Mitchell 1 announced that the latest release of its Manager SE shop management software, version 7.0, contains a completely overhauled scheduler feature that will significantly improve the way auto repair businesses set customer appointments and schedule shop resources such as personnel, bays and equipment, according to the company.
This new generation of shop scheduler/calendar is built into the Manager SE system at no additional charge. The user interface is graphical with drag-and-drop functionality that is intuitive and easy to use, says Mitchell 1. The tool helps shops visually schedule their workload and improve workflow by maximizing available resources, including technicians, bays and specialty equipment.
“The new scheduler tool will play a significant role in contributing to a shop’s overall efficiency,” said John Dwulet, senior product manager for Mitchell 1. “This is more than an enhancement; it’s a complete transformation of the scheduling process that gives shops so much control and flexibility to help them run their businesses more profitably. We’re delighted to deliver this new tool to our shop management customers and are already hearing great feedback from them. They especially love the visual interface and how easy the scheduler is to use.”
The new scheduler offers:
- Calendar that may be viewed by day, week or month, with a resource view that allows shops to view the calendar by technician or resource
- Scheduled appointments link to a customer, vehicle, technician or resource
- Canned jobs can be added to an appointment to streamline generation of the estimate
- Ability to create orders from a schedule and initialize an order with canned jobs
- Full control to configure with technicians, resources, employee holidays and shop hours
- Appointments tab that displays events in a searchable and sortable work-in-progress view
- Ability to create shop calendar events that are not related to work orders
- An updated scheduled event report that details the shop’s calendar
- Updated technician setup including employee work hours and personal information
- Auto schedule option to schedule follow-up appointments when posting an order
- Warnings that display when resources are double-booked, giving shops better control and helping them avoid scheduling conflicts
- Color coding by technicians and resources to allow at-a-glance insight into workload
