Hot Key Programs

As shown on the Help Screen, all Hot Key Programs are listed below, then individually explained in detail. Unix systems use the ESC key. Windows systems use the ALT key.

The Rapid Access Menu

Run by pressing the F2 key. This menu can be accessed just about any time. Provides quick access to other areas of Senior Service Manager, allowing you to jump off and performa a task without quitting the current task.

Some of the programs on the rapid access menu can also be accessed by using a hot key combination.

The choices on the rapid access menu are fully user configurable. You may modify or add to the supplied choices by using the program "Set up rapid access menu choices" (ASUF). For a detailed discussion on how to do this, see the Administration section of this manual.

Check An Item

Run by pressing ESC-C in Unix, ALT-C in Windows. Same as choice B on an unmodified Rapid Access Menu. This screen provides 5 ways to find a part (frequently referred to as an "item" in Senior Service Manager.

Searching & Finding Parts

There are 5 ways to find a part, or "item", as it is called in Senior Service Manager. This applies virtually everywhere in the system not just in the Check An Item program. All are listed below:

1. Find by entering the entire part number (unnecessarily difficult method) - To do this, enter the entire part number and press enter.

2. Find by item number (easy and fast if you happen to know the item number) - The item number is a sequential number assigned by the system upon item creation to every item in the system. Useful and quick if you have the item number available (most users who do this have printed part or bin labels out of Senior Service Manager, so the item number is readily available to them. Since it is short, it is easy to remember while walking back from the bin to the keyboard. To do this, press enter to move the cursor from the part number field to the item number field, then enter the item number and press enter

3. Begin search by partial part number (very popular method to search & browse) - This type of search is known as a "begin search" on the part number, because you are searching by the beginning of the part number. To do this, enter just enough of the first few characters or digits of the part number to help restrict your search and press UP-ARROW. A browser will appear in which the top-most part number will be the first part number to meet your search criteria. From there, you may browse DOWN through the remaining listings one at a time using the DOWN-ARROW key, or you may move a screen at a time by pressing the PG-DOWN key (if there were enough parts meeting your search criteria to allow this)

4. Begin search by partial description (another popular method to search & browse) - This type of search is known as a "begin search" on the description because you are searching by the beginning of the part number's description. It should be noted at this point that every part (item) in the system has 2 descriptions - a short description (which prints on the customer's invoice), and a long description, which does not print on any invoices, but appears on the screen only. Short and long descriptions are explained in more detail elsewhere in this document. For now, suffice it to say that the begin search searches the beginning of the SHORT DESCRIPTION only, not the long description.

5. Contain search on short or long description (extremely powerful search tool) which searchs for single or ultiple random words contained in either the short or the long description. If you have the words Jeep air filter 82-86 contained anywhere in the description fields of a part, the system can find the part instantly. To do this, type in the word or words you wish to search by, separated by spaces. The contain search engine needs complete words, so be sure to separate all your words by spaces.

Contain search tips

In the example mentioned above, you could type filter Jeep air, or Jeep air filter, or filter air Jeep&ldots; or&ldots; you could include the "word" 82-86 in your search. The only thing you cannot do is to enter multiple words that are unique to either the short or long descriptions. For example, if the word Jeep ONLY appears in the short description, and the word filter ONLY appears in the LONG DESCRIPTION, and you search for Jeep filter, the system will not find the part. If you search for either ONE OR THE OTHER, it will work fine, however. Multiple word searches must be for multiple words in either the SHORT or the LONG description.

Note: For quick reference, when the Check An Item program appears, a message box also appears which explains the 3 search methods available.

Once you have scrolled to the target part number, be sure to view all the information displayed about your part in the browser. Then press enter to select the part for a full screen of information about that part. A huge range of functions are now available.

The Check An Item Screen

This screen shows so much information that it is not feasible to describe it all here.

The numbers across the top of the screen represent the last 12 months of sales history. If you sell a part, the displayed number increases. If you take back a part (i.e., issue a credit), the displayed number decreases.

The choose bar menu along the bottom of the screen provides numerous functions for repeating the search, or obtaining additional data about the part, for associating the part with other parts (cross references), for creating superceded numbers, for checking sales & purchase history, for printing part or bin labels with or without bar codes, for learning or generating a bar code for this part, adding notes about the part, viewing the long description of a part, recording quotes, associating automatically charged fees, viewing the quantity on hold, entering lost sales, forcing the part onto a stock order,

Program Trace

Run by pressing ESC-f in Unix, ALT-F in Windows. Note that you must use a lower case f in Unix. Traces the current program name, so that you may place it on your rapid access menu. ). For a detailed discussion on how to do this, see the Administration section of this manual.

Tic-Tac-Toe

Run by pressing ESC-G in Unix, ALT-G in Windows. It's been in there for years, but was recently moved out of undocumented status. Now everyone knows&ldots; except G4 tech support - they don't know a thing about it. So don't call for Tic-Tac-Toe support, ok?

Help

Run by pressing ESC-H in Unix, ALT-H in Windows. Accesses context sensitive help. The help screen which appears will depend on what you are doing in the program. Much of this manual is repeated in the help screens. You can not access "help" or any other "hot key" program while in a hot key program or the in a Rapid-Access invoked program.

Keyboard help can be viewed by pressing "K" while viewing any help screen.

SSM version number will be displayed. by pressing "S" while viewing any help screen.

Message Pad

Run by pressing ESC-I in Unix, ALT-I in Windows. This program provides an alternate way to send SSM Mail to another SSM user which is intended specifically for handling phone messages. The Message Pad screen is formatted in a manner similar to the classic pink slip message pad format.

When sending Message Pad mail, in order to select an addressee, press the DOWN-ARROW key, scroll to a username, and press enter. (On Windows systems, you may also click on the "V" shaped button, and then click on the desired username. Unlike regular SSM mail, Message Pad can only send mail to one addressee.

After selecting your addressee, use the TAB key to move though the different fields, entering data as needed. In the "They Will" field, use the right & left arrow keys, in conjunction with repeated use of the spacebar, to place an "X" between the parentheses in order to select or deselect the provided options.

Once you have completed the Message Pad screen, press F1 to send the message. The recipient will be notified that they have new mail in exactly the same manner as standard SSM email ("YOU HAVE NEW MAIL").

Switch User Login

Run by pressing ESC-L in Unix, ALT-L in Windows. Allows you to change the logged in "user-id" without leaving the program. You must have a user with a blank user-id (create a new user, press the space bar for the user-id, just press ENTER for the password) for the switch login program to prevent another user from re-entering the program as the previous user. This is useful if you need to leave your terminal and want to prevent another user from accessing programs that they do not have access to when logged in as themselves.

Mail

Run by pressing ESC-M in Unix, ALT-M in Windows. Allows you to send and/or receive mail from other users on the system. You will be notified if you have current mail any time you go to the main menu by a reverse video display in the lower left hand corner of the screen which says 'YOU HAVE MAIL". When you enter this program the subject lines of any mail you have received will be displayed in reverse chronological order. Use the arrow keys to select one, and then press the enter key to read it.

A variety of choices for adding or deleting your mail are displayed at the bottom of the screen. When using the send mail choice you can send mail to one user by typing the user name, to more then one user by entering a comma separated list of names (AL,TOM,DAVE) or by entering "ALL" to send mail to all users. Do not use spaces between multiple addressees.

Customer Notes

Run by pressing ESC-N in Unix, ALT-N in Windows. Allows you to create, update, or read a customer-specific notepad. When you start the program it will automatically display the notepad for the customer you are currently or were last using, unless you have not used a customer since the start of the current session, in which case, the program will allow you to choose one.

When choosing a customer during other programs, if that customer has any Customer Notes, the reverse video message NOTES will appear, prompting the user to look at them.

While this program is active, the status line reads:

"Enter notes, F1 saves, F4 cancels, F5 changes customer.", which should be self-explanatory. The key to operating this program, other similar programs, and indeed, all of Senior Service Manager, is to READ THE STATUS LINE, where all available function keys are referenced.

Operating System

Run by pressing ESC-O in Unix or ALT-O in Windows. You can run a Unix or Windows command. You will be asked to type the command name. In Unix the command name is case sensitive. If you press enter instead of typing a command name you will be brought to the operating system prompt. Return from Windows by typing exit, then pressing enter, or on Unix systems only, by pressing Ctrl-D.

Phone Book

Run by pressing ESC-P in Unix, ALT-P in Windows. Runs a company wide phone book. It is easy to use and ver y fast, so it is a great way to store and retrieve information you might need instantly. It is always available (unless you are in another hotkey program).

This a great place to store telephone numbers and other vital details about vendors, friends, and other company resources. It is also an excellent tool for storing quick reference information, such as price quotes on items you need to access frequently but do not necessarily want to create job lists for.

If you run out of room on a Phone Book page, it is possible to create multiple pages appear in sequence appending 01, 02, 03, and so forth immediately after the name listing. For example, if you wanted 3 or more pages of information about GenesisFour, you would name the pages GenesisFour 01, GenesisFour 02, GenesisFour 03, and so forth. Then, when browsing the phone book, these pages will appear in correct sequence.

The first time you use the phone book it will display the phone number of GenesisFour and several other sample pages. To search, simply type the letters of the name you want. DO NOT PRESS THE SPACEBAR unless you want to start the search over again. Scroll to the desired page (if necessary), and then press enter to open it. The entire page is now displayed.

To create a new page:

Press F3 or INS, type as needed, and press F1 (to save)

To update an existing page:

Scroll to the desired page,press F3 or INS, edit, then F1

To move through the fields on a phone book page use the TAB or SHIFT-TAB keys
Note that a Phone Book page consists of 3 fields: the name field (top left), the phone number field (top right), and the notes field (the rest of the page below the top row). You can enter any information in the notes field you wish. The suggested format is to place address information below the name field, and additional phone numbers below the phone number field.

While editing, note that the F3 or INS key toggles overtype and insert typing modes.

After saving your changes, use F4 to exit the phone book.

Search the Phone Book by pressing F5 (available when referenced in THE STATUS LINE).

The PageUp/Page down keys allow you to quickly to flip through open pages.

Print options are displayed in THE STATUS LINE, for both individual Phone Book pages, and for the entire phone book.

A phone book can be converted into a REMINDER by pressing R when a Phone Book page is open.

Again, always monitor THE STATUS LINE for a complete listing of all available choices.

Cloaking Device / Quiet Mode

Run by pressing ESC-Q in Unix, ALT-Q in Windows. Hides costs, causing information that would be inappropriate for your customers' eyes to appear on the screen as question marks.

Affected fields are:

parts price fields from LEVEL 1 downward including all cost fields

certain profit calculation and other sensitive information fields in CALC boxes

Actual hours time fields

Certain screens may need to be refreshed before this hidden costs function will engage. For example, if you are already in the service invoice CALC box when you invoke the Cloaking Device/Quiet Mode, you may have to leave the CALC box (by pressing F4) and then enter it again before the affected cost fields will become question marks. Disengaging hidden costs may require a similar screen refresh.

Note that it is possible to permanently hide costs for any user in Senior Service Manager by setting permissions accordingly in ASP (Admin Setup Permissions) in the permissions program "seecosts.p" (see Permissions elsewhere in this document).

Reminders

Run by pressing ESC-R in Unix, ALT-R in Windows. This is a user-specific reminder system. Think of it as a simple personal information manager ("PIM"), since each user has his own reminders. Reminder pages look and behave in a manner similar to SSM Mail. Each page is a separate reminder with its own alert date (top left), topic (top right), and notes field (all lines below the date and topic). When the alert date becomes today's date, a reverse video alert message will appear on the bottom of your screen which says, "YOU HAVE CURRENT REMINDERS, CHECK BY PRESSING <ALT-R>" (ESC-R in Unix).

To update existing an existing Reminder page:

Press the command to bring up Reminders, then:

Scroll to the desired Reminder page and press enter to open it.

Press F3 to update the page.

Press F3 again to bring up the system calendar for date selection (if desired).

Press the TAB key to move to the topic field.

Enter a topic.

Press the TAB key to move to the notes field.

Enter any additional notes about this Reminder.

Press F1 to save the Reminder.

Press F4 to exit the Reminders program.

To create a new Reminder page:

Press the command to bring up Reminders, then:

Press F3 to create a new page.

Press F3 again to bring up the system calendar for date selection (if desired).

Press the TAB key to move to the topic field.

Enter a topic.

Press the TAB key to move to the notes field.

Enter any additional notes about this Reminder.

Press F1 to save the Reminder.

Press F4 to exit the Reminders program.

The PageUp/Page down keys allow you to quickly to flip through open pages.

F5 searches through the text of Reminder Pages.

F6 prints. A date range option (with F3 for system calendar) for the printout is presented, follows by an option to include or exclude Reminder detail. This printout produces an extremely useful TO-DO list. All users on the system should be encouraged to use this feature, as it will bring a great deal of organization to your shop.

As with SSM Mail and The Phone Book, watch THE STATUS LINE for a display of all available functions.

Shipping Labels

Run by pressing ESC-S in Unix, ALT-S in Windows. This program presents options for printing the following types of labels:

Customer labels (make this selection then press F3 to find another customer)

Vendor labels (make this selection, then type to find vendor, or press F5 to create new)

Manual labels (make this selection, then type label text as desired)

In all cases, completing the above steps will lead you through obvious steps to print labels. In all cases you will be given an option to specify the number of identical labels to print. Once all selections are made, press P to print.

As with all other print routines in the system, you may print to a dot matrix printer, or a laser printer, but the print routines which govern this program must be properly configured in ASP (Admin Setup Printers). These programs are shiplabl.p, manlabl.p.

Dot Matrix Label Printing

If you are configured for dot matrix labels, you probably want to set up a dedicated dot matrix printer for this purpose. You should use a standard narrow carriage dot matrix printer with adjustable tractor width for this purpose, such as an Okidata 320, although many other makes & models will work. See below for information on supported forms.

When printing labels to a dot matrix printer, you will always be given an option to print an alignment test (after the option for the number of labels to print).

To perform the alignment test:

Press Y. A test label will be printed (wastes a label - sorry).

Check the printed label for proper alignment.

Press Y repeatedly (more labels get trashed) until label alignment is correct.

Press N. Your final label(s) will be printed.

Once this is done, you should be able to say N from now on unless someone screws up your carriage alignment, in which case you'll have to realign the labels again.

Controlling label skip with dot matrix labels

While all settings on your printer must be correct (most notably but not limited to the setting for page length), there is an important setting in ASC (Admin Setup Company) called "Label Skip" which controls how many line feeds are sent by Senior Service Manager after label(s) are printed. The number you enter here will directly how much the printer carriage advances. The label skip value must be set such that you will have adequate clearance to remove the last printed label from the printer. Depending on printer design, you will most likely have to set label skip such that at least one label is skipped (yes, wasted). A good starting label skip value is 6. Try that and modify in increments of 1 in either direction until label is removable with the least number of wasted labels.

 Supported dot matrix label forms:

• Single row 3.5" X 15/16" tractor feed adhesive-backed labels such as

• AVERY AVE 04013 OR SPR 01274 (5000 LABELS), or

• AVERY 4145 (1000 LABELS )

Laser Label Printing

If you have configured the label printing programs for laser printing, the alignment test is not needed, and you will not be presented with this option when printing labels. Instead, you will be presented with an on-screen visual representation of the 30-position label sheet supported by this routine. (See below for information on supported forms). Scroll to the desired starting position and press enter. Your label(s) will be printed starting from your selected position on the sheet.

If you have a laser printer with a single sheet feeder that automatically overrides the main paper tray, you may feed the laser label sheet into that. Examples of such printers are the Oki 410e, 610e, & 810e, and the HP 3 & 4 series (most but not necessarily all). Newer printers than these models may require software controls to specify single sheet feeder override - not supported by Senior Service Manager. With these models, you may be able to get the single sheet feeder to respond by loading first pulling out the main tray before loading the laser label sheet. If this does not work, you will have to load the label sheet into the main tray (be sure to determine whether your printer prints on the top or bottom of the sheet, and load the laser label accordingly. Print a test sheet on plain paper with a pencil mark on it first.

Supported laser label forms

• 30 label per sheet 1" x 2 5/8" laser adhesive-backed label forms such as

• AVERY 5160 (WHITE, 100 SHEETS, 3000 LABELS)

• AVERY 5979 (ASSORTED FLUORESCENT, 15 SHEETS, 450 LABELS)

• AVERY 5660 (CLEAR, 10 SHEETS, 300 LABELS)

Time-Clock

Run by pressing ESC-T in Unix, ALT-T in Windows. Runs the technician time clock. Also available from AMTD, or from the Limited Technician Menu. The technician may bring up his/her time clock screen by entering his/her technician number (as assigned by the system when he/she was created as a technician, or may press F3 to select his/her name from a list of currently employed technicians. The time clock screen will appear.

Use the right and left arrow keys to move across the menu selections (this type of menu is referred to as a "choose bar"). As you do, read THE STATUS LINE for each selection.

Conceptually, this screen is analagous to the daily time card of the "flag system", widely used at larger shops and car dealerships. The entire screen will be refreshed each day, so one screen only reflects the activities of one technician for one day.

ARRIVE & LEAVE

The technician's arrival and departure times will appear on the left side of the screen, in the AT WORK box. This section of the screen corresponds to the upper portion of a manual time card used by the flag system. As the technician selects the ARRIVE and LEAVE menu choices, corresponding times will appear instantly in the AT WORK BOX, in the appropriate columns for arrival and departure.

START-JOB & END-JOB

To start and end jobs, the technician simply selects the menu choices START-JOB, and END-JOB, respectively. The technician must log an arrival time before he can start a job. Upon selecting START-JOB, the system will prompt the technician for a service order number, which the technician can either type in directly, or he can press F3 to choose from a list of available jobs, which will be listed in reverse chronological order. He then scrolls to the desired service order and presses enter to select that service order, at which point the customer's name and start time will be logged. The technician is now punched in for the day, and punched in on a job.

The technician will remain punched in on that job until he is ready to stop work on that job, at which point he/she will return to the screen, bring up his time card screen, and select END JOB. At this point, the technician may either start a new job, or leave.

W-TIME

An industry term for non-productive time ("W" for "wasted" tim; sometimes also referred to as "E-Time"), this function provides for the tracking of time not spent on vehicles. Before a technician can punch in on a W-Time, W-Time codes must be created in AMTF. Existing W-Time codes can be updated in AMTG.

Note that W-Times can be configured as Pay, or Non-Pay, which affects whether or not W-Time is credited to the technician who performed it or not on the Technician Productivity Report (ARTA). This matters greatly if your technicians' compensation is tied to an incentive program based on billed hours, which this time management is geared to support based on the reports it produces.

Here are some typical examples of W-Times you might wish to create:

W-Time&#9;&#9;&#9;&#9;&#9;&#9;PAY?

1. CLEANING SHOP&#9;&#9;&#9;&#9;N

2. IDLE TIME&#9;&#9;&#9;&#9;&#9;N

3. REPAIRS OF SHOP VEHICLES, NO R.O.&#9;Y*

4. TRAINING&#9;&#9;&#9;&#9;&#9;Y

5. SERVICE DESK ASSISTANCE&#9;&#9;&#9;Y

6. COMEBACKS, OTHER TECH, NO R.O.&#9;&#9;Y*

7. QUALITY CONTROL, OTHER TECH&#9;&#9;Y

8. REPAIRS TO SHOP EQUIPMENT&#9;&#9;N

9. MEETINGS&#9;&#9;&#9;&#9;&#9;Y

10. CUSTOMER GOOD WILL&#9;&#9;&#9;Y

11. SHOWROOM WORK&#9;&#9;&#9;&#9;Y

Note that W-Times which mention "NO R.O." (no repair order) exist because if there were a repair order, the technician would punch in on that, rather than any W-Time. The Pay Y/N field is clearly at your discretion.

User Notes

Run by pressing ESC-U in Unix, ALT-U in Windows. This program will provide you with 26 different user specific notebooks, one for each letter of the alphabet. After starting the program, press any letter A through Z to bring up the notepad for the selected letter. In Windows and some Unix terminals F9 inserts a line, F10 deletes a line.

Vehicle Notes

Run by pressing ESC-V in Unix, ALT-V in Windows. Similar to customer notes but specific to a single vehicle. No alert message appears if vehicle notes exist, but it you need this function, add notes to Customer Notes that Vehicle Notes exist.

Rapid Run

Run by pressing SHIFT-F12 (Windows systems only), this program will bring up a single data entry line and a prompt which reads "Enter the program name to run." You may enter any program name to run. For example, to set the TTY name for a PC you would enter "SETTTY.P" and press enter.