How Do I Merge Customers/Vehicle History?

[acofgb]

I have several instances like this. A boyfriend and girlfriend both come to me for service for years, then they get married. I changed the last name and just continued to write invoices for each person, but now I would like to merge the two customers. Is there an easy way to do this? I have changed ownership of vehicles from person A to person B, but then I want to delete B from my system. When I pull up B, there are no vehicles, but there is a long list of history that I need to change over to A. It seems to me that I remember in the past a pop-up asking me if I want to move all the history from A to B when I would change ownership, but that option did not happen this time. I hope this is all makes sense to you and that there is a way to transfer the history. This also applies in reverse a few years later when they get divorced

[brianp87]

If you change ownership of the vehicles to be together then all the history should be combined at that point.

[timbre4]

The Change Ownership function only works one way; transferring vehicle record # to now belong to a DIFFERENT customer #. The service history (invoices) remain with that vehicle always.

If you lookup history by current customer, you will only see invoices created under the NEW ownership. SMITH
If you lookup history by former customer, you will only see invoices created under the OLD ownership. JONES
If you lookup history by vehicle, you will see ALL invoices regardless of ownership (both customer names SMITH, JONES display alongside their respective invoices)

If you have the "vehicle record" under a different name and find the actual history invoices elsewhere, that sounds like an existing vehicle record was overwritten or a new vehicle record created without using the Transfer Ownership function. The Transfer Ownership function can be used to put it under the correct name and then you can reconcile which vehicle is correct. Probably easier to keep the original vehicle than it is to un-post multiple invoices and change the vehicle record to a new one on each one of the invoices and then repost them.

A totally revamped Transfer Ownership feature will be delivered with Manager SE 7.2 in a few weeks.

[RaKarls]

To piggyback off of this post - is there a way to merge vehicles?

To follow this example, the boyfriend and girlfriend have been bringing the same vehicle to me, I merge the names and accounts, but now I have the same vehicle twice on one account - is there a way to merge that vehicle to get all of the history together?

[timbre4]

Yes, you will need to determine WHICH vehicle record to keep and which vehicle record is going to be eliminated. This will be based on the number of invoices under each or the completeness of the vehicle details. One of them has license plate and the other has either a slight variation or is blank, same with VIN # etc. Only you can know the specific details so here are some sample instructions using the vehicle record numbers in the database:

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Vehicle record 11536 has 6 invoices, VIN & License plate correct
Vehicle record 11541 has 11 invoices, no VIN and License plate has a space or character added or blank

PLAN A steps: [keep plate & VIN in the vehicle record they are currently in]

1. Select vehicle 11541, go to History tab; un-post the 1st invoice listed (do NOT use current technician or anything that would alter invoice $ amount)
2. Go to Vehicle screen and change it from 11541 to 11536; click the Order tab; when prompted "Are you changing vehicle on this order?" answer YES.
3. Re-post the invoice; click the History tab and repeat these steps for the other 10 invoices

PLAN B steps: [move plate & VIN to the OTHER vehicle record]

1. Go to Utilities - Customer Screen and select the customer record with these vehicle records
2. Select vehicle 11536 and then do the following:
>> 2a. Delete the characters from the License plate field (write down or remember this)
>> 2b. Highlight the VIN # and use Ctrl-X to "cut" it from this vehicle record
>> 2c. Click on Exit and confirm YES to vehicle record changes.
3. Select vehicle 11541 and then do the following:
>> 3a. Enter characters into the License plate field (write down or remember this)
>> 3b. Go to VIN # field and use Ctrl-V to "paste" it into this vehicle record
>> 3c. Click on Exit and confirm YES to vehicle record changes.
4. Select vehicle 11536, go to History tab; un-post the 1st invoice listed (do NOT use current technician or anything that would alter invoice $ amount)
5. Go to Vehicle screen and change it from 11536 to 11541; click the Order tab; when prompted "Are you changing vehicle on this order?" answer YES.
6. Re-post the invoice; click the History tab and repeat these steps for the other 5 invoices

[RaKarls]

Thank you for breaking it down step by step! This is something we've been running into a lot and nobody knew how or if vehicles could be merged.

Definitely a lot of steps to either process we choose (unfortunately), and unless somebody is really paying attention when they're doing it, looks like something could get missed/messed up.

[timbre4]

You're welcome. Not all of it may apply to your situation; if you really want the service records (invoices) to be together and correct, you have to strategize what is best. There is no silver bullet to address this precisely since users can create all kinds of situations over time.