The Project Management Institute of New Zealand (PMINZ) has awarded EROAD‘s Electronic Logging Device (ELD) development its Project of the Year at the institute‘s annual awards.

EROAD developed its ELD to help US customers meet regulatory requirements that drivers‘ hours of service be recorded electronically.

Earlier this year, EROAD became the first provider to deliver an independently verified and compliant ELD to the US market. Independent testing was carried out by PIT Group, which specialises in the testing and implementation of transportation-related products across North America. Testing confirmed that the EROAD ELD meets FMCSA (Federal Motor Carriers Safety Association) requirements.

The award recognises the success of a project and the project team, for the superior performance and execution of exceptional project management. EROAD chief executive Steven Newman said the company was delighted to have won the award, not least because of the high calibre of the competition.

“Our ELD was delivered on time and within budget and was by far our biggest and most complex research and development project so far undertaken by EROAD,” he said. “It‘s a credit to the whole team, and complements the very positive response we‘ve had from customers for this service.”

EROAD project manager Cherie Murray with James Dobson, president of PMINZ (left), and Bruce Aylward, CEO of Psoda.

The ELD utilised EROAD‘s Ehubo2 in-vehicle device, and was developed to meet the regulatory requirements of the US FMCSA rule. This rule requires 4.3 million North American drivers to record their logbook records electronically using an ELD, one of the most significant changes in transportation there in 60 years.

Newman said the project took around 10 months and involved more than 100 team members in Auckland, New Zealand, and Portland, Oregon. There were no ELDs in the market when the development began, so the technology was new, and it had to be delivered before an adoption window in the market closed, with the rule set for introduction in December 2017.

Not only had EROAD been first to market with an independently verified, comprehensive in-vehicle tax and ELD platform in the US, but also the company had delivered a market-leading product in terms of quality.

“It‘s one thing to develop quickly, but a real achievement to do so at the very highest quality – that‘s something we‘re very proud of,” said Newman.

Cherie Murray, EROAD‘s project manager for the ELD development, was a finalist in PMINZ‘s Project Manager of the Year award for her role in managing the project.

The sponsor of the PMINZ award, Psoda, stated: “EROAD was selected as a finalist because not only did it have a very tight, fixed deadline, it was also a very complex project that followed good project management processes.”