ProDemand - Coming from SE

Questions and comments about using ProDemand or ShopKeyPro information modules
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Hardwood
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Location: Minnetonka, Minnesota
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ProDemand - Coming from SE

Post by Hardwood »

An annoyance of epic proportions.

Ever since being pushed into ProDemand, it's clear that SE hands off the vehicle info to the web page that opens the vehicle you are working on.

Why isn't the VIN number passed over to the ProDemand site? It takes too many mouse clicks just to get to the info we want.

Gratefully, the ProDemand team FINALLY started auto-logging onto the site from SE. That saved a click or two.

And why are we forced to see "1Search" as the first page?

They renamed "Repair Info" to "Vehicle Reference" which is just silly.

And printing anything takes several clicks (using Chrome Browser). What happened to a quick look-up of a wiring diagram? Used to be quick and easy with OnDemand5. Sigh.

Lastly, when exiting ProDemand, there is always a "Are you sure you want to leave" splash which is yet ANOTHER mouse click to leave....

Hopefull;y these issues will be addressed before my mouse buttons wear out.

Have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Howard @ Minnetonka Auto Service
ASE Master Technician
Minnetonka Auto Service
2810 Hedberg Drive
Minnetonka, MN 55305
952-593-0586
http://www.MinnetonkaAutoService.com
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timbre4
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Re: ProDemand recommendations coming from SE and more...

Post by timbre4 »

Hardwood wrote: Ever since ProDemand, SE hands off vehicle info to the web page that opens the vehicle you are working on. Why isn't the VIN number passed over to the ProDemand site?
Scrolling down the Change Log in the active splash screen reveals that this change occurs with version 6.5.049, that you will be receiving soon: I will ask that this content be moved up as this will be where the news is added.
change.jpg
change.jpg (43.26 KiB) Viewed 4024 times
Hardwood wrote: And why are we forced to see "1Search" as the first page?

Mitchell 1 feels that this is a better way to put information (4 different types of Top 10 vehicle specific lookups) in front of users faster; that's a lot of useful information for a vehicle. If that's not enough, 1Search is ready for your input and the standard modules list is one click away. [AKA - we don't do these things for the hell of it and there will be some fine tuning in 2015]
Hardwood wrote: They renamed "Repair Info" to "Vehicle Reference" which is just silly.
Not quite accurate; we renamed 'Service Manual' to Vehicle Reference because that's really what it is. We want eyes on 1Search first and Vehicle Reference as a secondary way to find information. 'Service Manual' was a magnet in a bad way and took attention away from our preferred approach where we expect to shine. Once we add Common Specs & Procedures, Wiring Diagrams, etc. in your initial 1Search view I believe you'll where we are going with this.
Hardwood wrote: And printing anything takes several clicks (using Chrome Browser).
Yes, we are going to fix the printing issues in 2015. I'm just as tired of reading the printing complaints as customers are of typing them. It is a standard item in my monthly reports. We are serious going to work on this hard.
Hardwood wrote: Lastly, when exiting ProDemand, there is always a "Are you sure you want to leave" splash which is yet ANOTHER mouse click to leave....
This is true of all the browsers one can use and I've made product management aware that people don't like it.

Happy Thanksgiving! :wink:
Tim McDonnell -
Sr. Product Market Mgr / Forum Moderator / Mitchell 1 Media Developer
Hardwood
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Location: Minnetonka, Minnesota
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Re: ProDemand recommendations coming from SE and more...

Post by Hardwood »

Thank you for taking the time to address my bullet points, Tim.

I regards to the 1Search being the "home" screen when logging on, I must chime in with my opinion.In my opinion, being a Mitchell1 User since the old Amoco days (AC Delco version, etc...) I have seen it all. Literally.

Going from OnDemand5 to ProDemand is going to create a whole new learning curve and I expected that. It feels, to me, that ProDemand wasn't ready for prime time when it was rolled out. From the clunky "log in every time" approach, to the difficulty finding what we were looking for, it just seemed like a giant leap backwards. Then, as we figured out how many mouse clicks it takes to print something, to ID'ing cars that we already had VIN numbers for, to saying "yes I'm sure I wanted to exit because I just clicked on that tiny little red X in the upper corner of the browser window (hard to accidentally hit that!), it makes me feel like a beta tester.

I don't mind learning new things, but why not make it more configurable for the individual user? I'd like to be able to say "Log in automatically, pull the VIN over, and start on the "Repair Info" oops, I mean "Vehicle Reference" page?

Nobody asked me what my preferences were, and for a software designer to write code based on how he or she thinks it should doesn't seem right. There are a lot of us out here who know a lot and have been here a long time. If you'd like to add me to your list of shop owners to ask questions when contemplating design changes, feel free to contact me!

Thanks again and Happy New Year!
ASE Master Technician
Minnetonka Auto Service
2810 Hedberg Drive
Minnetonka, MN 55305
952-593-0586
http://www.MinnetonkaAutoService.com
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timbre4
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Re: ProDemand recommendations coming from SE and more...

Post by timbre4 »

2015 is going to be about fit and finish; I daresay that with the improvements on several fronts, the desire for being more configurable will be greatly reduced as the usage will be more streamlined and intuitive.

To be brutally honest, each leap of generation within our repair product has arrived initially with some compromises, whether it was OnDemand 1.6 to OD4, OD4 to OD5, OD5 to OD5.com and now OD5.com to ProDemand.com. Each time we have had to play catchup and we always did, given time. What has been made this more of a challenge the past 24 months is the arrival or elevation of new competitors in the marketplace. It has been a hair-on-fire race to get certain functionality or content delivered to remain competitive with them and explore new ways to pull ahead. That we develop in two week sprints these days means that improvements get delivered much sooner than the previous versions.

As the middle man relaying these comments to product management, I can certainly empathize with the frustration. They got the message. I learned in a December meeting that some of my pet peeves are being addressed shortly. Please know that we want to restore and more importantly further enhance product functionality to the levels that customers expect from us.
Tim McDonnell -
Sr. Product Market Mgr / Forum Moderator / Mitchell 1 Media Developer
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