During one of my visits to dealerships, we discussed challenges related to resource workshop planning with service managers and how to optimize service processes to achieve the best outcomes and high resource utilization. We particularly examined whether local or centralized workshop planning fits their DNA and the pros and cons of each (Later, I wrote an article about it (*)).

At one of the management meetings, we discussed the frustrating effect of no-show customers on their resource workshop planning. According to the Service Managers, around 10% of customers fail to attend service appointments. It made me more aware of that issue and encouraged me to examine it more deeply.

What steps must dealers take to reduce the probability of no-shows?

Do good practices exist to handle such situations effectively?

Can we measure the impact and forecast it?

In my next article, I would like to talk about that. I have added a few genuine examples to make the article more engaging.

What is a no-show?

First things first, a no-show refers to a situation where a customer fails to attend a scheduled service appointment without prior notice. Such situations disrupt workshop scheduling and negatively impact productivity and effectiveness if not managed actively.

Understanding the problem’s scale, size, and impact is crucial before tackling it. Data is the KEY because dealers can build their “no-show algorithms” and utilize their processes accordingly.

Here, Dealer Management Systems (DMS) must provide a functional base to support background tracking of no-show customers quickly, intuitively, and with minimum user interventions.

The exercise aims to gather dealer data and generate a forecast. Secondly, dealers should establish and monitor criteria.

What are the options?

• Comparison between show-up and no-show customer visits.
• Lost Sales Revenue, causing no-show.
• Lost (Sold) Time causing no-show.

Variables:

• Day or Time of visit,
• Booking Lead Time BLT (Time needed to get a service appointment).
• Type of service appointments
• Seasonal factors
• Type of the customer, car, and other details.

After setting the criteria, dealers must focus on effectively implementing measures to control them.

Dealers rely on service appointments and must actively maintain them.

There are two distinct categories of methods available. Let me explain them.

Active features are those that prevent no-show situations before they happen.

Passive features — reduce the impact of the event.

Active features to maintain service appointments.

These are the most popular ones:

• Booking Confirmations

Regardless of the booking channel, dealers should send an online appointment booking confirmation with all important booking details.

• Service Reminders

It’s common for customers to forget their scheduled service appointments if they book them too far in advance. Automated service reminders assist dealers in reminding customers about upcoming visits at the optimal time, mostly electronically, using messaging applications. Dealers should include the appointment time, location, and special instructions.

• Multiple Communication Methods

Although messages are a commonly used option, some customers have better choices. Offering multiple communication methods, such as email, SMS, or even phone calls, dealers can reach customers in the way they prefer.

• Service Confirmations

After sending automated service reminders, dealers should examine service appointments that the customers still need to confirm. A simple rule can be applied: no call (no confirmation), no show.

• Rescheduling Online

Depending on the messaging app or communications channel, it is beneficial to include links to “Confirm,” “Reschedule,” or “Cancel” the service appointment. Some messaging applications offer an option to call: “I am late,” which is a superb idea to include.

• Online Prepayment

With access to modern digital technology and electronic payment, this is one of the excellent ways to reduce the risk of not showing up. Dealers should offer discounts for prepayment, which encourages booking appointments in advance and paying attention to them.

• Key Lookers

Customers can drop off and pick up their car keys 24/7 using a contactless tool. This service offers added convenience for customers who prefer out-of-hours assistance.

Dealers may look for other options that are worth considering.

• Pick-up vehicle service.
• Late cancellation or missed service appointment fees.
• Flexible cancellation policy.
• Motivate customers to visit the dealership by offering a replacement vehicle one day prior to their visit.

Despite taking preventive measures, some customers still miss service appointments. That’s life. Dealers must measure it and get it under control. Here, I called them “passive” features, which are utilized to maintain service appointments.

Passive features — reduce the impact of no-shows.

• Managing the reception process and mitigating potential delays

Get early indicators of no-shows; every potential customer delay increases the probability of no-shows. Contact customers, validate their situation, and be ready for plan B. Visualization, like a Status Board, helps dealers quickly identify delays and take necessary actions by displaying customer appointments on a digital board.

DMS>Status Board

• Overbooking or double-booking rule

During my visit to a large truck workshop, I observed how they efficiently manage their resources. They typically overbook their daily workshop capacity by 15–20%. I discovered a double-booking rule was in place to combat no-shows.

• Diversity of service appointments

A certain percentage of workshop capacity, usually around 5–10%, is typically reserved for walk-in customers. Other dealers allocate workshop capacity for internal vehicle work. It is essential to plan and manage the size of the internal work pool proportionally, as it serves as a buffer for no-shows that can be utilized if necessary. The variety of service appointment types per day allows flexible scheduling adjustments to recover from no-shows faster.

• Find the reason

The most critical aspect is determining the reason for the no-shows and adjusting preventive mechanisms. Some dealers keep track of customers who frequently do not attend their service appointments and enforce rules such as requiring prepayment in advance.

DMS>No show tracking

• Inform customers that “they have missed it.”

Send a message to the customer who missed their service appointment with an option to reschedule.

As I mentioned, Dealers rely on service appointments and must actively maintain them. My article outlines active and passive management options.

Thank you for taking the time to read the article. If you require any additional information, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Stay in touch.

(*) https://medium.com/@jurajhanus/how-dealers-operate-with-workshop-resources-f90d3c346d11).

Dr. Juraj Hanus, hanus@taxapa.com

Data Analytics & Automotive Applications Expert for Dealerships

The post No More No Shows appeared first on TaXaPa.

When you need to store your seasonal tires, there is no better place than the Tire Hotel. Tire Hotel is a service provided by dealerships in order to store seasonal tires on your behalf. Tire storage is well accepted in countries where weather conditions require the usage of different types of tires during the year (summer, winter, spikes…).

For dealerships, the Tire Hotel is attractive as well. It can bring an extra revenue stream during the tire season. Frankly asking, who among service managers is willing to ignore such business opportunities? This brings me back to the starting point of my article.

Without a doubt, managing tire storage effectively requires a functional base in the DMS. The DMS must provide a solid end-to-end solution in order to assist dealerships with the tire storage process as well as with managing a tire inventory effectively and paperless. For instance, the process of tire storage, retrieval, and change accompanying mobile devices and barcode labels can improve inventory handling significantly.

Finally, yet importantly, tires are a critical component of the vehicles as well as an element of active safety. Regular inspections and capturing tire conditions (e.g. the tire profile depth) in the DMS bring extra benefits for both parties. For the best customer service, convenience, care, and safety when dealing with seasonal tires, and for dealerships, it is a generator of vehicle appointments and future customer visits.

Let me comment briefly on incadea.dms. As a part of our latest product release, besides other handy functionalities, we have introduced a new add-on module named Tire Hotel. Tire Hotel is a solid solution that can easily assist dealerships with a tire storage process while using the functionality from the DMS more effectively.

It fully covers the most important processes of storage, retrieves, and change of tires using a single page named Tire Hotel Order. This allows users to perform tasks faster, and with fewer clicks see all necessary information related to customers’ tires.

We consider how easy, intuitive, and simple functions can be in order to manage a tire warehouse effectively. We believe the best solutions are those which are intuitive to learn and easy to use. I call this style the design for life.

Interested in more? Feel free to contact me.

Dr. Juraj Hanus, hanus@taxapa.com

Data Analytics & Automotive Applications Expert for Dealerships

The post Tire Storage Management (DMS) appeared first on TaXaPa.

If a dealer carries out many repair orders daily (150+), many customers are potential “waiters.” The waiter is a customer who wants to stay and wait in a showroom until their vehicle is ready to pick up. If only 30% of 150+ customers a day are potential waiters, one has almost 50 customers in the lounge trying to figure out what to do next. Sure, dealers can see it as an excellent upselling opportunity, and showrooms are shaping into shopping malls. On the other hand, the high number of waiters puts a lot of pressure on the dealer organization, especially during marketing service campaigns or tire seasons.

What do we know about the waiters?

In fact, waiters are more “allergic” to potential service delays than customers who are out of the workshop following their daily routines. AND waiters are less likely to approve additional work because unexpected extra time without their vehicles may significantly affect their schedule.

It seems the most challenging experience for dealers is to start to control the “right” number of waiters in the workshop during peak hours. Dealers are proposing better access to loan vehicles, introducing express services for loyal customers, motivating them to visit their dealership afternoons, etc.

Managing the correct number of waiters has become a trendy topic for everyone in our business. The call centers have asked if the customer wants to wait during their vehicle inspection. This simple approach helps dealers to manage the workshop utilization and balance it with the correct number of waiters.

Modern DMS has to help here and offer a simple way to track and visualize waiting for customers per day and hour.

As part of our latest product update, we have introduced new charts carefully integrated into the service booking workflow. Users can now work with the correct information at the right time of service appointment booking. An easy task for us product guys if we listen to customer needs. Small details create a big difference.

Looking forward to your feedback and am genuinely interested in your experience.

Dr. Juraj Hanus, hanus@taxapa.com

Data Analytics & Automotive Applications Expert for Dealerships

The post Small details create a big difference appeared first on TaXaPa.

I came across one exciting guidebook related to the TOP Key Performance Indicators (KPI), which, according to the writer, can be easily applied in the automotive or dealership world. This was also my first impression, and I felt confident about that. I was determined to apply theoretical knowledge to the practice and integrate TOP KPI into DMS exercises. AND I hit a wall almost immediately.

The problematic part was an ambiguity of KPI terminology between the theory and practice (real life). To make a long story short, I prepared a table below to share with you particular situations:

What are the valuable insights from my exercise?

What most people call Efficiency is not a measure of the technicians’ ability to beat manufacturers’ book time (standard time). Because if technicians simply work faster, no more revenue will be generated, they simply complete their jobs more quickly. However, it will show an increase, but you will not produce any more profit. [L1]

Overall or Total Efficiency is a measurement of harmony between sold hours and working productively. This KPI is the gateway to significantly increasing bottom-line profitability. Thanks to that connection, I can link productivity and Efficiency. Thank you, Jeff Smith, for such excellent writing. It took me to the next level of understanding of the key levers of the business.

Frankly speaking, I recommend this book to everyone interested in increasing their KPI knowledge for dealers.

[L1] SMITH JEFF., The KPI Book, Insight Training & Development Limited in Stourbridge, England 2001

Dr. Juraj Hanus, hanus@taxapa.com

Data Analytics & Automotive Applications Expert for Dealerships

The post “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.”​ appeared first on TaXaPa.

In cases where insurers supervise their own estimators usually, the process starts in the damage calculation system. On the other hand, many car dealers have already ‟won” the trust of insurers, and repair estimates are performed in their direction. Let’s look at each one in turn.

Workflow from the DMS side.

A service advisor creates a new repair order with customer, vehicle, and repair order scope (1.). The DMS Repair order is ‟connected” via a function to the damage calculation system (2.). This step enables a creation of the repair estimate (3./4.) which complies with insurers’ standards.

‟Harmony” between DMS and damage calculation system can be easily broken with problems related to data diversity. For example: by different formats of part numbers (677711 and A677711).

Workflow from the DMS side

To ‟bridge” similar situations, the DMS must have a clever way to ‟translate” and convert data into the DMS database (5.).

Labour, parts, painting material + other items including sales price are loaded to the original repair order for further processing (6.).

A final service invoice prepared according to an already approved repair estimate may significantly speed up the settlement of the invoice with insurers (7.).

Now see the scenario from the opposite angle.

Workflow from the Damage Calculation Systems

Workflow from the damage calculation systems insurers uses to ask their own or external technicians to prepare repair estimates which comply with their standards. In such cases, the creation of a repair estimate starts after visual vehicle inspection and mostly without direct dealer assistance out of the DMS.

A new case with the vehicle, customer, and finding details is being created in the damage calculation system (1.).

A repair estimate is edited, processed, and later provided by insurers to dealers for realization as a part of the newly created repair order in the DMS (2.).

Workflow from the Damage Calculation Systems

Service Advisors can load a repair estimate into the DMS either as a file or using the ‟Call Damage Calculation System” function as part of an interface solution (3.).

Finally, the repair estimate is converted into the repair order (4.) with all details related to labor positions, parts, etc. including approved sales price information. Now service advisors are ready to check and proceed with a repair order (5.) according to an approved repair estimate directly in the DMS (6.).

For a car-dealer to have on hand such an interface between damage calculation systems and DMS offers a great ‟accelerant” of the whole apparatus of claim settlements on collision repairs.

I hope you drew insight from the article. Looking forward to your feedback and genuinely interested in your opinion of it.

Dr. Juraj Hanus, hanus@taxapa.com

Data Analytics & Automotive Applications Expert for Dealerships

The post Damage Calculation Systems and DMS Workflows (Part II.) appeared first on TaXaPa.

In the automotive industry, one has various aspects to consider. For instance, handling of collision repair processes including estimating damage as well as the creation of a repair plan. In damage calculations, each requested repair can have various operations to be selected and each replaced part can easily have countless types of alternatives from different OEMs, etc.

How does one ensure that the right operation has been selected?

How can one know that all of the damaged parts where included in the estimate?

Or if any extra parts were added to damage calculations by mistake?

Without a doubt finding correct answers for such questions used to be a rigorous job for insurers. Here was the point where Damage Calculation systems could be devised and spread among insurers to produce a safe repair estimate which complies with their standards.

Audatex or Silver DAT II are two examples of Damage Calculation Systems well-used among insurers and car-dealers. Such applications enable repair facilities to provide accurate estimating of costly repairs and processioning insurance claims comfortable.

On top of that if both the DMS and the Damage Calculation System are connected via an interface, then submitting of service repairs from DMS as well as receiving accurate estimates from Damage Calculation Systems makes the claim process uncomplicated to handle for all parties.

For dealers, to better organize repair orders, for insurers to control claim process according to their standards and finally for customers to get their cars back on the road faster. This win-win situation boosts customer experience to the next level!

If you are one of the people who want to know more about that, please follow my next article related to data flow between both DMS and Damage Calculation Systems.

Looking forward to your feedback and genuinely interested in your opinion on it.

Useful links:

https://www.audatex.de/startseite/?source=post_page—–a676d1e57d40—————————————

https://www.dat.de/?source=post_page—–a676d1e57d40————————————-

Dr. Juraj Hanus, hanus@taxapa.com

Data Analytics & Automotive Applications Expert for Dealerships

The post Damage Calculation Systems and DMS (Part I.) appeared first on TaXaPa.

Once you have to overbook resources you need to understand how to distribute working hours among personnel. The best practice is based on how skilled resources are aiming at the most skilled person being overbooked to the smallest extent.

How would one calculate that? This is the topic I want to describe in my article.

Various overbooking algorithms are available for this subject. For instance, the methods include but are not limited to ‟proportional”, ‟sequential”, ‟progressive” or ‟conditional” overbooking methods. The abundance of options can guarantee that one can easily write a book on this matter.

Drawing upon personal experience there is a trend to use the ‟spread” algorithm which best fits dealers demand. When it comes to the ‟spread” method it does not really matter if a certain person can complete the task on his own. An intention is to distribute working hours amongst all resources considering skills a given resource has. This algorithm ensures that less skilled resources are booked more while more skilled people are booked less. Therefore, more skilled people are going to be more available. This point is crucial!

Let’s get down to details!

Assuming the following scenario: One workshop has 4 technicians with 4 different types of skills. Mechanic (MECH), Diagnostic (DIAG), Painting (PAINT), and Body shop (BODY). See example below:

John is the most experienced person in the workshop (4 skills). Now, let’s get to how to distribute working hours if for example 7 MECH Hours are needed for doing a service task but the workshop is short of MECH skill. Using the spread overbooking algorithm the following math formula is considered:

Conclusion: John, who is the most experienced person is less overbooked then others.

As a result, one can see some decimals, but it does not really matter. These numbers do not bother end-users but are crucial for Dealer Management Systems to handle the calculation of the overbooking.

I hope that my article was insightful.

I’m looking forward to receiving your feedback!

Dr. Juraj Hanus, hanus@taxapa.com

Data Analytics & Automotive Applications Expert for Dealerships

The post How to distribute working hours in the Workshop appeared first on TaXaPa.

What are the common liquids used on a regular and voluminous basis in the workshop? It starts with the motor oil, AdBlue®, mineral oils, coolant, grease, window wash fluid, and more. A variety of liquids are used in a workshop. Different types of liquids follow different industry standards.

Indeed, I took a chance to start my research on this topic, and I discovered new insights. For instance, according to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), each oil transport from one container to another in the workshop can increase the ISO cleanliness code by one level. External sources, such as foreign particles (dirt, dust), can contaminate liquids easily. Moreover, companies like GRACO, FALCO, or TECALEMIT continuously implement innovations, especially in reducing the risk of spills and contaminated fluids during transport from bulk containers and drums.

More precisely, there is a trend in reducing the number of liquid transfers in the workshop. During vehicle inspections, technicians can directly pump fluids from their portable bulk containers into gearbox compartments, coolers, and wherever fluids are needed. Less downtime, less manual handling, and reduced residual fluids in the drums increase workshop efficiency to the next level. Moreover, by keeping the workshop clean, industry standards become more comfortable to maintain.

In addition to these modern facilities, something else could increase efficient operations with liquids in the workshop. Now I think about the dealer management systems. Let us imagine the end-to-end solution where fluid management systems and oil dispensers communicate with the DMS smoothly. Technicians pump oil into the gearbox, and data (the type of liquid, dispenser ID, technician ID, volume) are fully synced with the customer order in the DMS (1). Alternatively, after scanning the barcode label on the customer’s order, technicians can pump the required liquid type with the right volume (2). On the other hand, inventory tracking in the DMS works freely without the assistance of another person from the parts department, such as a parts picker.

We are now coming back to the starting point of my article. To best follow industry standards, you can start asking yourself:

• How many liquid transfers per day, week, and month could we reduce for dealers IF we provide such an end-to-end solution?
• What could affect dealer workshop efficiency (downtime, administrative work, manual handling ) if we provide such an end-to-end solution?

By developing new product propositions as a product manager, you should ask similar questions to gain insight, understand product potential, and evaluate customers’ value. Many times we must challenge the status quo, and this is right! In our next product release, we offer dealers the bidirectional framework to enable communication between different types of liquid dispensers and our DMS. For instance, both user cases (1., 2.) described in my article are part of that. That may speak volumes.

Transforming vision into reality is a part of my professional life. Sure, there is more to add, and if you are the one who is interested in product details, allow me to share them with you.

Dr. Juraj Hanus, hanus@taxapa.com

Data Analytics & Automotive Applications Expert for Dealerships

The post How to best follow the Industry Standard in the Workshop! appeared first on TaXaPa.

Fleet Company FleetCarPro needs a reliable workshop that provides maintenance for their fleets for a reasonable price, regularly, and with the least idle time. Secondly, instead of paying for individual vehicle inspections, FleetCarPro wants to settle outstanding invoices every month. After each service, the vehicle is picked up with a handover document with repair details. Finally, and most importantly, the workshop issues FleetCarPro a collective invoice for completed services incurred during a billing period.

Without thinking twice, what do we call the feature that helps workshops deal with similar business situations?

Dealers and customers usually arrange service contracts if a considerable volume of business transactions is the subject. Intending to save time and money for dealers and customers alike, the workshop collects repair orders into one invoice for a billing period.

The DMS function, which I am explaining here, we call the Collective Service Invoice.

Collective Service Invoice is becoming prevalent in various markets around the globe. Even some OEMs are quietly editing their preference, and for instance, warranty claims are settling with one individual service invoice, everything according to OEM rules and specifications. Prerequisites remain the same, practical organization of the “traffic” flow of business transactions.

In our next product release, we want to confirm our active attitude towards the market by including those functionalities, where we believe our customers get the highest business value. Our new unique solution offers the functional capability to combine service orders into one collective service invoice. Dealers can freely choose a set of customer service orders and issue them with one collective invoice at a specific point in time. We add various handy features, including handover documents, lock function, and flexible filters.

I have attached a high-level business workflow from the DMS perspective if you want to know something extra. For more functional questions, drop me a message.

I hope you drew insight from the article.

Dr. Juraj Hanus, hanus@taxapa.com

Data Analytics & Automotive Applications Expert for Dealerships

The post Practical organization of the “traffic”​ flow of business transactions appeared first on TaXaPa.

Many fail, learn, repeat (FLR) cycles took me until I could experience essential design guides, which I started to trust! See five of them now.

1. Call for speed!

Every great application quickly drops once it gets slow. Focus on fast response and design tools for high performance from day one.

2. UI

Visualization is essential, especially for web-based applications. Less is more! Keep the surface clean and build flowing and intuitive functions.

3. Core Idea

Set the primary product goal and stick to that. Planning tools are for planning; time-clock is for time-clocking, etc. Don’t try to please everyone by adding extra stuff. Instead, focus on the core idea that makes your product great.

4. KISS

Don’t waste energy and product potential to cover all possible business scenarios. Instead, focus on use cases, which add the most business value. Limit “IF’s” and Keep it Simple and Stupid!

5. Framework

Don’t replicate something that already exists. Use it! Develop frameworks around your products to handle similar requirements. AND, don’t forget: too much flexibility confuses users!

Don’t hesitate to give me your viewpoint. Many thanks!

Dr. Juraj Hanus, hanus@taxapa.com

Data Analytics & Automotive Applications Expert for Dealerships

The post The 5 Guidelines For Functional Design appeared first on TaXaPa.