This is normally a system maintenance function to correct a service history that has already been updated automatically from service Point-of-Sale. For dealers who are using the CRM (Customer Relationship Management) module without an integrated service Point-of-Sale module however, it will be necessary for them to update the service details manually using this program. This will need to be done by the day-to-day operator and so the same program is available here to avoid having to give the operator access to the System maintenance menu.
Only if the service history is accurately maintained will all the associated benefits of timely service and MOT reminders and service related satisfaction surveys be available.
When the program is selected from the Miscellaneous menu, a standard Revision 8 grid is presented to you. A right click on a line in the grid displays a menu allowing you to edit, insert or delete a row, having given full consideration to the potential effect on the system of deleting a code which is possibly already in use in related records in the database
The key to the file is a combination of the vehicle record number (or prime key as it is referred to) followed by the service sequence number.
In an integrated service point-of-sale environment this program will mainly be used for correcting existing records, and the appropriate service sequence number can be determined using an ad-hoc enquiry on the service history file and asking for 'SEQUENCE PRIME DETAILS IF PRIME = (the vehicle record number) SORT' which will display the existing service history for the specified vehicle and allow the operator to find the required sequence number.
If the system is not integrated to service point-of-sale then it is recommended that, to avoid the above mentioned process being used to work out the next sequence number, the sequence number be defined by using the last digit of the year, ie 3 for 1993, 4 for 1994, etc., followed by the month number and the day number using two digits in each case with a leading zero where necessary. So for example a service carried out on the 15 th of January 1999 would get a sequence number of 90115, or an MOT carried out on the 2 nd of October 2000 would get a sequence number of 01002, etc.
Some of the fields within the record are:
Date of service: The date that the work was carried out.
Code for Service: The three-character mnemonic service code.
Service details: In Create mode the service description is automatically set to the description held in the service code file. It can however be over-typed if required, as very often the code is self descriptive, such as MOT or S09. In the case of a record created from point-of-sale the first two characters will contain a number followed by a '/' which will equate to the point-of-sale company number which created the record. In this way multi-company point-of-sale updating a group crm database still shows the definition of where work was carried out.
Mileage: The odometer reading from the vehicle at the time the work was carried out.
Invoice number: The number of the invoice on which the work carried out was charged.
Wip no: The point-of-sale WIP number against which the work was carried out.
Account for this job: The sales ledger account to which the work was charged.
Job number: The number of the job card on which the work was carried out. If job card numbers are not in use then this number will be set to zero.
Operator: The service receptionist point-of-sale operator number.
Invoice value: The value of the invoice rounded down to the nearest pound.
In the case of a manually updated service history environment where a three part document set is being used (top copy invoice, second copy progress/parts issue and hard card job card as the third copy) the Job number and the Wip number can be left as zero.
Note:More detailed information on grid manipulation is available on the link Grid Form help.
