Service Department

End time function to take line off hold
A technician can now use the E=End Time function to simultaneously take a line off hold and end the time in the time log.

Change: The technician had to start time on the line to take it off hold and then end the time.
Benefit: Saves time for the technician.

Dispatching manager can end time for techs with lines on hold
Dispatching managers can now end time on a job for a tech.  To do this, the dispatching manager can take the following steps:

1. Take option 5=Dispatching Management from the Service Department menu and key in your password.
2. Find the line the tech is logged on to in the Dispatching Management screen.
3. Take option 3=Tech Log by the line to display the Technician Time Log screen.
4. Use the end function (En) to end the time on a line.

Benefit: Time on lines can be ended and lines can be taken off hold by a manager when a technician is not available to end the time.

Waiters sort to the top of the cashier screen
The Cashier screen has been modified to allow repair orders that were opened today with the customer waiting to sort to the top of the screen.

Change: Waiters used to sort with all of the other repair orders.
Benefit: By using function F5=Refresh, the cashier can see when a waiter is ready without having to wait to be contacted by the customer or the service advisor.

Security to add new labor operation codes to the system
A new security option has been added to Service Writers in the Service Department Application Environment that will prevent unauthorized users from adding labor op codes to your list.  To change this security setting for a service advisor, an authorized user can take option 50=Application Environment from the Service Department menu and take option 1=Select by Service Writers.  Take option 2=Change by the service writer ID and set Add New Labor Op Codes = N.

Benefit: The service manager enjoys more control over his list of valid labor op codes.  This is especially important in the automatic dispatching environment.

Enhanced Time by Date report for technicians
The Time by Date report for technicians has been modified to include the flag time for repair orders that the technician does not log actual time on.

Change: Previously the report only included the flag time for repair orders that the technician had actual time on.
Benefit: Technicians can run their own flag time reports and they will include all flag time earned.

Report type option for Technician Time reports
A new option has been added to the Technician Time Report – Flag Date and Technician Time Report – Close Date for report type.  The three report types are as follows:

Normal – this runs the report the way it is currently.  Actual time is reported for technicians that are set to Cost by Tech Log = Y in the technician record in Service Department Application Environment.  Flag time is reported for technicians that are set to Cost by Tech Log = N.

Actual – Actual time is reported for all technicians without regard to how labor cost is computed.

Flag – Flag time is reported for all technicians without regard to how labor cost is computed.

To see this new option, take the following steps:

1. Take option 24=Reports from the Service Department menu.
2. Take option 1=Select by one of the Technician Time Reports and look for the Report Type* field just above the Printer.
3. Hit F4 on the Report Type* field to see a list of valid values.
4. Select the desired report type and press [ENTER] to run the report.

Hide inactive service writers in list
Service advisors that have been marked inactive no longer show in the service writer list.  A new function, F11=Inactive, has been added to the bottom of the Service Writer list screen in Service Department Application Environment to display inactive service writers.  The inactive service writers have also been excluded from the list when selecting which service writers’ work in process to show on your Open Repair Orders list screen.

Benefit: Service writer lists are kept cleaner without losing important information from service history.

Include charge customer name in payment method
The charge customer name has been added to the payment method printout on invoices.

Benefit: Easier to identify the charge customer when the customer number is unknown.

Security option to change service writer on appointments
A new security option has been added to service writer security to allow the service writer to change the assigned service writer when converting an appointment to a repair order.  To authorize a service writer to this function, an authorized user may take the following steps:

• Take option 50=Application Environment from the Service Department menu and take option 1=Select by Service Writers.
• Take option 2=Change by a service writer name.
• Set Change Appt Service Writer = Y and press [ENTER] to save.

Change: Previously any service writer could change the service writer on an appointment when converting it to a repair order.
Benefit: Allows tighter control over who can change the service writer assigned to an appointment.

Option to require PO number for repair orders
A new check has been added to the repair order process to determine if an A/R charge customer needs to supply a purchase order number before obtaining service.  To activate this feature, an authorized user has to set a charge customer to PO Required = Y.  To do this, take the following steps:

1. Take option 41=Charge Customers from the General Ledger menu and position to the charge customer.
2. Take option 2=Change by the customer name and set PO Required=Y.
3. Press [ENTER] to save.

When a charge customer comes in for service, the service advisor will be prompted for the PO number when opening the repair order.  If he does not have the PO number available at the time, he can bypass the prompt.  The PO will then be required to get the repair order into Cashier status so that it can be closed.  Use function 57=PO Number to add the PO to the repair order after it has already been opened.

Change: PO required was previously only available for parts counter sales.
Benefit: Service advisors are reminded to obtain required documentation from the customer prior to closing the repair order.

Integration with MPi ARGIS service merchandising solution
ARKONA has teamed up with MPi to facilitate their integration with our DMS.  For more information on this integration, please contact MPi.