Fleet Operations Data Analysis and Reporting

Export the prior-month HOS, miles, and exceptions report from Motive, Samsara, Geotab, or your ELD provider. Pull both the driver-level summary and the unassigned drive time report — the unassigned report is what FMCSA auditors look at first.

From McLeod, Aljex, AscendTMS, Truckbase, or your TMS, export delivered loads for the period: linehaul revenue, fuel surcharge, accessorials (detention, layover, lumper), origin/destination, and dispatched miles. Filter to delivered status only — open or in-transit loads will distort revenue-per-mile.

Export the fuel transaction file from Comdata, EFS, WEX, or your fuel card provider — gallons by jurisdiction is what feeds IFTA. From Fleetio, RTA, or Whip Around export the maintenance ticket history and DVIR defect log for the period.

Match ELD odometer-derived miles to TMS dispatched miles by tractor and trip. Variance over 5% per unit usually means missing PC time, unassigned drive segments, or unbilled deadhead — flag for dispatcher follow-up before the numbers feed driver settlements.

Unassigned drive time is one of the first items pulled in an FMCSA audit. Yard moves and shop test drives are legitimate; unassigned highway segments are not. The ELD rule (Part 395.32) requires the motor carrier to either assign the segment to the driver or annotate why it stays unassigned.

Open each unassigned block in the ELD portal. Assign to the driver who actually drove the unit (confirm via dispatch log or yard camera) or annotate as yard move / shop test with a clear note. Leaving the segment unassigned without annotation is the audit finding.

Map every fuel transaction to the state or province of purchase using the truck-stop location code, not the billing address. Cross-check the gallons total against the fuel-card statement before this rolls into the IFTA quarterly worksheet.

Rank drivers by 11-hour, 14-hour, and 30-minute break violations for the month. Cross-reference repeat offenders against dispatch records — a single hard violation is a coaching moment; a pattern is a CSA Unsafe Driving / HOS Compliance BASIC problem and needs documented retraining.

Pull the carrier's latest SMS snapshot from the FMCSA portal. Compare each BASIC (Unsafe Driving, HOS Compliance, Driver Fitness, Controlled Substances, Vehicle Maintenance, Hazmat, Crash Indicator) against the intervention threshold for the carrier's segment. Any BASIC at or above the threshold raises insurance renewal risk and audit exposure.

The Safety Director owns this. Document the root cause (driver behavior, equipment condition, dispatcher pressure), name the corrective action, set a 30-day re-measurement date, and notify the insurance broker before they see the score change at renewal.

Aggregate defects from pre-trip and post-trip DVIRs by unit and by defect type. Repeat brake-adjustment or air-leak entries on the same tractor across multiple drivers point to a shop follow-up failure — not a driver problem. Flag any units with a defect closed without a corresponding repair ticket in Fleetio.

Compute linehaul revenue / loaded miles by lane, by customer, and by tractor. Deadhead % = empty miles / total miles. A lane drifting below the carrier's all-in cost-per-mile is a sales conversation; deadhead climbing above 12-15% is a dispatch routing problem.

For every load where the driver was on-site past free time (typically 2 hours), confirm whether detention was billed and collected. Unbilled detention is the most commonly forfeited revenue at small carriers — driver arrival/departure timestamps from the ELD geofence are the evidence shippers will challenge.

MPG = total miles / total gallons by tractor for the month. Outliers under 5.5 MPG on a long-haul day cab usually point to idle time, aggressive driving, or aftertreatment / DPF issues. Cross-reference with idle hours from the telematics report before assuming a driver coaching issue.

Compile the safety, operations, and financial metrics into the standard month-end deck: prior-month vs. current-month deltas, year-to-date trend, and the exception lists (HOS violators, CSA threshold breaches, low-MPG units, unbilled detention). Keep it scannable — the executive view should fit on one page.

Walk the Safety Director through the CSA and HOS pages and the Operations Manager through the revenue and deadhead pages. Each reviewer signs off on the numbers attributable to their area — this is the audit trail if a board member or insurance broker later questions a figure.

Track each reviewer comment to a specific change. If a number changed, note the source recalculation so the next month's analyst can reproduce it. Re-circulate only if the changes are material — minor copy edits don't need a second review pass.

Owner / executive version is one page of KPIs. Safety version includes the driver-level HOS and DVIR detail. Operations version includes the lane and customer P&L. Insurance broker version strips driver names and keeps fleet-level CSA and loss-run summaries.

Use the company's document portal or encrypted email — driver PII (CDL numbers, medical info, MVR results) cannot be sent over open email under most carrier data policies. Confirm the recipient list against the current org chart; departed managers showing up on the distribution list is the most common leak.

Standing 60-minute meeting with owner, Safety Director, Operations Manager, and lead dispatcher. Agenda follows the report: CSA and HOS first, then revenue-per-mile and deadhead, then equipment and fuel. Capture action items in the next month's run.