Two school bus contractors in the same county can run in completely different ways. One pays drivers by the hour and checks every bus each morning. The other pays by the shift, does a deeper inspection every quarter, and has a dispatcher who also handles payroll. Software that only works one way forces one of them to change how they run, or to keep a spreadsheet on the side.
Customizable school bus software fits the way your company already works. Here's what you should be able to change yourself, what is reasonable to ask a vendor to build, the questions to ask before you sign up, and a checklist to compare options.
Customizable or custom-built? Know the difference
Vendors use customizable for two very different things. It's worth asking which one they mean.
| Settings you change yourself | Custom work the vendor builds for you | |
|---|---|---|
| Who does it | Your office, in the app's settings | The vendor's developers |
| How long it takes | Minutes | Weeks or months |
| What it costs | Usually part of the subscription | Often a separate project fee |
| Updates | You get every new feature | Your version can fall behind or break when the app changes |
| Changing your mind | Change the setting back | Another request, and often another fee |
For a 10 to 50 bus contractor, settings you change yourself are almost always the better deal. Custom work makes sense for a large operation with a truly unusual need. Even then, ask whether the vendor will build it into the product for everyone, so you aren't the only company running that version.
What you should be able to change yourself
These are the areas where contractors differ most. A good system lets an office manager set each one without calling support.
- Who sees what. A driver needs their own day, a mechanic needs maintenance, accounting needs invoices and pay. You should be able to make your own roles and choose, for each part of the app, whether a role can view, add, change, delete, export or approve.
- Your inspection checklists. Pre-trip and post-trip at the least, plus quarterly or yearly ones if your state or district asks for them. You should be able to write your own items, mark the ones that take a bus out of service, and use different checklists for buses and vans.
- The papers you require. Which documents every driver must have (license, medical card and so on), which every vehicle must have (registration, insurance, inspection certificate), and how far ahead you're reminded before something expires.
- How often inspections are due. Your state, your district contract or your insurer may set a different interval than the software's default.
- Who gets told about what. Which alerts go out, how many days ahead, and whether they also go by email.
- How drivers are paid. Per hour or per shift, your pay period and the day it starts, and when a driver counts as late.
- Your kinds of time off. Sick, vacation and unpaid days at the least, with your own names and whether each one is paid.
- Your own lists. Departments, yards or locations, and vehicle types, so the drop-downs match the words your people use.
- Only the parts you use. A small contractor that doesn't need fuel tracking or a parts warehouse shouldn't have to look at those pages every day.
Tip: Ask for a free trial and spend the first hour in Settings, not on the dashboard. If you can't set up your own checklist and your own pay rule in that hour, the software probably won't bend to fit you later either.
What is fair to ask a vendor to build
Some needs can't be met with a setting, such as a report your district asks for in its own format, or a feature the app simply doesn't have yet. Those are fair requests. A good vendor will say plainly whether it's on the way, and whether it will be built for everyone. Be careful with these answers:
- "We can do anything" without a date or a price.
- A one-off project fee for something many contractors would need.
- A version built just for you, which won't get the same updates as everyone else's.
- Changes that only the vendor can make, so every small adjustment means a support ticket.
Questions to ask before you sign up
- Can my office change this, or do you have to? Ask it for each item on the checklist below.
- Can I make my own role? Ask them to show a role that can see maintenance but not pay.
- Can I write my own inspection checklist? Ask them to show it on a driver's phone.
- Can I choose which papers each driver and bus must have, and when reminders go out?
- Can I pay per hour and per shift? And set my own pay period?
- Can I turn off what I don't use? And does the price change if I do?
- Can I load what I already have from a spreadsheet? Vehicles, drivers, routes and vendors, so you don't start from zero.
- When I ask for something new, what happens? Who decides, and will it be built for everyone?
A customizable school bus software checklist
- Your own roles, with view, add, change, delete, export and approve for each part of the app
- Your own inspection checklists, per vehicle type, with out-of-service items
- Your own list of required driver and vehicle documents
- Your own inspection interval and reminder days
- Your own alerts, in the app and by email
- Pay per hour or per shift, with your own pay period and late rule
- Your own kinds of time off
- Your own departments, locations and vehicle types
- Only the parts you use
- Import from a spreadsheet
- A plain answer about how new requests are handled
Doing it in FleetCommander
FleetCommander is set up in Settings, by your own office. These are the settings that change how it works for your company:
| What you set | Where |
|---|---|
| Seven ready-made roles (Super Admin, Fleet Manager, Maintenance Manager, Dispatcher, Driver, Accounting, Viewer), or your own: tick, for each section, whether it can view, create, edit, delete, export or approve | Settings › Roles & permissions |
| Your own inspection checklists: the Type, which vehicle types it Applies to, and the Vehicle components inspected, each one Safety-critical or not. Add from Inspections templates library adds a ready-made one, such as a quarterly inspection, as your own copy | Inspection templates |
| Reminder days, how often a vehicle must be inspected, which documents every driver and every vehicle must have, and how much each area counts in the compliance score | Settings › Compliance rules |
| For each kind of alert: on or off, how many days ahead, and whether it may also be emailed | Settings › Notification rules |
| How drivers are paid (per hour or per shift), the company rate, the Pay period and the day it starts, and when a driver counts as late | Settings › Company profile |
| Your kinds of time off. Every company starts with Sick, Vacation and Day off; rename, delete or add your own, and tick Paid | Settings › Company profile |
| Your departments, locations and vehicle types | Settings › Lists & data |
| Your logo, in the header and on the invoices you send districts | Settings › Company profile |
Each person also picks one of four Dashboard layouts (Today first, Headline numbers, Command center or Classic) and their own style, light or dark, in My account. Settings › Import data (CSV) loads vehicles, drivers, schools, routes, parts, vendors, fuel and expenses from a spreadsheet. A company that doesn't need every module can ask us to leave some out, and the What's in your plan box on the Billing page shows what's included.
Need something FleetCommander doesn't have? Tell us how you work. If it helps other contractors too, we build it into the app for everyone. See the Settings guide, Users and roles, Inspections and Driver attendance.
Ava (Beta), the assistant in the app, answers questions about your own records, such as Which medical cards expire soon? More on her page.
Good to know: FleetCommander doesn't let you add your own fields to a record, rename its pages or build your own reports from scratch. The reports are ready-made, and each one can be filtered, printed or exported. Modules are switched on or off by us, not in Settings, and we don't build a separate version of the app for one company.
Related reading
Questions people ask
- What does customizable school bus software mean?
- Software your own office can set up to match how you run, such as your roles, inspection checklists, required papers, alerts, pay rules and time-off kinds, without paying the vendor for custom work.
- Is customizable the same as custom-built?
- No. Customizable means settings you change yourself, in minutes. Custom-built means the vendor's developers build something just for you. It usually takes longer, often costs extra, and can fall behind when the app is updated.
- What should a small bus contractor be able to change?
- Who sees what (roles), the inspection checklists, which papers every driver and bus must have, how often inspections are due, which alerts go out, how drivers are paid, the kinds of time off, and your own lists of departments, locations and vehicle types.
- What if the software doesn't do something we need?
- Ask the vendor whether it's planned, when, and whether it will be built for everyone or just for you. Be careful with a one-off fee for something many contractors would use.