SE 7.0 Scheduler Workflow

Discussions of SE Scheduler/ Appointment Editor
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ricmorin
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Re: SE 7.0 Scheduler Workflow

Post by ricmorin »

careautomotive wrote:Well when you don't have customer data it's a pain..... I am not going to create a new customer over the phone. So "DAVE" calls fine i will enter it. what happens when a different dave calls without any data either...

The old schedule i could enter " . " (or what ever i want) as a name a quick note O/C (oil change) and done. NO TIME, DATE etc needed.. So how does this new schedule save me time?
I feel your pain. Unlike the other migrations from 5.9 to present, the scheduler upgrade did a major about-face in look and feel. That caught many of us off-guard. The feel was one of a doctors office, where appointments arrive and leave in convenient little blocks. Shops don't operate that way.

With that said, much effort has been leveraged to mold this new format into the perfect tool to maximize efficiency. Is it ready for prime time? Not quite yet IMO but it's getting close.

In the 90's, we used a paper schedule. When I came on with M1, I kept my paper schedule because I was sure that the mediocre schedule in 5.7 was not up to the task. I was wrong. In a few months we ditched the paper.

When I first beta-tested the new scheduler, I swore I was going to need to go back to paper. It wasn't the upgrade I anticipated. I was wrong again. It was a difficult at first, but with each tweak it got easier and easier. New views allowed us more versatility.

Regarding your issue with not wanting to create a customer for new appointments, I get that. Here at my shop we create a new customer, but not everyone wants to do that. I suggest you create a customer placeholder for this purpose. A fake customer in your database called whatever you want. Use this 'customer' to hold a place in your schedule. You could even start the last name with a character like * or & so it's easier to find by simply typing that character. Following that practice you can create a time slot in seconds. Just remember you'll have to change that customer to a real value if they show and that's more work. If you have more no shows than shows, then this process is more efficient. ( I hope that isn't true) If more people show up than not, then it's more efficient to create the customer once at the onset. (As an aside, we REQUIRE name and number for an appointment. This creates a sense of importance to people and leads to fewer no-shows)

As a business I need to sell what my customers want. Sometimes it's hard to know exactly what that is because I'm never really in their shoes. I've never paid for automotive service in my life. I *think* I know, but sometimes I'm off the target a bit. I think we're in a similar situation here. M1 has always worked in my best interest and I have confidence in their abilities to hit that target.
Ric Morin - Volunteer Forum Moderator, Shop Owner, ASE Master L1
Motorcar Alternatives, LLC
603-622-6434 x203
www.motorcaralternatives.com

I find my life is a lot easier when I use Special Orders
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Re: SE 7.0 Scheduler Workflow

Post by timbre4 »

We didn't change the Schedule on a whim. Let's back up a bit to review some history... We had many suggestions and complaints about the 20th century (1995) Schedule screen from users. What about the vehicles? What about the techs and resources? Etc. I strive to keep this forum fresh so older posts are pruned from time to time. Since the forum started in 2005, there were easily 1,000 posts about making the Schedule more useful, give it new capabilities and make it "talk" to Social CRM, look to the future for on-line scheduling, let me see it on a tablet, have it interact with other programs and so forth. During 2014-2015 we selected a new platform and set about customizing it for Manager SE and addressing user complaints about the old Schedule. By December 2015, we unveiled the SE 7.0 Schedule to early adopters who more or less approved of it.

Once we went wider on distributing Manager SE 7.0 in January 2016, it became clear that it would be a shock to the system for some users. After hearing nothing but complaints about the scheduler, those who thought it was okay found their voices. We didn't drop this overnight; forum regulars remember many conversations and then sample screens posted as they became available. Our support department took enough calls that we went to the extraordinary steps of maintaining TWO upgrade paths for 14 months; Manager SE 6.6.x path (old Schedule) and the SE 7.x path (new Schedule). We did this because we recognized a sizeable gap to address and that's what we have spent the past year working on so that the majority of customers would be happy and we'd get back to a single upgrade path, which has already begun.

After an early beta group put SE 7.1.6 through it's paces in January 2017, we have now been distributing the SE 7.1.7 release to not only SE 7.x users but also a number of SE 6.x. users as we now feel confident that the expanded features and improved workflow of the Appointments tab, adding Drop Off Times, Timeline view, Appointments tab alleviate the bulk of the concerns we heard from those who were puzzled or frustrated about the new direction. Manager SE 7.1.7 includes major Schedule changes and there will be some more to follow with Manager SE 7.2 in several weeks. There will of course be further improvements in the future as our user base spends more time using it.

The forum promotes constructive engagement between product management and the end users of the program. The last thing we want to see is the forum ending up as a complaint window after the fact. We can't tell everybody they should be here to ask questions or contribute, despite numerous postings promoting it and even some mass emails (to addresses registered to the forum) to get the word out. Now that you've made yourself available here, I would invite you to engage with the other users here who have more experience with SE 7.x Schedule and are more that willing to share their perspective to help you get a better handle on it.

Resources:
From the home splash screen, click on 'Using the new Scheduler' to access the SE Schedule Configuration and User Guide (updated Feb 2017)
Training Videos - How Do I page now features new SE 7.1.7 videos to break down the setup and usage
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Re: SE 7.0 Scheduler Workflow

Post by artadot »

First off, I am more of a reader than a contributor on the forum. I have learned a lot from reading all the posts, also it is shall I say comforting to read that other shops have the same problems, and complaints that we have at our shop, makes us realize we are not alone with these issues. I have also found solutions to problems that I have encountered by reading the posts. So I want to say thank you to everyone who posts questions and those who answer them.

Now regarding the schedule:
We have been using the schedule since it was first introduced. Previously we had been using a paper version. The old schedule was just a list of customers, appointment times and the work requested, making it very difficult to see what our day was like and when we had openings. My SA would be having a fit because he thought we couldn’t handle all the work, the techs were saying they didn’t have enough work, thus the paper schedule. Now my SA was more relaxed; the techs had enough work to fill their days, I wasn’t getting raged at for taking on work, everyone was happy.

The new schedule took a little bit of getting used to, learning how to maneuver around in it, learning the shortcuts and then some tweaking to make it work for our shop. I will admit it does need some adjusting through the day, but so did our paper schedule. There are still some improvements that can be made, but Mitchell has listened to all the suggestions and has responded to them. Our shop uses the schedule without problems.
I have read a lot of negative remarks about the new schedule but I think it is a vast improvement over the old schedule. Keep up the good work; I am always looking forward to the updates to see what improvements have been made.
There are no mistakes only lessons to be learned. ~ Dot
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Re: SE 7.0 Scheduler Workflow

Post by aasinc »

We have been using it for several months, we are very unhappy with how time consuming and cumbersome it is.
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Re: SE 7.0 Scheduler Workflow

Post by timbre4 »

aasinc wrote:We have been using it for several months, we are very unhappy with how time consuming and cumbersome it is.
Please specify what part of the process we can help with. It's quite possible we can solve it with some specific attention.
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Re: SE 7.0 Scheduler Workflow

Post by aasinc »

timbre4 wrote:
aasinc wrote:We have been using it for several months, we are very unhappy with how time consuming and cumbersome it is.
Please specify what part of the process we can help with. It's quite possible we can solve it with some specific attention.
I am not sure where to start - we get a lot of walk in business for safety inspections, I just want to put a name on the schedule without having to attach a vehicle or enter new customer info. Some of these people we may see not again. We have also noticed when we create a work order from the schedule, it will change the scheduled time to two days. Our scheduler is used as a guide as to what is going on during the day, I have one tech and a part timer, I dont need to add vehicle info etc to the schedule!
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Re: SE 7.0 Scheduler Workflow

Post by timbre4 »

aasinc wrote:
timbre4 wrote:
aasinc wrote:We have been using it for several months, we are very unhappy with how time consuming and cumbersome it is.
Please specify what part of the process we can help with. It's quite possible we can solve it with some specific attention.
We get a lot of walk in business for safety inspections, I just want to put a name on the schedule without having to attach a vehicle or enter new customer info. Some of these people we may see not again. Our scheduler is used as a guide as to what is going on during the day, I have one tech and a part timer, I don't need to add vehicle info etc. to the schedule!
I get the picture; that helps considerably.
aasinc wrote: We have also noticed when we create a work order from the schedule, it will change the scheduled time to two days.
That is not a normal thing; we can try to re-create that workflow here or a support agent can help.
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Re: SE 7.0 Scheduler Workflow

Post by timbre4 »

aasinc wrote:
timbre4 wrote:
aasinc wrote:We have been using it for several months, we are very unhappy with how time consuming and cumbersome it is.
Please specify what part of the process we can help with. It's quite possible we can solve it with some specific attention.
We get a lot of walk in business for safety inspections, I just want to put a name on the schedule without having to attach a vehicle or enter new customer info. Some of these people we may see not again.
Try this workflow with a phone customer:

1. Drag the appointment time you agree upon; right-click it - New Appointment
2. New Customer: last name and phone, click OK
3. New Vehicle - Cancel
4. Comments - type Safety Inspection (or whatever shorthand you use)
5. Save & Close
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Re: Scheduler Feedback & Requests

Post by John C. »

timbre4 wrote:We combed all of the input in this area for the last 14 months to determine the main stories to address for 7.1.7 to deliver and there are additional Schedule stories to be delivered in a few weeks with 7.2.x:

...
•Appointment editor to alert when 'seeing' recommendations
...
If this is going to do what I think it will, I am very much looking forward to this. So, customer calls/texts/emails/walks in we start the schedule process, and somewhere after choosing the vehicle, we get a pop up that there is/are recommendation(s) for this vehicle? If yes, great!!! AND, if yes, please say we will be able to easily access those recommendations, while creating the appointment -- please???
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Re: Scheduler Feedback & Requests

Post by timbre4 »

John C. wrote:
timbre4 wrote:We combed all of the input in this area for the last 14 months to determine the main stories to address for 7.1.7 to deliver and there are additional Schedule stories to be delivered in a few weeks with 7.2.x:
•Appointment editor to alert when 'seeing' recommendations
If this is going to do what I think it will, I am very much looking forward to this. So, customer calls/texts/emails/walks in we start the schedule process, and somewhere after choosing the vehicle, we get a pop up that there is/are recommendation(s) for this vehicle? If yes, great!!! AND, if yes, please say we will be able to easily access those recommendations, while creating the appointment -- please???
If you look back in this same thread to the one by Johnny5 » Wed Jan 25, 2017 11:09 pm - it includes a preview of how Recommendations is notified and access to read them and even copy them if desired.
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Re: Scheduler Feedback & Requests

Post by John C. »

timbre4 wrote:
John C. wrote:
timbre4 wrote:We combed all of the input in this area for the last 14 months to determine the main stories to address for 7.1.7 to deliver and there are additional Schedule stories to be delivered in a few weeks with 7.2.x:
•Appointment editor to alert when 'seeing' recommendations
If this is going to do what I think it will, I am very much looking forward to this. So, customer calls/texts/emails/walks in we start the schedule process, and somewhere after choosing the vehicle, we get a pop up that there is/are recommendation(s) for this vehicle? If yes, great!!! AND, if yes, please say we will be able to easily access those recommendations, while creating the appointment -- please???
If you look back in this same thread to the one by Johnny5 » Wed Jan 25, 2017 11:09 pm - it includes a preview of how Recommendations is notified and access to read them and even copy them if desired.
THAT is awesome, this is a direct revenue enhancing feature. This just might get me to start coming around to this new fangled scheduler. :mrgreen: But I kid. Like anything, time heals all wounds, we are getting use to it, and finding ways to make it work, for us. It should be coming clear how this will open a lot of doors for additions/upgrades that the old scheduler would have never been capable of. I'm guessing a lot of the complaining (me included) was more due to the abrupt change from the old one to the new, and how dramatically different they are. There are still a lot more steps involved from creating an appointment to the RO, but I like where things are going. Thanks.
John C.
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