Auto-IT Pty Ltd
ABN: 57 091 383 854

S2/L1, 333 Drummond St
Carlton VIC 3053, Australia
Ph: (03) 9349 3062
Fax: (03) 9349 3067
www.auto-it.com.au

From the CEO

We are once again well into the new financial year, our planning and budgeting is behind us and in common with you our dealer clients,  it won’t be long before we are once again contemplating our first quarter results.

The 2007 financial year was one of consolidation for Auto-IT.  We took the opportunity to work hard on improving our Implementation and Customer support methodologies and as we mature as an organisation so must we continually strive to find ways to improve our performance.

Auto-IT’s published Goal is to be “Independently rated as number one for customer satisfaction in all the markets in which we chose to compete.” This message hangs on the wall of all our offices and is drawn to the attention of every new employee.

Build 2000 of our UNITS™ and EQUIP™ New Generation software products is now out of Beta test and deployment to customers will commence at the end of August.  Following this deployment we will once again survey all our Auto-IT customers in order to gauge how far we have progressed down the path of achieving our Goal. If you are a customer, your cooperation in providing  feedback during this important exercise is respectfully requested.

2007 was a stellar year for us financially. Auto-IT exceeded its consolidated budgets, we have zero debt and as a result of our solid performance throughout the 2007 year we have increased our provision for R&D spend  for the current year. This will result in tangible new functionality in our PMDS™, UNITS, and EQUIP products to the benefit of all. PMDS™ users will already have experienced some of these new features in the recent release of version R5.5. If you are a PACE 2000 user, we have plans to help your transition to our new generation technology as painless and rewarding as possible.

Auto-IT is moving from consolidation to growth mode and we are now recruiting to fill a number of new positions.

Sales remain strong in Australia, New Zealand, and North America and our first large dealer group is about to join the Auto-IT family of users in the Republic of South Africa.

There are now 8951 licensed users of Auto-IT’s Dealer Management solutions at the time of the writing of this Newsletter, and I am ever aware of the fact that none of this would have been possible without the support of our great staff, and most importantly of you our loyal customers.

Once again I urge you to respond to our customer surveys which will be circulated in plenty of time for us to publish our findings in our December Newsletter.

Ken Fife
Chief Executive Officer

RETURN TO TOP

‘Extra-strength’ Showroom Module Fortifies Car Sales

Auto-IT’s Showroom module is designed to boost and streamline sales outcomes.  Developed for UNITS™ and EQUIP™, the optional module empowers sales teams to maximise every customer interaction.

Showroom features include:

• Prompting sales personnel to ask all the right questions to increase customer expenditure per transaction.*

• Giving sales personnel the ability to construct a deal, add accessories, options, aftermarket, F&I, calculate on-road costs, reverse calculate, add in trade-ins and produce quotes and contracts.

• Ensuring pricing and taxes are accurate and disallowing sales below the margin threshold.  This feature eliminates loss making deals.

• Reducing operating expenses as thousands of dollars are saved on pre-printed stationery and contracts that you no longer need.  In addition, Showroom streamlines the administrative sales process leading to savings in phone and postage expenses.

• Enabling personnel to capture and add prospective as well as actual customer details to the dealership database.

• Monitoring salesperson productivity so management can train and coach individuals to perform better, no matter whether it is their closing techniques or simply remembering to offer finance and insurance.

• And most importantly, ensuring a smoother, faster transaction with the customer starting with the initial interaction with the sales personnel, to the supply of a computer generated quote, through to controls to make sure the car they ordered is ready on time and fitted with the correct accessories, options and add-ons.

Auto-IT can also provide a tailor-made showroom solution.  Showroom Plus empowers showrooms with software to suit individual dealerships people and processes.  Consultation and training are an integral part of the Showroom Plus process to ensure dealerships are able to maximise the features of the software in ways that best complement their particular business operations.   In addition, Showroom Plus has enhanced features including:

• More in-depth reporting on staff.

• Allowing sales personnel to capture all information from the customers initial contact, through the sales process and beyond.

• Tracking sales back to their lead source, enabling management to monitor the effectiveness of various advertising campaigns and mediums.

• Providing on-line vehicle valuations.

• Prospect locator for particular stock.

For more information please contact your regional Account Manager.

*Research and feedback to date has found an increased average customer spend per transaction of $300-$600 per vehicle. Obviously every dealership is different and results may vary.

RETURN TO TOP
 

Luan is posing in a G-Force, made in Toowoomba, Queensland by specialist car builder, Skelta. Skelta is owned by one of Auto-IT's clients, Ray Vandersee, of Vanderfields - a large Hino & John Deere dealer with branches across QLD, NT and WA. To learn more, go to: www.skelta.com.au.

Would you trust this man with this much horsepower?

IT Project & Technical Manager Manager, Luan Tran, contemplates what it feels like to be a real-life playboy... Pity he's just a software genius who's youthful looks belie the years of exposure to harmful fluorescent lighting and low-grade coffee.

We took the keys off him before he could execute his escape.

RETURN TO TOP

John Deere Interfaces

John Deere Franchisees who use EQUIP™ are now able to add-on various John Deere Factory interfaces. The list of interfaces below is an initial offering with further interfaces to be released in the near future.

John Deere Marketing Service Times Import
This program imports data relating to Marketing service times sent by John Deere via DTF to the dealer. The MST assists dealers with the preparation of quotes and to build Work Orders. The import can be run manually (using this program) or automated as part of the windows service. If the program is run as part of the Windows service, stored values will be used and no user entry is required.

John Deere Parts Locator
The John Deere Parts Locator creates a text file of the dealership’s available parts stock for the Branch and Franchise specified. The extracted file can then be sent to John Deere for inclusion on their national parts locator. This program generates Q0, Q2 and Q3 records as ASCII files for upload to John Deere via DTF. It produces records for two John Deere processes: the initial load/refresh process and the daily update process.

John Deere Parts Promotional Program Import
If required this program imports parts promotional program data from the ASCII file into the system.  The import can be run manually (using this program) or automated as part of the windows service.

John Deere Promotional Program Maintenance
This program allows you to create, view and maintain promotional program files. These files will be received in ASCII format via the current DTF Infrastructure.

John Deere Parts Receipt Import
This program loads the John Deere Parts Receipt ASCII input file (sent from John Deere) into the system database (Dealer_Comm) with no accounting or stock updates. The updates are controlled via the John Deere Parts Receipt Update program.

John Deere Parts Receipt Update
This program is used to update the system’s Parts database when the dealership has actually received and confirmed the arrival of shipped parts. The program automatically downloads and loads the John Deere Parts Receipt ASCII input file into the system database (Dealer_Comm). The program relies on the system’s Window Service to bring data from the DTF (Data Transfer Facility) to the system’s database table. If the Window Service is unavailable the John Deere Parts Receipt Import program allows the data to be imported manually. This program requires a dealer code and polling unit setup in Franchise Rules Maintenance and Branch Configuration Maintenance. This is required so that only packing lists relevant to the dealer will be selectable; if this is not set there will be no data available.

John Deere Parts Surplus Returns
This program will be able to create, modify and view parts surplus returns, and save and submit them to John Deere. 

John Deere Parts Management Data (PMMANAGE)
This program creates ASCII files from sales and stock statistics and submits them into the default upload DTF directory ready for monthly submission to John Deere.

John Deere Purchase Order Extract
This program provides you with the ability to select existing suggested re-orders or purchase orders and generate (in ASCII format) dealer parts purchase orders to John Deere via the DTF (Data Transfer Facility)

For more information and pricing please contact your regional Account Manager.

RETURN TO TOP

PinPoint^TM

Pin Point™ is a fully featured Financial Reporting and Budgeting application for PMDS™. This product is the latest browser-based program to be developed by Auto-IT and boasts many great features. 

Pin Point was designed in conjunction with several key PMDS™ Dealerships and developed to provide dealership staff (particularly Financial Controllers) an application which will save considerable time and increases productivity. PinPoint provides accurate and detailed analysis of live financial reporting data with just a few clicks of the mouse!

Pin Point is currently in its final phase of development and testing, with a pilot site already benefiting from the great features available within the program. Stay tuned for more detailed information regarding Pin Point at the upcoming PMDS™ Road-shows.

Key Features include:

• Drill-down from any financial report to live transactional information

• In-depth financial budgeting tools, allowing top-down or bottom-up design

• ‘What-if’ analysis available with budgets

• Publish reports as at a nominated date to allow other users to view the reports

• Restrict the viewing of individual reports to specific users, many other privileges can also be set by user

• Favourites page for each Pin Point user

• Create in-depth reports in under 5 minutes including;

  • Department Profit & Loss reports

  • Consolidated Profit & Loss reports

  • Balance Sheet

  • Cross Tab reports

RETURN TO TOP

Technical Tips - General

Tape Drive Maintenance

Backup tape drives should be cleaned on a regular basis to prevent data corruption or tape drive failure. Most tape drive manufacturers recommend that your tape drive is cleaned at least once per week or every 8 hours of use in order to maintain the best possible performance and reliability. Most cleaning tapes are good for 50 cleaning runs which equates to approximately one whole year of cleaning. If you require a replacement cleaning cartridge, please contact Auto-IT Technical Services or your Account Manager.

Printer Maintenance

All workgroup printers should be maintained on a regular basis. This includes a general clean and check over of all working parts. Maintenance routines should include an occasional service from a qualified printer service technician as recommended by the printer manufacturer. Always keep spare printer drums, toners and consumables on hand, and always replace the printer drum when the “replace drum” warnings appear. Ignoring these warnings may void your manufacturer warranty. Auto-IT can supply genuine printer consumables and equipment for most printer makes and models including the range of HP, Oki and Kyocera approved printers. Contact your Account Manager today to organise a top up of your printer consumables stock.

Lachlan Rothheudt - Systems Engineer

Technical Tips - Units^TM & Equip^TM

How do I create a creditor using my own account number range instead of system-generated account numbers?

Follow these simple steps:

1. Open the Creditor Maintenance Program.

2. Place the cursor in the Creditor Number field and press the tab key.

3. In the Contact Code field, select either an existing contact from the drop list, enter a new contact code or tab through the field to leave it blank and the system will auto-generate a contact code.

4. Enter the relevant details in the top section of the screen.

5. Enter the required account number in the lower section of the screen (see diagram).

6. Enter the details in the remaining fields as required and click the Save button.

RETURN TO TOP

Victorian PMDS™ Dealerships: Service Manager Training

Service Manager training will be held at our Carlton office on Tuesday, 18^th September, 2007. The course will be run by Geoff McGrath from our Queensland office. Geoff has been with Auto- IT for two years and prior to that he had extensive experience in both Service Advisor and Service Manager roles at a large metropolitan dealership. He has also held management positions in service-related roles with both Bridgestone and Goodyear.

Geoff intends to cover a revision of the core system for the service department and reporting as a minimum. Prior to the training he will also be seeking input from each service manager attending about specific areas of concern. This will help to maximise the benefit that each Service Manager will gain from the day.

The course will run from 9.00am until approximately 4.30pm. Cost is $435 including gst (which will include lunch).

Places are limited. Please contact Lyn Reade on 0408 373 522 or email Lyn on lreade@auto-it.com.au if you, or a member of your staff, would like to attend.

RETURN TO TOP

Tech Tips - PMDS™

Lookups

Tired of entering through many pages of lookup items to find the required entry? In any PMDS™ Lookup window, you have the ability to narrow down the items displayed using a text search. In the Lookup window, if you enter ‘Sxxx’ where ‘xxx’ is a string of characters, the display will then only show items matching ‘xxx’. In the below example, 19 pages of Service Products, if we enter ‘SWHEEL’ it will return anything that contains the word ‘WHEEL’

Calendar

Need to quickly look at a Calendar, type ‘CAL’ from any PMDS™ menu to display the current year calendar. If you would like to view another year, simply enter in that year (ie 2008) at the prompt.

Jump Codes

Are you accessing the same menu several times a day via the standard menu system? Enter ‘/J’ at any menu and PMDS™ will then allow you to add this menu to your jump codes.

RETURN TO TOP

Tech Tips - PACE2000

Q. How do I perform a full Pace re-index?

A.  First locate the Pace prompt by going to Utilities, System Utilities and Shell Out to Operating System.  Note down the drive and directory path, then EXIT back into Pace and shut down Pace.

Open a Command Prompt and change to the Pace directory.  At the Pace prompt type "DFSORT -A" and enter.  This should start the re-indexing process.  When finished, list "DFSORT.LOG" and check for any errors. 

Q.  How do I re-index individual Pace files?

A.  Go to Utilities, System Utilities, File Re-index and note down the file number/s of the required file/s from the listed filenames. Note: (there are several screens and you can <enter> to the next screen.)  Then shell out to the Pace prompt.  At the Pace prompt type "DFSORT ???" ( ??? = file number). This should start the re-indexing process.  Note: Make sure that no other user is using that file. (an error 75 indicates that the file is being used or has been locked and cannot be re-indexed.

Max Sita - Support Consultant

RETURN TO TOP