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Return Consumer and Employee Confidence
Best Practices

As you and your fellow team members return to the dealership, and resume using the DMS on a daily basis, let’s help you make sure you’re ready to minimize disruption and get back to work.

The best practices below are a comprehensive set of DMS processes and settings that were likely adjusted previously and will now need to be revisited as employees and customers begin returning to the dealership.  In addition, please continue to utilize DMS 360 for step by step instructions on any of the recommendations below.

Update Your Store Hours:

• Update your store hours within the Parts Department > Application Environment
• Update your store hours on your laser forms including your repair orders, parts counter tickets, etc.
• Revisit and adjust your Service Appointment times and locations to better accommodate social distancing

Review User Security:

• Start with those you are bringing back from furlough or hiring new. While your updating security throughout the dealership
• As employees cross train and take on additional responsibilities, ensure their security settings are updated accordingly
• Don’t forget about user roles. Now is a great time to consider building and utilizing this feature.
• For Service advisors, Technicians, and Parts Department users – make sure you adjust their additional security setting inside application environment

Reinstate IP Restrictions:

Reimplement any IP restrictions that were temporarily removed while employees were working from home

Audit Print Setups, Definitions, and Assignments:

For employees that temporarily worked from home, these settings may have been adjusted accordingly. These will need to be reviewed so people can resume printing to the correct location within the dealership

Train and Re-train New and Existing Team Members:

Dealership employees will be learning new processes and DMS functions that support them. View Lifetime Learning, as well as the knowledge base on DMS360 as a resource to fill this need.

Implement your new processes

Review delivery methods of vehicles sales, parts, vehicle service to accommodate for social distancing

Reach out to your AR customers:

• Review A/R customer balances and create a plan to collect payment. Proactively work with those that are unable to pay. Agree on extended payment terms for customers as needed
• Create new bank accounts, GL accounts, and payment terms for tracking COVID pay

Prepare for your first payroll:

Review documentation for utilizing other pay codes to track COVID pay for employee

Catch Up on Recent Product Enhancements:

DMS software versions 20.02 and 20.03 have recently been delivered. Review the release notes on DMS 360 to learn about new features now available in the DMS

Best Practices for Driving a Digital Transformation

As the retail industry faces new challenges, automotive businesses are facing unprecedented circumstances that require innovative strategy and technology to adapt. Dealertrack DMS is here to continue our partnership and help you maintain healthy business performance through functionality that allows you to stay socially distant and boost your digital footprint. We’ve compiled best practices that help you utilize your Dealer Management System to preserve operational efficiencies and overcome challenges.

The Digital DMS Platform

While dealerships depend on manual labor

for fixed operation services, Dealertrack DMS helps bring the rest of your dealership into the cloud, allowing you to log in from anywhere with internet access and understand where your dealership stands with real-time updates. This means more socially distancing for you employees and a safer environment for your customers by giving those who do not need to be at the dealership the opportunity to work remotely.

Auditing Procedures

Clean up Work in Process

This includes each department throughout the dealership. Make any new downtime productive by closing out repair orders, on hold parts tickets, and old car deals. This will not only free up revenue but give you better insight into what is truly outstanding.

Invest in Training

This can include catching up on OEM mandating training, as well as cross-training employees to learn long overdue skills and responsibilities. Maximize remote and web-based training to respect social distancing.

Assess your Reporting Needs

What reports are you running regularly, but not utilizing? What reports do you need but are putting many efforts into building and maintaining? If you have multiple stores, is your reporting consistent from store to store? If you need reporting help, contact your DMS performance manager.

Review your Network Setup and Configuration

Now more than ever, your business is going to rely on your network setup and connection. This includes security and stability, as well as your primary method of communication both inside and outside the dealership. Are you still relying on old, out of date network equipment that’s on its last legs, or subject to a security breach? Do you have enough Internet speed? If you’re paying someone to manage this for you, do you understand what you’re paying (and possibly overpaying) for each month?

Deep Clean your Software

While it’s realistic to expect a temporary decrease in foot traffic, you can still be productive and prepared for a comeback. In addition to cleaning and disinfecting hard surfaces, use this time to review all of your software applications, remove terminated employees, remove old labor operation codes and part numbers. Review your taxes, your fees, your discounts, and your accessories and aftermarket products. Catch up on past software releases and bug fixes you may have missed, and ensure your current processes are aligned with your software.

Unlocking Operational Efficiencies

Flexibility through Integration

Utilizing Opentrack gives you the flexibility to build your Dealer Management System to fit your business needs by integrating with any of the 175+ certified third-party vendors. Integrations add flexibility to your DMS and also help you consolidate the number of technology systems your team has to use every day or every task and provides opportunity to be more operationally efficient.

Unlocking Data Driven Insights

Reporting solutions are critical to dealerships during economic uncertainty by uncovering operational efficiencies and actionable insights. DMS Critical Analytics is a tool that offers pre-built dashboards and reporting modules with drill-down capabilities and filtering that help you prioritize that data that drives value to your dealership. Stay on top of the game by finding the latest trends first and positioning your dealership to capitalize on opportunities.

Optimizing Your Network

As businesses drive towards digital transformations, its important to have a network to keep your system up and running on all cylinders. Dealertrack DMS has partnered with Proton IT to offer Managed Network Services to dealerships that help dealerships save money and increase performance. Network professionals come on-site to optimize your setup and offer 24/7 support with industry expertise so you never miss a beat. While out-sourcing your network services can sound overwhelming, you can save up to 50% by switching from an in-house solution.

Premier Human Capital Management

Utilizing Opentrack gives you the flexibility to build your Dealer Management System to fit your business needs by integrating with any of the 175+ certified third-party vendors. Integrations add flexibility to your DMS and also help you consolidate the number of technology systems your team has to use every day or every task and provides opportunity to be more operationally efficient.

Digital Document Management

Our Reflections platform helps you take the pile of paperwork and migrate it into a digital library, helping ease the dependence of working on-site.