The technology works by mapping distances between postcodes, which allows business mileages to be calculated automatically. As a result, UK firms can save thousands on mileage reimbursement costs or fuel bills and make serious inroads into their carbon emissions, according to the firm. 

The new version, 3.0, builds on this with additional functionality to the system’s core reporting capability to more easily identify driver and fleet trends in expenditure, mileage and carbon output, with increased ease of access on a self-service basis at any time. 

The comprehensive reporting suite now allows reports to be generated and downloaded in a variety of formats using live data and in a completely interactive manner.

This allows fleet managers and other users to readily identify areas such as high and low achievers against fuel or mileage targets and take remedial action over exceptional variances where necessary.

At the same time, line managers and administrators can now see the percentage variance of a manually recorded journey compared to the distance calculated by the Vertivia system. This is valuable for identifying large or regular exceptions and any errors that may have been made in journey entries, so that they can be quickly rectified. 

The system now also provides the ability to validate data entries against previous submissions to help identify excessive variances in odometer readings. This has been designed to reduce driver entry errors and improve data quality. 

The upgrades also improve the system’s duty of care capabilities. When drivers submit mileage claims, they must also verify the condition of their vehicles and that they have been serviced regularly, and that they themselves have not received any penalty points on their driving licence since the last check and that they are in good health. 

The employer can specify the intervals at which these duty of care audits should be carried out, typically six or 12-monthly, and the system automatically notifies drivers when the information is required. 

Other system upgrades now mean that drivers can add or switch vehicles on their own log-in to ensure only their current car is on the system, while a DVLA registration number “look up” is available to provide all relevant vehicle data and specifications. 

This is especially valuable for replacement vehicles, reimbursement rates linked to engine size and grey fleet inventory. Drivers can also “retire” old vehicles to more easily amend their default settings. 

Version 3.0 also includes significant process improvements which speed the turnaround of mass data input, such as fuel transactions and the production of payroll files. 

These enhancements are on top of a recent upgrade to the website host and server configuration, designed to speed up the driver interface and provide far greater data security and an improved back-up regime.

Paul Chater, Vertivia sales director, said: ‘Our system is winning widespread approval amongst fleet operators with growing numbers of users, and we believe these new enhancements improve its ease of use and functionality considerably.’