Mitchell 1 Shop Management Software Simplifies Time Management & Productivity Tracking
If you own or manage an auto repair shop, you know the delicate balance between the cost of labor and parts, building trust among customers, and the return on investment (ROI) for every car that comes through your shop. Tracking the actual efficiency of technicians, in particular, can be difficult when multiple technicians are working on the same vehicle, bouncing between multiple jobs, and working at different rate structures as their specialty demands.
To ensure things run smoothly while achieving your growth goals, it’s essential to have a reliable, accurate time management system in place. This will help you monitor productivity, and increase volume and profits without sacrificing quality. So where can you find a time management system that you can trust – a solution that is tailored to meet the needs of your shop?
Mitchell 1 answers the call with the latest release of its shop management software, Manager SE. The industry-leading software suite now includes powerful Time Management features that automatically generate productivity statistics as technicians clock in-and-out of labor operations. It also includes Employee Shift Clock functions that let technicians/employees manage their own hours via their mobile devices when connected to the shop’s wi-fi network.
“Shops and technicians need to know the status of the work in-house, if certain jobs have been started and how much progress has been made, as well as how long it will take each technician to complete their work,” said Ben Johnson, director of product management, Mitchell 1. “ The Time Manager Tool helps shops keep track of their labor margin, along with employee hours, to increase efficiency and profits.”
With Time Manager, technicians and their managers can quickly ascertain “clocked hours” against “pay hours per job” to identify how effectively the technicians are utilizing their at-work hours. All this activity – and much more – can be monitored through a secure, intuitive dashboard to meet the needs of your shop. Let’s take a closer look how Time Manager works within Manager SE:
Job Clock
The new Job Clock is driven by labor operations from Manager SE repair orders. It allows technicians to view “clock in” and “clock out” of labor operations assigned to them from Manager SE repair orders. It can be accessed from a Manager SE workstation PC, smartphone or tablet on the shop’s local area network using a modern web browser.
Techs view a “mini Work-In-Progress” screen listing their own specifically assigned labor jobs. There is an option to display all jobs assigned to coordinate with other techs who may be assigned for other work on that same vehicle.
They can start a job clock for a labor item then pause it for breaks or lunch as needed. When each labor item is done, they mark it as Completed. That time stamp automatically populates time in the “Actual Hours” field for recording productivity on that labor operation, in the Manager SE repair order.
Shift Clock
Shop employees can track their hours on their mobile device; they can clock in/out for work shift, with data access in read-only mode. An employee time tracking website displays hours per time period selected. Any changes made by managers inside Manager SE will be visible on the employee’s time card.
Current Activity
Time management details are all presented in a secure, intuitive dashboard, allowing owners and managers to quickly confirm which employees are clocked in for their workday shift. Current Technician Activity supports verifying technician workloads for jobs assigned, with Pay Hours, Clocked Time and Total Jobs they have completed.
Technician Job Time Cards
Technician Job Time Cards provide an overview of Pay Hours, Clocked Hours and Efficiency for each technician. Both management and techs can confirm performance at-a-glance for a given time period relative to their goals. If any clocked time exceeds pay hours it is displayed in red, alerting technicians and managers to view it right away. Direct links are provided back to repair orders for easy access to review, if more details are required.
Employee Shift Time Cards
The Summary tab gives management an overview of all clocked in hours per employee. Clicking an employee tab displays all of their clock in & clock out details. If any changes are made by an owner or manager within Manager SE, those will be reflected on the employee-facing time tracking website.
Security
New settings in Program Security for Time Manager functions have been added to ensure proper access and privileges for every role in the shop. Employees (service advisors and technicians who are also paid hourly) will be using their mobile devices to access their Shift Clock and Job Clock or view their hours (read-only) on their mobile devices and not from Manager SE computers.