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 From the CEO
The financial year that has
just ended for most of us in this country has not been without its
challenges but Australia has fared remarkably well compared with
much of the Western world. Pleasingly Vehicle sales in June were at
near record levels and the outlook for the new financial year is
much brighter than we could have reasonably predicted six months
ago.
Auto-IT’s welfare depends
heavily on the fortunes of our customers in the retail dealership
marketplace and when profitability falls in this sector the effects
flow on to us as well. It is evident though that the regional
Agricultural, Trucking, and Automotive dealership industries remain
in relatively good shape compared to the rest of the world.
Whilst talking about the rest
of the world, the following statistics released in July by the China
Association of Automobile Manufacturers provides food for
contemplation. China is now the world's largest car market - or at
least it was for the first half of 2009. June car sales were up
36.5% from the same time last year as car sales hit 1.14 million for
the month. This announcement comes at about the same time as GM
emerges from bankruptcy on the other side of the world. Only time
will tell what impact these statistics will have on our industry in
the years ahead.
Auto-IT Financial
As a supplier to many customers
in the dealership industries, it is gratifying to report that
throughout the financial year Auto-IT’s revenues have held up well
and although profitability is lower than we would have preferred, we
ended the 2009 financial year with a respectable bottom line and we
remain debt free. Looking ahead, we are making plans for controlled
company growth as the economy picks up in the new financial year.
Expansion
Despite the global downturn
Auto-IT’s Dealer Management products continue to grow in influence.
Auto-IT dealer software is now responsible for running the business
of dealerships in nine countries and in an estimated 942 dealer
locations. This is an increase of 90 locations since the same time
last year and over the same twelve month period our licensed user
numbers have increased by an impressive 3,752 to a total of 14,825.
These statistics should
demonstrate to customers and partners that Auto-IT is a company that
can be relied upon to keep abreast of industry trends, and produce
software products able to hold their own in large businesses on the
world stage. Some recent notable sales have included AFGRI, a
Nationwide John Deere equipment retailer in South Africa, DMM.
Malaysia, the national distributor and retailer of Daihatsu cars,
and following our recent endorsement by BMW Australia as an approved
Dealer Management System Supplier, North Shore BMW, one of their
premier dealerships in New South Wales.
Looking ahead
We develop and support
three major retail dealer systems, UNITS™,
EQUIP™,
and PMDS™.
Each one of these products holds an important place in our strategic
direction and users of each can expect to see the release of major
enhancements over the next 12 months.
Auto-IT will shortly be
hosting two important events in Australia. We will have a stand at
the Australian Automotive Dealer Association in Melbourne in August
and if you are planning to attend please make yourself known to us. We will also be hosting an EQUIP™
user group event in Melbourne later that month for our Agricultural
and Trucking customers. If you are in this market segment I urge you
to attend as you can be assured of an informative and beneficial
experience by doing so.
As always, if you are a
customer, a partner, or a friend of Auto-IT, I welcome your comments
or feedback on my personal phone, +61 432 689 688.
Ken W Fife | Chief Executive Officer | Auto-IT
Pty Ltd
Australia
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Michael Cross (centre)
from Auto-IT with one of our latest clients based in
Brunei – Boustead Sdn Bhd (Nissan and Suzuki) |
New Clients
Welcome to the
following new clients who have recently upgraded to our
world class Dealer Management System.
Stuart and Harrison
Spencer Motors
Daihatsu Malaysia
Kensells
BMW Australia
Boustead Sdn Bhd (Nissan and Suzuki)
Wise Farm Equipment
Johnsons Towing & Mechanical
Northshore BMW
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Coming to AADA? Tell us & receive a great gift from us!
We'd
like to give readers of our ModernDealer Newsletter a
special gift at this year's AADA Conference. To register for
your gift, please complete your details below and be sure to
introduce yourself at our stand in the Mayfair 1 Room. We
also have an ASUS EEEPC up for grabs, drawn on the last day
of the conference. We look forward to seeing you there! Oh,
and we promise the gift is not a pen or a
stress ball... You'll love it!
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New Factory
Interfaces
Auto-IT has and will continue to write all available Factory
Interfaces. Many of these interfaces can assist in making
your business more efficient and effective. Don't miss out
on giving your business a competitive edge! To find out more
about how these interfaces can benefit your business and how
to set these interfaces up please speak to your Account
Manager or Aaran Newman -
anewman@auto-it.com.au
or 0418 253 368.
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BMW |
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BMW Warranty
Claims Registration |
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BMW Vehicle
Price List |
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BMW Vehicle
Chassis XML Interface |
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BMW Job Code
Search |
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Daihatsu |
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Daihatsu/Toyota Price Update |
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Holden |
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Holden Parts
Packing Case Slip |
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Holden Parts
Direct Parts Order Acknowledgement |
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Holden Parts
Direct Parts back Order Statement |
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Holden Parts
Direct Parts Order Cut Statement |
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Holden Vehicle
Order Status |
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Holden EPC
support for STAR standard |
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Holden Recall
Campaigns |
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Holden DCS
Warranty Settlement Credit: |
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Holden Now
Warranty Claims Registration |
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Holden Dealer
Business Intelligence Extract |
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HSPO Stock
Order Extract ebXML Project |
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Mercedes Benz |
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Mercedes
Secure FTP |
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Mazda |
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Mazda Vehicle
Receipt Update |
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Mazda Magic
Price Update |
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Mazda Service
Invoices Data Extract |
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Mitsubishi |
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Mitsubishi NZ
Call Agent Data Extraction |
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Mitsubishi
Vehicle Order Status: |
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Mitsubishi EDI
Purchase Order |
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Nissan |
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Nissan
Interfaces (Vehicle Inventory and Model Pricing) |
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Subaru |
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Super Service
Code Import |
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Toyota |
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Super Service
Code Import |
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Toyota/Daihatsu Price Update |
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Toyota
Showroom Direct |
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Toyota Vehicle
Import Process |
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VW |
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VW Service
Data Extract: |
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VW
eGoodManners Input Customer |
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Other |
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Super
Service Code Import (Other) |
*For more
information and pricing please contact your regional Account
Manager.
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Tech Tips
Are you Protected?
With literally
thousands of Internet threats discovered every day, of which the
majority pose a real risk to the integrity of your business systems,
are you adequately protected?
When we talk
about internet security, most will think of common, every day
viruses; however these days, internet threats extend far beyond to a
whole myriad of cyber attacks including Worms, Trojans, Spyware,
theft and costly hoaxes. The minute you turn on your PC, you are at
risk. Viruses and other attacks are generally designed to give
hackers access to your business data and steal valuable information
such as bank account and credit card numbers, contact details and
addresses.
It’s no surprise
then that network security is high on the agenda for most
organisations throughout the world. The mere fact that cyber attacks
can be very costly for some organisations, and very profitable for
cyber criminals, means internet security should be the highest
priority of your IT strategy. Hackers will continue to find new ways
to circumvent IT security and therefore organisations need to be
continually vigilant.
There are many
simple ways that help a business improve network and internet
security including the following suggestions:
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Strong
passwords are a must. Avoid using family names, words relating
to the business, or even relevant dates such as birthdays. Try
to use special characters and numbers. The best passwords are
those generated from completely random characters that form no
relevance to the individual or business. Change your passwords
on a regular basis and do no share with peers.
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Keep you
anti-virus software up to date. Most intelligent anti-virus
systems will keep your servers and desktops up to date
automatically as long as you have a current subscription for the
anti-virus product.
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Make educated
decisions when reading email. Avoid forwarding too many funny
emails or opening messages offering free products or incentives.
Do not open suspicious attachments that you were not expecting,
or that have been sent from an unfamiliar source.
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Log off
business applications at night and if possible shut down your
PC. As well as improving security, this will also save energy.
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All networks
should have a robust and industry recognised firewall solution
in place. An off-the-shelf ADSL modem is simply not sufficient.
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Consider
content filtering devices to limit the type of internet activity
that is allowed on the network. Content filtering devices also
have the ability to scan email for viruses before they enter the
network.
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Ensure that
your computers and servers have the latest Windows updates
installed. These updates generally contain security enhancements
to help combat the latest threats and should therefore be
installed as soon as possible.
It
is important that users can have confidence in their business’s IT
systems. Auto-I.T.’s Technical Consultants can assist with ensuring
that your network is adequately protected and help improve your
network and internet security and minimise cyber threats and
attacks.
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FAQs - UNITSTM
Changing the
Progress Status of a Repair Order
When you need to change the progress status of a Repair
Order from ‘Booked In’ to ‘Work Commenced’ or ‘Work
Finished’, you can change the progress in two ways. One way
is through the Service Resource Booking program pictured
below.
The
second way is via the Repair Order Maintenance and Invoicing
program below:
If
you want to change the progress status when you Invoice a
Repair Order through the Repair Order Maintenance and
Invoicing program, you can add the parameter
ReqProgressStatusOnInvoice then enter Y in the value column
as shown below:
When
you Invoice the Repair Order after you have added the
parameter ReqProgressStatusOnInvoice, the screen below will
allow you to change the progress status to either Vehicle
Invoiced/Customer Advised or Vehicle Picked Up.
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FAQs - PACE2000
General Ledger
Year-End Rollover
NOTE: The General Ledger should be the last Pace module to
be rolled over.
It is not essential that this be done at Year-End and can be
left until all reconciliation of accounts have been
completed. The General Ledger will operate correctly while
still in last year, however you must be aware that there may
be some financial reports which will not be available until
the G/L is in the current year.
Before rolling the G/L, review any controlled accounts, as
accounts with a “Y” control will carry forward individual
transactions per reference number. Accounts with an “N”
control will carry forward only the total balance.
To reduce the number of transactions carried forwards, it is
advisable that only accounts such as Debtors, Creditors,
Vehicle Stock and any other accounts which require
individual referenced transaction for reconciliation be
flagged with “Y”.
If your Bank G/L account if flagged “Y” and you have a
balanced reconciliation it is advisable to flag it “N” for
Roll-Over and then re-flag it back to “Y”.
Recommended Steps for Roll-Over
1) Re-index the following 3 files:
GLTRANS No.23
GLMASTER No. 45
GLDOLD No. 153
This can be done by shelling out to the Pace prompt via the
Pace menu. i.e.: Utilities, System Utilities, Shell out to
Operating System.
Make sure that no-one is using these files while you
re-index, otherwise you will get an error 75 message.
At the Pace prompt, type DFSORT 23 <enter>. When finished
repeat for 45 and 153.
If any duplicate or bad records are detected, these must be
cleaned out. Call Auto-IT support for assistance.
2) Make sure that you have no unbalanced batches by running
the program in the General Ledger Reporting Menu, GL
Batch Control Listing. Run this for everything in the
current year and answer “N” for balanced batches. If you
have any unbalanced batches, these must be dealt with before
you go any further.
3) From the General Ledger Utilities menu, run the program
Restore Master from Transactions.
This will rebuild all the General Ledger period balances
based on the transactions found.
4) Run reports for Trial Balance & Balance Sheet and
make sure that they are balanced.
5) Make sure you have sufficient hard drive space as the
file GLTRANS will copy to GLDOLD.
6) Check that your General Ledger is in Period 12 and
Beginning Year and Year-End dates are correct.
7) Get all Pace users out of Pace and turn off screen
saver (if any).
8) MOST
IMPORTANTLY,
make an up-to-date copy of Pace or at least make a copy
GLTRANS.DAT.
(This may have to be recovered if Roll-over fails or if you
discover any errors, and any entries made
after this backup will be lost.)
9) Run the G/L Year-End Roll-Over program “GLD090” making
sure that Period Nos. and Dates are correct.(Make sure
that program is not interrupted.)
10) When update has finished, check for any unbalanced
batches again, especially Batch 1 and run Trial Balance and
Balance Sheet reports again. (steps 2 & 4)
11) Only after you are sure that G/L has correctly rolled
and all G/L account balances and opening transactions are
correct should you allow other users back into Pace.
Remember: any work done after roll-over will be lost if
you find any errors and have to recover
from backup.
***
Stocktake Procedure
OPTIONAL: To avoid unwanted Stocktake Sheets for parts with a
blank bin location, carry out the following:
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Run the
utility to Rebuild Stock from Purchases and Sales.
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Run a
DFQUERY report on INMASTER and select all parts where location =
“ “ (BLANK).
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Locate
any stock on that report in a suitable bin.
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When
running the Stocktake Extract – Select from BIN “A” to BIN “zzzzzzzzzzz”.
(So as not to produce count sheets for parts with a blank bin
location).
Normal
Stocktake Procedure
Run the utility to rebuild stock from purchases and sales.
From the Parts Stocktake Menu carry out the following. NOTE:
It is advisable to run all output to Disk and print Sheets and
Reports from Disk.
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Run the
Stocktake Extract – Say “N” to alternate sort key unless you
want the sheets in that sequence.
Say “N” to Ford sequence unless you are a Ford dealer and you
want that sequence.
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Run the
Print Count Sheet.
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Run the
Print Blank Count Sheets.
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After
stock has been counted. – Enter Counted Sheets. ( Note:- All
sheets MUST be entered even if zero qty.) ( If qty = all
zero bring up on screen and “F10” to save.)
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Enter
Blank Count Sheets.
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Run the
Uncounted Stock Report.
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Run the
Stocktake Exception Report (locate parts into the correct bins).
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Run the
Merge Blank and Counted Sheets.
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Run the
Stocktake Variance Report.
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Run the
Stocktake Update.
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Run
Stocktake Valuation report.
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Auto-IT Australia Pty Ltd
ABN: 57 091 383 854
Suite 2 / Level 1, 333 Drummond St,
Carlton VIC 3053,
Australia
Ph: (03) 9349 3062 :: Fax: (03) 9349 3067
www.auto-it.com.au
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