Someone has taken possession of this order

[Tbins]

We use Mitchell 1 on a network of 6 users... a Service Advisor, Parts Manager and 4 Techs. We are experiencing a very frustrating situation where the Service Advisor will enter information such as diagnostic or inspection results onto the order, but upon exiting the order a message "someone else has taken possession of this order" appears and all previously entered data is lost. It's become a time consuming task to constantly be entering important information multiple times, not to mention the need to always double check if information was saved. I will explain with much detail our process and exactly how we use the system with hopes of finding a solution.
We utilize printed Tech Sheets for the Technicians to record inspection/diagnostic results and required parts and labor. These Tech sheets are routed to each post as required... Service Advisor to Tech; Tech to Parts Manager; Parts Manager to Service Advisor; Service Advisor back to Tech for approved repairs. The Techs only use Mitchell 1/Manager Plus to access customer repair history. They access this history using the "utilities" button on the upper toolbar, then "Customer Screen" which then populates the Customer Index. This provides the Tech with the Customer, Vehicle and History tabs. The Order and Revision tabs are not available through this method.
After vehicle inspection/diag, the Tech Sheet is routed to the Parts Manager who accesses the customer from the WIP screen, and clicks on the "Revision" tab to access Sub-Estimates to begin entering the required parts.
Tech Sheet is then routed to the Service Advisor who accesses the customer from the WIP screen, and clicks on the "Revision" tab to access the "Sub-Estimates" and completes the estimate adding Labor and adjusting parts prices as required. (At this time, the inspection/diag. results are recorded onto the "Order".) Upon customer approval for work needed, the Service Advisor transfers the needed work from the "Sub-Estimate" to the "Order" using the "Transfer Revision" function. The updated Tech Sheet is printed and routed again to the Tech for repairs and the process continues.
Notes to consider:
- Because of the processes we employ, there is never 2 people working in/on the same "Order" screen at any time.
- The Technicians however, will often times have the "History" on their screen for extended periods of time to reference Maint. Checksheet data and previous Inspection results. Remember, the Technicians do not have access to the customer "Order" tab.
I know this is lengthy, but I hope someone has experienced this problem and has a solution.
Thank you in advance.

[ricmorin]

I have not experienced this before and am unable to replicate.

Your detailed process unfortunately is less important than what's actually occurring on the computer. Allow me to summarize what's happening with the computers at your shop so we can try to replicate this.

One computer has the customer and vehicle open in the 3 tab format and has a history window open. Another computer access an open order for the same customer and vehicle (5 tab), enters information on a labor window, and upon exiting gets the warning message. Do I have this straight? Also, you have this posted in the 6.5/6.6 section, so which exact version do you have?

It's also helpful to know in which order events occur to get this to happen. Which computer does what and when? I've tried a bunch of different scenarios and can't get this to happen, but maybe I'm not doing it 'right'.

[Tbins]

Thank you so much for your quick response. We recently upgraded to SE from the old disc format. The version is 6.5.54.62. Once we upgraded is when the problems began. Sorry for the long process description. I wasn't sure how to describe what's happening. Your description is much more to the point and you are spot on. What you described is exactly what's happening. Also, my Service Advisor just informed me today about something new they noticed... the Service Advisor was entering information into an open order. A tech out in the shop clicked on the schedule button to view the schedule then exited the schedule. The Service Advisor then went to exit the labor item by clicking done, and the message appeared and the entered data was lost. No tabs were open on the tech computer, just the Manager home screen.
I hope this helps. I appreciate any help you can provide. We've contacted our Mitchell Rep about the problem but have not gotten any help as of yet.
Thank you!

[Tbins]

Sorry Ric, forgot to answer your question about the order which all of this occurs. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be an order. We've even stayed late one night to try different scenarios and firm up a cause before posting to this forum. Like the "schedule anomaly" which we just noticed, once we knew about it, we tried to replicate it the exact same way and the problem only resurfaced 2 out of 12 times. I know that doesn't help much. Is it possible that our network has an issue? I'm not much of an IT guy, but we have no other issues with our network.

Thanks again!

[ricmorin]

Yours is certainly a strange one. I haven't heard of any similar issues. I'd try upgrading to the latest version and see what happens before I did much else. http://www.m1faqs.com/fix/SE/index.htm Upgrade the host first, then the workstations.

[Tbins]

That's what I'll do and I'll be sure to post any changes.

Thank you so much for your quick replies and your help.

Have a great weekend!

[Johnny5]

A tech out in the shop clicked on the schedule button to view the schedule then exited the schedule. The Service Advisor then went to exit the labor item by clicking done, and the message appeared and the entered data was lost. No tabs were open on the tech computer, just the Manager home screen. I hope this helps. I appreciate any help you can provide. We've contacted our Mitchell Rep about the problem but have not gotten any help as of yet.
Thank you!

I'm going to present this to the dev team for investigation in an upcoming sprint (we use 'sprints' to plan two weeks of work at a time).

JD

[Tbins]

Thank you so much John. Really appreciate any help. We love Mitchell Manager and ProDemand. This issue has been very frustrating and we welcome any solutions (or attempts)