From the tag on the door to the record in the file
A daily pre-start is a short list on the phone; a guided walkaround takes a few minutes more. Here is what happens at each step, and what the supervisor sees.
- 01
Scan the tag
One printed QR tag per vehicle, on the door pillar or the dash. The driver scans it from inside the Escudo Fleet app and the vehicle opens with its current status, its last check and any open defects. A tag scanned with the ordinary phone camera opens a page that tells the driver what to do.
- 02
Take the vehicle
Where your fleet uses trips, the driver starts one: odometer, fuel level in eighths, and the pre-trip that is due. One vehicle can carry three drivers a day, each on their own trip with readings at both ends.
- 03
Walk and photograph
On a guided walkaround the screen shows an outline of the vehicle and a frame for each stop: front, each side, rear, the coupling, the cab. Each tyre gets its own photo with its tread depth and pressure. Photos come from the live camera only, never the gallery, and walkaround photos are stamped with the time, the GPS position and the heading when the shutter fires. The sequence and the timing are recorded too, so a walk that was done from the cab looks like one. Escudo Fleet includes guided walkaround templates for rigid trucks, prime movers, semi-trailers, trailers, buses, vans, utes, compactors and motorcycles, and hire check-out and return for cars and vans.
- 04
Answer the items
Pass or fail, a reading against a limit you set, a fuel gauge, an expiry date, a count against a par level, a photo. The template holds your items in your wording. We never invent a limit.
- 05
Log defects with photos
A failed item becomes a defect on the spot, with a photo, a severity and a note. The driver can also report a fault from the road at any time. A repeat of an open fault joins the existing defect instead of making a new one.
- 06
Sign
The driver signs on the screen that the vehicle is safe to the limits of the inspection. The signature, the name, the time and the template version in force are all on the record.
- 07
Status sets itself
Available, restricted or off road, set by the result and the open defects. It stays that way until the fault is cleared and signed off. A supervisor can set the status by hand, but only with a written reason, and the change is kept in the audit log. A safety critical fault is cleared by a named person who records their qualification and the test.
- 08
Show an inspector
Pulled over at the roadside? The vehicle screen shows the last check, its result and the open faults with any deferral limit, from what the phone last saved, even with no signal. With signal, the driver can share a read-only link that lasts 2, 8 or 24 hours, which the driver or a fleet manager can revoke. Every opening is logged, and the page says it does not state the vehicle is roadworthy.
- 09
Report an incident
An incident, a near miss or a hazard, from the vehicle or the home screen: what happened, where, whether anyone was hurt, photos, the other parties and a sketch. A damaged vehicle raises a defect. Escudo keeps the record and never decides whether an incident must be reported.
- 10
Sync when signal returns
Nothing lost: checks, faults and incidents wait on the phone with no signal and send once. Photos, procedure acknowledgements and fill-ups wait in the same queue and send in order when the phone finds signal, with nothing doubled.
Two kinds of check
The daily pre-start, a short list
No walk. Brakes, lights, tyres by eye, dash warnings, odometer and fuel level, sign. Built for a courier, a bus driver on a tight run or a tradie leaving the yard. Still a record with a name, a time and a template version.
The guided walkaround, daily, weekly or on handover
Every stop framed and photographed with the live camera and stamped with time, location and heading, every tyre photographed with its tread and pressure, damage marked on the outline, odometer or hours read with a plausibility check. The evidence rating tells the supervisor whether the walk happened.
A vehicle can carry more than one check, for example a daily pre-start and a weekly walkaround, or a pre-trip and a post-trip. Scanning its tag opens its checks, each falls due on its own schedule, and the depot board shows who has not done theirs.
The depot board answers the question
How do you stop a defective vehicle going out? Status is set automatically and stays set until the fault is cleared and signed off. A change by hand needs a written reason, and the audit log keeps it.
- Every vehicle with its status, its last check and who did it
- Defects to assess, defer with a limit and a named decision maker who is a supervisor or above, or clear, with the qualification and the test recorded for a safety critical fault
- Safety critical faults can never be deferred. The starter templates mark brakes, steering, suspension, tyres, wheel nuts and couplings, and a defect from one of those items stays safety critical
- Expiry alerts for registration, roadworthy, insurance, CoF, RUC and licences, 30 days ahead
- Services due by distance, hours or date, with work orders
- Fuel: fills, consumption and anomalies, per vehicle and per driver
- Incidents and near misses from the phone, investigated and closed on the dashboard, with the other parties shown to supervisors and above only
- Procedures with every version kept, and who has and has not pressed “I have read this” on the phone
- A weekly digest of the fleet: checks missed, open faults, expiries, services due and incidents, with who has read it
The record
An append-only audit log of who did what, when and where, against the template version in force that day. Export a PDF evidence pack per vehicle and date range: checks, photos, defects, sign-offs and audit entries, from the first fault to the repair. Or export everything as spreadsheets.
Offline first
Vehicles, tags and templates are cached on the phone. A check done in a shed, a pit or a tunnel sends when the phone finds signal. Every record carries an id made on the phone, so re-sending never duplicates.
Setting up takes about ten minutes
What the trial includes- 01
Pick an industry
The matching starter templates are installed. Edit them, or build your own from the item library.
- 02
Add vehicles
Upload a CSV or paste from Excel. Every row is checked first, with the reason beside each one to fix, and you import the rows that are ready. A matching fleet number updates that vehicle, never a duplicate.
- 03
Print the tags
One QR tag per vehicle, printed on an A4 sheet of labels.
- 04
Invite drivers
One at a time or imported from a list, each with an invitation link the dashboard gives you to send. Subcontractors are marked as contractors.
A setup list at the top of the board shows each step with one link, ticks it off when it is done, and stays until every step is finished or you hide it.
Start with one vehicle this afternoon
Create your fleet, paste your registrations, print the tags and send a driver the link. Fourteen days free, no card and no hardware.