St. Johns County Digitally Transforms Fleet Management Strategy Using ArcGIS Enterprise

St. Johns County faced a growing challenge in managing its fleet of over 1,200 assets, including trucks, heavy equipment, ATVs, buses, and emergency vehicles. Public works leaders needed a system to track each vehicle from acquisition through disposal. This would ensure strong preventive maintenance practices so the county could keep these assets in optimal condition throughout their lifecycle.

“We’ve moved from guesswork to data-driven decisions,” said Rocky Agbunag, St. Johns County information systems officer for Public Works. “Now, every dollar we spend on fleet is backed by solid data.”

Historically, county staff relied on manual processes and fragmented systems for their fleet management. Budgeting for replacements was reactive—often based on anecdotal evidence rather than hard data—and preventive maintenance compliance was inconsistent. This ultimately led to missed services when they were truly needed and unexpected breakdowns, with costly corrective repairs and long periods of downtime for technicians. The Public Works Administration and Fleet Manager needed a solution that could provide accurate, real-time data to support strategic planning and transparency. 

Rather than purchasing a standalone fleet management system, St. Johns County leveraged its existing Trimble Cityworks work order management system and ArcGIS Enterprise to build a fully integrated fleet solution powered by geographic information system (GIS) technology. The team customized the solution to support industry-standard fleet-specific workflows and connected it to multiple data sources:

• GIS integration: Every vehicle is represented as a point feature within a polygon, providing spatial context for assets across county facilities
• VIN decoding API: Standardized vehicle data (make, model, engine type) can be automatically retrieved from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
• FuelMaster integration: Odometer readings are captured when fueling occurs
• Automatic vehicle location (AVL): Verizon Connect GPS feeds provide real-time mileage updates via ArcGIS GeoEvent Server.
• Parts management: Integration with NAPA for parts inventory and cost tracking
• Vehicle condition index (VCI): Age, maintenance cost, odometer readings, and condition assessment data are combined into a single score, creating a standardized measure of fleet health for budgeting and planning

One of the most innovative components of St. Johns County’s new solution is a score produced by the vehicle condition index (VCI).

“The fleet vehicle replacement program maximizes budget forecasting by using a scoring mechanism to optimize inventory, predict diagnostics, and ensure efficient resource allocation,” said Jeff Nordsiek, St. Johns County fleet manager.

The VCI assigns each vehicle a score from 0 to 100 based on four weighted criteria: condition, odometer reading, vehicle age, and total corrective maintenance costs (excluding preventive maintenance and fuel).

Each criterion contributes up to 25 points, creating a clear, standardized score that reflects the vehicle’s overall health. Vehicles scoring below 60 are flagged for potential replacement, while those scoring under 50 are prioritized for budget planning. By eliminating guesswork and subjective decision-making, the VCI provides the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) with a transparent, data-driven tool to forecast replacement costs. This supports the county’s goal of building more proactive maintenance strategies that extend vehicle life and reduce downtime.

“The vehicle replacement program has enabled the Office of Management and Budget to get an objective and data-driven analysis of the county’s fleet to determine which vehicles should be recommended for replacement,” said Wade Schroeder, St. Johns County director of OMB.

With the VCI in place, St. Johns County needed a way to turn scores and data into actionable insights. ArcGIS Dashboards and automated reports became the bridge between raw data and decision-making.

With real-time visibility into fleet health, compliance, and costs, managers could prioritize maintenance and plan replacements more easily. What was once a manual, time-consuming process is now streamlined and transparent, enabling leadership to act quickly and confidently.

To make the county’s new ArcGIS deployment possible, the public works GIS/IT team enhanced an existing Trimble Cityworks workflow by adding detailed maintenance descriptions and standardized repair types. ArcGIS Enterprise serves as the backbone, ensuring accurate asset tracking and enabling advanced analytics. Automation is critical, with alerts notifying managers when vehicles are due or overdue for service. This approach allowed St. Johns County to avoid the cost of purchasing a separate fleet management system and achieve flexibility at scale.

A cost analysis showed that implementing a new fleet management system would have resulted in a 177 percent increase in annual per-user costs. By leveraging ArcGIS Enterprise and Cityworks, St. Johns County avoided these costs while expanding its capabilities.

“We realized we could deliver 95 percent of what a dedicated fleet system promised by customizing Trimble Cityworks and leveraging ArcGIS,” said Agbunag.

St. Johns County has achieved significant operational and strategic benefits. The fleet system enables OMB to prioritize replacements using objective scores, reducing reliance on subjective requests.

Automated alerts and scheduling have improved preventive maintenance compliance, increased wrench time, and reduced missed services. Reports and dashboards eliminate manual reporting, saving staff time and improving accuracy. By identifying vehicles with rising maintenance costs and declining condition scores, the county avoids costly repairs and optimizes replacement timing. 

Fleet managers report improved morale and productivity because technicians now have a steady workflow and clear performance metrics. The system even enforces compliance by disabling fuel keys for vehicles overdue for service, ensuring that maintenance schedules are followed.

The financial impact reinforces the value of this approach:

• The fleet vehicle condition score improved from 63 percent to 81 percent year-over-year (an 18 percent increase), reducing corrective maintenance and improving reliability
• 445 active AVL units were integrated and 20 fleet staff users were onboarded, expanding service coverage despite staffing challenges
• Lifetime costs of retired vehicles are trending downward, signaling a proactive replacement strategy that limits high repair costs associated with aging, high-mileage vehicles

St. Johns County’s experience offers valuable guidance for other municipalities considering a similar approach. By combining ArcGIS Enterprise with Cityworks, the team created a custom fleet management system tailored to its needs. Planning ahead for data interoperability was critical—understanding the API capabilities of AVL providers like Verizon ensured seamless integration with GIS and asset management systems.

The team also learned that starting small with a pilot program before rolling it out to the entire organization helped them validate workflows and refine processes better. Enhancing GIS and Cityworks workflows took approximately 12 months, and the vehicle condition index was implemented over the next six, followed by updates to incorporate heavy Class 8 equipment.

St. Johns County plans to expand its analytics capabilities, with the potential integration of ArcGIS Velocity in the next fiscal year to enable real-time data streaming and advanced analytics. This upgrade from the county’s previous GeoEvent Server for AVL integration will support initiatives such as monitoring mowing operations and contractor performance. ArcGIS Velocity will enable team personnel to overlay AVL data on mowing boundaries to assess coverage, adjust service areas, and optimize resources.

The county also sees opportunities to enhance compliance reporting. Plans include creating a department compliance dashboard that tracks maintenance adherence across departments. Gamification elements may additionally be introduced to display department scores and encourage proactive maintenance practices.

“We’re just scratching the surface with AVL and real-time analytics,” said Agbunag. “ArcGIS Velocity will open the door to even more operational insights.”

This article was contributed by Krista Marvel and Summer Manestar from St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners. Please feel free to reach out with any questions or feedback.