3 Methods of Mechanic Tracking in AutoFluent®
Shops need to track how much their mechanics work throughout the day to monitor efficiency and profitability. AutoFluent® offers 3 different methods of tracking your mechanics: tracking hours only, tracking completed jobs, and having them clock in hours. All three methods let you track the hours of labor that get performed on your workorders, but they do that in different ways. Use this guide to decide which tracking method is best for your shop.
Method 1: Track Hours Only
The simplest method of mechanic tracking is Track Hours Only. This will track every line of every invoice that has hours and a mechanic assigned to it. Then, after the invoice has been created, you have the option of going into the Track Mechanics window and enter the actual hours worked, if they are different from the billed hours. You can assign up to 3 mechanics to each labor line. Simply have your mechanics write the hours worked on the workorder, and at the end of the day or week someone in the back office will fill in the actual hours in the Track Mechanics window. Your mechanic efficiency reports will then show you how efficient each of your mechanics has been in the period. With this method and the Track Completed Jobs method below, it is important to assign mechanics to all labor performed. Therefore, you may want to turn on the setting to require assigning a mechanic to all labor before invoicing. This is done in the Default - W/O tab of System Settings.
Method 2: Track Completed Jobs
The second method of mechanic tracking is Track Completed Jobs. Use this method if your jobs often span more than 1 pay period, and you want to give your mechanics credit for work performed on jobs that have not yet been invoiced. With this method, you can mark individual jobs on a workorder as Done, so that they will show up on the mechanic reports, even if the workorder has not yet been finalized. All remaining labor lines with a mechanic assigned to them will be marked as done when the workorder is marked as completed (in Sales Entry), or when it is invoiced.
Method 3: Let Mechanics Clock in Hours
The third and most complete method of mechanic tracking is called Let Mechanics Clock in Hours. This method allows your mechanics to punch into a job when they start on it and then punch out when they stop working on it. A mechanic can only be punched into one job at a time, but multiple mechanics can be punched into the same job at the same time. This lets you track everything your mechanics do throughout the day. You can even have chores in the system that they can punch into to track their down time.
At the end of your pay period, go to the ‘Track Mechanics’ window from the main menu to see all of your jobs in the period and edit any mistakes if you have the permission level to do so. From there, the green ‘Reports’ button brings you to your 3 mechanic reports. The 2 Efficiency Reports show you both the billed hours and the actual hours, as well as an efficiency percentage. With the Let Mechanics Clock in Hours method, you can also use the Mechanic Productivity report to see each punch.
The efficiency and productivity of your mechanics is a key element to the success of any service shop. These mechanic reports are essential tools for seeing how well they (and your shop) are doing, giving your mechanics the perks and commissions they work hard for, finding bottlenecks and pricing your jobs correctly.