The Vehicle Maintenance Reporting Standards, also known as VMRS, is a universal coding system used to obtain, assort and communicate fleet information. In short, VMRS can be defined as the universal language for fleet maintenance.
VMRS supports uniform communication between fleets, OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), computers, industry suppliers and the personnel that purchase, operate and maintain equipment.
Definition of Vehicle Maintenance Reporting Standards codes
VMRS codes are alphanumeric ciphers that help you to sort maintenance data in a very structured way. As of today, there are 64 different categories called “code keys”.
These codes will help you identify what type of vehicle is being worked on, the vehicle’s manufacturer and what sort of work is being done. Some of the most commonly used categories are:
| Category name | Code key | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Asset type | 2 | What type of vehicle is being worked on? |
| Power source | 5 | How is it powered? (Diesel, LNG, CNG) |
| Reason for repair | 14 | Why is the repair required? |
| Work accomplished | 15 | What did the technician do to the vehicle? |
| Technician failure | 18 | Why did it fail (according to the technician)? |
| System level | 31 | What system was involved in completing the repair? |
| Assembly level | 32 | How can the system be defined more specifically? |
| Component level | 33 | What part of the vehicle is involved in the repair? |
| Manufacturer | 34 | Who made the part? |
| Location of repair | 79 | What is the exact location of the repair shop? |
| Operator report | 82 | How did the driver describe the malfunction? |
Under some categories like technician failure (code 18), for example, you can find over 90 codes describing the most common reasons that parts fail. These include code 10 – bent, code 44 – worn and code 60 – noisy. As you can see, a technician can precisely identify what is wrong with a vehicle and then communicate this to the right person easily.
History of the VMRS convention
In 1969, the American Trucking Association (ATA) developed the Vehicle Maintenance Reporting Standards to help fleet professionals identify and communicate about maintenance issues.
During the 70s and 80s, the VMRS went global and continued growing at the same pace as the industry. The more information that was needed regarding vehicle maintenance, the larger and more comprehensive the Vehicle Maintenance Reporting Standards became. At that time, however, VMRS codes were recorded manually on paper.
In the 90s, as computers increasingly became a part of our daily lives, the true flexibility and power of the VMRS system became apparent. This simple, numerical coding system, which made it easy to understand potentially complex information, fit perfectly into the mass digitisation of the era.
Legal obligations of Vehicle Maintenance Reporting Standards
To help ensure the integrity and utility of the VMRS system, ATA has announced four levels of licensing agreements with the use of VMRS 2000™:
- Single user: Entitles used on a single computer workstation.
- Enterprise: Entitles the licensee to make copies of materials to be used by multiple users within the enterprise.
- Developer: Licensee may distribute copies of the materials as a part of another product.
- Mass distribution: Entitles a distributor to reproduce and distribute a number of copies of the materials from single-user and enterprise in return for a fixed fee.
Note that if you are currently using fleet management software like Webfleet, you probably already have VMRS working for your organisation. Get in contact with one of our experts for more information.
Additionally, there are nine implementation requirements for your system to be able to share data with VMRS databases and other users. These are:
1. Use the VMRS Vehicle Master Record
2. Identify the Equipment Vocation -code key 1
3. Segregate costs by Reason for Repair -code key 14
4. Identify work performed using VMRS Coding -code key 15
5. Identify systems using the 3-digit VMRS System Code -code key 31
6. Identify assemblies using the 3-digit VMRS Assembly Code -code key 32
7. Identify individual parts using the 3-digit VMRS Component Code -code key 33
8. Identify part/vehicle manufacturers, suppliers or brands using their DUNS # -code key 34
9. Be capable of recording VMRS Technician Part Failure Codes -code key 18
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