When the Fuel Log Didn't Add Up — and How AI Helped Me See the Numbers Clearly
Debugging a fuel log in Arise & Shine Transporters taught me the value of AI collaboration in resolving real-world data inconsistencies. This session shows how AI can be a practical ally in everyday software development.
I was trying to fix a discrepancy between the fuel logs recorded by drivers and the figures appearing in the backend system. The numbers didn't match — some entries were missing, others were duplicated. It was a simple issue, but it had the potential to throw off financial reporting and cost calculations for the business. I needed a way to reconcile the logs without manually checking each one, which would have taken hours.
Claude suggested creating a reconciliation view that displayed both the driver-submitted logs and the backend records side by side. It would show where there were gaps or mismatches, and it would let me see the full picture at a glance. That made sense, but I wasn’t sure how to structure the query to pull the right data.
Codex helped by writing the SQL query to merge the two data sources — driver logs and backend fuel records — based on timestamp and truck ID. It also suggested adding a 'difference' column to highlight where the numbers didn’t align. That simple addition made it easy to spot discrepancies and resolve them quickly.
Once the view was built, I tested it with a few sample logs. The numbers aligned perfectly, and I could see where the data had been entered incorrectly. It was a small win, but it made a big difference in the accuracy of the system. The business owner noticed the change right away, and it helped them make more informed decisions about fuel costs and driver performance.
It was a reminder that even small issues can have a big impact on the tools we build. And it was also a reminder that working with AI doesn’t mean replacing human judgment — it means enhancing it. The tools we create with AI help us solve problems faster, but the real work is still in understanding what needs to be solved in the first place.
This was just one session in the long process of building Arise & Shine Transporters, but it showed how practical AI collaboration can be. It’s not about magic or miracles — it’s about making the work of building better, more reliable tools for real people a little easier.
If you're building with AI and running into a problem, don’t hesitate to ask for help. Sometimes, the solution is right in front of you — you just need the right perspective to see it.
