the client owns and can run without TNDS in the room.
- Google Sheets and Apps Script for the compliance hub
- The fleet's ELD and telematics platform, read-only API
- ERP cost exports for cost per mile and cost per gallon
- A restricted-access workbook for driver qualification files
- Automated test harness run before every release
Where it stands
- One place that says what is due, overdue and missing, by unit and by driver
- Test dates that follow the real rules: three clocks, double completions, the seasonal window
- Hours-of-service scope corrected from the data before anything was built on the wrong assumption
- The newest exception reports distinguish a missing gateway from one that stopped reporting in automated checks, with local time windows handled. They await approval for use in the live workbook.
- More than 430 automated checks pass on the latest release, which waits on the owner's go before it touches the live workbook
Why it was built this way
Compliance trackers fail on the dates, not the dashboards. Getting the clocks right first, checking assumptions against the fleet's own data, and keeping every telematics pull read-only and on request is what makes the tracker something a safety manager can trust and run alone.
Sources for the regulatory examples
If your operation looks like this
Start with an Operations Assessment. TNDS works with your people to understand the operation, then provides a written priority order and a quote for the fix work.
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