DealersEdge Professional Forums

Does anyone know of a way to get Reynolds & Reynolds to keep track of all of the technicians time throughout the course of a day? When they started, stopped, waiting on anything, etc...

I was thinking it could be done through the dispatch system, but after spending a half an hour on the phone with R&R I wasn't able to get much help...

I work at a Cadillac dealer and we currently have a Field Warranty Specialist in here that's saying our way of tracking it is not adequate.

Thanks in advance for any assistance you can give me...

Yes, there is a way. We just had the same audit for timekeeping. It is in dispatch.
Give me a call and I will try to walk you thru it.
Tom Edwards
Proctor GM
850-878-3171

We probably ought to share this info with the group as its pretty important and, in my opinion, the R/R set up is pretty confusing.

Yes, its in dispatch...and there are adjustable options. I'll try to remember to take some notes tomorrow to share as i don't use it enough to know it off the top of my head. I *think* we have it pretty well figured out but it would be good to know if we're doing something wrong.

One of the biggest problems is getting the techs to use the system properly and consistantly.

What, specifically, did the FWS say was wrong ? What are your techs doing or not doing that creates a problem ?

Cheers
DD

Specifically he said that our technicians payroll records do not reflect which vehicles are being worked on throughout the day. We have a central dispatch system. The technician gets the RO does the repairs and then he's flagged and the invoice is closed. So if you run a 3618 report it will show every RO that he's been flagged on but he may have worked on the vehicle over more than one day.

He said that according to the new P&P that you have to be able to account for all of the technican's time through his payroll records for all of the repair orders he works on throughout the day - COD, Warranty & Internal.

Both my AVM & the FWS suggested going back to the old flag slips as the easiest way to accomplish this. I would like to believe that there is a way to do it through R&R so that I don't have to keep track of a bunch of flag slips for 30 technicians and a team of quick lube techs.

JamesP
I was thinking it could be done through the dispatch system, but after spending a half an hour on the phone with R&R I wasn't able to get much help...

This can be done very easily and needs to be done, in order to improve technician productivity and efficiency, and while keeping your service labor inventory accurate.
Assuming your shop does not employ Electronic Service Integration (tech terminals in shop)then the time keeping functions are performed through the Dispatching 3350 screen. Your dispatcher will tell the computer when technicians arrive and depart for the day, as well as performing any working,hold and finish job assignment functions.
List of dispatch commands can be found in 3350 screen with a shift-question mark-return.

Set ups need to accurate in Dispatch Master 3324 and Technician Set-Up 3326, but you will need to make a few "service management decisions" with setups such as must start sequence and employee disciplines, in order for the Reynolds & Reynolds dispatching system to perform correctly for you.

When used correctly, the computer dispatching system will process more vehicles with the same amount of technicians (or less) while protecting you from any audit time keeping concerns.

If you have any questions you are welcome to e-mail at slapenta@bellsouth.net

Steve LaPenta




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Make sure that the techs are only allowed to be working on 1 r.o. at a time (per the software setups) and that they do not work on cars they are not "punched" onto in the dispatching system. DO NOT ALLOW TECHS TO PUT THE VEHICLES ON HOLD!!! this is the #1 no-no...it bypasses all communication and thwarts any control of the shop you may have. i suggest you set it up so that they only show they have 1 stall in the 3326 setup. they will complain but if your service consultants have dispatching permissions they can help when the dispatcher is in a pinch...ultimately the svc cons. is responsible to keep customers informed as to status.
P.S. Your ASM wants to dock you if you don't show the full punched time?...will he pay you more if you have more than the flat rate time punched?...remind him of the double-standard he may be setting...
i don't trust the AWARE report...i think it's slanted in GM's favor but then...that's another thread.
keep on the Reynolds folks...if you don't like who answers the phone ask them if they know who is a WHIZ on that particular setup and ask to be transfered or hang up and call back and ask for that person. sometimes the pride of the person you get on the phone gets in the way of really being helped. (just like some techs who wont bow out when they need to...guys don't like to ask for directions, right?)

[This message has been edited by mark vandersteeg (edited 04-05-2007).]