Time clock features request

[Auto Repair Coach]

Ric I have seen the functioning beta build. It's looking good. I am supposed to sit down with the programmers soon to go over it. I will pass along that info soon as I know.

[nessauto]

Wondering if you have any further updates on the release of the timeclock features?

[motley06]

Wondering if you have any further updates on the release of the timeclock features?

Same. I don't want to waste time and money on a physical time clock and time cards if we are going to see the release in the near future

[karlofkassel]

Any updates? I would be more then willing to be a beta tester if needed! Im about to jump ship here with this subscription on top of subscription......

[Auto Repair Coach]

I am excited for this probably as much as you are. I haven't replied till I pushed to get a answer for you folks. I got it and unfortunately there is no ETA that I can give.

Know that I know this is BIG and that it is in the process of being built, but we have to wait more. As soon as I have an answer I WILL share it with you folks. I will.

Thanks for your patience.

[Cory]

I am excited for this probably as much as you are. I haven't replied till I pushed to get a answer for you folks. I got it and unfortunately there is no ETA that I can give.

Know that I know this is BIG and that it is in the process of being built, but we have to wait more. As soon as I have an answer I WILL share it with you folks. I will.

Thanks for your patience.

[Auto Repair Coach]

It looks like in the next few weeks you should see a pretty cool addition to Report Pro. A whole new Work Flow Manager. Kind of like a phase one of a time clock feature.
The reason I put it that way is that the time clock itself needs to be built from the ground up since many management systems do not currently support such a feature. Integrating it with a management system that may not support the data is the trick that needs to occur.

[ricmorin]

Thanks for the update. Anxiously looking forward to replacing my workflow whiteboard with this.

We often forget that your software needs to work with multiple SMS's. Thanks for that reminder.

[Auto Repair Coach]

Yes we do. The integration that makes us what we are does make it a bit more difficult to produce the high quality products we do.

Thanks for you patience.

[nessauto]

Well, this post is years old now. Any updates on the timeclock update. I see they released the workflow manager which in theory again should really help. However we still don't have a timeclock that is of any value. I looked at this update because basically we've aborted using 90% of Bolton a few months ago. We went back to punching on paper so we could see times punched in and out. We've began the process of switching reports and things back to Mitchel itself away from Bolton.

Guys....this is the 20th century. There's multiple shop management systems out there that have this. Some of them have been in business only a couple years. Techs can punch in and out on not only the work order but start and stop shifts. This is what's expected in todays world. When we went back to paper and a system we could count on the punch times out % of hours billed by techs went WAY UP. It's not the computer system that helps with billible hours it's the process. The system is suppose to help with the process. Get it together guys...I want to be here.... you just keep telling me why I shouldn't.

[ricmorin]

I'm sure this step brings us closer to a more robust time clock, as was laid out in previous posts. I'm pretty impatient at times and am eager to get these features.

Regarding the Workflow Manager, the updates are very nice. I like that we can re-order the statuses and the integration with texting and inspections is cool. I see that the nesting feature is still not active. To adopt this over my whiteboard, I really need this nesting as we have way too many statuses to fit on one screen, actually too many to fit on two screens. Will this feature be available soon? I would also like to propose you place the hat number on the tile as well as we associate the key in that fashion.

[Auto Repair Coach]

Hey Ric,
Yes another step closer to the time clock function which needs to be totally stand alone since at this time most SMS do not handle a total clock function well.

I thin I understand the "Nesting" idea but please give me a better understanding of what exactly you are looking for.

[nessauto]

1) A time clock on a repair order should tell you the tech punched in at 7:30 and out at 10:30.....not just "3 hours". And it shouldn't be able to be edited by the tech. It should require manager permissions.

2) In todays technology it should be pretty simple to also give the techs a option to punch in for time at the shop. For hourly guys this would automatically calculate the hours each day. Again this should be in at 7:30, out at 12:00 Back in at 1:00 and out at 4:30. It should also have controls on it so you need a password to edit it.

[ricmorin]

Hey Ric,
Yes another step closer to the time clock function which needs to be totally stand alone since at this time most SMS do not handle a total clock function well.

I thin I understand the "Nesting" idea but please give me a better understanding of what exactly you are looking for.

Release 199 added the reordering and nesting of statuses. This was before the new workflow so you could change both features but it didn't work and reverted back to alphabetical. When the latest release came out, the reordering worked but the nesting did not.

I was told by support when I inquired about it on release 199 that nesting would allow several statuses to fall under one column in the workflow manager. They told me that feature would be enabled when the new Workflow Manager came out. An example below....

dispatched1.png (18.91 KiB) Viewed 5975 times

Here all my individual 'Dispatches' would show under one column called Dispatched. This inevitably saves a ton of space and allows viewing on one screen. If you only have 5 or 6 statuses, it's not a problem, but we drill down more finitely in Manager. They ultimately boil down to about 6 on my white board so I would like to mimic this in Workflow.

[Auto Repair Coach]

Ric,
Here is the reply from development on your questions.
• This is not possible because Mitchell doesn’t have a sub-status field
o We could potential add a feature request to add a sub status however this would not be reflected in Mitchell, only in Workflow which eliminates a main benefit of Workflow and Mitchell being 100% in sync
• One creative idea would be to make the status ‘Dispatched’ then use our tile color coding system to signify the person
Also could you send me an email of who in support you may have talked to?

Thanks

[ricmorin]

I do not know who I spoke to.

I guess my question is why does the setup allow you to nest when there was no purpose to it? Seems like an unnecessary fuel for support calls.

I don't need nesting in Manager, only in Workflow. Consider this a formal request for that feature.

[Auto Repair Coach]

Ric,
I'm passing your request along.

I accidentally got it to nest too. I'd like to think that it is there for future development.

[ricmorin]

A major re-write is in the works that is going to greatly expand time clock and integrate it's functions into other shop functions as well. No ETA other then by years end.

Hey, JB! How are things progressing on the time clock upgrade?

[Auto Repair Coach]

Hey Folks,
Due to the functionality that is expected with the Timeclock feature, it needs to be built as a stand alone package that will interact with the management systems we support. Giving it the ability to count all tech time from punch in to punch out and have it set so that a variety of reports will be available and so on, it is a big build.
Just the same, I'll check in with development but that probably will not happen until we are through the holidays since many are off.

In the meantime, Have a Happy Healthy New Year!

[nessauto]

Hey guys the jokes actually on us! All this time the told us that Bolt On was a different company than Mitchel. With how long it takes anything to get done I'm 99.999% sure that Bolt on IS Mitchel. They both take the same amount of time to get something done.