License Agreement 

PLEASE READ THIS LICENSE CAREFULLY. By using the software supplied with this licence (the “Software”) you agree to be bound by the terms of this licence. 

License & Limited Warranty 

This is a license, this product is not sold.

THIS IS A NON TRANSFERABLE LICENSE, granted to the end user, by GENESIS PTY LTD Registration  (hereinafter called GENESIS) with its mailing address at PO Box 199, Patong, Phuket. Thailand. 83150. The software marketed as AUTO EASY ULTIMATE is licensed to you as the user. It is not sold.

I. COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

Australian copyright laws and international copyright treaties protect this software program, and any documentation. By using this software, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by the provisions of this license.

II. LICENSE, COPY AND USE RESTRICTIONS

GENESIS licenses (not sells) the AUTO EASY software to the end user, for use on any computer for which the software was designed This means that GENESIS allows you to use the software on a single machine. You may not use the software in a multiple computer, multi-user, or network arrangement without prior consent from GENESIS.

You may not remove the GENESIS copyright notices from any manuals or software provided. All copies, together with the original, must be kept in control of the location it is provided to.

You may not make any changes or modifications to the software, you may not delete any of the files contained in the software, and you may not decompile, disassemble, or otherwise reverse engineer the software. The software is not for sale. You are not to sublicense, rent, lend, lease, donate, sell, loan, pledge, transfer, or distribute copies.

III LIMITED WARRANTY

1.0 GENESIS warrants that the media on which the software is recorded and the documentation provided with it are free from defects in materials and workmanship under normal use. GENESIS warrants that the software itself will perform substantially in accordance with the specifications set forth in the documentation provided with it.

1.1 The above express warranties are made for a period of 3 months from the date the software is delivered to you as the user.

Obligations of GENESIS during the warranty period:

1.2 GENESIS will replace any media, which proves defective in materials or workmanship, without additional charge or on an exchange basis.

1.3 GENESIS will either replace or repair without additional charge, any software that does not perform in substantial accordance with the specification in the documentation. Delivering to you a corrected copy of the software or corrective code will do this.

1.4 If GENESIS is unable to replace defective documentation or defective media or if GENESIS is unable to provide a corrected copy of the software or documentation within a reasonable time, GENESIS will refund the license fees paid for use of the software.

Exclusion and Disclaimer of Other Warranties: 

1.5 GENESIS does not warrant that the functions contained in the software will meet your requirements or that the operation of the software will be uninterrupted or error free. The warranty does not cover any media or documentation, which has been subject to damage, or abuse by you. The software warranty does not cover any copy of the software, which has been altered or changed in any way by you or others. GENESIS is not responsible for problems caused by changes in the operating characteristics of the computer hardware or operating system, which are made after the delivery of the software.

1.6 EXCEPT AS SPECIFICALLY PROVIDED HEREIN, GENESIS MAKES NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES WHATSOEVER, AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT ABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

IN THE CASE OF A USER OF THE SOFTWARE WHO IS A CONSUMER WITHIN THE MEANING OF THE TRADE PRACTICES ACT:

(i) Except for any other conditions or warranties issued in writing by GENESIS and except for those conditions and warranties implied by the Trade Practices Act or other sale of goods or consumer protection legislation which may not be excluded you agree that there are no additional implied conditions or warranties herein or collateral contracts herewith (except such as may be in writing and signed by a duly authorised representative of GENESIS);

(ii)  to the extent that the goods or services the subject of these provisions are goods or services of a kind not ordinarily acquired for personal, domestic or household use or consumption (within the meaning of the Trade Practices Act) the liability of GENESIS to you for breach of warranty or condition (other than a warranty or condition implied by section 69 of the Trade Practices Act) or for breach of any duty of care shall in all cases be limited at the option of GENESIS in the case of goods to any one or more of the replacement of the goods or the supply of equivalent goods, the repair of goods, the payment of the cost of replacing the goods or of acquiring equivalent goods or the payment of having goods repaired and in the case of services to the supplying of services again or the payment of the cost of having the services supplied again and (without limiting the foregoing) shall not include any liability in respect of or arising out of or in connection with any special consequential direct or indirect loss, damage, harm or injury suffered or incurred as a result of such breach.

Your obligations under the Warranties:

1.7 You must call GENESIS’s support line for an authorisation to return any defective item during the warranty period. If GENESIS's customer service representative is unable to correct your problem by telephone, you will be provided with a return authorisation number and an address for returning the defective item for warranty service or replacement. You must insure any defective item being returned because GENESIS does not assume the risk of loss or damage while in transit.

Other Conditions:

1.8 The warranties set forth above are in lieu of all other express and implied warranties, whether oral, written, or implied, and the remedies set forth above are your sole and exclusive remedies. Only an officer of GENESIS may make modifications to this warranty, or additional warranties binding to GENESIS. Accordingly, additional statements such as advertising or presentations, whether oral or written, do not constitute warranties by GENESIS and should not be relied upon as such. This warranty gives you specific legal rights, and you may also have additional rights, which may vary from country to country.

IV. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW GENESIS AND ITS SUPPLIERS SHALL NOT, IN ANY EVENT, BE LIABLE FOR SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, INDIRECT, OR OTHER SIMILAR DAMAGES, EVEN IF GENESIS OR ITS SUPPLIERS HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. In no event shall GENESIS’s liability exceed the license fees paid for the right to use the licensed software.

V. INTEGRATION

This license including the full text of the Limited Warranty and the Limitation of Liability, constitutes the entire agreement and understanding between the parties and supersedes any prior license or understanding whether oral or written, relating to the subject of this license. This license may only be modified by a written agreement signed by Genesis Pty Ltd.

You may use the software as long as you like provided you do not violate the copyright and you follow the above rules.

Title to the software, related documentation, and any copies are retained by GENESIS PTY LTD.

Copyright © 2002 Genesis Pty Ltd. All rights reserved

Genesis Pty Ltd

PO Box 1484

Fremantle

Western Australia 6959

Chart Of Accounts 

When you keep books for a business or organisation, you want to track where your income comes from, where you put it, what your expenses are for, and what you use to pay them. You track this flow of money through a list of accounts called the chart of accounts. Accounts include the follwing:

¨       Balance sheet accounts

¨       Income accounts

¨       Expense accounts

¨       Cost of goods sold accounts

¨       Non-posting accounts (includes purchase orders and estimates and does not appear on your balance sheet)

Some of these accounts are created for you automatically for example, the first time you create an invoice or statement charge, Auto Easy automatically creates an accounts receivable (A/R) account. Other accounts you'll add, at any time you can create and modify your accounts as needed.

Types of accounts

Balance sheet accounts 

Your chart of accounts includes balance sheet accounts. These accounts track the following:

¨       What you have (assets)

¨       What people owe you (accounts receivable)

¨       What your company owes to other people (accounts payable and other liabilities)

¨       The net worth of your company (equity)

¨       Retained Earnings (profit carried forward from previous tax years)

The following table describes the various types of Auto Easy balance sheet accounts.

Balances for balance sheet accounts

The Chart of Accounts window shows a balance for each balance sheet account (except for the special equity account, Retained Earnings). In Auto Easy, each balance sheet account has its own register, just like your bank account register. The register shows every transaction for that account, as well as the account balance.

Income and expense accounts

Income and expense accounts track the sources of your income and the purpose of each expense. When you record transactions in one of your balance sheet accounts, you usually assign the amount of the transaction to one or more income or expense accounts. For example, not only do you record that you took money out of your current account, but also you keep track of what you spent the money on.

There are no registers for income and expense accounts, but your can create reports to show totals for these accounts over a period of lime.

Cost of goods sold (COGS) account 

The account type "cost of goods sold" (or COGS or cost of sales) is grouped with income and expense accounts even though it is a separate account type. Many businesses have one cost of goods sold account, which is similar to an expense account. COGS contain all expenses that are direct costs of your sales, such as items for a job or inventory. When you use inventory items to track purchases and sales of inventory, Auto Easy automatically calculates the cost of goods sold every time you sell an item.

Accounting Reports 

The value and performance of your company can be summarised by two reports: The balance sheet and profit and loss statement. How you set up your chart of accounts will greatly influence the level of detail you record on these reports

Your Business’s Balance Sheet

A balance sheet is a financial snapshot of your company on a selected date basis. This report is useful when applying for a business loan or at year-end to get an accounting of your business’s equity, assets and liabilities.

Your Business’s Profit & Loss Statement

The income statement shows the performance of a business over a period of time. Income is reported for a month, quarter, year or some other period of time. The income statement lists your income, cost of sales, and expense accounts. (Cost of sales and expense accounts are very similar. Businesses use the two different account types to discriminate between costs directly related to sales and the costs of running a business) Cost of sales and expenses are subtracted from income to calculate the profit (or loss) for the period. this is why the income statement is also called a profit & Loss Statement. Where the Profit & Loss Statement meets the Income Statement There is one link between the two financial statements It is an important link and a key concept The net profit or loss of the Income statement is automatically posted to the equity section of the balance sheet.

Double-Entry Accounting 

Double-entry accounting is the accepted method of accounting worldwide. Double-entry accounting, as the name suggests, requires two entries for every financial event, but what is an entry? An entry is made when you assign an amount to an account.

If you were to put $100 in the company cheque account, the entry would look like this:

             Account                                                        Amount

                                           Company Cheque                                        $100.00

However, this entry reflects only one side of the transaction. It doesn't tell you where the money came from. If this $100 originated from the sale of a tyre, the entry would look like this:

              Account                                                       Amount

              Tyre Sale                                                       $100.00

These two entries when put together, make up one double-entry that looks like this:

Account                                                         Amount

                                        Company Cheque                                             $100.00

                                        Tyre Sale                                                      $100.00

As you can see, you now have a double entry, reflecting where the money came from and where it went. This is the basic function of double-entry accounting.

Debits & Credits 

Once you’ve mastered the different account types and the two financial statements. The next concept to learn is debits and credits. In double-entry accounting, every dollar amount is categorised as either a debit amount or a credit amount. And each of the six account types - asset, liability, equity, income, cost of sales, and expense -is classified as either a debit account or a credit account. Asset and expense accounts are called debit accounts because their balances are usually debit amounts. The other four account types are credit accounts because their balances are usually credit amounts.

A good working knowledge of credits and debits is helpful, but not required to use Auto Easy Ultimate. In almost every transaction, Auto Easy calculates the correct debit and credit amounts for you

Because debits and credits do not follow any obvious rule, it is difficult to remember which accounts normally have a credit balance and which normally have a debit balance. If you remember that assets are debits it will follow that liabilities and equity are credits. If you remember that sales are credits it will follow that cost of sales and expenses are debits

On the balance sheet, assets - things you own-are good and are debits. Liabilities - things you owe are bad and are credits. On the income statement, income accounts – money in - are good and are credits Expense accounts - money out - are bad and are debits, The following chart shows the accounts and the sign they carry

Conclusion

As you might have guessed double entry accounting can and has caused a great deal of confusion. A single entry appears simple but as different types of entries are added to the business’s books, the system gets more difficult and complex to understand. Auto Easy Ultimate has been designed to minimise the complexities of double entry accounting, however it is still helpful to have a basic understanding of the principles applied.

Tax Reporting – Cash & Accrual Accounting Methods 

An accounting method is a set of rules that determines when and how you report your income and expenses for tax purposes.

Cash basis

Many small businesses track income at the time they receive the money, and expenses when they pay the bills, This method is known as bookkeeping on a cash basis If you've been recording deposits of your customers' payments but have not been including the money customers owe you as part of your income, you've been using cash basis. Similarly, if you've been tracking expenses at the time you pay them, rather than at the time you first receive the bills, you've been using cash basis.

Accrual basis

In bookkeeping on an accrual basis, you record income at the time of the sale, not at the time you receive the payment. Similarly, you enter expenses when you receive the bill, not when you pay it. Accountants usually recommend accrual basis because it gives you a better picture of how your business is doing.

The choice is yours

Auto Easy makes bookkeeping really simple by enabling you to enter transactions the same way no matter which method you use for taxes. At any time you can create tax reports that follow either method, so you are not "stuck" with one method.

Hardware & Software Requirements                                                                 

To run Auto Easy Ultimate, you need the following equipment and software:

v         IBM OR 100% compatible computer running a Pentium 1GHz  Processor (or higher).

v         Minimum of 512MB (megabytes) of RAM (random access memory).

v         Hard disk dive with a minimum of 500MB free space 

v         CD-ROM Drive minimum 10 speed

v         SVGA monitor or better; capable of displaying a minimum of 256 colours and 1024 x 768 resolution.

v         56k Modem, ISDN, ADSL or satellite connection

v         Windows 2000, ME, Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7including Internet Explorer 6.0 (or higher) or 

        Netscape for accessing Internet services.

v         Microsoft Word 6.0 (or later version) & Excel 97 (or later version) if you plan to export data to

        Microsoft applications

v         Printer, including specified driver loaded with defaults set to A4 page size

Network requirements 

Auto Easy Ultimate network requirements are the same whether you are sharing a company file or printing to a network printer:

v           Windows Server or Terminal Server to share the company file 

or

v           Peer-to-Peer network using  Windows XP or Vista 

Additional Sever Requirements for Multi-User Network

v         Pentium 1Ghz Processor (or higher)

v         512MB RAM (Random Access Memory)

v         Hard disk with 500MB free space

Multi-User Installation Requirements 

Auto Easy Ultimate for multiple users must be licensed for each machine. You must have a copy of Auto Easy Ultimate loaded on each of the computers you plan to network. Each user should have read/write access and create/delete rights to the directory where the company file is stored. Check your network software for instructions on how to get your computers networked and how to give each user read/write access. If your Auto Easy Ultimate CD is mounted on a server or shared CD-ROM drive, you can install from the mounted CD, but you cannot install across the network to a remote computer. That is, you must be sitting at the computer you're installing to, but you should store the company file on the shared resource.

For peer-to-peer network users

Peer-to-peer networks are networks that do not use a dedicated file server. This means that all the computers on the network have the option to share their resources. There is not one machine that is used only to allow other computers to share files. An example of a peer-to-peer network would be two or more connected computers running Window 95, Windows 98, Widows 2000, Windows NT 4.0 or ME.

It is important that each computer use a unique copy of Auto Easy Ultimate installed with a unique unlock code; these can be obtained from Genesis Pty Ltd.

It is important that yon choose one location for your company file. The location you choose should be accessible from all of the computers that need to use Auto Easy Ultimate. Yon may want to put the company file on the computer of the person who uses Auto Easy Ultimate the most. This allows that person to have the fastest access to the Auto Easy company file.

For client-server network users

Client-server networks are networks in which there is at least one computer dedicated to sharing files, printers, or other resources. This computer is usually not used by individuals to do their daily work.

In a client-server network, you will most likely put the company file on the server in a location that is accessible by all of the computers that need to use Auto Easy Ultimate. Each computer, except for the file server, must have a copy of Auto Easy Ultimate installed with a unique Unlock code unless you are using a terminal server in which case only one unlock key is required.

Loading The Software 

Installation Procedure 

Insert the CD into your drive, the install program will execute automatically. Select  install when prompted – The default directory is C:\Program Files\Auto Easy Ultimate, if you wish to copy the files to a different location select the change directory option during the install.

When all the files have been copied, you maybe requested to restart your computer. Please select restart before attempting o run Auto Easy Ultimate. 

To open the program select the desktop icon Auto Easy Ultimate or start / programs / Auto Easy Ultimate.

Either selection will start the program for the first time; You will need to create a new database or open the existing training file AA Automotives, To open the training data select open existing database and select AA Automotives from the file selection. To create new databases enter a numeric site id. (max 8 characters – (DO NOT USE ALPHAS). Next enter your site name and de-select the default parts, services, categories and chart of account options if you do not want to use them.

Note Windows Vista Installs – Version 2.5.2 or higher prompts the user to select a modified installation process when loading Auto Easy Ultimate onto Windows Vista. Please note it is not possible with this operating system to maintain the integrity of our program when updates are provided if Auto Easy is loaded in the Program Files folder 

A registration box is displayed before the opening screen. The registration can be bypassed; however the product will only run for 30 days after which you will have to contact Genesis Pty. Ltd. for a registration code.

If you wish to send letters you will need to install a copy of Word for Windows95 or later to perform mail merge functions. Auto Easy through the database extract function has links to this Microsoft product.

Importing Data

It is possible to import data from Auto Easy 2000 (© Genesis Australasia) directly into Auto Easy Ultimate. There are 2 options available:

1)       No Transactions: Enter the cut-off date (usually the current date), do not select the recreate transaction option, and select the import button. You will need to choose the directory that you are importing data from although this will default to the C:\Workshop directory if this exists on your machine. Messages will be displayed as the data is converted to Auto Easy Ultimate Format.

The no transaction option will import your databases from Auto Easy 2000 into Auto Easy Ultimate; there will however be no transaction history, debtors opening balances will have been converted and any receipts will have been deposited to a suspense account (Bank).

2)       Import Transactions: To import databases and associated transactions select the recreate transactions option, the cut-off date when choosing this option should be the date up to which you have paid your creditors and banked receipts. These values will be credited and debited to a suspense account. There will be some editing required when opening your data for the first time. It is suggested you contact Genesis for advice on how to do this as it will vary according to each import.

Registering Auto Easy Ultimate 

Firstly you will need to Provide Genesis with the 16 alpha / numeric program code generated on installation. Genesis will provide you with a unique unlock code for the program plus additional codes for bar code scanning and fleet management if required. On receiving the unlock codes there are 2 ways to register your program:

1)       From the registration box that is displayed as an unregistered copy is loaded – Enter the unlock code provided into the appropriate field

2)       From the opening screen select File / Registration – The registration box is displayed a red cross at the end of a line indicates that the program or module is not registered. A green tick indicates a successful registration

To save your registration key select OK at the bottom of the registration display.

Site Set- Up 

Printer Settings: Select Site / Printer Settings from the drop down menu, you have the option to print to two machines. The report printer will print job cards and all other reports, the invoice printer will only print invoices (suggested if you use letterhead stationery). The report and invoice printers can be the same if multiple units are not in use.

Print Logos On Invoice: If you wish to customise the display convert your logo into a JPEG or BMP file and copy into the Working directory\logos folder. To select the logo flag the print logos on invoice selection, the drop down list will be displayed. Point to the required file and double mouse click, the file name is displayed in the logos field.

Merge Services On Invoice: When selected does not define fixed price & mechanical services.

Duplicate Invoices: Allows the operator to automatically print two copies of the invoice with sign-off text being printed on the client’s copy. To enter the text required access Messages / Invoice Sign-Off Text.

Hide Tax Codes: Set this to true if you don not want the tax codes displayed against each line item on the invoice.

Print Part Numbers: Select if you wish to print these on your invoice

Print Full Retail Price: Select if you wish to print these on your invoice

Prompt For Number Of Copies: If you wish to be prompted to print more than one copy of a form select the prompt

Bar Colour: Auto Easy allows you to customise the invoice header bar colour, to select point and click on the colour field and select from the displayed grid.

Prompt For Printer When Printing: Selecting this option will allow the operator to select another printer other than the default. 

Receipt Printer: Auto Easy allows you to attach a slip printer to a designated com port, select the down arrow to the right of the receipt printer field, point and click on your selection. A print job will be sent to the slip printer when a cash sale is performed or a payment is received. To initialise these functions point and click in the appropriate check box at the bottom of the printer settings form.

Once your site is created and your printer settings have been customised you need to configure the site settings, the following notes guide you through the process

Till Draw

Auto Easy Ultimate allows you to attach a serial till draw that needs to be connected to a coms port on the local machine (if you are running a LAN). To set-up a till draw perform the following:

Till Draw, Opening: When the till function is enabled a second OK function is added to the payment receipt form, if you wish to open the till draw as you finalise a sale select the till draw icon or press the F9 key.

Site Setup Procedure 

Settings, Accessing: You will need to set your site preferences before using the program, from the opening screen select file / settings. The display is tabulated with six choices: 

v      Site Details

v      Database Settings

v      Accounts

v      Local Settings

v      Online Settings

Site Details

Database Settings

General Options

Keep Track OF FP Service Parts For Make/Model: Will display parts on the invoice based on make / model and service for previously performed services

Track Loyalty Points: If you are operating a loyalty program mouse click in the appropriate field. When using the loyalty program member’s invoices display a statement of points to date.

Hide Hours On Service (Default) – When this option is selected the hours for each service are not printed on the clients invoice.

Track RSA: This feature allows you to issue roadside assistance to your clients if you intend using support services.

RSA Contact Number: If you are issuing roadside assistance to your client base type in the contact number, which will be printed on the invoice. If you are using support services the number will be supplied to you. RSA issue details are printed on the invoice if this feature is selected.

Auto Procedure On Job Close: If selected will automatically lead the operator through Hours allocation & Service Reminders. Service reminders and labour allocation can be selected manually if required.

Auto- Format Text: Capitalises the first letter of each word regardless of the cap locks setting.

Alternative Price Display In Parts & Services Lists: Displays MRRP, retail, wholesale, trade and recommended retail prices including GST.

Step By Step Booking Process: Initialises the automated booking process from the diary screen.

Rounding On Invoices: Selecting rounding on invoice, rounds the invoice value to the nearest zero or five cents. The adjustment is posted to an other income account; it is displayed in the financial summary of the job card and printed on the final invoice

Buy- Ins Must Be Allocated To Jobs: Selection ensures that all buy-ins (items specifically for jobs) are allocated to an open job card. When this option is selected it will no longer be possible to enter buy-ins onto a supplier invoice without a job allocation.

Service Text Goes To Service Comments On Job Card: This feature allows you to further customise your invoice layout by placing text attached to services into the service comments field so it is printed below the service rather than in the work done field.

Use Employee Cost Per Hour For Profit Report:  Auto Easy automatically calculates the cost per hour for technicians by dividing the total value of hours sold for the past 90 days into the total payroll for technicians over the same period. If you wish to overwrite this feature select this option it is now possible to enter a manually calculated labour cost per hour against each employee from the employee form, this value is applied when running a profit report from the job card.

Insert Carriage Return Between Text Lines: Selecting this option will place a carriage return between the lines of text when selections are made from the work done or vehicle faults data.

Calculate Diary Tech Time From Estimated Hours: Select this option if you wish the diary hours available table to calculate from estimated time rather than technicians allocated times.

Estimated Hours Reminder For Jobs Over Multiple Days: Selection will remind the operator to edit estimated job times for the day based on jobs carried forward from previous periods

Warn For Future Dated Transactions: If this option is set to true when a future dated transaction is entered you will be prompted whether you wish to continue or not,.

Security

Security Overview: Auto Easy Ultimate allows you to set different access permissions for each user; on first installation the security feature is inactive. This feature is used in two ways.

Firstly, as a way of securing sensitive information ie: you may not wish your technicians to be able to view your chart of accounts, banking functions or financial reports. You would however give permission to your office staff to perform bill payments, make deposits and create client credits. Auto Easy allows you to set the permissions for each employee, who is then assigned a unique log in and password. When operating on a network it is possible to have different users logged onto the terminals with only the permissions for the terminal operator being applied.

Secondly, as a management tool for the in built task manager, using security allows you to set-up appointments and tasks by user or user group. When logged in a user will only be able to view that individual’s appointments and tasks. Security permissions also allow you to establish whether the user is able to enter tasks or appointments for other users.

 If you wish to use the security function it will have to be enabled from the configuration screen.

Note: It is important that you retain your password in a SAFE place as loss can cause operational problems. It is also suggested that you limit your password to a maximum of 6 characters so it is easy to remember.

Security, Log On: Once security is set you will need to log on to use the program, on start up a log in message is displayed, type the user name or select from the drop down list, enter the password and press enter or select OK.

Date Lock 

Provides the operator with the ability to lock records prior to a nominated date, to enable point and click in the check box then select the button to the right of the date field, from the calendar select the lock date by double clicking in the grid, save your settings, you will not be able to edit any records prior to the selected date. It is however possible to change your settings or disable the feature at anytime

Cost Centre

Track Cost Centre: Allows you to select a cost center and default authorisation for purchases and track via the purchase transaction report. To set-up cost centres you will need to add an entry to the list and also have at least one user setup.

Accounts

Default Parts & Service Accounts

Default Accounts: Parts – Income, Parts – COGS, Services – Income, select the accounts you wish to apply as the default. Clicking on the button to the right of the field will display the chart of accounts, highlight the record you wish display by selecting OK (F12) from the bottom of the account list.

Default Payment Accounts

Auto Easy allows you to attach default accounts to receipt and payment media selections. You may wish for all your cash and cheque receipts to be posted to undeposited funds, EFT and credit cards to a clearing account. Accounts can also be selected for payment types ie: Cheques can be attached to your main trading account, cash to cash on hand or undeposited funds.

To setup select Accounts Payable or Accounts Receivable tab, point and click on the button to the right of the account field a list of your payment / receipt accounts is displayed. Select the account you wish the transaction to be posted to finalise with OK (F12), the name of the account is displayed in the account column.

Default Payroll Payment: To record a default wage account open settings from the file menu click on the accounts tab. Select the payment media  and account from the drop down menu. Save your settings by exiting via OK or F12 

Fig 2.10 Default Payment Accounts 

Banking 

Options allow you to set up your bank details to print on deposit slips. Nominate a default bank account (this is normally your main trading account).

Tax        

Auto Easy Ultimate allows you to store multiple tax codes, which can include varying rates of tax or exemptions. You can also select a code to be your default in most cases this will be GST.

Tax Codes, Selecting: To view tax codes or select a new default code mouse click on the button to the right of the default tax code field:

Tax Codes, Creating: Select new from the bottom of the display the tax details display consists of the following fields:

v      Tax Code: Insert a unique code for the tax

v      Rate: Record the rate of tax to two decimal places (do not enter a % sign, this inserts automatically)

v      Description: Include a description for the tax ie: Wholesale, GST, Exempt

v      Account: Allows you to allocate the tax to a sub account of tax payable, you may wish to separate the various taxes that apply to your business. If you wish to apply a tax in this way you will need to set up the sub account in the chart of accounts.

Tax Included As Default: Select this option if you wish the cost and retail prices to default to tax included, leave blank if you wish the default to be ex. Tax.

Tax Year Start: Enter the start month of your tax year, if you are starting to use Auto Easy Ultimate during the tax year you still need to enter the tax start month in this field. If this is not entered correctly it will impact on your financial reports.

PAYG Installments: If you are liable for PAYGI enter the % rate into this field, PAYGI is calculated on sales excluding GST and is visible as a total in Tax Payable / PAYG Installments posting in the chart of accounts.

Credit Card Surcharge 

Local Settings

Back-Up On Program Closes

The option allows you to select two drives for the backup purposes. This is usually a directory on the hard drive plus a removable drive ie: USB Flash Disk or CD ROM. To chose the backup locations select the button to the right of the field; from the navigation window select the drive you wish to write to and click on OK (F12). Perform the same for the second location, when backing up to removable media you must ensure the drive is available before exiting the program.

Printer Settings

Selecting this option will open the printer settings – see printer settings for details.

Default Parts Display  

Allows you to select which part type you wish to set as a default

Diary Screen Job Sorting 

Select whether you wish the order of jobs on the diary screen to be by job number or client.

POS Interface

Genesis in conjunction with Computer Vision have developed a basic link to the Quick Fuel POS system, if you have this application installed and wish to link with Auto Easy select the checkbox and search for the Quick Fuel company file by clicking on the button to the right of the file location field, this action will allow you to navigate your PC.

Reset Picklists

Option allows you to set you list configuration to the optimum for your chosen resolution – please not you will have to exit the program and re-enter for the settings to be visible

Online Settings

Fig 2.14 Online Settings

Customising: The online settings option is configured in the following way:

Replication

SMS

Remote Group

Parts Update 

The following notes describe how to use each function.

Replication 

Overview: Replication is used to transfer data to a central server for data analysis (organisation dependant) and or central database marketing (generation of client communications & roadside assistance). Before data can be transferred the replication process has to be set, plus you will also need the machine to have access to the Internet via dial-up or broadband. You will also need to set your browser to always dial your default ISP (For dial up connections only).

Replication, Settings: Select the replication tab at the top of the display – point and click in the enable replication for this database option. 

Next you need to choose whether you wish to send 12 or 6 months data (6 months is sufficient unless notified by Genesis). You will now be able to select the 6 month option by pointing and clicking on the arrow to the right of the history field.

The next step is to select enable replication for this machine (For a site running a network this option should only be selected on one machine which has access to the internet). This will display the auto / manual options, frequency and replication time. It is suggested that the replication is performed on a daily basis, select a time which is suitable if operating on broadband select Automatic from the type field, for dial up users select manual, this option will display a message at the appropriate time reminding you to replicate – to initialize select yes from the message box. Select weekly or daily from the frequency field, time can be chosen from the table by pointing and double clicking. Save your settings 

Replication, The First Connection: The first replication for sites that have 6 months of data will take a considerable time (faster on broadband) do not be alarmed by this as it is a “one off” process, once the first replication has completed the process should take no longer that a couple of minutes a day (dial up connections faster on broadband). 

It is suggested that you manually initiate your first replication by selecting the on-line option from the top of your screen, point and click on the replication option. This will connect you to the server and start to replicate your records (10 passes in total). You will see a progress monitor in the form of a pink bar as the data is transferred.

On completion a message box (for dial-up users) will prompt to disconnect from the internet, select Yes if you wish to work off line. No message is displayed if you are using broadband.

SMS Messaging

Auto Easy allows the user to send SMS messages to single or multiple clients, for this feature to work you must have an internet connection plus an account and password from Genesis Australasia. Enter the account details into the fields provided.

Remote Sites Parts Inquiry 

The right hand side of the online screen allows the operator to setup single or multiple sites to contact to check stock on hand. 

Before adding sites ensure that the remote and local site/s have replicated with the Genesis server. This only needs to be performed once to record the site id., if you do not intend to send any further data to the server turn the replication feature off after the initial replication.

Select add to enter a new site, type the site id. Into the field provided, save with OK (F12). Repeat the process for any other sites in the group. o finalise the setting select listen for requests on this machine, only one machine that has access to the internet on the network needs to have this option selected. Save your settings with OK (F12)

Parts Update 

Accounting System Overview 

One of the main advantages to using Auto Easy is that as you create invoices, write cheques, and produce purchases orders; Auto Easy is literally you doing your bookkeeping. To make it easy to perform regular tasks, Auto Easy saves information on various lists so you don’t have to retype it each time you need it. For example, in the client list, you can save addresses, phone numbers, and payment terms that apply to a customer.

It is not essential for the operator to have a full understanding of the accounting processes as Auto Easy is programmed to allocate certain transactions to specified accounts, an example is parts and labour these are linked to an income account so there is no need to set the posting account. Likewise inventory purchases are posted to accounts payable and inventory asset accounts. It is however necessary for you to customise your chart of accounts to allow for specific postings. A standard chart of accounts is included in the data set of Auto Easy, the chart of accounts can however be changed to suit an individual business. Accounts can be deleted, edited or added.

You get out only what you put in

If you want to see detail on reports, be sure to track it somewhere in Auto Easy. For example, if Harry needs to know how his yearly travel expenses break down by airfare, lodging, and meals, first he needs to subdivide his expense account for travel expenses into three sub-accounts. Then he needs to break down his expenses each time he enters them into Auto Easy.

What you shouldn’t try to track in Auto Easy

There are some things that you should not try to track in Auto Easy:

v      Personal finances: For tax purposes, it’s usually best to keep your business income and expenses completely separate from your personal income and expenses. (If you still want to track personal finances in Auto Easy, set up a separate site file for them.)

v      Investments in shares or trusts: If the business owns these investments, you can track the cost basis as an asset. However, Auto Easy doesn’t have the investment tracking.

v      Details that are not specifically related to your business accounting: For example, John needs to track when subscriptions expire so he can send reminder notices.

Chart Of Accounts 

You can fine-tune your chart of accounts at any time by doing the following:

v      Add new accounts or sub-accounts. You can add sub-accounts to balance sheet accounts (for example, fixed asset accounts) as well as to income and expense accounts.

v      Delete accounts that have no transaction history

v      Change the name of an existing account.

v      Enter an opening balance for a new account

v      Arrange accounts in order of account type or name

v      Make one existing account the sub-account of another

Understanding The Account Types: Before customising your accounts it is important to understand what each account type represents:

Chart Of Accounts, Accessing: From the top menu bar select lists / chart of accounts you can now view the standard chart of accounts and add, edit or delete (only non-system accounts and accounts that have no transactions applied).

Fig 3.01 Chart Of Accounts

Chart Of Accounts, Creating New Accounts: From the bottom of the accounts listing select new, this action opens the account details form enter the name of the account ie: Office equipment, account number (if you use these as references). It is possible to group account numbers by entering a dash in the record. If the account is a non-posting account (all master accounts should be set as Non- posting) enter NP or type Non-Posting into the account number field. Do not select non-posting accounts when processing transactions.

Fig3.02 Creating A New Account

Chart Of Accounts, Creating Sub Accounts: If you wish to attach an account to a master select the arrow to the right of the sub-account field. A list of accounts is displayed, highlight the account you require and double mouse click. The account will appear in your chart of accounts as a sub account. Ie Depreciation -- Hoist

You may want to use sub-accounts for two reasons:

v      You want a further breakdown of amounts for an existing account. To accomplish this, set up sub-accounts of the existing account. From now on, use the sub-accounts instead of the parent account. (You may want to edit earlier transactions so the breakdown shows up on reports covering a period before today.) For example, suppose you have an Insurance expense. You add sub-accounts for building, equipment and personal

v      You already have related accounts that you want to subtotal on reports (Or you may want to find them more easily). You set up a new parent account and then make the related accounts sub-accounts of the new parent.

Chart Of Accounts, Entering Opening Balances: Before entering your opening balances it is suggested you give some thought to how you want your chart of accounts to work for your business. If you require detailed reporting on any account you can set up sub accounts under a “parent” ie: you may wish to track the individual expenses related to running a motor vehicle in this situation you can create a parent account titled workshop utility and attach sub accounts to the “parent” which can include Fuel & Oil, servicing, insurance and lease payments. Using this method will allow you to report on each component that makes up the total running expenses of the workshop utility.

You may also wish to create individual accounts under fixed assets such as hand tools, hoist, computer system etc. Give some thought to items such a other liabilities these can include loans and taxes owing.

If you receive income from any other source that selling parts and labour set up specific accounts under other income, maybe you collect rent from a tenant if so this should be allocated to other income into an account titled rent.

Once you are satisfied with the structure of your chart of accounts you need to enter the opening balances into Auto Easy. The standard chart of accounts records a zero balance on all accounts, it is possible to add an opening balance to an account posting if it falls into the following:

§         It is a new account

§         A standard account that has a zero balance

An opening balance can only be entered once, however if you make a mistake you can adjust with a journal or funds transfer entry.

Default Tax Code: Selecting the button to the right of this field will display your tax code list highlight the record you wish to attach to the account and select OK (F12) to enter. You can only add tax codes to expense and fixed asset accounts. When posting to an account with a default tax code the system checks the code against the line item, if this does not match a warning message is displayed.

Tracking Equity Accounts 

Your business’s equity comes from two sources:

v      Money invested in your company (capital investments)

v      Profits of your company

Of course, the owner can also take money out of the business. Such withdrawals, called owner’s drawings, reduce the company equity. Auto Easy sets up two equity accounts automatically:

Opening Balance Equity: For every balance sheet account you set up with an opening balance, Auto Easy records the amount of the opening balance in the Opening Balance Equity account. (Asset account opening balances increase the equity; liability account opening balances decrease the equity.)

Retained Earnings: If you have data for more than one financial year. The Auto Easy balance sheet has a balance for the Retained Earnings account equal to the net profit from prior financial years. The balance for the Retained Earnings account does not display on the chart of accounts.

Some people like to track owner investments, owner’s drawings, and retained earnings prior to the Auto Easy start date by putting them in separate equity accounts. If you decide to add additional equity accounts, Auto Easy still adds the Retained Earnings and Net Income lines on your balance sheet.

Equity accounts for sole proprietorships/trader

Since all the equity of a sole proprietorship/trader company belongs to one person, tracking equity can be very simple. As of your Auto Easy start date, all the equity is in the Opening Balance Equity account. Keep the equity in this account and perhaps rename the account to something like “Owner’s Equity.”

Note:  When setting up a new account for owner’s drawings, enter a negative opening balance to show the total draws prior to the start date. The negative opening balance indicates that the draws have reduced the company’s equity. (Or, enter a zero opening balance and record drawings from now on)

Partnerships 

Each partner may have invested in the partnership, and each receives a specified share of profits. Since partners are not employees, they don’t receive salaries or wages, but they may withdraw money against their share of profits. As of your Auto Easy start date, all the equity is in the Opening Balance Equity account. Set up separate equity accounts for each partner.

If you don’t want to see further detail, the opening balance for each partner’s equity account should equal the partner’s equity as of your Auto Easy start date. Since the company’s equity belongs to the partners, setting up new accounts should reduce the balance of opening balance equity to zero. Record each partner’s capital investment, drawings, and share of profits in the partner’s single equity account.

If you want to see further detail by adding sub-accounts, the opening balance for each partners “parent” equity account should equal zero.

(Optional) Add sub-accounts to provide the level of detail you’d like to see on the chart of accounts and on the balance sheet. For example, add sub-accounts for each partner’s investments, share of profits, and drawings.

Company 

In a company, you’ll usually want to separate the stockholders investment of capital from the stockholders’ share of earnings. To track paid-in capital or investments of shareholders, add an equity account with a name such as “Capital Shares.” Although you do need to have records of the names and investments of each stockholder, you probably won’t want to show this detail on your chart of accounts. For the opening balance, enter the total paid-in capital as of your Auto Easy start date. After you have set up all your accounts, the amount remaining in Opening Balance Equity represents retained earnings prior to the start date. You can rename this account with a name such as “Prior Earnings” or “Pre 1999 Earnings.” Auto Easy automatically tracks the company’s retained earnings for completed financial years in the Retained Earnings equity account. After the end of the year, you may distribute some or all of the retained earnings of the company to stockholders as dividends.

Journal Entries 

Journal Entries, Overview: During the course of business over a period of time you will make hundreds or thousands of accounting entries. To help you manage your accounts Auto Easy allows you to make journal entries. A journal entry is simply a way of changing the balances of accounts.

All journal entries are double sided comprising of a both a credit and debit entry to your accounts the balance of a journal entry must always equal zero. It a journal does not balance Auto Easy will not allow you to post the transaction.

Point at the field below the last account entry and mouse click, from the account list select the account you wish to make a debit entry to, we will select bank charges enter $20.11 into the debit column. The transactions now balance and the unallocated amount is zero.

Journal Entries, Using Tax Codes: You may need to allocate an amount to tax when processing certain journals. An example would be when adjusting a clients account to write off a bad debt, say the amount to be written off was $110.00 you would credit the clients account with $110.00 and split the opposing debit entry between an expense account ($100.00) and GST ($10.00).  

To apply tax to a journal select the tax code field click on the down arrow, next point and click on the required tax code, the tax amount is automatically calculated and placed into the tax amount field. Tax is calculated on the value of the debit or credit entry entered on the same line.

Journal Entries, Adjusting Debtor And Creditor Accounts: Auto Easy allows you to adjust individual accounts assigned to accounts receivable (Debtors) and accounts payable (Creditors) with a journal entry. The entries are recorded in the bill payments (creditors) and Receive Payments (Debtors) forms, payments and receipts can be allocated to these transactions in the same way as process bills and invoices.

To adjust a debtors account select the button to the right of the account field, from the chart of accounts select accounts receivable, the name field can now be accessed, point and click on the button to the right of the field, from the client list select the client you wish to raise the adjustment for, select OK from the bottom of the client listing. The clients name is now displayed in the form.

If you wish to increase the balance of a debtors account place the value (in tax) into the debit column on the same line as the client’s name. Next select the account you wish to post to if there is a tax value enter the excluding tax amount to the debit column on the same line, to enter the tax value select the tax code and the calculated value is automatically entered in the tax amount field. Note: That the tax and debit or credit value can be changed, however the total credits must always be equal to the total debits for the transaction to be posted.

Journal entries are displayed in the following format on the bill payment and receive payment forms

Receipts (Debtors)

Bill Payments (Creditors)

Ticking the box at the end of the line allows the operator to allocate payments or receipts to a journal.

Note: It is best to view your chart of accounts pre and post when entering journals, this is an easy way to determine whether the transaction has debited and credited the correct accounts. Do not worry if you get it wrong Auto Easy allows for easy editing of journals.

Journal Entries, Editing: To edit a journal go to the general ledger by selecting the accounts / general ledger option from the top menu bar. Search for the entry you require, highlight and double click on the line item or select edit from the lower menu bar. You can now alter any of the details except the reference number.

Journal Entries, Deleting: Journal entries can be deleted from the journal form by selecting the delete function or the general ledger screen. If deleting from the general ledger use the transaction type filter to display only journal entries, your search can be further defined by the entering the date or transaction number. Highlight the transaction you wish to delete and click on the delete icon at the bottom of the screen. Only journal entries that have not been reconciled can be deleted.

Journal Entries, Viewing: Use the previous and next options at the bottom of the form to locate previous entries, if you wish to create more that one journal entry using the next option will open a blank transaction form.

 Transferring Funds 

Funds Transfer, Overview: Auto Easy allows you transfer funds from one account to another using the funds transfer feature. Fund transfers vary from a journal entry, you can allocate a media type from this form ie: cheque, cash, credit card or EFT.

Funds Transfer, Accessing: From the top menu bar select Admin / Transfer Funds, the transfer form is now in view. Alternatively transfers can be viewed from the general ledger screen by using the filter to select transfers. To view the details of a transfer highlight the line item and double mouse click or select edit from the bottom menu bar of the general ledger transaction display.

 Funds Transfer, Transferring Between Accounts: You can transfer funds between any two balance sheet accounts in your chart of accounts. For example, you may need to transfer funds from a savings account to a current account to cover your weekly payroll.

1)         From the Admin menu, choose Funds Transfer

2)         Enter the amount you want to transfer

3)          Select a media type from the drop down menu

4)         Select an account to transfer funds from, and an account to transfer funds to.

5)         Click OK.

Funds Transfer, Deleting A Transfer: Transfers can be deleted by selecting the delete option at the bottom of the display or by opening the general ledger screen highlighting the transfer you wish to remove and select delete from the bottom menu bar of the display.

Note: Only transfers that have not been reconciled or allocated on the bill payment or receipts form can be deleted.

Opening Balances 

Overview: Auto Easy allows you to enter opening balances into any account type displayed in the account list, you will need to access this feature if you wish to transfer closing balances from your previous accounting system. Accounts payable and receivable values need to be allocated against each individual supplier and customer this is done by selecting a “special” entry from the parts listing and applying to a charge invoice for customers, for suppliers (accounts payable) create a bill and apply the current outstanding value via the add other option.

Opening Balances, Entering Values: To record an opening balance against an account select lists from the top menu bar from the menu select chart of accounts, if you wish to record a value against an existing account point and double click on the line item or highlight and select edit (F2). At the bottom of the display is the opening balance field, enter your amount and save with OK (F12).

Opening Balances, Debtors: It is necessary to create charge invoices for clients that owe you money. Auto Easy has a “special” entry DEBTORS (Part No. Field) displayed in the parts listing that needs to be applied to the charge invoice. The amount entered should be the total that the client owes. It is also suggested that the invoice is closed on the last day of the month the debt was incurred. To enter a client’s opening balance perform the following: 

1)       Select Invoices / Charge from the top icons (alternatively press F7)

2)       Create the client if not already entered by selecting new from the bottom of the client listing entering the relevant details, save the client form by selecting OK (F12).

3)       With the client highlighted select OK from the bottom of the client listing – A charge invoice is displayed.

4)       From the charge invoice screen select add parts, search the listing for an item with the part number DEBTORS select and select OK from the bottom of the parts list.

5)       Click on the value of the DEBTOR item at the end of the line and enter the outstanding balance. (GST applies if you are reporting on a cash basis, with accrual the tax code should be set to E for exempt – please check this with your accountant before proceeding).

6)       Select Close from the bottom of the charge invoice

7)       Change the date on the job close form to the last day of the previous month and select OK

Note: Do not change the balancing account set-up on the DEBTORS item

Opening Balances, Creditors: On the opposite site of the ledger you need to enter the value of outstanding bills against each supplier, again this can be entered as a single value through purchasing. To enter outstanding values against suppliers perform the following:

1)       Select the purchasing icon from the top of the screen

2)       Select new from the bottom of the display, select your supplier, to make an entry select new from the bottom of the supplier list complete the details and save with OK (F12). Highlight the supplier and select OK; you are now in the bill form, enter OB (opening balance) in the Invoice / Ref # field. Change the date to the last day of the previous month.

3)       Select the Add Other option from the body of the screen, highlight the CREDITORS OPENING BALANCES item and select OK (F12). A new entry is displayed on your bill.

Click on the value of the CREDITOR item at the end of the line and enter the outstanding balance. (GST applies if you are reporting on a cash basis, with accrual the tax code should be set to E for exempt – please check this with your accountant before proceeding).
 

Save the transaction by selecting OK (F12) from the bottom of the bill display – The amount can now be processed in the normal way. Note: Do not change the balancing account set-up on the CREDITORS item.

Diary Functions

Diary, Overview: The Auto Easy diary allows you to view job status and technician labour allocations on daily or seven day basis. Information includes customer name, job status, start and finish times. For easy reference the job status field is colour coded. The diary can be used to log current jobs or future bookings; the 7 day view also displays a grid showing all invoices and cash sales. To view job, invoice or labour allocation details the operator simply mouse clicks on the record displayed.

Diary, Opening: To open the diary screen select the diary icon from the top menu bar

 The diary is accessible from all screens that display the top menu bar

The diary screen can be viewed in 3 modes:

v      Jobs & bookings – 1 day view  

v      Jobs, bookings and open invoices – 7 day job view

v      Technician labour allocation – 1 day view

Diary, View Selection: There are 5 control buttons on the top left hand bar of the diary screen that allow you to change the view.

 To change a view point at the required selection and left hand mouse click 

   1       2         3       4      5

v      1 = 1 day view  

v      2 = 7 day jobs & bookings view including open invoices

v      3 = Jobs & Bookings

v      4 = Technicians Time Allocations

v      5 = Task Manager 

Select whether you wish to view jobs or technicians allocations using button 3 for jobs, bookings & invoices or button 4 to view labour allocations, button 5 displays the task manager. Selecting button 1 displays one day selecting button 2 shows 7 days and open invoices in all modes.

Diary, Changing Days: To the right of the view selection are your date selection controls, you can select a date using the button to the right of the date field. From the calendar point and double click on the date required your selection will be entered into this field with the diary screen displaying records for the chosen date. It is also possible to manually enter a date by highlighting the current day field, selecting delete then typing the date you wish to move to in a DD/MM/YY format.

 Positioned to the right of the date field are the date controls

    Date Field             1       2     3     4      5 

Multiple selections will move the date forward or backwards a week or a day at a time depending on the control in use.

Date & Time Display-The current time and date is displayed in the top right hand corner of the diary screen

Booking Function: To the right of the date controls is the booking selection, to open the booking form point and mouse click.

 To enter a booking and create a job card select this button from the diary screen

Jobs & Bookings

Jobs & Bookings, Day View: Records client and vehicle information representing the booking, work in progress or completed job by a time line in cells representing 15 minute time slots from 6.00am – 8.00pm. The time line changes colour according to job status.

Fig 4.01 Jobs & Bookings Day View

Diary, Accessing Records From The Grid: It is possible to open records by clicking in specific fields from the diary screen’s day view – pointing and double mouse clicking will display the following:

When forms are accessed via the diary grid they can be edited in the same way as if they were opened from the client or vehicle listing. To display changes made to these records you will need to refresh the diary screen (change screens and then re-open the diary screen). To display services simply point at the service field

Jobs & Bookings, Week View: In this mode the operator can view 7 days of jobs and bookings plus open invoices are displayed in the eighth grid.

Fig 4.02 Jobs & Bookings Week View

Fig 4.03 Open Invoice Grid 

View an invoice: Point at the required record and left hand mouse click.

Deleting Bookings: It is possible to delete bookings from the diary screen in day view only:  highlight the record and select the delete button. Note: You can only delete bookings it is not possible to delete work in progress or closed jobs from the diary screen.

Booking Sheets, Printing: It is possible to print single or multiple booking sheets, information includes client, vehicle details, service history, vehicle availability plus work authorisation. Booking sheets are printed from the sales screen. Create the booking in the normal way, select the sales icon from the top of the screen, use the drop down menu at the top of form to select booking. Click in the check box to select records you wish to print booking sheets for. To initiate the print run select print from the bottom of the sales screen.

Fig 4.04 Selecting Bookings From The Sales Screen

 To print the job / booking status for the day select the print function located at the top of the diary display.

Bookings, Creating: Bookings can be created from three areas:

• Diary Screen

• Client Listing

• Vehicle Listing

To create a booking select this button from either of the above

Selection will open the booking form, which contains information on the client, vehicle, services required and the period of availability. It is also possible to allocate technicians to a job from the booking form. To create bookings follow these steps:

1)       Select create a booking either by client or vehicle.

2)       If the client does not exist open a client form by selecting new and enter the details.

3)       Select the vehicle or enter details if the client is new or if you are creating a booking for an additional vehicle

4)       Select the service or services required

5)       Update the odometer if necessary – vehicles with a service history

6)       Select the start and finish times

7)       Enter all other details as required ie: order number, WOF or registration check

8)       Work to be done if applicable

9)       Technicians time allocation

10)   OK (F12) to save the booking on the diary

Selecting The Client: Type the customer or company name into the client field, click on the client field button you will now see the client is highlighted in the client listing. If the client does not exist click on insert new and add the details, remember you must click on OK to save any new information.

Selecting The Vehicle: Select the vehicle from the list. If no vehicles exist or you wish to add a new vehicle select insert – New and enter vehicle details as previously described. Select the vehicle you wish to work on by moving the cursor with the arrow keys or clicking. Select OK (F12) – You are now prompted to select a service from the listing.

Selecting A Service: Type the service code into the search box to locate the appropriate service or use your arrow keys to scroll. To finalise the selection either click on the line or press the enter key – a tick will appear in the box. Multiple selections can be made from this screen to enter onto the booking form select OK or press F12. If you wish to record an estimated time against each service type point and click in the Est. Hours field adjacent to the service description. Note: Labour Selection – If you are performing a mechanical job type in LAB and select OK (F12). Labour allows for the entry of either time or dollar values when the job card is created.

Order Number: Enter orders number if required, this will be printed on the invoice and statement.

Key Tag: This is a free typing reference field that can be used to record the key tag number issued to a vehicle, duplicate entries are not allowed on open jobs.

Warrant Registration Due: Select the month by clicking on the selection button to the right of the month field, next select the year using the same process.

Odometer: Update the odometer reading (not necessary if this is a new vehicle)

Work Done: This field allows you to make notes on work that is required; any text entered here will be inserted into the work done section of the job card when it is created. Note: that you can also access the work done comments pick list and insert line items.

Fig 4.07 Selecting text from the work to be done database                                                      Fig 4.08 Entering A New Work Description

Work Done, Text Selection: This Auto Easy feature allows the operator to store commonly used work description for retrieval by code. The function will dramatically reduce the amount of time it takes to enter text into this area. A list of all work descriptions can be printed from the reports module by selecting work done list from the other reports section.

Work Done, Spell Checker: Auto Easy has an in-built spell check function for the work text field. To check and correct spelling first type into the text field, next select the ABC button located on the bottom right of each field.

If there is a spelling mistake a window is displayed listing suggested replacements

On completion of the spell check the check spelling display will automatically close.

Bookings, Entering Work Descriptions – Select work to be done from the booking form the list is now displayed, select new from the bottom of the data window. A work done details form allows you to enter a code and the required lines of text. Codes can be alpha or numeric or a combination of both. To save the new text, select OK (F12).

Work descriptions can also be added from the diary screen by selecting the pick lists from the top menu bar of the diary screen point and click on work descriptions this will open the text field. Alternatively pressing F12 from the diary screen will take the operator directly to the work description listing.

Bookings, Selecting work descriptions: type the text or arrow to the required entry, your cursor will now highlight the text line to paste this onto the booking form press enter or mouse click on the line a tick will appear in the box to the right.

Multiple entries can be made from this screen. If a mistake is made and you wish to un-flag an entry, point at the line and mouse click or arrow up / down to place your cursor on the line and press enter. The tick is now no longer displayed indicting the line will not be pasted to the booking form and ultimately to the job card.

Bookings, Comments: It is possible to record special instructions in the comments section of the booking form. Point and click on the comments tab, type your notes into the comments field. Jobs with notes are identified in the diary screen with a note it icon. Pointing and double clicking on the icon opens the comments field.

Bookings, Saving: Check all information is correct then select OK (F12) from the booking form. A blue bar in the Jobs and bookings section now represents the booking with any time allocated to a technician showing in the bottom section also in blue.

Bookings, Viewing: Double click on the line item or press enter all information entered is now visible.

Bookings, Editing: Open the booking by pointing at the entry on the diary screen, select the field you wish to edit and save. If the odometer has been entered incorrectly editing the value from the booking form will change the entry on the job card header.

Bookings, Printing: It is possible to print a booking form by selecting the print option at the bottom of the form. Booking forms can be printed from a booking or an open job.

Fig 4.09 Bookings Are Represented By A Blue Line On The Diary Screen

Bookings, Viewing Client & Vehicle Details: You can view and edit client and vehicle details from the booking form by selecting the client or vehicle buttons on the right hand side of the form. To view a transaction histories select Client and click on the history tab.

Booking Sheets, Printing: It is possible to print single or multiple booking sheets, information includes client, vehicle details, service history, vehicle availability plus work authorisation. Booking sheets are printed from the sales screen. Create the booking in the normal way, select the sales icon from the top of the screen, use the drop down menu at the top of form to select booking. Click in the check box to select records you wish to print booking sheets for. To initiate the print run select print from the bottom of the sales screen.

Bookings, Step Through Process: It is possible to select a step through process to manage bookings. To activate this function you will need to access File / Settings / Program Options and select the step by step booking process option

Save your setting by selecting OK (F12). The step through process is now activated when selecting the booking option from the diary screen.

Sort Options: From the diary screen, jobs can be sorted by client name, vehicle registration or job number, to sort by either of these fields point and double click on the column header record.

Short Cut Keys: Use C to select clients or V when creating a booking via the registration number. 

Diagnostic Worksheet: The diagnostic worksheet is formatted so the service adviser can record specific problems a client maybe experiencing, the report can then be printed and attached to the job card for the technicians reference.

Diagnostic Worksheet, Accessing & Printing: The diagnostic worksheet form can be accessed from the option displayed under the work to be done section of the booking form.

To print the diagnostic worksheets select the print button at the bottom of the display.

Technicians Labour Allocations 

Labour Allocation, Overview: Auto Easy Ultimate allows the operator to allocate labour resources to specific jobs. The allocations are displayed on the technician’s diary screen by day only. The technician’s time allocations are color coded and displayed in the time grid 

Labour Allocation, Viewing: To display the technicians allocation screen point and click on the icon to the right of the job view at the top of the diary screen.

 Select the centre icon to open the technician’s allocation screen

The screen displays the client’s name, registration make and model, labour allocated colour coded (by technician) in 15-minute time cells including job status. The grid at the bottom of the screen displays the colour allocated to each technician, total hours available for the day, allocated and remaining hours. The display also shows total hours allocated by job and technician. The screen displays job status plus a list of all jobs to be done can be viewed by  hovering the pointer over the job number.                     

Fig 4.12 Technicians Labour Allocations  

Labour Allocation, Available Hours: Available hours per day need to be recorded in the employee form. To enter this value, select lists / employees, point and double click on the record you wish to edit and enter the daily hours available in the daily hour’s field, save your changes with OK (F12). This value will now display on the technician’s allocation screen.

It is possible to change the daily hour available default value from the labour allocation screen, point and double click on the technician at the bottom of the display an available hours message box is displayed showing the default value.

Labour Allocation, Adding: To allocate a technician to a job, point at the name field (each technician has a unique colour displayed in this field) and left hand mouse click, the grid will highlight. Move your mouse pointer to the time cells you wish to allocate, hold down the left hand mouse button and drag across the line. When the appropriate time cells are completed release the mouse button. The time cells will now display the colour of the technician you allocated. To delete allocations, repeat the same process holding down the right hand mouse button instead of the left, this action will clear the time cells.

 To print the job / technician status for the day select the print function located at the top of the allocation display, select all or the individual technicians you wish to send to the report.

.

Jobs Carried Forward: This version allows the operator to set-up a prompt reminder to edit the allocated hours for the day when a job that is carried over from a previous day is opened for the first time. If you wish to use this feature go to settings and select this option from database setting:

  When set to true a message will be displayed on opening a carried forward job for the first time.

 Message is displayed the first time a job is opened.

Loan Car

Loan Car, Recording: Auto Easy allows you to record loan car bookings directly onto the diary screen, to use this function you will first need to record details of the loan cars. Select Lists / Loan Cars from the top of the screen. Select New from the bottom of the list – add the vehicle details, selecting the make and model from the drop down list.

       Fig 4.13 Recording The Loan Car Details

Loan Car, Contract Printing: To print the loan contract for your client click on the contract option from the loan car form, it is suggested you print 2 copies one for the client and retain the other for your records.

Loan Car, Contract Editing: you to edit the terms and conditions of the loan contract, to access the standard text open the settings option from the file menu, click on the fifth tab titled loan car, edit text as required and save by selecting OK(F12).

Loan Car Movements Report: On the return of a loan car you will be prompted to record the kilometers on the vehicle. A loan car report can be accessed from Reports / Other Reports; the format details loan car movements over a selected date range.

Notes, Loan Car Bookings – Point and click in the note field from the diary screen to add a note to a loan car allocation, click OK from the loan comments screen and a note it icon will be displayed in the note column. To view or modify a note point and click on the icon, to save any changes select the OK (F12) option from the bottom of the text entry screen

   Diary, Day Note

The operator has the ability to record a day note on the diary screen; an added function of this feature is the ability to block bookings for a selected day. To make a day note select the note option from the display above the main diary grid, type your note into the text field, if you wish to block bookings for the day select the option at the bottom of the form. To enter a note for another day, select the day from the diary options first, if you try to enter bookings for a blocked day a message is displayed informing you that you cannot proceed.

  Fig 4.15 Entering A Day Note

Time Tracking  

Overview: This function allows the operator to track the actual time worked by each technician on individual jobs. The technician can log on from both the labour allocation screen or directly from the job card, Auto Easy provides the user with a barcode option, requiring the technician to scan a unique printed barcode from the technicians list and job card. The clocked time is displayed in the labour allocation table on job close when time tracking is used.

Time Tracking, Logging On And Off: An employee record must be created for a technician to log on / off of jobs, If a barcodes are the preferred method of identifying a technician you must print these from the report provided – Select reports / Other Reports / Technician Barcodes

The select or scan technician form allows technicians to log on / off of selected jobs, two fields are displayed, job number and technician. If you are using barcodes point at the barcode on the bottom of the job card and scan, the job number is recorded, next scan the technician’s bar code a message is displayed showing the date and time the technician logged on or off a job complete the process by clicking OK. If you are not using a scanner type the job number into the Job # field, tab to the technician selection and click on the button to the right, the technicians list is now in view, highlight the technician you wish to log on / off and select OK (F12).

 When clocking On / Off of jobs a message is displayed informing the user who has clocked onto or off of a job and at what time. If you are using a barcode scanner, scan the code and select enter, there is no need to open the technicians list.

Note: It is not possible for a technician to be logged onto two jobs, if you try to log a technician onto a job twice a prompt will request that you log off from the original job.

Time Tracking / Viewing & Editing: To view, edit or delete time tracking, select F11 or Activities / Log on / off job function. Enter the job number point and click on view, the clock times are displayed, if you wish to delete an entry highlight the line and select the delete function from the bottom of the screen. To edit an entry point and double click on the line or highlight the record and select edit (F2) from the bottom menu bar.

          Fig 4.13 Clocked Times List For An Individual Job 

Clocked Time View: Auto Easy also displays clocked labour allocations by technician, to access this function select the time clock icon from the top left hand corner of the diary screen

 Select the third icon to the right to display the clocked time screen

      Fig 4.16 Clocked Time View Display

The top grid provides the user with a graphical and statistical representation of clocked time allocated to each technician for the day. Each job has a unique colour code, the job numbers and allocated total time is displayed in the lower grid. If a technician has clocked on / off multiple jobs during the day each job is represented by a colour coded bar to the right of his name in the time column.

Clocked Time View, Accessing Job Details:  To view job details point and double click on the job number displayed in the lower grid, this action opens the booking form, from this display it is possible to view the job by selecting the job card button located on the bottom left hand side of the display.

Fig 4.17 Opening The Booking Form From Clocked Time View

Clocked Log On, Viewing: It is possible to view the last log on time and job number by technician from the labour allocation screen. To display this data select the  icon from the top of the diary screen. Details of the last log on (the job a technician is currently assigned to) is recorded at the bottom of the labour allocation screen.

Non-Chargeable Items, Creating: To create a new non-chargeable item select lists / non chargeable items. To create a new item select new from the bottom of the display, enter the name of the item and save using OK (F12).

Fig 4.18 Non-Chargeable Items List

Non-Chargeable Time, Allocating: Auto Easy allows the operator to track the amount of time technicians are allocated to non-chargeable tasks. The allocation is summarised separately from chargeable allocations in a technician’s productivity report.

To allocate a technician to a non-chargeable task select the F11 key from any screen, manually enter or scan the barcode for the unique non-chargeable item. Barcodes are printed at the bottom of the technician’s barcode report.

Non-chargeable time is represented by a grey time bar on the clocked time view screen; the total amount of hours for the day allocated to non-chargeable activities is displayed under the NC job type grid

Productivity Reporting: The productivity report displays all clocked labour allocations by technician / job for a selected day. Chargeable and non chargeable times are totalised by each and all technicians. To access this report select reports / technician time reports / productivity report – enter the date / dates  you wish to view and proceed by selecting OK (F12).

Technicians allocations by job                                             Allocation summary

Labour Allocation Table: The labour allocation table is displayed at the top of the diary screen; values can be calculated in two ways.

1)       Total technician hours available minus the allocated total value from the technicians allocation screen.

2)       Total technicians time available minus the total estimated time for all jobs on the viewed day.

Automaton defaults to calculate via the labour allocation screen, if you wish to change the calculation to the second option select File / Settings / Database Settings, click in the checkbox of the following option:

Save your selection by exiting setting with OK (F12).

  The table displayed at the top of the diary screen records available / allocated and hours remaining according to the selection.

Technician hours available: Auto Easy allows you to record days or periods when a technician is not available. If for instance an apprentice attends classes on a Monday you can record from the employee form that he is not available on that day of the week. When this option is selected the employees daily hours will not be added to the available total for that day.

Sales Transactions 

Overview: Auto Easy allows you to manage the sales process effectively by providing an option for each transaction type. For instance you can perform a simple cash sale or create a booking and job card to retain details of both customer and vehicle or create a charge invoice requiring only the client details to be recorded. All invoice forms and job cards share the same operating features making it easy to familiarise yourself with the all-important sales functions of Auto Easy.

Invoicing, Setup: Setup options for the invoice layout are accessed from File / Printer settings. Options include the ability to use letterhead stationery, adjust the top printer margin, invoice type, copies to be printed and selection of a logo. See page 15 – Installing Auto Easy Ultimate

There are other options that will affect the invoice layout these include:

Track Loyalty Points: If you are operating a loyalty program mouse click in the appropriate field. When using the loyalty program member’s invoices display a statement of points to date.

Track RSA: This feature allows you to issue roadside assistance to your clients if you intend using support services.

RSA Contact Number: If you are issuing roadside assistance to your client base type in the contact number, which will be printed on the invoice. If you are using support services the number will be supplied to you. RSA issue details are printed on the invoice if this feature is selected.

See page 15 – Installing Auto Easy For Further Details

Job Card 

Job Card, Overview: The job card allows the operator to enter parts from either the catalogue (no stock control), inventory listing or as a buy in (parts bought specifically for a job). Auto Easy also allows the addition of extra services and the ability to create purchase orders for suppliers. A financial summary is displayed showing a breakdown of parts and, GST is also recorded in this area. Text relating to work done and vehicle faults are entered directly onto the job card. To save entries without exiting the job card select the save option from the bottom of the form.

Job Card, Creating: - A job card can be created once the booking is completed in two ways.

1)       Directly from the booking screen before it is committed to the diary.

2)       Selecting the booking (Blue Bar) from the Diary screen.

From the booking form click on create new job card, a prompt will appear displaying previous vehicle faults (If faults have been reported prior to this job card being created).

Fig 5.1 Job Card Layout

Job Card, Previous Vehicle Faults: If the vehicle has been worked on previously and vehicle faults were reported an option to paste the faults list to the new job card is in view. Selecting the copy command will place this text into the vehicle faults section of the new job card. It is suggested these are always copied to the new job to ensure consistency in reporting, if some items are found to have been attended to the operator can edit the text in the vehicle faults section of the job card. The new list of faults will then overwrite the previous record to be displayed when the next job card is created. Selecting yes or no will now create a new job card. Remember to save the new job card you must exit only using the OK (F12). Once a job card is created the booking time line will turn light red on the diary screen to indicate work in progress.

Job Card, Layout: The job card is split into areas each of which has a specific function these are:

Client Details: Includes address and contact numbers

Parts & Labour: This window displays all services and parts attached to this job including the retail price. The FP column indicates the fixed price status of both services and parts.

Summary: Displays job card totalisation for parts and labour plus the tax component

Vehicle Details: Information includes registration, make & model, RSA details, odometer and the next service due.

Vehicle Report: Allows you to add faults and other text by free typing or selecting from the faults database.

Work Done: Records all work performed, any text entered during the booking process will be displayed in this area

Other Fields

Salesperson: Enter the name of the salesperson if required

Order Number: Displays order number entered on the booking form – number can also be entered once the job card is open

Email: Allows you to email the form directly to a client

Job Card, Adding A Service: To add an additional service to the job card select add service. The service listing is now displayed select a service by moving the cursor with the arrow keys or pointing and clicking on the service description.  This process will flag the service by placing a tick in the box to the right of the list; multiple services can also be flagged for importing to the job card. Selecting OK (F12) will paste your selections to the job card.

Job Card, Hide Hours On Invoice: Auto Easy defaults all non-fixed price services to not show hours on the invoice. Ie: 2 hours of labour sold at $60.00 per hour will print as labour = $120.00. You can however show labour by the hour 2 hours x $60.00 = $120.00. To show hours on the invoice point at the non-fixed price service and double click. The service form is now in view, point at the hide hours on the invoice check box and click. The hours charged will now print on the invoice.

 Deselect this option from the service form if you wish to display hours charged.

Loyalty, Redeeming Loyalty Points – If the operator is using the loyalty Programme feature it is possible to redeem points to pay for a service. Firstly select the service form enter the amount of points required to cover the cost of the service. Selecting the use loyalty point’s option from the service form will check the client’s loyalty point balance and deduct the redemption value from the total.

 Selecting this option from the service form will allow you to redeem loyalty points.

Note: If the reward account does not contain enough points to cover the cost of the service a warning will be displayed and the transaction will not be allowed.

Job Card, Adding Parts: Highlight the service you are adding the parts to, this ensures the items are listed under that service on the invoice; parts are also allocated correctly for reporting purposes.  Select the add part button to enter parts from either the catalogue listing or inventory file, to select an item type the part number into the search field and select by either pointing and clicking or pressing the enter key. Multiple selections are available from this screen, when all selections are made click on OK (F12). The items are entered into the parts and labour section of the job card, point at the quantity and financial fields click to edit, you can navigate using your arrow keys. Note: If an inventory item is out of stock the word inventory is displayed in red.

Fig 5.2 Editing Quantity & Retail Price From The Job Card                                                           Fig 5.3 Selecting Tax

Job Card, Selecting Tax Codes: To change the default tax code point at the tax field of the line item you wish to edit and click, select a new tax code from the drop down list. If you wish to add a new tax code to the list, select lists / tax codes from the top of the screen and add to the list by selecting new from the bottom of the display.

Job Card, Fixed Price Services: When a fixed price service is added to a job card or invoice the FP column is ticked, all parts added to that service will automatically be flagged as being included in the fixed price service. If you wish to charge for an item (not included in the fixed price), point and click on the FP field, the financial summary will change to reflect the extra charge.

Job Card, Buy in: Allows you to enter goods received by supplier or create purchase orders for parts specific to the open job card. See purchasing for more details.

Job Card, Viewing Or Editing Parts And Service Entries: arts and services can be edited only when the job card is open, viewing data can be performed from both open and closed job cards. To edit entries move your cursor to the part or service and point and click on the required line or select view / edit from the parts and labour data window.

Job Card, Removing Parts Or Services: Select the item you wish to remove by highlighting with your cursor, click on the remove function confirm the action. If a service is removed all associated parts will also be deleted from the job card.

Job Card, Moving Parts & Services: The parts & labour section of the job card allows the operator to change the order of parts and services by dragging and dropping items within the grid. To perform this ask highlight the item you wish to move, hold down the left hand mouse button and drag the item to the position you wish it to occupy.

It is also possible to move compete service (parts & labour) , Auto Easy allows you to move parts from one service to another on open jobs, however once a job is closed parts can only be moved within the service. You will have to reopen the job if you wish to move items between services.

Job Card, Copying & Pasting Contents: Auto Easy allows you to copy the contents of a job card to another open job. To perform this task use the copy and paste buttons located under the parts and labour section of the job card.

  Selecting the icon to the left will copy services, parts and text to the clipboard, use the icon to the right to paste the clipboards content to another job card.

When pasting from one job card to another you need to be aware of the following:

1)       You will replace the total contents of the job card you are pasting to with the copied data, you can’t append the target job card.

Services & parts can be copied from open and closed job cards; however they can only be pasted to an open job.

Job Card, Inserting Text To Parts & Labour: You have the option to insert text into the parts and labour section of the job card on selection or automatically. The text is printed on the invoice under the part or service the text is attached to. The job text form provides the same text and link capabilities as the work done field, you can free type or insert text from your work done database by selecting the option from the bottom of the form. Spell checker is also available by selecting the abc option.

Job Card, Auto Insert To Job Text: Work done attached to services can be pasted automatically into the job text field instead of using the work done field. For this feature to work it is essential that you have text attached to the service and have selected that service text goes to service comments on job card from Settings /  Database Settings.

Note:  Select this option from Settings / Database Settings to auto insert service text to the job text field.

Access job text by performing the following:

Note: Text can be added to open or closed jobs using this feature.

Text Editing: Auto Easy allows you to display and print text entered into the work done, job text or vehicle report fields in bold, italics or red. It you wish to change the text format point in front of the first character you wish to change, hold down the left mouse button and drag along the line until the blue shade finishes after the last character, release the mouse button. Next select the RIGHT HAND mouse button you will see a menu is displayed, select the format required and double left mouse click, the text format will change.

Job Card, Applying A Discount: Allows the operator to allocate a discount to the job card. Discounts can only be added to open job cards, if you wish to apply a discount to a job card or invoice that is closed, reopen, apply the discount and close, the financial summary and the totals are adjusted accordingly.

Job Card, Spell Checker: Auto Easy has an in-built spell check function for both the work done and vehicle report fields. To check and correct spelling first type into the text field, next select the ABC button located on the bottom right of each field.

If there is a spelling mistake a window is displayed listing suggested replacements

On completion of the spell check the check spelling display will automatically close. If you wish to cancel the spell check select the cancel option from the bottom right hand of the screen.

Note: The spell checker will only work for the work done and vehicle report fields.

 Labour, Applying To Open Jobs: to allocate labour to single or multiple technicians from an open job card select the labour button located under the parts & labour section of the job card. To use this function you will first need to setup your technicians in the employee list by selecting Lists / Employees. If you wish to allocate the total hours to one technician select with the mouse and click on allocate remainder. All the labour has now been allocated to the technician selected. To enter multiple labour allocations select a technician and type in the hours or dollar value, select allocate. Repeat this procedure for any subsequent technicians using allocate remainder on the final entry. The labour allocation form allows you to record actual time worked, making it possible to track the true productivity of technicians. When the task is completed save with OK (F12). The allocated hours (charged & actual) will be recorded in the technician’s reports; if you do not wish these statistics to form part of your reporting do not apply labour to open job cards.

 Job Card, Financial Report: The report option displays financial details of the current job both by service and part including percentages, sub totals and grand totals. It is possible to include the cost of labour, which is based on the wages paid to technicians over the last 90 days divided by the standard rate to display an hourly cost or the value entered onto the employee form in the cost per hour field. Entering a password and ticking the appropriate field in the control variables can suppress the display of this information.

Fig 5.4 Viewing The Financial Report From The Job Card Or Invoice

Job Card, Viewing Service History: Select history from the bottom of the form  to view past job cards by selecting the arrow to the left of the button, selecting the right hand arrow will move the operator forward.

Job Card, Adding Vehicle Faults: This is a free typing field or text lines can be entered from the vehicle faults text listing by selecting adds vehicle faults and tagging each entry, selecting OK (F12) will paste the text to the data window.

Vehicle Faults, Adding Text:  This function can be performed in two ways

From the job card by selecting Add vehicle faults

Selecting Lists / Vehicle Faults

Vehicle Faults, Entering Records: Select vehicle faults from either the job card or diary the list is now displayed, select new from the bottom of the data window. A vehicle faults details form allows you to enter a code and the required lines of text. Codes can be alpha or numeric or a combination of both. To save the new text lines, select OK (F12).

Job Card, Selecting Vehicle Faults: type the code or arrow to the required entry, your cursor will now highlight the text line to paste this onto the job card press enter or mouse click on the line a tick will appear in the box to the right. Multiple entries can be made from this screen. If a mistake is made and you wish to un-flag an entry, point at the line and mouse click or arrow up / down to place your cursor on the line and press enter. The tick is now no longer displayed indicting the line will not be pasted to the booking form and ultimately to the job card.

Vehicle Faults, Editing Entries: Select the list and move your cursor to the entry requiring editing, select edit from the bottom of the form, make the changes and save by selecting OK (F12).

Fig 5.5 Selecting Vehicle Faults                                                                                            Fig 5.6 Adding Vehicle Faults 

Job Card, Selecting Client Details: Selecting the client button from the bottom of the job card displays client contact details, profile and history.

Job Card, Selecting Vehicle Details: Displays vehicle details including last service, next service warrant of fitness / registration renewals and RSA information.

Printing, Job Card: Selecting job card will display a job card including all information entered when the booking was first created and any subsequent information added to the job card after it was created. To print select the print icon located at the top of the display.

Printing, Job Summary: Allows you to view and print the invoice as a job summary prior to closing the job card, the format is exactly the same as an invoice except the word invoice is replaced by job summary. If you are unsure or wish to check the invoice details from hard copy print a job summary before you close the job as no changes can be made once the job has been closed.

Job Card, Creating A Purchase Order: If inventory items have been added to the job card where insufficient stock is available the word inventory will be highlighted in red. It is possible to raise a purchase order directly from the job card for these items by selecting the Order option located on the bottom menu bar of the job card. On selection you will be need to select the supplier you wish to provide the items, highlight your selection, select OK (F12), a purchase order assigned to the supplier listing the items required is displayed. Save the purchase order by selecting OK. When the items arrive convert the purchase order into a bill, enter the supplier invoice number and save by selecting OK (F12). The items originally highlighted in red will now be displayed in normal text indicating the parts are on hand and the job can be completed.

Access job notes made n the diary screen directly from the job card.

Job Card, Closing: To close a job card select close, the functions that follow depend on the setting in your control variables. You will notice there is a selection in this management function labeled auto procedure on job close if this is set to true the following will occur:

Job Card, Labour allocation: The labour allocation screen allows you to allocate labour to single or multiple technicians. To use this function you will first need to setup your technicians in the employee list by selecting Lists / Employees. If you wish to allocate the total hours to one technician select with the mouse and click on allocate remainder. All the labour has now been allocated to the technician selected. To enter multiple labour allocations select a technician and type in the hours or dollar value, select allocate. Repeat this procedure for any subsequent technicians using allocate remainder on the final entry. The labour allocation form allows you to record actual time worked, making it possible to track the true productivity of technicians, payroll also allows you to calculate wages based on hours charged or hours worked. When the task is completed save with OK (F12).

Job Card, Service Reminders – From this screen service reminder records can be added or removed from the vehicle record, or current entries can be edited. If auto close is set to false in the control variables, on closing the job card only the job update screen will be in view although labour and service reminders can still be edited / added or removed.

Fig 5.7 Allocating Labour                                                     Fig 5.8 Adding Service Reminders

Service Reminders, Managing From The Job Card: The service reminder form is split into two sections existing service reminders and new service reminders. It is possible to perform the following:

Clearing Existing Reminders: Select clear from under the existing service reminder window

Adding New Service Reminders: Select add, from the service listing highlight the next service you wish to reminder the customer to have performed, complete the kilometre and month fields.

Job Card, Odometer Reading Prompt: Auto Easy will prompt you to enter an odometer reading as you close a job if one of the following has occurred:

1)       The odometer reading is the same on this job as the previous closed job performed

2)       If the odometer reading field is blank or contains a zero reading.

In either of these situations you will be prompted with the following message

Additional Job Card Functions

Bill To Fleet Solutions: This option is only available to  authorised sites – tick the box if you wish to allocate this sale to Fleet Solutions. Note: The client will have to be set up as a sub client of Fleet Solutions for you to receipt multiple payments.

Printing, Invoices From Closed Job Cards: Select Ok (F12) from the job update report, to print the attachments (checklists) tick the print attachments on invoice selection. It is also possible to print a closed invoice from the body of a closed invoice by selecting the print option and clicking on invoice.

Emailing From The Job Card Close:  As you close the job card you are presented with the option to print or email the form. If you wish to email the invoice point and click in the email option checkbox, select OK, Auto Easy will confirm sending of the document. Note: This feature will only function when an email address is recorded on the client card.

 Labour, Viewing From A Job Card: You may want to view details of the job labour allocation after it has been closed. Go to a closed job card; select the labour button to view the labour allocation screen. It is possible to edit the labour changes from this screen even though the job card is closed.

Charge To: This option allows you to charge an alternative client for the job. Point and click on the button to the right of the charge field, your customer list is displayed, highlight the client you wish to bill, select OK (F12) from the bottom of the client list, your selection is displayed in the field. Click OK (F12) to finalise the transaction.

An entry is posted to both the original client and the billed clients service history, no value is posted to the original client.

Billed client’s history

Original client’s history

The transaction will be printed on the charged client’s statement

Picture Attachments – Pictures can now be stored against a specified job, to use this feature open the job card and select the view pictures icon displayed under the parts and labour section.

To create the folder select the set option accept the create prompt, the process will be confirmed.

Notes- The viewing window also contains a free typing notes section, to enter text simply type in the field provided and save using OK (F12).

         Fig 5.10a Image Viewing Window

Accessing Job Cards 

Job Card, Viewing: Open and closed job cards can be accessed in three ways:

1)       Diary screen by double clicking on the green time line and selecting job card

2)       Client transaction history – Select clients or vehicles highlight the client or vehicle and select history from the client form a list of all previous transactions is displayed. Point and click on the required line item to open the job card.

3)       Sales Screen – Highlight the job you wish to view and double click n the transaction

Job Card, Deleting – This function can only be performed on closed job cards, select clients from the top of the screen, highlight the client with the job card you wish to delete. Double click on the record or select edit to view the client form, select the history tab and perform the following:

1)       Highlight the job you wish to delete

2)       Select the delete function from the bottom of the screen

3)       Type in the password, enter the operators name and reason for the deletion

4)       Select OK (F12) to complete the process.

5)       If a payment has been made against the job, you will be requested to enter which account you wish to withdraw the payment from, alternatively you can choose not to make an adjustment; in this case the amount will remain on the clients account as an unallocated credit.

All parts and labour allocations relating to the transaction are now reversed, this procedure will only work on closed job cards; open cards cannot be deleted.

Job Card, Reopening: Auto Easy allows you to open a closed job card, to perform this function go to a closed job card either from the diary screen or client card. Select the re-open option. Enter the password (entered in settings / Security). Next you need to enter your name and the reason for the job card to be reopened. When these details have been entered financial records can be edited.

Note: Text can be edited from either an open or closed job card; changes will be printed on the invoice.

Invoicing

Invoicing, Overview: Auto Easy allows you to create three types of invoice a vehicle invoice is not recorded in the day segment of the diary screen. A charge invoice allows you to allocate an invoice to a client account without the client having a vehicle attached. Finally a cash sale gives you the ability to create an invoice without allocating to a customer. All of the invoice functions operate in the same way as a job card.

Invoicing, Accessing: To create a new invoice select the invoice icon from the top of screen, a menu displaying the three invoice types is in view. Select the invoice required by pointing and clicking on your selection.

The cash invoice has the same functionality as a normal job card except the service type headings are not printed on the invoice. Also you are able to exit and return to the card, the open transaction is recorded in the invoice grid of the diary and as a line item in the sales screen. When a cash sale is closed the record is deleted from the dairy screen.

Invoice Layout: Cash sale is the parts and labour default on this form, the cash sale display is not printed on the invoice. It is possible to allocate parts to the cash sale item; only the items selected will be printed on the final invoice.

Notes: This section is used to make notations on the invoice. It is possible to select text lines from the vehicle faults function.

Work Performed: If labour is included on the invoice use this text field to note the work performed. . It is possible to select text lines from the add work done function

Service Selection:  It is possible to select services from the cash invoice; you can allocate parts to a service the same as a job card.  Note: The invoice will not display the fixed price or mechanical repair headings that are printed on a standard invoice

Cash Sale, Viewing A Closed Invoice: Closed cash sale invoices can be accessed by opening the sales screen, highlighting cash sales from the drop down menu. To view cash sale details point and double click on the line item.

Fig 5.12 Viewing Cash Sales

Charge Invoice, Creating: Select the invoice button from the top of screen, Select Charge invoice from the menu, highlight the client from the listing and select OK. These selections will open the invoice form. The charge invoice functions in the same way as a cash invoice.

Order numbers: Select the order number field at the top of form enter the order number in either numeric or text format and finalise with the enter key.

Viewing Charge Invoices: Charge invoices can be viewed from either the diary invoices grid, sales display or the client form by selecting history and double clicking on the transaction.

Invoicing, Re-opening A Cash Or Charge Invoice: Closed invoices can be re-opened from either the client form or sales screen. Open the closed invoice by double clicking on the line item or highlighting and selecting edit. Select the reopen button on the lower menu bar of the invoice form enter the password / name / reason to reopen the invoice. Items or services can now be edited / deleted / added as required.

Invoice Sales Reporting: If parts are allocated to a service on the invoice. Parts and labour values will be displayed in the invoice / service summary report as a service component. However if a service is not selected parts will be listed under the Invoices section of the report.

Salesman, Adding To The Invoice: It is possible to record the salesman’s name on both the charge and cash sale invoice. Select the button to the right hand side of the salesman field, highlight the record required and select OK from the menu bar of the select a staff member display. The name is now recorded in the salesman field; these details will be printed under the financial summary of the invoice.

Vehicle Invoice, Creating: Select the invoice button from the top of screen, Select vehicle invoice from the menu. Select the client, vehicle and service required. The vehicle invoice functions in exactly the same way as an open job card except the details are not displayed in the date cells of the diary screen.

Vehicle Invoice, Accessing: The vehicle invoice can be accessed from the following: Sales, Diary, Client Form / History

Credit Memo

Credit Memo, Overview: A credit memo is used when a client returns previously purchased items or a refund is given on services performed. Auto Easy allows you to process a credit memo for the customer and pay the refund from a designated account. When the transaction is finalised all parts listed on a credit memo are placed back into stock.

Credit Memo, Creating: Select Activities / Create Credit Memo from the top menu highlight the required customer; confirm your selection with OK (F12). The credit memo form is now displayed. All functions on the credit memo work exactly the same as an invoice or job card.

Credit Memo, Adding A Part: Highlight Select the add part button to enter parts from either the catalogue listing or inventory file, to select an item type the part number into the search field and select by either pointing and clicking or pressing the enter key. Multiple selections are available from this screen, when all selections are made click on OK (F12). The items are entered into the parts and labour section of the job card, point at the quantity and financial fields click to edit, you can navigate using your arrow keys.

Credit Memo, Adding A Service: To add a service to the credit memo select add service. The service listing is now displayed select a service by moving the cursor with the arrow keys or pointing and clicking on the service description.  This process will flag the service by placing a tick in the box to the right of the list; multiple services can also be flagged for importing to the job card. Selecting OK (F12) will paste your selections to the credit memo.

Credit Memo, Adding A Buy-in: Select the buy-in button, this opens the select a buy-in list, locate the item or items you are going to refund confirm with OK (F12). A message will request that you confirm conversion of the item to inventory (This is necessary as buy-ins are not held in inventory) select OK (F12). Buy-ins will appear in your parts listing as inventory once the memo is processed. The item is now listed in the parts and labour section of the memo; it is possible to alter retail prices if required.

Fig 5.14 Credit Memo

Credit Memos, Finalising: Select close from the menu bar if auto close is set to true you can allocate labour. If auto close is turn off and you wish to allocate labour select the labour button from the job update report. At the payment receipt form select the refund media and the account you wish to pay from. Undeposited funds contain payments that have been received but not deposited, if a payment is made from this account it will appear as a negative receipt in the receipts listing.

Credit Memos, Viewing: Closed credit memos can be accessed by opening the client listing, highlighting the record, clicking and selecting history from the client form. Double clicking on a transaction displays the details. Alternatively view from the sales screen

Quotations 

Quotations, Overview: Auto Easy has the ability to fully manage your quotations; functions include creation by customer and vehicle, reporting and conversion including automatic purchase order generation. It is easy to retain details of any parts required for individual jobs including supplier, cost and intended retail prices. Auto Easy tracks all quotations allowing for either the printing of a report or a quick view function from the sales screen. Converting quotes to jobs is as simple as a selecting the conversion option at the bottom of the quote form.

Quotations, Generating: Quotations can be created from the client form by selecting the quotes option from the bottom icon selection. Alternatively select activities / create quotes option from the menu

 The quote option is located at the bottom of the client form, to generate a new quote perform the following:

1)       Open the client form from the client listing by highlighting the client name double clicking on the line or selecting edit (F2) from the bottom of the display. Alternatively you can create a quotation from the job card by selecting the client option from the bottom of the screen to open the client form.

2)       Select the quotation option a list of vehicles owned by the customer is displayed, highlight the vehicle you wish to create the quotation for and select OK (F12).

3)       A new quotation form is created displaying no transactions in the parts and labour section.

4)       Select the service button, highlight the service required and click on the line item or press the enter key. Select any additional services in the same way, when completed select OK (F12) to paste your selections to the quotation form. Add parts to the quotation by highlighting the service record, clicking on parts, making your selections and confirming with OK (F12).

5)       Add text to the work done field if required.

6)       Select the print button to print a customer copy.

7)       Save the quotation by selecting OK (F12).

Quotations, Adding Buy-ins: To apply a buy-in to a quotation you need to follow the same process as when adding to a job card, however when adding buy-ins to a job card you are simply retaining the details for conversion to a purchase order if the quotation is converted to a job card.

1)       Highlight the service you are going to allocate the buy-in part to

2)       Select buy-in from the row of options located below the parts and labour window

3)       Highlight a suppliers from the list – select OK (F12)

4)       Enter the purchase order number (or accept the sequential number) – press enter

5)       Select an item from the buy-in list or add a new item by selecting new

6)       Confirm selection with OK (F12)

7)       Edit the line item if required

8)       Select OK (F12) to save

Quotations, Creating A Buy-In Item: To add a new buy-in to the list select new from the bottom of the buy-in list and complete the following fields displayed on the Part Form / Buy-in:

Part: Description of the item

Part No: Manufacturers reference

Type: Auto select – Buy-in

Category: Use the button to the right and select from the category list

Income Parts: Default account

Cost: Inc or Ex

Price: Enter or select the calculator option

Tax: Default tax codes to change make a selection from the list

Included: Cost & Price includes or excludes tax

Quotations, Viewing: Quotations can be viewed from either the client listing, Job card, booking form or sales screen.

Client Listing - Open the client form from the client listing by highlighting the client name double clicking on the line or selecting edit (F2) from the bottom of the display. Alternatively you can view a quote from the job card or booking form by selecting the client option from either screen to access the client form. Select the history tab, click on the quotes button to list, to view details of a quotation point at the line item and double click.

Fig 5.16 Selecting Quotes View From The Client Form 

Job Card - Select client from the bottom of the job card to display the client form. Select the history tab, click on the quotes button to list, to view details of a quotation point at the line item and double click.

Booking Form - Select client from the right hand side of the booking form to display the client form. Select the history tab, click on the quotes button to list, to view details of a quotation point at the line item and double click.

Sales Screen – To view quotations from the sales screen select the quotations option from the top of the display:

Fig 5.17 Selecting Quotes View From The Sales Screen

To view details point and click on the line item, if you wish to view quotations that were created in a different period select the date range required, to view all quotations select all from the drop down period menu.

Quotations, Reporting: Auto Easy allows you to print a report containing details of quotations for any date range. Select reports from the top of the screen, click on service reports, select quotation report from the sub menu.

The report displays client and vehicle details, quotation reference number, brief description and the total of the quote provided.

Fig 5.19 Quotation Report

When a quote is converted the converted column will display the job number.

Quotations, Converted Buy-ins: If your quotation included buy-ins you will notice these line items are displayed with an order reference in the parts and labour listing. The reference indicates that a purchase order containing the original detail is present in the purchasing module.

Fig 5.20 Buy-ins Converted To Orders

Receive items on order through the purchasing function by selecting the purchase order and converting to a bill, the job card is automatically updated.

Sales Display 

Sales, Overview: The sales display lists invoices, jobs and credit memos including the status (open or closed) plus the financials of each transaction. The display includes date, open invoices and outstanding filters; it is also possible to search by client and invoice number. It is also possible to process payments from this screen by selecting the payments bottom from the bottom of the screen. Transaction history for an individual client can be viewed from the client form by selecting the history tab; transactions can be filtered by registration number. You also have access to a unique previous job search feature from the sales screen that allows you search for a previous transaction by key word, (must be in the text area of the job card) and make and model. This feature will assist you with quoting when the same job has been performed previously.

 Select the sales button from the top of the screen to display transactions

Sales, Accessing: To open the sales screen select the sales button from the top of the display, to view transaction details highlight a record, point and double click the job card or invoice is displayed. Select OK or Cancel from the job, invoice or credit memo screen to return to the sales listing.

Fig 5.21 Sales Screen

Sales, Selecting A Date Range: The screen is set to automatically display transactions for the month to date, open transactions are always displayed regardless of the date they were created. It is possible to select another period by clicking on the button to the right of the month to date field, from the drop down menu point and click on the period you require.

Fig 5.22 Selecting Periods And Specifying A Date Range

Current: Shows cash sales, open and closed jobs/ invoices

Outstanding Balances: Outstanding balances are highlighted in red on the sales screen except for open jobs or invoices (Work In Progress) Credit balances that have not been processed are displayed as a figure enclosed in brackets ie: ($456.30). You can filter any records by date range or client: for instance if you wish to view all transactions with an outstanding balance select all from the date drop down menu. 

Open Invoices: Displays all open invoices and jobs

Cash Sales:: Displays a list of cash sales in the selected period or date range

Quotes: Shows all quotes created within the selected date range or period

Bookings: Displays all booking for the date range or period

Closed Jobs: When selected only closed jobs / invoices populate the screen for the chosen period or date range

Sales, Searching By Client, Job Number, Registration & Order: To filter records by client select the button to the right of the view by client field, the client list is displayed, highlight the required client and select OK (F12) from the bottom of the client list, the client’s name is entered into the field, point and click in the check box above the clients name.

To search by job number, enter the invoice number you wish to reference into the view job # field, point and click in the checkbox. Follow the same procedure to search by registration number or order number, remember to tick the box above each field you wish to filter by. Search criteria can be by single or multiple filters.

Sales, Searching By Key Word, Make & Model: The sales screen allows you to search for previous jobs by Make, Model and keyword. To use this feature, select the button to the right of the make field, point and click on the make required, perform the same for model, finally enter the keyword you are searching by into the keyword field and tick the check box above the text.

Fig 5.23 Searching by Make, Model & Keyword

Sales, Multi Print Function: From the sales screen it is possible to print multiple copies of invoices, work orders and job cards. You can also choose to print checklists with job cards or invoices. To print multiples select transactions from the sales screen by pointing and clicking on the line, a tick is displayed in the checkbox. Point and click on the multi print icon at the bottom of the screen, select the form type and whether you wish to print checklists from the menu,

Sales, Viewing Totals: The totals at the bottom of the sales screen change according to the search criteria. Values equal total transaction value, amount paid and the outstanding balance.

Sales, Transaction Type: The sales screen displays the transaction type; there are 5 types which are:

Invoice = Job card (created from the diary)

Vehicle = Vehicle invoice (Created from Invoice / Vehicle Invoice Option)

Cash = Cash Sale

Charge = Invoice created without vehicle details

Credit = Credit memo

Receipts

Receipts, Overview: Auto Easy allows you to process money received for jobs or invoices from the sales, job card, invoices, cash sale or receipts screen these screens can be bypassed by selecting Activities / Receive Payment from the top menu bar. Each option takes you to the payment receipts form which allows you to allocate payment to single or multiple invoices. Receipts are viewed from the receipts screen, outstanding monies are reported in the AR aging summary in current / 30 / 60 / 90 day format.

Receipts, Accessing Payment Form: The payment form is available from the following screens:

Receipts        Select        

Sales              Select  

Job Update    Select  

Alternatively select Activities / Receive payments option from the top of screen, each one of these options will open the payment receipt form. Opening the form from receipts and the activities menu requires you to search the client listing for the record you are going to allocate payment to. Opening the form from the sales screen automatically enters details of the highlighted transaction including the balance payable. Processing from the job update screen enters the value of the job or invoice just closed.

Receipts, Processing Payment: The most popular way of processing payment is from the sales screen, as most clients do not pay as the job is finalised. If the payment option is not selected as the job is closed the amount is allocated to the clients account. The payment form lists ALL outstanding invoices for the client, enter the amount and media type account and record if required, next flag invoices that you wish to allocate payment to. The allocation and balance fields will change accordingly. If the amount to be paid equals the total balance select auto apply flagging all listed invoices, if you make a mistake reset will un-flag your selections.

Receipts, Editing From The Payment Receipt Form: To view / edit an existing receipt from the 70payment receipt form point and double click on the transaction, the receipt form will be displayed, edit as required click OK (F12) and you will return to the Payment receipt form, any previous selections will remain flagged.

Receipts, Selecting Payment Media: Click on the button to the right of the payment receipt form media field, from the drop down list select the payment media and click your selection is now visible.

Receipts, Unapplied Credits: Unapplied credits are payments received that have not been allocated to an outstanding invoice. For instance you may have received payment in advance for a job and wish to allocate the amount when the job is closed. Unapplied credits can be selected from the media type drop down menu located on the top right hand side of the receipt payment form, point and double click on your selection and the form will close, reselect to apply further payments to invoices.

Receipts, Applying Unallocated Payments: Auto Easy allows you to receive money without allocating the funds to an invoice; you may also delete a paid invoice without deleting the original payment. Both of these actions will result in an unallocated amount being credited to the client account. It is possible to apply these unallocated payments to subsequent invoices from the payment receipt form. If unallocated payments exist you will see the value displayed in red on the header of the form, the payments button is active when unallocated payments exist.

Fig 5.26 Displaying Unallocated Payments

 To apply unallocated payments select the payment icon, the receipts screen opens displaying all unallocated payment for the client. To allocate an amount point and click on the unallocated transaction which is indicated by a red cross. The payment receipt form opens, apply the unallocated values to outstanding invoices in the normal way.

Receipts, Selecting An Account: The default account is Undeposited funds, although payments can be directly credited to another current asset or bank account, if you wish to deposit a payment another account such as an EFT payment to your trading account select the button to the right of the account field from the list highlight the account you wish to post the payment to, confirm by using OK (F12). Payments can be allocated to bank or a fixed asset account. Accepting the Undeposited funds default will allow you to deposit funds to a bank account from the receipts screen.

Fig 5.27 Selecting A Posting Account From The Payment Receipt Form

Receipts, Accessing: To access the receipts screen select Accounts from the top menu, click on receipts from the drop down list.

Receipts, Selecting Date: The screen is set to automatically display transactions for the month to date. It is possible to select another period by clicking on the button to the right of the month to date field, from the drop down menu point and click on the period you require. You can also select the - from to dates - by either typing into the fields at the top of form in DD/MM/YY format or selecting the button to the right of the - from / to - boxes and double clicking on the date required. Today’s date is highlighted in red, to move between months select the arrows at the top of the calendar form.

Fig 5.29 Receipts Screen

Receipts, Viewing Unallocated Payments: An unallocated payment is indicated by a red cross in the allocated field, if you wish to view just unallocated payments select the unallocated check box at the top of the screen. You will need to specify a date range by selecting from the drop down period selection or entering a from and to date

Receipts, Viewing Undeposited Payments: To view Undeposited payments select the undeposited check box at the top of the screen. Again the date selection will need to entered, if you are going to create a deposit it is suggested you select all from the date period menu.

Receipts, Viewing By Single Client: From the bottom of the receipts screen select the button to the right of the view by single client option. The client list is now in view, highlight the client and confirm with OK (F12) point and click on the check box above the field. Only transactions relating to the client are in view. You will need to select a period or date range if you wish to view transactions pre month to date.

Receipts, Searching By Amount: To search by value enter into the show amount field and tick the show amount box

Receipts, Editing: It is possible to edit a payment from the receipt screen, select the payment double click. Details of the payment are displayed; the amount can be edited and invoices un-flagged. Confirm with OK (F12), the changes are recorded against the original transaction.

Receipts, Purchase Payments: When paying suppliers it is possible to pay from Undeposited funds, the transaction is listed as a negative amount ie: ($110.00). Indicating this money which would normally be cash is missing from your undeposited funds. You create deposits from this screen; to ensure your deposit reconciles you need to select the negative transactions to deduct these values from your cash holding.

Receipts, Credit Memos: It is also possible to refund a client from Undeposited funds; these values will also appear as a negative indicating the cash is missing from your receipts. The negative receipts need to be selected when processing a deposit.

Receipts, Deleting: It is possible to delete a receipt which does not form part of a reconciled deposit. Auto Easy does not allow you to edit or delete transactions once they have been reconciled. Receipt deletions adjust the original transactions they were allocated to. For instance you process a payment of $500.00 against a $1,000.00 invoice leaving a balance of $500.00; if you delete the $500.00 receipt then the outstanding balance of the invoice will return to $500.00. To delete a receipt highlight the entry and select delete from the bottom of the screen. A warning box will request you confirm the request, if the transaction forms part of a reconciled deposit a message box will cancel the deletion.

Receipts, Processing A Payment: From the bottom of the receipts screen select new to open the payment receipts form. Select the button to the right of the client field, from the list highlight the required entry confirm with OK (F12). The payment receipt form lists ALL outstanding invoices for the client, enter the amount and media type, account and record if required, next flag invoices that you wish to allocate payment to. The allocation and balance fields will change accordingly. If the amount to be paid equals the total balance select auto apply flagging all listed invoices, if you make a mistake reset will un-flag your selections. Finalise by selecting OK (F12) from the payment receipts form.

Client Statements

Statements, Overview: Auto Easy allows you to produce client statements for any period. The statement form lists the opening balance, transactions, payments and a closing balance for the date range. When printing a statement for a client with sub-accounts transactions for each individual account are listed. The form also has a payment advice section that can be mailed back to you with payment.

Statements, Creating: Statements can be printed or emailed for all clients with balances other than zero or for selected clients. Select the activities menu, click on create statements, selecting outstanding will allow you to print statements or email all clients with an outstanding balance.

Choosing the selective option allows you to select individual or multiple clients you wish to print or email statements for from the client list. Both options will display a list of clients with outstanding balances, you now have the ability to select by what means you wish to deliver the statement either email or printed. If a client has an email address it is displayed in the window. When emailing to a selective listing simply select the records that have email addresses and choose email from the bottom of the display, these records will be deleted from the list when an email has been sent successfully, you are now able to select the remainder for printing.

Fig 5.30 Statement dispatch Selection 

Fig 5.31 Date Selection

Statements, Printing Remittance Advice: If you wish to print or email a remittance advice with each statement select the option at the bottom of the task display.

Statements, Clients With Zero Balances: To ensure you do not print or email statements for client with a zero balance select the option from the message box.

Client Records

Client Records & Transaction History, Overview: Auto Easy Ultimate contains separate client and vehicle databases; vehicles are attached to a client. This structure gives the operator flexibility to move vehicles to a new owner. It is possible to search the client listing by any field displayed within the grid. It is possible to search any field by keyword; the operator can also index the client listing by any field in the display.

Client records are tabulated into the following displays:

v      Contact Details: name, address, phone number and email etc.

v      Profile: Account details, loyalty program, comments, pricing profile and effective media.

v      History: Jobs, loyalty, RSA, quotes & reminders

v      Tasks: Notes & Tasks

Client Listing 

Client Listing, Viewing: There are two ways to open the client list, one by displaying the lists option at the top of the screen, highlighting clients from the drop down menu and selecting. The second and easier way is to select the client icon at the top of the screen.

 Selecting this button from the top of the screen will display your client listing.

The display includes company / surname, first name, home phone, work phone, mobile, address, client balance and discount rate if applied.

Fig 6.01 Client Listing 

Email Addresses: When an email address is recorded on the client form a [@] symbol is displayed in the name field. Place your cursor over this symbol to read the email details

Client List displaying a symbol against client that have email addresses recorded

Client Listing, Searching: You can search the database by any field displayed. To select the field you wish to search by point at the field header and mouse click. The header text will be displayed in blue, to change the search field point and click on the next required header. Double clicking the field header will re-index the information grouping items with similar data. Type your query into the search field, the cursor will move to your selection. If you wish to expand the search select the button to the right of the field, the cursor will locate a record containing your query each time you select.

Client Listing, Creating A Record: Select new from the bottom menu bar of the clients display, the client form will display you will notice this has 3 tabs contact details, profile and history. To create a new record you need to complete the contact details and profile sections of the form.

Client Listing, Creating A Booking: Highlighting a client record and selecting the booking button from the lower menu bar of the display allows the operator to initiate a booking without having to return to the diary screen. When the function is selected the vehicle listing for the client is displayed, select highlight the vehicle you wish to make the booking for, confirm with OK (or F12). The service listing will be displayed; select the service / services required select OK (or F12) and complete the necessary fields on the booking form in the normal way.

Client Listing, Viewing Notes: When text is entered into the client comments field comments field a note graphic is displayed in the last column of the display. Access the comment by clicking on the note graphic once. Text can be edited / deleted from this screen, save your changes by selecting OK (F12).

 Client Listing, Viewing Vehicles: Select the vehicle button from the bottom menu bar of the client listing. A vehicle list is displayed including service information, it is also possible to add new or edit existing vehicle information from the list.

 Client Listing, Processing Payment: Highlight the client from the listing and select payment, the payment receipt form is displayed enter the value and allocate to the invoices displayed in the body of the form.

Contact Details

Contact detail fields consist of the following:

Company / Surname: Enter the surname or company name

Private (default) / Business: Selecting business will disable the title and first name fields. The contact field however is accessible.

Parent: Allows the operator to pick a parent account for the client

Title: displays a pick list after clicking on the button adjacent to the field – selecting M will insert Mr. (not available in business mode)

First Name: ie: John (not available in business mode)

Contact: field records your prime company contact ie: John Smith (not available in private mode)

Title: displays a pick list after clicking on the button adjacent to the field – selecting M will insert Mr.

First Name: ie: John

Salutation relates to the way you wish to address your client in any communication ie: John or Mr. John Smith.

ABN: If a client’s ABN is entered in the contact details it will be recorded on all invoices for that client (not available in private mode).

Ph. Work / Ph Home / Fax / Mobile / Mobile 2 – Details are displayed on the client card and job card, SMS preferences, if you are using the SMS feature within Auto Easy select which mobile you prefer to send messages too.

Email: Enter the email address in this field – remember most email addresses are in lower case, if you require emails to be copied to another email address enter the details into email #2. 

Address: Multiple lines

Billing Address: If the billing address is different from the physical address select the billing address tab and enter the billing address, this will then be printed on any subsequent invoice created.

Suburb: Type the suburb, then press Enter –The postcode will be entered automatically.

              Client Listing, Sub Accounts: Auto Easy Ultimate allows the user to attach sub accounts to “Parent”     accounts. This feature is particularly useful for fleet operators as it allows individual details to be recorded with all transactions being amalgamated into one account. Sub accounts are always listed under the parent account in the client listing. It is also possible to nominate whether the address on the displayed on the clients invoice is the sub account or parent account. 

Client Listing, Creating A Sub Account: Enter client details as normal. Move your cursor to the parent field select the button to the right hand side, this will display your client listing. Select the client you wish to be the parent account, the database is indexed and can be searched by typing the client name you wish to attach this record to. With your cursor highlighting the entry point and left hand mouse click this will display the parent account in the parent field. If you wish the account address to be the parent select use parent address. Save the details by selecting OK or F12 from the bottom of the form.

Email Invoices – To email invoices directly to the client select the history tab from the client form, highlight the line containing the invoice you wish to email, point and click on the email function at the bottom of the display. If you wish to send multiple invoices move the cursor to highlight the required record and select the email button from the bottom of the form.

Profile 

Select the profile tab from the client form to enter details

Fields include the following:

Account Number: is a free typing area that enters a unique identifier; however the number can be overwritten if required. Note: When terms other than cash are selected a letter C is placed in front of the account number indicating the client has credit terms.

Category: Allows you to segment your database for marketing purposes. Select the button to the right of the field, then select or add a new category to the list by selecting new from the bottom of the display entering the new category and saving by selecting OK (F12). Note: If track cost centres are set to true in program configuration Auto Easy forces the entry of a client category.

Charge & Blocked Accounts: Auto Easy allows you to record clients that have charge accounts, selecting this option from the client form / profile will display an asterisk against the record in the client listing.

To Block any further sales being made to a charge account client, select the blocked option, the title will display in red plus you will notice the client’s name is in red in the client listing. It is not possible to make a sales to a client that has been blocked

Discount: If you wish to apply a discount to all invoices for this client enter a percentage value into the discount field. On closing a job or charge invoice for the client you will be prompted to apply the discount value, selecting no from this prompt will charge the invoice at the normal rate.

Discount: If you wish to apply a discount to all invoices for this client enter a percentage value into the discount field. On closing a job or charge invoice for the client you will be prompted to apply the discount value, selecting no from this prompt will charge the invoice at the normal rate.

Terms: Use the button to the right of this field to select payment terms, if the client is cash the field can be left empty.

Credit Limit: Enter a maximum value, if this amount is exceeded a warning message will be displayed, for cash clients leave the field blank.

Gold Key Advantage ( Only): If the client is a Gold Key member select this option

Current Balance: Total amount outstanding, if the amount is displayed in brackets the client is in credit.

Loyalty Programme: Status including loyalty points to date and date loyalty plan initiated.

Prompt For Order Number On Job Close: Select if you wish to be reminded to enter an order number as you close a job card

Comments: Is a free typing area where the operator can make specific global notes on issues relating to the customer

Cheque Authorisation: Tick the box if you authorise payment by cheque from the client. Auto Easy will warn the operator if authorisation is not set to true when processing cheque payments for non-authorised clients.

Pricing Profile: This facility allows the operator to preset the pricing level for the client. Prices applied to the job card depend on the values entered in the services, labour or parts files. It is possible to set varying price structures for clients for example; Labour can be set at standard, parts wholesale and fixed price services at trade. To select a price profile point and mouse click on the appropriate radio button. Pricing profiles can be set at any time and will be applied to the next job for the client.

Media Database: A report can be generated that sorts this information into adverting types including number of responses. This feature gives you an easy way of tracking the success / failure of any promotion you may have in place, to select mouse click on the appropriate radio button.

Account Keeping Fee: Auto Easy allows you to apply a fee to clients that have charge accounts, to use this feature you need to perform the following: 

Open File / Settings / Database Settings enter the account keeping fee into the appropriate field located on the bottom left hand side of the form

Save the setting by selecting OK (F12) from the settings screen

The next step is to flag the clients who will attract an account keeping fee, to perform this task open the client form.

       Applying Account Keeping Fees

Note that it is possible to change the default account keeping fee from this screen, simply highlight the value and re-type the correct entry. Exit the screen by selecting done.

Preferred Payment Method – It is possible to record the preferred payment method including credit card details on the client card. When payment is processed the preferred method is entered automatically onto the receipt form. Credit card details are protected if security is being used, the option must be selected in the user profile.

Entering Details – Open the client form, select the profile tab, click on the preferred payment option, from the drop down list select the payment method. Save your setting with OK (F12).

      Setting The Preferred Payment Method

If credit card is selected as the payment type an option to enter the credit card details is displayed

Receiving Payment – The preferred payment method is automatically entered into the receipt form, if credit card details are stored the credit card type is entered with the details being able to be retrieved by clicking on the yellow arrow next to the media type.

             Receiving Payment using stored details

History 

                        Selecting the history tab from the client form allows you to view information relating to the following:

v      Jobs

v      Loyalty

v      RSA

v      Quotes

v      Reminders

v      Payments

To display change the views select the drop down list from the show field located on the top left hand side of the client form

Fig 6.05 Changing The History View

Jobs – Displays all current and closed jobs including the value and paid to date amount and balance, to view details click on the transaction

Loyalty – Displays loyalty points accrued by invoice

RSA – Records RSA issues by job

Quotes – Displays all quotes prepared for the client that have not been converted to jobs

Payments – Displays all payments for the date range selected to view payment details click on the transaction.

Reminders – The history / reminders form displays all service reminders sent or due to be sent to the client including the service due, date and odometer. An extra feature of this display is the done column; this will contain either yes or no. If the service due is performed within 90 days of the service date yes will be entered indicating the service reminder was successful. This screen can also be used as a reference to view when the next service is due including type/date /odometer

History, Quick View: To access vehicle history for the last 12 months select the balance amount from the client listing this will display 12 months of transaction history, use filters if you wish to change the view.

History, Filtering By Vehicle:: Select the arrow to the right of the filter field displaying all, a drop down menu displays vehicle registrations. To view the histories for a specific vehicle select the registration. Only the transactions relating to the selected vehicle are now in view. To return to all jobs select the filter field, all jobs, all transactions for the client are displayed.

Invoices, Deleting: Select the delete button from the bottom menu bar. Note: only closed jobs can be deleted from this screen, the following procedure is required:

1)       Highlight the job to be deleted – this must be a closed invoice or job

2)       Select the delete option from the bottom menu bar

3)       Enter details for the deletion

4)       Confirm with OK or F12

Note: When deleting an invoice, inventory items are placed back into stock, buy-ins are converted to inventory items. To adjust inventory quantities or remove buy-ins selects inventory or purchasing and makes the necessary changes.

Tasks

Client Form, Tasks: The contact manager allows you to record notes and tasks. Notes are text records that record the contact type, consisting of direct, email, fax letter or phone. You can record tasks to be performed at a predetermined time; new tasks are listed on the client form and in the task manager.

Fig 6.07 Task History

Editing A Task: To edit a task go to diary day or week view or the client form tasks option, point and double click on the task you wish to edit, make the changes and save using OK (F12).

Task Manager, Deleting A Task: If you wish to delete a task open the task manager in day or week view, highlight the entry you wish to delete and press the delete button on you keyboard, confirm your action from the message box by selecting yes.

Comments 

The comments area comprises of a text field where relevant information can be stored, when text is entered into this field a note it icon is displayed against the customer record in client listing.

       Fig 6.08 Comments View

Vehicle Records & Services Due

Vehicle Records & Services Due, Overview: The vehicle and client databases have been designed so they are independent of each other. Auto Easy Ultimate allows you to attach a vehicle / vehicles to clients. It is not possible to add a new vehicle to the database without first selecting a client from the listing. Vehicle records store information in the following sections of the vehicle form:

v      Vehicle Details: Registration, make, model, year / month of manufacture etc.

v      Servicing: Last service. Next service and type, registration renewals and RSA details 

v      Service Notes: Special servicing notes and drivers name

Vehicle Listing

Vehicle Listing, Viewing: You will be able to open the vehicle listing from any display that has the vehicle button on the bottom menu bar. Alternatively the listing can be accessed in two other ways. Select lists / vehicles from the top of the screen, or the vehicles icon.

  Opens the full vehicle listing display.

  Select if you wish to view the vehicle listing for a specific client.

Vehicle Listing, Searching: Type the registration number into the search field, the cursor moves to the record. You have the option to search by any displayed field. Select the field title and mouse click once you will notice the text changes to blue indicating a new search field. Double clicking on a field header will re-index the records ie: all vehicle makes would be grouped together if you selected the make field.

Vehicle Listing, Viewing The Vehicle Form: Highlight the record select edit, press F2 or point and double mouse click to view the record

Vehicle Listing, Searching For A Client By Vehicle: Select vehicles (Click on Vehicle Button) use the search function to locate the vehicle. Click on client option to view the owner.

Fig 6.09 Vehicle Listing

Note: From this screen additional information is recorded relating to the next service due and roadside assistance issue. The data displayed in these fields is automatically posted from the service reminder function when the job is closed. Fields can be edited from this screen however you must remember to select F12 or click on OK when exiting to save any new information – esc / cancel will discard any changes. If you wish to view vehicle notes point and single click on the note graphic displayed.

Vehicle Listing, Creating A Booking: It is also possible to create a booking from the vehicle listing. Open the vehicle listing and highlight the vehicle you wish to complete the booking for. Select the booking button located on the lower menu bar of the display window. The service listing will be displayed. Select the service / services required select OK (or F12) and complete the necessary fields the booking form in the normal way.

 Selecting the booking button allows you to create a booking without opening the diary.