Unique Functionality

Time Management
GenesisFour was the first to introduce integrated time management into a shop management system. Our initial system was based on the dealership-style time cards, often referred to as the “flag” system. This tried and true method of tracking actual job time has its roots in the new car dealerships because they needed to report precise, actual job times to their manufacturers for the purpose of validating warranty claims. They understood what so few independent shop-owners and managers understand - that tracking actual job time is essential in determining labor cost, and ultimately, job cost. Over the years we have enhanced our system to support different time management disciplines, from tracking time on each work order to tracking time on each individual labor operation (we even handle both flat rate and hourly technicians on the same labor operation). Time management is the cornerstone of GenesisFour's design because it is so important to the profitability of any business; without it you will never know how profitable (or unprofitable) your invoices really are.

Professional Customer Documents
Our customer documents (service orders, invoices, estimates, etc) are designed to give you the most professional-looking invoice possible. They are unlike anything you have seen before, and more importantly, unlike anything your customers have ever seen before. Studies have shown that customer satisfaction is as much tied to the quality of your appearance as it is to the quality of your work; and our document output is designed to give you that quality of appearance.  Our clients consistently tell us that their customers comment on the professional appearance of their invoices. And many say that since installing ServiceShop the number of repeat customers and average total invoice significantly increased.  View Sample Output.

Labor Line Association
Throughout the system (estimates, service orders, service invoices, and service templates), labor lines are associated with their own parts, fees, items,  sublets, tech notes, and perhaps most importantly, actual technician time (driven by the  fully integrated time clock). This  "labor line association" has two enormous benefits. First, it makes it easy for the customer to understand the final service invoice. Second, it makes it easy for the service advisor to determine that the entire job has been accurately invoiced.

Unlimited Length Labor Descriptions
ServiceShop's labor lines are unlimited in length; the labor editor allows you to provide your customer with the highest possible level of detail in describing your work. And it is far more than just a large text area - it has full font control, color support, paragraph formatting, and spell check! Highly detailed labor descriptions facilitate the dispatch process, help your technicians better understand exactly what needs to be done, and - most importantly - enhance the perceived value of your work, which most shop management trainers agree is directly proportional to the number of words on the invoice.

Menu Pricing*
Menu Pricing gives you tremendous control over the appearance of the printed estimate and service invoice. You can show a job with parts but no prices, or hide all the parts and just show a single price per job. You can also control the level of detail appearing in estimate and invoice totals. Menu Pricing can be enabled or disabled on a per labor line basis. You will find that menu pricing  will put an end your customers' over-analyzing your final invoice, because unnecessary price detail is no longer shown. And this price detail is information that you only think you need to show. Not only do you not have to show it, but in most cases the customer would rather not see it. Your margins will take a jump the day Menu Pricing goes live in your operation - (a fact our clients will be only too happy to confirm).
*Not allowed in some states - check local regulations.

Source Tracking
Source Tracking allows you to track, and report on, all sources of new and repeat business. It tracks the source of the customer and the source of the actual job separately. This allows you to see both what brought the customer to you and what caused them to return for more work down the road. And unlike most source tracking systems that limit you to only a few pre-defined choices, ServiceShop supports an unlimited number of sources - including customer referrals that require no pre-configuration on your part. Eliminate wasted advertising money and direct your resources to those that actually produce results.

File Attachments
In a manner similar to how a file may be attached to an email, ServiceShop can attach any file to any customer, document, or part in inventory. You can attach as many files as you like. This powerful feature gives you the ability to keep track of items produced by other packages right in your management package. Attach output files from alignment machines, scan tools, pictures of the failed components to show the customer, schematics, installation instructions, or anything else you can think of.

Mapping Customers
Would it be helpful if you could see all of your customers pinpointed on a map? How about learning where your most loyal customers are concentrated, and being able to easily target that specific geographic area with ServiceShop's optional Mailing and Marketing feature? Check out this quick tutorial on how you can gain new levels of understanding using ServiceShop's integration with Microsoft MapPoint.