Scheduler Going Forward

[Johnny5]

After working on Mitchell 1 management software for 22 years, I can tell you every day is a new challenge and opportunity. Manager with over 1.5 million lines of code, thousands of hours of input from users, workshops, technical support, development, training and other departments; the application is truly a living, breathing and evolving entity. We never consider it ‘finished’, rather it is an ongoing primary mission to develop and further enhance an already solid application. There are numerous ways to tackle anything in the software; we have to factor the market direction, budgeting, product roadmap, time horizon and our customers’ usage history. Literally tens of thousands of users, all using it in their own way contribute significantly to the systems broad appeal and overall success as #1 SMS program in the marketplace. We know that we must innovate continually to improve the program’s utility and value to keep earning your business.

I do understand that change is often times difficult and does require an investment of time; time spent by development staff, tech support and all of you, the end users. My primary goal has always been, and will continue to be, to deliver a superior, easy-to-use solution that continues to evolve your needs. My life work is Manager software and I work for you. Below listing details changes included in version 7.0.5.

Kind Regards,

John Dwulet

V 7.0.5

• Scheduler Enhancements:
  Window now remembers size/position/maximized state for each user
  Sched column in WIP as well as WIP Detail Dialog show correct schedule start date - if order is not yet scheduled, shows as blank
  Added ability to right click in Sched column of WIP to either show WIP Detail Dialog, or open Appointment editor to edit schedule times
  Added Scheduled Hours to Scheduler Appointment and Shop Event tab
  'Sched Hours' uses your configured business hours, as well as holidays, to calculate how many actual shop hours each appointment uses. Matches value as in Appointment Editor.
  Scheduling tab includes the total scheduled hours for the view you have selected.
  Each Day/Week/Month breaks down the scheduled hours for that range (shows on same line as 'Appt' count).
  Multi-day appointments will show hours each day based on start/end time and shop hours.
  All day appointments use the full shop hours of each day it spans.
  Appointment Count on Scheduling tab now includes appointments that started on previous days, but span across multiple days (Order Hrs only shows up on first day of appointment)
  Built-in Appointment States now have preassigned colors
  Custom Appointment States can define custom colors
  State of appointment color shows up on Scheduling tab of Schedule and Appointment Editor
  Improved performance of Schedule when loading/refreshing large appointment lists
  Improved detection of Host Databases with incorrect versions when Manager starts - will now attempt to update workstation.
  Fixed Invoice Validation of assigned Labor/Parts technician - correctly prompt when setting is turned on, and part/labor item has no assigned technician

V 7.0.3

• Fixed Employee Editor - Phone Mask was causing error loading technicians
  Fixed LOF & Symptoms not correctly selecting items
  Fixed issues editing phone number on Customer Tab and Telephone Dialog
  Handle purging estimates where there was an appointment for the estimate - appointment remains behind and can be deleted or updated
  Improved follow-up appointment prompting when posting orders from the WIP
  Changing vehicle ownership now prompts to select new tax settings (use customer's or vehicle's)
  XCharge - Added support for configuring user name & password within Manager
  Updated Report Invoice Hours
  Corrected hazmat showing in totals
  Increased font size in part and labor description
  Updated Recommendation Dialog to make the Category drop down more apparent
  Added Order Hours to Appointment Editor
  Added Order Hours totals to Scheduler Views
  Added Appointment end time rolling over to the next business day where those hours fit within the amount of Order hours (may span several days/weekends)
  Appointment end time updated (incremented or decremented) when RO's Order Hours change

[gordiesgarage]

Thanks for the 7.0.5 changelog. Does line 3 mean the correct scheduled time will now appear on the WIP screen? For example, if I make an appointment in the Scheduler and then have to change the date and time using the scheduler, will it update the WIP screen with the updated date and time as well?

Thanks John.

[Silky7]

Thanks for the 7.0.5 changelog. Does line 3 mean the correct scheduled time will now appear on the WIP screen? For example, if I make an appointment in the Scheduler and then have to change the date and time using the scheduler, will it update the WIP screen with the updated date and time as well?

Thanks John.

Joe, that is correct.

[gordiesgarage]

Awesome news! That was a biggie for us. Love the progress that's being made.

[motley06]

Scheduled hours will be a huge help! Right now I can schedule all the cars I want for tomorrow, but it still shows 0 order hours :/ Kinda makes it hard to see how tomorrow is shaping up

[Cathy Kulp]

I have been using shopkey for 11 years, and just updated to 7.0.3 the scheduler has me frustrated. I used to make a customers appointment while I was on the phone with them. Now I can not or the promised date ends up being today and can never be changed. I used my old scheduler all day long. Why can we not get the scheduled date to change I have tried to change from one week to the next if the job is taking longer and It is frustrating. it is making me nuts

[motley06]

I have been using shopkey for 11 years, and just updated to 7.0.3 the scheduler has me frustrated. I used to make a customers appointment while I was on the phone with them. Now I can not or the promised date ends up being today and can never be changed. I used my old scheduler all day long. Why can we not get the scheduled date to change I have tried to change from one week to the next if the job is taking longer and It is frustrating. it is making me nuts

Kathy, I've seen you and few other people bring this up. I just scheduled someone for next Monday and the promised date is correct and the promised time default to 4:30 (I set it to 4:30 previously in the settings). Maybe we're doing things differently? Or perhaps one of the tech guys on here can help

[Cathy Kulp]

lets say I have an appointment scheduled on the 15th, the customer comes in and I turn it over to a repair order. this customer needs parts I have to order so I rescheduled it for the 22. now I tried to move the repair order on the scheduler to the 22nd (it moved) but on the WIP screen it still shows the scheduled date as the 15th and on the scheduler when I pull it up at the bottom it has the promised date as the 15th and you can not change it! What am I doing wrong or is it a problem in the program. every else it says the 22nd but will not change on the WIP screen

[Silky7]

Cathy,

The WIP schedule time will update and match your appointment changes with version 7.0.5 or higher. That will be sent to you next week, and will hopefully address that concern.

The promised time on the appointment window in the schedule currently does lock to the time when the RO is created. We'll look into changing that. In the interim, you should still be able to change the WIP promised time.

[gordiesgarage]

Kathy, I have 7.0.5 and the WIP screen now updates.

[tanyah]

I have a few slight issues with the new scheduler and that relates to the pre-designed appointment states. It would be nice if we could change the colors for these. Cause honesty the colors don't make sense. For example-Finished is Green. Common sense tells the brain that green means go ( which I can maybe see the point to that meaning customer can go home-but when it comes to scheduling it is inferred as being worked on. Each person interprets things differently which is why it is very hard to have a "one size fits all".

If we can't have it that we can edit the color maybe then let us check a box to not include in list.

It would also be nice if a job is multiple days that it fills in the time for each day, versus a box at the top of calendar for tech.

Is there a way to disconnect the appointment comments from printing on invoice/tech worksheet. We utilize the comments for a quick glance on the scheduler and provide detail in technician worksheet.

Otherwise we are loving the new scheduler, I have been wanting a more interactive scheduler since I started with my shop, to be able to schedule per technician is very ideal. Aids with overbooking for each tech.

[Silky7]

Is there a way to disconnect the appointment comments from printing on invoice/tech worksheet. We utilize the comments for a quick glance on the scheduler and provide detail in technician worksheet.

By unchecking the Print on order as Note box, it will keep any Comments from printing on the Invoice. They will still be visible on the Tech Worksheet.

We're also revisiting appointment states in the future, and will re-examine the existing default states as well as the colors associated to each.