Inspiration

Fleetmate was inspired by the day‑to‑day reality of HealthWISE staff working across regional NSW and South‑East Queensland. Vehicles are shared, travel is constant, and the organisation relies on safe, compliant, well‑managed transport to deliver community health services. But the current system — Outlook calendars, spreadsheets, paper logbooks, emails, and manual reconciliation — creates friction, uncertainty, and unnecessary admin. We wanted to build something simple, low‑cost, and practical that respects the constraints of regional work while dramatically improving visibility, safety, and reporting. In just over 12 hours, we have delivered a comprehensive fleet management web application with a corresponding app for offline mode use, as well as an Outlook calendar sync capability

What it does

Fleetmate centralises everything HealthWISE needs to manage its fleet in one lightweight, intuitive platform: Unified bookings — A single, trusted source of truth for vehicle availability across all sites. Digital trip logging — Capture driver, destination, purpose, and odometer readings without paper. Fuel receipt capture — Snap, link, and reconcile fuel purchases to vehicles, trips, and cost centres. Compliance visibility — Real‑time status for registration, insurance, servicing, and safety checks. Reporting & cost allocation — Program‑ and cost‑centre‑aligned insights without manual spreadsheets. It’s designed for mixed digital confidence, works in low‑connectivity environments, and avoids reliance on personal devices.

How we built it

Fleetmate was built by combining HealthWISE’s operational realities with a rapid, iterative development approach: Database‑first design — We began by designing the core data model and schema, using Copilot to accelerate the structure for bookings, trips, fuel, and compliance. This became the backbone that unified all fleet information. UI prototyping with Copilot CLI — In parallel, we mocked the user interface layer using Copilot CLI, allowing us to visualise workflows early and ensure the experience remained simple and low‑friction for staff with mixed digital confidence. Microservice‑based API layer — We then built an API layer composed of small, focused microservices — one for each key function (bookings, trips, fuel, compliance). This kept the system modular, scalable, and easy to maintain. Offline‑friendly workflows — Because regional travel often means unreliable connectivity, we designed workflows that remain functional offline and sync when possible. Microsoft 365 integration — Authentication and identity were aligned with existing Microsoft 365 sign‑in processes to keep onboarding simple and secure. Lightweight cloud services — We deliberately chose low‑overhead cloud components to minimise cost, reduce support burden, and keep the solution practical for a not‑for‑profit environment. MAUI wrapper application — Finally, we packaged the web front end inside a .NET MAUI app, giving HealthWISE a consistent, kiosk‑friendly experience across shared devices without relying on staff personal phones. Every design decision was anchored in the brief: practical, inclusive, low‑cost, and easy for regional staff to use.

Challenges we ran into

Building Fleetmate in a short, high‑pressure hackathon window surfaced several real‑world challenges — technical, architectural, and organisational: Platform setup hurdles — Getting Copilot Studio, GitHub repos, and Azure services configured correctly took longer than expected. Identity, permissions, and environment provisioning slowed early momentum. Security & identity complexity — Designing safe access to the database and API while navigating firewalls, authentication flows, and least‑privilege principles required careful thought and iteration. Steep learning curve — With limited time, we had to rapidly upskill across new tools, frameworks, and cloud components while still delivering a functional solution. Time pressure — The ambition of the solution and the breadth of requirements meant prioritisation was critical; not everything could be built to full depth. We'd like however to acknowledge the exceptional requirements quality provided by the HealthWISE charity team. They were clear, thoughtful, and well‑structured requirements. This was a huge advantage, but it also raised the bar: we wanted to honour the quality of their input with an equally strong solution.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Despite the complexity and the tight hackathon timeframe, Fleetmate delivers meaningful, high‑quality improvements for HealthWISE — both technically and operationally: Robust offline capability — Workflows were intentionally designed to function during low or unreliable connectivity, ensuring regional staff can log trips, view bookings, and capture data without interruption. A unified source of truth — Bookings, trips, fuel, and compliance data now live in one consistent, reliable system instead of scattered across calendars, spreadsheets, emails, and paper. Database‑first architecture — Starting with a well‑structured schema gave the entire solution a strong foundation, ensuring data integrity, scalability, and clean relationships across all fleet functions. Microservice‑based API layer — Each core function (bookings, trips, fuel, compliance) is powered by its own microservice, making the system modular, maintainable, and easy to extend. A powerful React frontend — The UI is fast, intuitive, and built with modern best practices, giving staff a clean, accessible experience regardless of digital confidence. MAUI wrapper for shared devices — Packaging the web app inside a .NET MAUI shell provides a kiosk‑friendly, consistent interface without relying on personal devices. AI‑accelerated development — Copilot helped us rapidly design the database schema, scaffold UI components, and generate boilerplate code, allowing the team to focus on higher‑value logic and integration. Paperless, accurate trip logging — Drivers can record trips quickly and reliably, eliminating manual logbooks and scanning. Reliable fuel capture — Receipts are linked directly to vehicles, trips, and cost centres, removing the burden of manual reconciliation. Clear compliance visibility — Registration, insurance, servicing, and safety checks are surfaced in a single dashboard, reducing risk and improving fleet readiness. Reporting aligned to programs and cost centres — Data can be exported and analysed cleanly without spreadsheet wrangling. A solution shaped to HealthWISE — Every design decision reflects the organisation’s real constraints: low cost, low overhead, inclusive design, and suitability for regional operations. Fleetmate isn’t just a prototype — it’s a thoughtfully engineered, AI‑accelerated solution that genuinely fits how HealthWISE works.

What we learned

Working with the HealthWISE brief taught us several key lessons: Simplicity beats sophistication — especially for regional, mixed‑confidence teams. Paper processes persist for a reason — replacing them requires empathy, not just tech. Offline capability is essential in regional Australia. Compliance visibility reduces risk — but only if it’s easy to maintain. Integration with existing systems matters — not everything needs to be reinvented. The brief pushed us to design something practical, not theoretical.

What's next for Fleetmate

Future enhancements could further strengthen HealthWISE’s fleet operations: Predictive servicing based on usage patterns and odometer trends. Automated cost allocation tied directly to trips and programs. Incident reporting integration aligned with HealthWISE procedures. Enhanced fatigue‑management workflows building on the existing QR‑based process. Mobile kiosk mode for shared devices at each site. Deeper Microsoft 365 automation for reminders, renewals, and compliance tasks. The foundation is built — now it can evolve with HealthWISE’s needs.