The Driver Management module in NextGen has been designed to help companies manage important driver information such as licence expiries, health check due dates, induction renewals etc. Email alerts can be set up in advance of the expiry date to remind you of important dates, and reports can be run to give a high level view of the drivers reporting to you. Documents can be stored against the driver to keep an easily accessible record of licences and certificates online.

List View

The list view is the Home screen for the Driver Management module. You can use the various filters to refine the information that you want to see. The columns are also sortable by clicking on the column headers.

The buttons on the top right allow you to:

• Use the Search functionality - this works like a custom filter and will update the list view as you type.
• Manage Types - this button is used to create or edit the type of driver management item you wish to manage; examples below include drivers licence renewals and inductions.
• Add new schedules - Use this button to add new driver management schedules.

Depending on your user privileges, you can use the “Action” buttons on the far right to view, edit, mark as complete and delete driver management items.

Calendar View

The calendar view is an alternative to the list view. You can choose to set a weekly view or a monthly view. You can use the arrows on either side of the date to move forward or backwards a week or a month at a time depending on the current view.

Clicking on an item in the calendar view gives you a pop up with the item details. Action buttons are at the bottom of the pop up - the actual items available depend on the status of the item selected.

Driver Management Types

Driver Management types must be defined before you can schedule them. This is so they can be reported on and viewed in a uniform manner. To add a new type, use the Manage Types button up the top right. To view, edit or delete, use the action button, or click on the name to view.

Creating new Driver management types is as simple as filling in all of the fields and clicking the “Create Driver Management type” field.

Add new schedule

Use the “Add New Schedule” button on the Driver management home page to add a new driver management schedule.

Give the schedule a name and select the driver and type. Choose the due date using the calendar and set the number of days you want the advance email or SMS to arrive. It is possible to create the schedule without setting the reminder days, but that means you will not receive a notification when that schedule is due.

Once a schedule has been completed, you can mark it as such in NextGen. Important information can be recorded at the time of completion, including documents against that schedule. This can be used to store invoices, certificates, photocopies of licences etc.

If you don’t have all of the information at the time, you can mark the schedule as complete, then go back at a later date and edit the completed schedule.

To add a document, use the browse button to find the document. You can add more documents in the same manner and they will be attached when you click on the submit button.

Completed schedule item

When viewing a completed schedule item, all of the information is displayed, including any attached documents. To download an attached document click on the document name.

You can also edit the completed schedule to add or change the information, or delete it if the record is no longer required.

Driver Management when viewing a Driver

In the User Management screen of NextGen, you can record dates against items such as Driver Licence or Health Check, configure three user defined fields and store documents against a Driver’s record.

Show user

When showing a driver’s details in NextGen, there is a set of Driver Management Information towards the bottom of the page. Driver’s Licence and Health Check are there by default, but the remaining three fields can be configured at a Company level (see below).

The Date can be edited in the User-Edit screen and is intended to show when an item was renewed. The Alarm Clock icon  is used to set the reminder for the next renewal. Notes and Documents are below that - to download a document click on the document name.

Edit user

When editing a user you can also update the information in the Driver Management panel at the bottom of the window. Documents can be stored in the same way that you store them against a completed management item. Note that the date you put here isn’t a reminder, this is the date that it was completed.

Company configuration – Defining the “User Defined” fields.

There are three Driver Management fields shown on the Edit and Show User screens that can be defined at a Company level. Under the Configuration Menu there is a menu item called Company.

Click on this and then click on Driver Management, and the three fields will be exposed. Type in the new description and click the “Update” button at the bottom of the page.

My alerts

Driver Management Alerts are available in the My Alerts section of NextGen. The Alerts user guide is available at the here ,or by clicking on the help icon on the My Alerts page in NextGen.

Reports

There are two reports specific to Driver management. These are found at the top in the General Reports section.

The Driver Management Summary report gives you a summary view of all scheduled driver item records within the chosen time period. You can select the Driver or Drivers, Management Type or Types, and Status or Statuses.

The Driver Summary report gives you a summary view of each driver in the company. The fields returned include; Driver time zone, Licence number and date, Sentinel rule set, Health check date, and next Driver management schedule. This is a “moment in time” report, and as such it does not have a date filter.