SmartFlow with Drag n Drop

 

Mrs. M… is on the phone, how far are we with her car?

SmartFlow has been introduced last week by a sneak peek into the overall concept and capabilities of SmartFlow. As promised this article starts revealing more details about the use of SmartFlow at the counter when used by the service advisor. The computer equipment used is either your standard PC optionally with a second monitor to switch easily between your shop management software (SMS) and SmartFlow, or use a touch screen like the 24 inch ViewSonic below, which allows for drag and drop by finger touch and makes presenting images taken during the inspection to the customer at the counter a breeze.

SmartFlow reads all information directly from your SMS database and shows it on the screen with the Workflow View, where all steps the vehicles go through are listed at the top. And you should have another browser tab open with the Tech View, where the focus is on dispatching technicians to work on the right vehicles. The workflow steps are completely customizable, so that after a session with our specialists setting up SmartFlow to match your existing workflow, all steps can be configured to be displayed on the screen. Since often more than 8 workflow steps are needed to get a vehicles through the proper flow, you can dynamically change what steps you want to see on the screen. And if you are the service advisor, parts person or shop owner, and need different configurations, feel free to configure your Workflow View exactly the way you need it.

The Technician View (or Tech View) on the other hand allows the Service Advisor to dispatch technicians based on availability, technician productivity, billed hours already assigned and finished and where the vehicle is in the process. 

 

All vehicles can be sorted in the following different categories. In addition you have a choice to select ‘asc.’ or ‘desc.’ depending on what direction the sorting should take.

• Promised Date
• RO number
• Customer Last Name
• Appointment Date

In addition Drag and Drop is possible, by mouse on the PC monitor or finger tap on the touch screen. The screenshot on the left illustrates how the 2002 Hyundai Sonata is moved up to be dropped between the 2006 Ford Explorer and the 2007 Chrysler PT Cruiser, indicated by the black marker in between the two vehicles.

Changing priorities on the screen will update all other screens open on the Tech View automatically and will also automatically change the vehicle order on the technician’s tablet to make sure the new priorities are implemented. One drag and drop is all it takes. 

Moved the wrong vehicle or forgot where everything is? Just reset the order by toggling ‘asc. and ‘dsc.’. The configured criterion (e.g., Promised Date) will sort all vehicles in proper order.

 

Stay tuned for next week’s update!

I will focus on the process how the SMS is integrated with SmartFlow.