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Do-It-Yourself Software Design

Two owner-operators with a vision find it’s not always best to leave it to the experts.

Steve Sturgess, Senior Editor

Owner-operators Fred Gasperson and Anne Trevett trucked together for four years and realized late in the ’80s that they wanted to put their trucking records into a computer. Trevett says they invested thousands of dollars with programmers trying to develop a software product good enough to sell. With the right package, they reasoned, they would recoup their investment and perhaps start a whole new business.
It wasn’t quite that easy. The truckers and the software developers they were paying feuded over what the program should do and how it should look.
The only solution: Do it themselves.
Years before, Gasperson had seen and used COBOL, a computer language that’s now virtually extinct. It was no good for the Windows-based package that Trevett and Gasperson envisaged. So they parked the truck for six months while Gasperson worked with a developer using Windows programming language Super Base. By late 1993, Gasperson was ready to start his project.
Gasperson has no formal computer training. He is a self-taught high school grad with what Trevett calls a master’s degree from the School of Hard Knocks. That, she says, is to be expected of anyone who has survived in trucking for 32 years.
The program that Troutdale, OR-based Hammerlane Software Systems developed, named Hammerdown, has all the features Gasperson and Trevett wanted, plus features truckers themselves said would be useful. This designed-by-truckers-to-be-used-by-truckers principle is extending through the organization as the company develops. Newly arrived Chief Financial Officer Gary Thomas is well-versed in marketing and sales, but also drove a truck through his college years. Board nominee Chris Saunders was one of Hammerlane’s first customers and an owner-operator with Marten Transport of Mondovi, WI.
Hammerlane’s early marketing efforts have included offers to some high-profile fleets with good owner-operator involvement, as well as one of the independent trucker organizations. With a CompUSA deal inked, the marketing efforts go into top gear. Comp- USA will stock both software and a notebook computer/software package, and orders can be taken at any of the chain’s 126 stores. That means you can try the software running on the laptop that can be purchased as a bundle at any of the chain’s 50 tech departments.

MADE-TO-MEASURE PACKAGES
The key to Hammerdown’s ease is its single-entry feature, which minimizes data entry and the chance for mistakes.
“A fuel purchase entered in the fuel screen, for instance, goes into the trip report, the state fuel/mileage report and the expense report,” said Trevett.
The full version of Hammerdown is richly featured and includes state mileage by trip and quarter; trip routing; detailed maintenance and warranty information; expense and income accounting; and lists for customers, brokers, companies, vendors and personal contacts. Also included are a profit/loss estimate by trip, month, quarter and year-to-date; invoices; and a special section for household goods haulers and LTL operators. In the full version there’s even a street-level map program. A stripped-down version omits the routing and mapping functions.
The software can be purchased to run on any computer that will run Windows, such as a 386 or better. Alternatively, for drivers with no computer or looking to trade up to a laptop, CompUSA offers Hammerdown installed and ready to run in a Pentium notebook computer complete with ink-jet printer, power supply, cables and inverter, at a competitive bundled price.
As well as the truck business management functions, the program also includes time management and a 70-hour logbook recap.
Price is $699 for the full version and $399 for the version without the mileage database — an expensive industry-standard module that Hammerlane must purchase. The price for the whole system is $3,899 direct from Hammerlane.
Purchased from CompUSA, though, there is a $200 savings on the standard hardware. There’s also enormous flexibility to specify the software and the system that best suits your operation.

PEDAL TO THE METAL
Gasperson and Trevett are excited about software publishing, a venture that has taken nearly 10 years to accomplish. Hammerlane first went on sale in 1996, and Gasperson is now working on enhancements suggested by customers that he describes as “really encouraging.”
“It’s great to feel that we are providing a much-needed product that is doing everything the drivers want. All the calls we get are enthusiastic and complimentary about the features in the software.”
Based on the reception of the single-truck Hammerdown product, Gasperson has been working on a small-fleet version due this March. It will include dispatch, truck maintenance tracking, accounting and transfer of information between company truck and office.