Arkona/Dealertrack parts inventory help

[onelap99]

Need a little help from anyone on Arkona/Dealertrack. I run a company that performs parts inventories (side business) and have been contacted to perform an inventory at a relatively small Ford dealer (approx $160k). The GM wants us to perform the inventory on Sunday without the parts managers knowledge. Not normally a huge problem but not real familiar with the DMS. Can probably muddle through it but any words of wisdom, advice or a pdf of the physical inventory procedure would be helpful. Thanks guys, love reading the forum

[Denise Trimble]

Their GM should be able to get the PDF for you by calling the DMS himself.
They may even be able to recommend some tell-tale reports for verification purposes.

[Mike Nicholes]

Arkona has a physical inventory procedure, but someone in the dealership with the passwords and knowledge of the parts side of the system will have to initiate it.

[greenthumb-38]

the variance report is broken into several reports and is a royal pain. same part in the same bin can be on three different variance printouts. I keep telling myself that I am going to output the variance as spreadsheets, merge and come up with one report myself, but I think the DMS should do it for me.

~ gt

[Richard]

without the manager there.....

Is ANYONE with any knowledge of the dealership going to be there to answer important questions, like how many gallons the oil tanks are, or are the accessory displays in parts inventory and need to be counted, or were they charged off?

I was offered a gig like this back when I still did inventories. I understood the dealer was trying to catch the guy stealing, but without some inside knowledge, i decided that I may very well not get a good count because of bad information, and turned it down.

[MovingForward]

I think a better way to approach this would be for you and the GM to determine a specific day to do the inventory and when that day arrives you show up and the GM explains to the manager that you will be doing a complete physical inventory that day and that they will be looking to him any questions they may have. Also let him know that he will not have access to the DMS while the inventory is being performed. The inventory can be performed during regular business hours.

As soon as he is informed that morning of what is going on you will know by his reaction wether a physical is really necessary or not.

[CMayne]

I am "kind of" with Richard on this one. Suspicious actions taken because of suspicious situations usually provide suspicious results. Unless you know this GM fairly well I would be "suspicious". Just saying.

[onelap99]

MovingForward, I like your idea of having the PM there but not letting him know until that morning that we are performing a physical. My thought initially was to be very clear with the GM that we would provide a physical dollar of what was there, clearly mark what was not counted (or accounted for) and let him know the GM know this did not take into account whatever credits pending, etc that were out there, He and the PM could hash that out Monday morning.
Richard, all of your thoughts have already passed through my brain. The oil tanks I can figure out. The rest, we will just have to do our best. The count won't be the most accurate but it will be a starting point for the GM and as long as we clearly mark what is not counted, they can decide whether to add it back in Monday morning.
The GM does, of course, have access to all the programs we need to run but I would like to show up looking like I have better knowledge of the system. I may shake the bushes locally and see who is on this DMS and try to pick their brain or see if they want to come along for the ride.

The things we do for $$$

[JustBob]

"The GM does, of course, have access to all the programs we need to run"

Hopefully you have verified this. I have dealt with GM's that thought they had access but never used it and their passwords were not valid. It would seem from the approach the GM is taken there are suspicions. If there is a basis for these suspicions the PM may have manipulated the DMS to prevent access.

I have had the misfortune/opportunity to be the "investigator" of parts inventories in the past where significant discrepancies were found that were impossible to explain away. They were outright misappropriation by the PM. In most cases (but not all) the physical condition of the parts department indicated a significant lack of management.

At the very least you will receive an education on the DMS and a little about how another parts department is run.

[steve@gmdealer]

What if the GM is the guilty party?