WA DER Regulation 17 Additional Records - Interim Solution
Effective December 2016 the WA Department of Environment Regulation required that certain Landfill facilities in WA had to record additional details for each transaction over the weigh bridge. The following items were requested
- Name and Contact details of the driver of the vehicle
- Vehicle make and other details
- Number of axles
- Details of the waste transporter
- Details of the waste provider and source.
In order to assist with the collection of this data the following recommendations for the use of Mandalay CS have been developed. These are only interim recommendations to help with any reporting that is required against the data collected. Mandalay will work with the state government to develop a formal solution.
The specific details required for the driver are not stated on the original order from the government. However the Mandalay system does allow for the collection of the driver name. Although this field is supposed to be the name of the driver it has the space to add more information. There is space for up to 255 characters. Therefore it is possible to add the drivers name plus other details like mobile number and possibly their address.
The driver name can be collected for each transaction or the details can be pre populated against the vehicle in the Administration program.
Driver Details in Ticketing
Driver Details in Admin
If transactions have already been recorded then adding the details here will allow them to be reported on for all transactions that don't contain this data in the driver name field.
The requirement is to provide the make of the vehicle along with number of axles and registration numbers. The vehicle make and registration number are details that don't change so can be recorded against the vehicle record in administration using the Vehicle Notes field. The number of axles can change per transaction so will need to be managed using a different method. The vehicle configurations will be used to keep track of the number of axles for a vehicle in the transaction (see this section).
Vehicle Make
Adding the details here will make them available for reporting against this vehicle for all future and past transactions.
To record the number of axles for a vehicle we recommend using the vehicle configurations feature. Generally vehicle configurations in Mandalay CS are used to track stored tares and GVMs for the various configurations that a vehicle can arrive at site with. If you are already using Vehicle Configurations to track stored tare and/or GVMs then this should be extended to record against all reportable vehicles arriving at a site. You should have a minimum of one configuration recorded for each vehicle. If a vehicle can arrive with more than one then additional configurations can be added to the vehicle and the operator will select the appropriate one when the vehicle is selected.
For further information on managing vehicle configurations see the Vehicle Management manual found here.
Configuration Names
To allow the number of axles to be reported the configuration names should includes the number of axles and so we can report correctly it should be entered in the following formation (axles=2) . This will allow the number value to be extracted when reported on.
Configurations Mandatory
To help manage the reporting requirements vehicle configurations will need to be mandatory for all new vehicles. An option within Mandalay CS will need to be activated to enforce this. With this option active any new vehicles created in Ticketing using the extended vehicle creation mode will have to have a configuration before they can be used in a transaction.
If when pressing the New Vehicle button you only get the confirmation message for vehicle creation then you do not have the extended vehicle creation options activated.
If you require any of the configurations options mentioned above, activated , then please contact Mandalay support or assistance.
Extended Vehicle Creation Screen
This screen can be used for a number of elements needed for a vehicle. Below you can see how the driver name and contact details can be populated. This will record the details against the vehicle for future transactions. The initial vehicle configuration can also be set.
If you try to confirm this screen with the Vehicle Configuration mandatory option active with no configuration then the following message will appear.
Forced Vehicle Configuration Selection
By default the ticketing system will only expect the operator to select a vehicle configuration after selecting a vehicle that has more than one configuration for that vehicle. However as this is a reporting requirement in this scenario the option to force the operator to always confirm the vehicle configuration will allow the operator to verify the vehicles configuration and if necessary add a new configuration to the vehicle to ensure accurate data capture.
The operator will need to access the Vehicle tab in the Administration program to add the new configuration and then restart the transaction so they can select the new one added to the vehicle.
Mandalay CS is already capable of keeping track of carrier company details. The carrier tab in administration is used to manage these details and each transaction collected in Ticketing can have a carrier allocated to it. A vehicle can also be set to default to a particular carrier. This can be set in Administration or when creating a new vehicle in Ticketing, using the extended vehicle creation screen.
Carriers in Administration
The address and contact details are recorded in the Carrier tab of Administration.
It is possible to allow a client record to be a carrier also. This can be done by ticket the Also a Carrier option on the client tab. This will then allow it to appear on both tabs.
Selecting a Carrier in Ticketing
When processing a transaction the Carrier button can be used to select an appropriate carrier. If the carrier does not exist then it will need to be created in the Administration program.
It is possible to create a carrier record while creating a new vehicle using the extended vehicle creation screen. The option to add carriers from this screen will need to be activated so please contact Mandalay support for assistance.
Set a Default Carrier for a New Vehicle
Creating a Carrier for a New Vehicle
The carrier will automatically be set as the default for this vehicle
Default Vehicle Carrier in Administration
Although Mandalay CS has the ability to track a source and destination of a transaction the variability of this for normal commercial traffic at a standard landfill makes the administrative process of setting up source locations unmanageable for this solution. Therefore we recommend that for the interim solution the source of the waste be entered in the comments field when collecting a ticket.
The repeat last feature will populate this field with the comments from the previous transaction which can help reduce the operators work load when a vehicle is making a number of deliveries from the same source.
At the time of writing this article no reporting requirements have been identified. However Mandalay will provide on request a custom database view and build a custom report in WBR to extract all the details required under the regulation. This will include the original requirements and new additional details as long as they are captured using the above recommendations.
At this time Mandalay have been unable to discuss the governments requirements and long term goals around data collection. Once we have been able to analyse this we will be able to look at a long term solution that will make the collection of this data easier.
As Mandalay have not been able to confirm the exact data capture requirements of government so the solution is based on the minimal information we have. With this in mind we may update this article from time to time so if you are interested in this solution then please follow the article so you are informed of any changes.