Wheels - Application Development and Consulting

Situation Assessment
Established in 1939, Wheels, Inc. has grown to one of the leading automotive fleet management companies in the US by providing full service fleet leasing and management while focusing on increasing driver productivity and reducing costs. 

The IT systems at Wheels are critical to supporting their clients and managing the business.  Like many companies, the IT staff was consumed working on major new projects and keeping up with smaller change orders required to fix issues or provide minor enhancements.  Wheels turned to Risetime to provide a team that would focus on mid-size IT projects (1,000-2,000 man hours) and increase the benefits IT provided to the business. 

The strategic business goals of the mid-size projects included:

  • Improve efficiency in the company’s financial systems and business operations
  • Address vendor and client needs
  •  Help meet critical deadlines

Based on the outstanding results that Risetime had previously produced for their company, Wheels knew that Risetime had the ability, technical competence and knowledgeable staff required to reach these goals.

Solution Overview

Risetime provided a complete team of resources (team lead/project manager, business analyst, developers and QA analyst) and took responsibility for the mid-size projects.  The Risetime methodology used by the mid-size project team served to accurately scope, build and deploy solutions that met the needs of Wheels on-time and within budget. 

A few of the projects Risetime has completed for Wheels include:

  • Paperless Office Project: In conjunction with Wheels’ client Nationwide Insurance, Risetime developed a comprehensive family of Web-based capabilities that enable all fleet-related information and transactions to be accessed or conducted online. This project has helped Wheels to reduce reliance on paper, as well as allowing management to make key decisions and transact business from any location.
  • DPP (Driver Performance Profile). Wheels’ clients value information on their drivers. They want to be able to identify risky drivers and take corrective action when needed. Risetime helped address this need through a series of projects intended to allow Wheels to create a "Driver Performance Profile" for its clients' drivers. This profile consists of a points system, where the points are determined using a combination of driving records (speeding tickets, etc), collision history, and other factors. The Profile is meant to give clients early insight into drivers so that corrective action (such as safety training, defensive driving courses) can be taken, thereby helping minimize risk to the driver, the client, and to Wheels.
  • Vehicle Weights Classifications: The correct Vehicle Weights and Classifications are very important in the Fleet Leasing business. The weight of a vehicle can have impacts in many areas, including vehicle registration and titling, sales tax on the vehicle purchase, and tax on the lease's rental payments. Risetime helped Wheels identify and resolve gaps in accuracy in the various sources of vehicle weights, and helped develop a system for the correct classification of vehicles based on their weight.
  • Violations Recovery Program: Speeding tickets and parking violations happen to the best of us. A Wheels’ client wanted to ensure that any violations that occurred in their leased vehicles were taken care of in an expedient manner. Risetime developed a system that helps facilitate Wheels payment for the violation to the appropriate jurisdiction, charging the client for the service, as well as recovery of the violation fine from the driver of the vehicle.

Value Measurement
Risetime has successfully completed more than 16 different mid-sized projects for Wheels and continues to help Wheels by providing project management and technical services. The Risetime consultants supplement the teams at Wheels and bring the expertise necessary to ensure that each task is completed on schedule. Wheels has repeatedly recognized Risetime's ability to provide consultants of exceptional quality at competitive rates.

To find out more on how Risetime can provide similar high-quality results to your business, contact us.

 Highlights

By partnering with Risetime, Wheels, Inc. has successfully:
  • Met critical vendor and client deadlines
  • Exceeded vendor and client needs and expectations
  • Improved efficiency in multiple departments
  • Increased staff flexibility to allow other critical projects to be completed
  • Realized an immediate and significant return on investment