Tekion DMS

[Fixed Ops Mgr]

I am wondering if any of you are on the DMS called Tekion? I have never heard of this DMS system before and I just received notification today that we have a managers meeting this Thursday about switching over to this DMS in the near future. I'm just trying to find any information that I can on this DMS because I wonder what it will do
for my parts department. We are currently on Dealertrack.
I am really not impressed that we may be a guinea pig for what sounds to me like a DMS system in it's early stages however I cannot be sure.
I would appreciate any feedback or information anyone may have.

[Ichabod Farquar]

I believe this is a system being promoted by General Motors. It has been an optional selection within the EBE program for some months (quarters) now. We chose to steer clear of it. I know no one who is using it -but they have to be out there.

All I have to say is a heart felt - Good Luck.

[MIKE1010]

We have been on it since mid May. We were Reynolds. Now I have never been thru a dms change before so all I can say is the first few weeks were not fun. I can say the parts side seems to be working ok for us. If you aren’t doing electronic parts requests you will be as this is one of the main features. They have made many improvements since it was introduced to us. Some of the system wide changes have been a result of input from us. So they have a very good support system. All techs have there own laptops and write all stories and punch in and out on those. It is cloud based so no servers on site . This has been an issue with slow printing but livable. Some features I like and have already forgotten my Reynolds habits. We will be going thru our first inventory in two weeks. Not sure how that will go since our inventory company does not know the system. Tekion said the will have reps available during inventory so that will help. They have been very helpful as we can contact them daily if necessary if we have problems or questions so the is a major plus as most dms companies give little to no help. All I can say is I think this company is going places and yes it can be frustrating getting in on the ground floor but they are building this system to work with today’s environment.

[havewehitbottomyet]

We have been on Tekion since April. Hands down the worst DMS I have ever been on. Every department here hates it, even new car sales. Our sales manager is one of the coolest most laid back guys and if you talk Tekion with him he gets all worked up. I could go on and on but it took them 5 months to create the ability to run a stock order. 5 months. How is that not part of the roll out? And it sucks. RO's don't calculate tax correctly, our office has to track the tax on every single RO. Body shop paint and materials has been a disaster. If at all possible I would wait and give them time to TRY and fix all the problems. They rushed it to market before it was ready and now we get to help them make it right. For free. I would take a pay cut to go back to Dealertrack and I wasn't a big fan of that DMS but Tekion makes Dealertrack look like geniuses. Good luck to you.

[partsgirl1995]

I seriously hope you do not have to use this turd DMS. I can't believe they made a DMS worse than Dealertrack. I have not talked to one person at our dealership that has anything positive to say.
Here is a list of issues that we've come up with in parts. This is only issues for the counter people, there are double for the parts manager. Some issues are smaller than others but they wanted a list of everything we would like improved.
This thing might be cool in 2 years or so but until they do some major improving, it makes the tasks you consider easy now, nearly impossible to do correctly.

TEKION ISSUES:


-WHEN YOU HAVE A PART IN STOCK AND ORDER A SECOND ONE, BUT THEN WANT TO TAKE THE STOCK PART OFF AND LEAVE THE ONE ORDERED, IT MAKES YOU TAKE THE ORDERED PART OFF. EVEN IF THEY ARE ON SEPERATE LINES.

-IF THE CUSTOMER IS NOT IN THE SYSTEM IT WON'T LET YOU PRINT THE SOR FROM THE SO SCREEN. ALSO IT WILL NOT PULL OVER THE SOR PART WHEN IT COMES IN

-IT SHOULD LET YOU FULLY ADD A NEW CUSTOMER IN THE SO SCREEN

-IF THE PART IS IN THE SYSTEM, THERE SHOULDN'T BE AN OPTION TO “CREATE PART”

-WHEN ADDING A PART, THE BIN LOCATION SHOULD ALWAYS DEFAULT TO SPORD, NO MATTER THE SOURCE

-YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO CHANGE PRICE LEVEL ON ENTIRE LINE, NOT MANUALLY ADJUST EACH PART.

-PREPAY COUNTER TICKETS, IF THE CUSTOMER CANCELS BEFORE THE PART COMES IN, YOU HAVE TO “RECEIVE” THE PART AND FILL IT BEFORE YOU CAN “INITIATE RETURNS”

-IT SHOULD SHOW THE TECHNICIAN THAT REQUESTED THE QUOTE IN THE P&A SCREEN

-YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO “REPLACE” THE PART IN THE RECEIVING SCREEN, # CHANGE.

-IF THE ORDER IS PRE-INVOICED AND THE P&A IS NO LONGER NEEDED, IT SHOULD TELL YOU THAT, OR GO AWAY. NOT LET ME WORK ON THE QUOTE FOR 20 MINUTES AND THEN SAY ERROR SAVING P&A

-YOU SHOULD NOT BE ABLE TO CHARGE SOMEONE FOR A PART WITHOUT FILLING OR ORDERING IT.

-YOU NEED TO BE ABLE TO PICK HOW MANY COPIES TO PRINT, EXAMPLE SORS

-WE DONT WANT AUTOMATIC PARTS REQUESTS FROM THE WRITERS

-SHOULDN'T HAVE TO QUOTE MENU PRICED ITEMS, IT SHOULD BE ABLE TO BE AUTO FILLED

-SHOULD BE ABLE TO PRINT A PO WITHOUT VIEWING IT

-CAN'T CANCEL A PART ONCE ITS ORDERED WITH A VENDER

-SPECIAL ORDER PRIORITY CODES ARE IN DIFFERENT ORDER IN DIFFERENT SCREENS

-IF THE CAR IS LEAVING AND YOU ARE ORDERING A PART, EVEN THOUGH WE STOCK IT, YOU CAN'T REMOVE IT OFF THE RO WITHOUT VOIDING THE SOR

-PO DOESN'T SHOW ADDRESS, EX- SEVERAL SUBURBANS, HOW DO YOU KNOW WHICH ACCOUNT TO PICK

-SOR SHOULD HAVE RO OR COUNTER TICKET # BIG, NOT SOR #.

-YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO PUT A STOCK # IN THE SOR SCREEN TO MAKE IT EASIER TO FIND

-IF I UPDATE THE PRICE IN AN RO IT ONLY SAVES IT IF I HIT SUBMIT- AGAIN

-YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO REMOVE/ADD PARTS TO A VENDER PARTS PO (YOU CAN IN VENDER SPORD PO & MISC)

-AUTO REFRESH!

-YOU SHOULD NEVER BE ABLE TO HIT THE DOWN BUTTON FOR A NEGATIVE QUANTITY IN. FILLING, RECEIVING, ETC.

-THE WRITERS SHOULD BE ABLE TO APPROVE/REJECT SINGLE PARTS ON A LINE. EXAMPLE, AIR FILTER SPECIAL, AND THE CUSTOMER ONLY WANTS ONE OF THE TWO.


-YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO SELL THINGS UNDER ANY EMPLYEE ON ONE DMS. FOR EXAMPLE. WE HAVE ONE PERSON LOGGED IN AT THE FRONT COUNTER, BUT ALL OF US USE IT. ALL SALES GO UNDER WHOEVER IS LOGGED IN.

-YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO HIT ENTER ALWAYS, NOT HAVE TO USE MOUSE AND CLICK

-WE CAN'T SEE THE TAG # ON ANY SCREEN

-PRINTING SORS TAKES SEVERAL CLICKS

[MSInventory]

Wow partsgirl1995. Great post! I've never heard of Tekion and honestly hope I never have to work with it.

Just think of how much the dealer is saving!!!! riiiiight?

[Jaybee]

I read somewhere that this system was developed by someone that used to work for Tesla. He seemed to think he did a pretty good job there. I was working for a body shop awhile back and had to order Tesla parts occasionally. To say their system was cumbersome, is an understatement. Oh, you could eventually figure out what you needed to do but it was not as intuitive as most manufacturers systems that I have dealt with. Sounds like it is still a work in progress.

[gmpartsguy147]

Unfortunately from the sounds of it we will be switching to tekion from dealer track sometime in the near future. And as for those at GM dealerships don't be surprised if GM forces it upon you down the road as currently it isn't a requirement for EBE however it is a recommendation by GM and we all know what GM's recommendations usually turn into

[Denise Trimble]

Since it may be mandatory in our future, I "Googled" Tekion DMS and read a Linked-in article on 5 Things to Know About Tekion Automotive Retail Cloud (ARC) DMS. (of course GM is listed as a major investor) It reads like a techno-forward innovation and has a positive tone. I personally have issues with a cloud based DMS, but to each their own. R&R was recently hovering to get our signature for renewal, now I know why. This dealership has had R&R over 35 years and this renewal was on the verge of pushy! Looking forward to those of you who have the experience, helping those who bring it on.
p.s. Today's GM Leadership message regarding Tekion is asking for dollars saved input.

[Fixed Ops Mgr]

I have been training on the Tekion DMS this past week plus and I am feeling the challenges of changing DMS systems once again. I feel that this system shows promise
as it evolves and we go live next Monday 12/14 so I will keep posting the details and I get more familiar with the system. Tekion reps told me that they only have around 300 dealers on the system so I feel that the amount of GM dealers on the system is really limited.

I am also wondering if anyone else is/has been using Tekion DMS and to get some input and good feedback about what to watch for and some tips and tricks that I should be aware of.

If anyone has any ideas on reports to run from our current DMS which is Dealertrack that I may need for future reference which will no longer be available after the switch. I am hoping to avoid the "I wish that I had done this before the changeover" and regrettng it later.