Release Notes FLEX DMS Release 7.3.4 Accounting Removal of Disbursement and Payroll tabs from Station Setup screen Benefit: The removal of these tabs will eliminate any confusion regarding printer setups for disbursements and payroll, which have their own Setup screens. Details: Prior to this change, the system contained two identical but separate printer setups for the Disbursements and Payroll applications, one in the DMS Settings & Utilities Station Setup screen, and the other within the respective Payroll and Disbursement applications. This caused some confusion and unnecessary troubleshooting steps. To improve the functionality and simplify processes, we ve removed the Disbursement and Payroll tabs from the Station Setup screen. To view the change: 1. From the DMS Startup menu, click Settings & Utilities. 2. On the File Utilities & Settings menu, click Settings. The Station Setup screen will open. 3. You will see that the Disbursements and Payroll tabs have been removed. These settings can now ONLY be modified within those Accounting applications individual Printer Setup screens. DMS Version 7.3.3 DMS Version 7.3.4 1 Page
Parts Additions and changes made to Counter Parts Sales screen Benefit: The addition of an email field allows you to better communicate with and market to wholesale customers. Details: We ve added Email, Cell, and Fax fields to the Bill To area of the Counter Parts Sales screen. The information will pull from the Customer Information record for each customer, when available. If the information hasn t been entered for the customer, you can enter it here. If you ve made any changes to these or any other fields on the screen, when you click Generate Order, a pop-up message will ask if you want to update the customer information. Click OK. The email address will print on the Parts Counter ticket and all copies of the Parts Counter invoice. Additionally, you can add an Email column to reports created within the Parts module s Report Generator. We ve also moved the QwikLook button out of the customer area of the screen and to the bottom of the Counter Parts Sales screen. 2 Page
Payroll Addition of dealership name and address on employee paystub for California dealers Benefit: This addition will keep you in compliance with California law. Details: In compliance with California law, the Payroll application will now print your dealership s name and address on employees paystubs. Addition of available sick leave balance on employee paystub Benefit: This enhancement allows you to better report and inform employees of their used and available sick leave. Details: FLEX DMS now prints the balance of an employee s unused sick leave on the employee s regular paystub. This feature is accessible to dealerships in any state. It was previously only accessible to California dealerships. You will first need to create sick pay departments from which employees will be paid. To do this: 1. Click Accounting from the Startup menu. 2. Click Payroll on the Dealership Accounting main menu. 3. On the Dealership Payroll menu, click Setup. 4. From the Payroll Setup menu, click Define Departments. The Define Departments screen will open. 5. Create a Department Number and enter Sick Pay in the Department Name field. 6. Use the Pay Line For Salary field to indicate the pay line the salary for this department should post to on the Enter Employee Pay screen. This line corresponds to the line number on the Pay/Deduction Setup screen. 7. In Dept. Gross Pay, type the general ledger account used to post gross pay for this department. 8. Enter N in the SA field to post by totals to the general ledger account. 9. In Payroll Tax Expense, type the general ledger account used to post the payroll tax for this department. 10. Click Save. Assign those departments to eligible employees on the Department Assignments screen (Accounting>Payroll>Employee Information>Employee Department Assignments). Continued on Page 4 3 Page
Payroll (Continued from Page 3) You will also need to set the system to track sick pay. To do this, enter Y in the Track Sick Pay field on the Miscellaneous Parameters screen (Accounting>Payroll>Setup>Miscellaneous Parameters). Additionally, you ll need to edit your printer settings to print the remaining sick pay on employees paystubs. To do this, on the Printer Setup screen (Accounting>Payroll>Setup>Printer Setup), enter Y in the Print Employee Remaining Sick Pay On Stub field. To set up each employee s basic sick pay information, you ll use the Sick Pay box on the Employee Information screen. Here, you can enter the appropriate sick pay department and total annual sick leave hours allotted for the employee. To enter the information: 1. On the Dealership Payroll menu, click Employee Information. 2. From the Employee Information menu, click Employee Master File. Continued on Page 5 4 Page
Payroll (Continued from Page 4) 3. In the Sick Pay box of the Employee Information screen, enter the department (Dept) and annual hours of sick leave (Annual Hrs). 4. Click Save. This box will update the number of hours used and remaining once the sick pay is posted and paid through the assigned department. Remaining sick pay hours will print on the paystub directly below the Net Pay line. 5 Page
Service Additional privacy flags added to Customer Information screen Benefit: Additional privacy flags on the Service module s Customer Information screen allow you to better respect customers wishes regarding contact. Details: We ve added Do Not Text and Do Not Email fields to the Customer Information screen of the Service Module, allowing you to further tailor a customer s record in the module. To use these fields: 1. On the DMS Startup menu, click Service. The Service Writing menu will open. 2. Click Customer Information. The Customer Information screen will open. 3. If the customer does not wish to receive text messages, enter Y for yes in the Do Not Text field. If they do not want to receive emails, enter Y for yes in Do Not Email. If they do wish to receive these forms of communication, enter N for no in these fields. 4. Click Save to save the changes to the customer s record. OnDemand5 button added to RO Enter Conditions and ERO screens Benefit: This button streamlines integration with Mitchell. Details: When used on the ERO screen, the OnDemand5 button is a one-way integration with Mitchell that will allow you to enter information but will not import details back into your FLEX DMS. When you open an RO and click the button, the Mitchell log-in screen will open and auto-populate the Vehicle Year, Make, and Model fields from the selected RO. You can also use the button without having selected an RO. In this scenario, no information is transferred to the Website, but you can use the drop-down menus to select Year, Make, and Model. The button is a two-way integration that will write back to the RO when clicked from the RO Enter Conditions screen. While an RO is active on the Enter Conditions screen, click the OnDemand5 button. Log in to Mitchell. The Year, Make, and Model information for the RO will auto-populate the respective fields in the Website. You can then select operations and transfer them back to the RO in FLEX DMS. The operation will write new lines to the RO in sequence. 6 Page
Service Schedule Privacy flags added to Service Schedule application s Schedule Service screen Benefit: Privacy flags allow you to better respect customers wishes regarding contact. Details: Privacy flags have been added to the Service Schedule application s Schedule Service screen. Enter Y for yes or N for no into the Do Not Call, Do Not Text, Do Not Email, and Marketing Letter fields to signify whether the customer does not or does wish to be contacted by the respective means of communication. Writer column added to Web Appointment tab detail Benefit: The addition of a writer column better accommodates the appointment details being received from third-party vendors. This provides at-a-glance knowledge of the writer ID associated with the web appointment. Details: A Writer column has been added to the Web Appt tab s details screen to accommodate the writer ID that is being received from the third-party vendor. The chosen Writer on the appointment is now listed in the column to the left of the customer Name column. 7 Page
Service Schedule Search feature added Benefit: The addition of a search feature allows you to search the schedule for an appointment by customer name, phone number, or appointment date. Details: A Search button has been added to the Service Schedule main screen to allow you to search the schedule for an appointment. You can search using the customer s Last Name, First Name, or Phone Number. You can also search by date. To use the feature: 1. On the Service Schedule main screen, click the Search button at the bottom of the screen. 2. The Search Criteria screen opens. Here, you can enter a customer s last name, first name, or phone number to search for the appointment on the schedule. Continued on Page 9 8 Page
Service Schedule (Continued from Page 8) To search by the date, click to check the Search By Date checkbox and select a date range using the Start Date and End Date fields. Click Search. 3. The appointments that meet your search criteria will populate the results list. Each line will contain the appointment date and time; customer name; vehicle year, make, and model; and phone number. Right-click on the appointment in the search results to open the Schedule Info box, from which you can edit, reschedule, or delete the appointment. You can also left-click on the appointment to open the schedule for the date on which the appointment is scheduled. 9 Page
System-Wide Addition of Live Chat link on every DMS menu Benefit: The addition of live chat will allow you to chat with an Autosoft Customer Success team member about an issue without having to pick up the phone or to submit a message after business hours and have a team member reach out with an answer. Details: A Click To Chat icon has been added to every menu of the DMS except for Setup menus within modules. To use this feature: 1. Click the Click to Chat icon on any menu screen within the DMS except for individual modules Setup menus. 2. The Autosoft Customer Center Webpage will open, containing a Chat area in the lower-right corner of the screen. When an Autosoft Customer Success team member is available to chat, the Chat box will read, Chat with us. Just type your message into the Type your message here field and click the Send icon. A support specialist will respond with answers to your questions. Continued on Page 11 10 Page
System-Wide (Continued from Page 10) If a support specialist is not available, the box will read, Leave a message. Click the Chat box to open the Autosoft Support Chat window and enter a message. Be sure to include your name, email address, and phone number so the support specialist can reach out with an answer when they see your message. 11 Page
Other Updates Accounting ERO Parts Adjustments have been made to improve the performance of the Vehicle Sales FaStats screen. A modification ensures the debit side of the Vehicle Sales screen is correctly reading the debit control. When a schedule is out of balance, a true out-of-balance warning will appear when printing Detail Forward Schedule short lists, just as it does when you print the full schedule. An update ensures that the late charge feature for detail forward customers is working as it should. Modifications have been made to ensure month-end files for fiscal year dealerships are saving with the correct date. Modifications have addressed an issue that was resulting in an error when an ERO was logged in to more than eight times. Updates to the ERO Tech Report, accessible from the ERO Tech Report button on the ERO screen, ensure that the information pulled for the ERO application s report matches the information in the same report accessible through the Service module s Reports & Updates option. The report run through the ERO application still defaults to the logged-in technician, preventing his or her unauthorized access to other technician s times. Improvements have been made to limit the ERO Parts Request display to only those technicians who have requested parts rather than all the technicians in the system, which prevented requests from being seen if the technician was 30 th or beyond on the list of technicians. Adjustments have been made to improve the operation of the Parts Customer Only and All Customers tabs on the List pop-up screen accessible from the Customer Information screen (Special Inventories>Wholesale Customers>Enter/Edit Customer Information). Modifications have improved the performance of the password features when accessing the Resupply button on the Queries screen. Service A date and time stamp has been added to Service Quote printouts to help Service personnel and customers better track the expiration of the quote. Modifications have clarified the GM VIS feature s display of applicable and expired warranty repairs. Adjustments will prevent the system from freezing up when printing an RO to screen after using the VIN Decoder in the Start RO or Enter Conditions screens. Updates ensure that a customer s Marketing Letter privacy flag pulls to the RO along with the prewrite information. Modifications ensure that service appointment details, like customer return information, transfer correctly when performing the Service Schedule conversion. Changes to the Start Repair Order screen have improved the keyboard-only navigation of the page s fields. Adjustments to the Writer Analysis report ensure the correct average ROs per day is displaying in the department totals at the end of the report. 12 Page
We ve resolved an issue that was causing the system to close when using the Back button in manufacturer warranty screens. Service Schedule Updates have been made to ensure data from web appointments is populating the correct fields in the application. Modifications will ensure that the quoted time in existing appointments is honored during the Service Schedule conversion. Miscellaneous Clicking the Support Downloads option on the Support menu (accessible by clicking Settings & Utilities>Support) opens the Customer Center, where you can access Remote Support, User Guides, Webinar Registrations, and Webinar Archives Webpages, where you can find a variety of Help resources. 13 Page