Job Scheduling with AutoFluent

As you grow your business, it is essential to make sure that you are fully utilizing the time and assets that you are committing to running it. Maintaining a steady and manageable flow of customers benefits both customers and employees, adding to your bottom line. The Scheduler built into your AutoFluent® system allows you to schedule appointments using many different parameters, and enables you to keep up with your customer’s visits from the moment an appointment is created until the invoice has been paid.

There are helpful settings that you can adjust to reflect your particular shop’s needs. First, click on the gear icon on the top right corner of AutoFluent®, and in the “General” column of Setup Entry, select “Timeclock Setup”. Under “Store Hours” you can set your shop’s hours of operation, and these will directly translate to your Scheduler. Under the “Scheduler Setup” tab of the same window, you can name and color-code your departments. 

One other area that you may want to adjust is job statuses. To access Statuses, click on the gear icon once again, select “System Settings” under the General tab, and click the “Marketing / Statuses” tab, then the “Statuses / Text Messages” tab. Here, you can create your own custom “Vehicle Status” items to keep track of what step of the repair process that vehicle is in at any given time. After you make any changes to System Settings, be sure to not only save your changes, but restart AutoFluent® to make sure that the changes have taken effect.

When an appointment has been added to the Scheduler, you can right click on the appointment to change the status if necessary. If the status of an appointment is changed on the Scheduler, those changes will be seen in the “Status” column of Sales Entry; and any status changes made in Sales Entry will be reflected in the Scheduler. Statuses in the Scheduler have the added benefit of color coding. As an example, when glancing over appointments you will quickly be able to determine such things as whether the customer needs to be contacted, or if parts have arrived.

The Scheduler itself can be accessed three different ways; by clicking the calendar icon on the front of AutoFluent®, by clicking the ‘Scheduler” button in Sales Entry, and by clicking the “Schedule” button from within an open Workorder. The Scheduler can be viewed by day, week or month; as well as by mechanic, by department and by bay. All three of these parameters can be used when adding an appointment to the calendar, ensuring that your employees, equipment and floor space are being used efficiently and to their fullest. You can also sync the scheduler with Google Calendar, giving you access to your shop’s appointments when away from your AutoFluent system.

For more information on setting up or getting the most out of the AutoFluent® Scheduler, contact us today.