How Do You Stay Organized?

[PCX]

I am just curious as to how you shop owners (especially those with hired techs) keep organized and on the same page when working on several computers at a time?

As business has increased we have been faced with a new problem. It is becoming harder and harder to keep track of everything that is going on and stay on the same page with each tech and the computers that we are working on. We have managed well up until this point, but I feel that if we do not change a few things, it could get out of hand. Right now we have two techs in the shop and another who does the onsite repairs and networking jobs. The problem with the in-house repairs is that at least one of the techs is spending half of their time checking in and dealing with customers, while the other one is trying to keep the repairs going and answering calls. What happens is that when one or both of the techs try to get on track, we end up wasting time taking stock in what has been done and what still needs to be accomplished.

These are the thing we have tried.

Online ticket system (great for keeping track of diagnostics and repair progress, but it's not always easy to just drop everything, jump on a computer and update a ticket)

Online ticket system via tablets (this works great for anything involving drop down menus like our diagnostics and ticket status)

Sticky Notes (this has helped, still not very efficient and they are small)

Paper Tickets (not always easy to manage and larger than I would like)

One ideas we had thought of is making small sticky note type tickets that are large enough to hold essential information like customer name, computer description, diagnostics results and job progress. The problem with this is that we still need to update the online tickets, some stuff could probably wait till the end of the day while other things really need to be updated right away. The other problem is if we do go this route or do something similar, where would we get these sticky notes made. Most sites suck for trying to make something like this.

Any ideas or suggestions?

 

[SuffolkComputers]

With Vistaprint you can upload your own design onto a stickynote, would that work for you? all you would have to do is create a simple checklist in paint or something similar. Here is the idea I had for you:

Create the master checklist and number the checklist 1 through whatever...14 lets say. With each step you would have everything that step entails. Laminate it and then put it on your wall. Then you could make the template for vistaprint with simplely 1-14 on it, and the tech would check off each number as he went.
If a new tech came in and wanted to work on the PC, all he would have to do is look on the master checklist on the wall and cross referance it with the stickynote number to see where the PC left off!

Here is the link for Vistaprints stickynotes:
Vistaprint Stickynote Custom image upload

 

[PCX]

With Vistaprint you can upload your own design onto a stickynote, would that work for you? all you would have to do is create a simple checklist in paint or something similar. Here is the idea I had for you:

Create the master checklist and number the checklist 1 through whatever...14 lets say. With each step you would have everything that step entails. Laminate it and then put it on your wall. Then you could make the template for vistaprint with simplely 1-14 on it, and the tech would check off each number as he went.
If a new tech came in and wanted to work on the PC, all he would have to do is look on the master checklist on the wall and cross referance it with the stickynote number to see where the PC left off!

Here is the link for Vistaprints stickynotes:
Vistaprint Stickynote Custom image upload

I have tried uploading my list that way and for some reason, it ends up looking like crap or it does not fit all that I need on there. Aside from that, as you already know, there is not one 10 or 14 step process to repairs, there are many, and they all depend on what you are doing or what problems you are troubleshooting. That is one of the reasons why it is so hard to have a check list. It would have to be a combination of a check list and hand written progress report.


Do you have a shop with techs? If so, what do you do?

 

[uprighttech]

We use PC Repair Tracker to keep all of our jobs documented. Any installs, scans, actions or notes are put in as they are done. We have preset probably 90% of the things that need to be entered, so each item is literally one click of the mouse. When a tech goes to work on a machine, they can see an up-to-date, chronological list of everything that has been done to the machine. There is also a Tech Notes section where a tech can write out a longer explanation of problems they have encountered or things that still need to be done on the computer. This works great for us and saves a lot of time trying to get up to speed when taking over a job from another tech.

 

[PCX]

We use PC Repair Tracker to keep all of our jobs documented. Any installs, scans, actions or notes are put in as they are done. We have preset probably 90% of the things that need to be entered, so each item is literally one click of the mouse. When a tech goes to work on a machine, they can see an up-to-date, chronological list of everything that has been done to the machine. There is also a Tech Notes section where a tech can write out a longer explanation of problems they have encountered or things that still need to be done on the computer. This works great for us and saves a lot of time trying to get up to speed when taking over a job from another tech.

Yeah, we use mhelpdesk which accomplishes the same things. The problem is that we have about 40+ tickets open at any given time and when working on several computers, its not always easy to jump on another one to update those tickets.

 

[compnet]

I would say you might need a clerk. I mean between check ins and outs and phone calls, it sounds like a clerk would pay for itself in freed up tech time.

Imo a tech with no distractions and a clerk can get as much work done as 2 techs who have to stop working every 15 minutes to take care if customers.

 

[MobileTechie]

I use vtiger. Whilst it has disadvantages you can have it open on lots of computers and have multiple pages of it open on each computer. E.g. you could open 5 tickets on 5 browser tabs whilst also updating inventory.

 

[supporter]

I use vtiger. Whilst it has disadvantages you can have it open on lots of computers and have multiple pages of it open on each computer. E.g. you could open 5 tickets on 5 browser tabs whilst also updating inventory.

Did you have to spend quite a bit of time customizing vtiger?

 

[MobileTechie]

You don't have to, depends how customised you want it. it works out of the box as a CRM, ticketing and invoicing system. There are a few plugins most people want to install to get better looking PDFs or to link to Outlook etc.

If you want to add your own fields relating to your job lifecycle like tickboxes for memory test passed etc then obviously you need to spend time doing that whereas PCRT has it already.

I've chosen not to use the ticketing system because it doesn't convert tickets to invoices. There is an add-in for this but I didn't find it did what I wanted. So I've customised the Quotes module to act as a ticketing system too. When I say customised I don't mean PHP I just mean going through the settings and GUI.

 

[RichmondTech]

You don't have to, depends how customised you want it. it works out of the box as a CRM, ticketing and invoicing system. There are a few plugins most people want to install to get better looking PDFs or to link to Outlook etc.

If you want to add your own fields relating to your job lifecycle like tickboxes for memory test passed etc then obviously you need to spend time doing that whereas PCRT has it already.

I've chosen not to use the ticketing system because it doesn't convert tickets to invoices. There is an add-in for this but I didn't find it did what I wanted. So I've customised the Quotes module to act as a ticketing system too. When I say customised I don't mean PHP I just mean going through the settings and GUI.

+1 for vTiger. Get it working right out of the box. Customize it as you go.

 

[PCX]

Along the same lines I can have mhelpdesk opened on several computer (in fact we do) so I may set up some more termnals for that specific purpose. Man I need to expand the shop again.

As for the clerk, I could probably afford one part time but I have other places where I need/want to spend that money.

 

[bitbytes]

Online ticket system via tablets (this works great for anything involving drop down menus like our diagnostics and ticket status)

We use MH also. We have adopted the tablet method because of its speech to text capabilities. We have 7" Samsung Tablets that are nice and portable.
My tablet is always by my side as I record all my logs and tech notes via speech to text, create new tickets, create invoices. It saves a lot of time and I find it makes my notes even more detailed this way. Also my notes are in one place and one place only, no double entry. I hardly touch my desktop anymore.

We basically use our tablets as our tech clipboards. When a customer calls, we grab our tablets and open a new ticket and record the issue (type it in).
For check-in/out we grab our tablets and create the ticket or take the payment, e-signature t&c and close the ticket.

We have even gone paper-less with this process.
Customers receive all their paperwork via email, but if they like a printed copy we can do that also.

 

[PCX]

We use MH also. We have adopted the tablet method because of its speech to text capabilities. We have 7" Samsung Tablets that are nice and portable.
My tablet is always by my side as I record all my logs and tech notes via speech to text, create new tickets, create invoices. It saves a lot of time and I find it makes my notes even more detailed this way. Also my notes are in one place and one place only, no double entry. I hardly touch my desktop anymore.

We basically use our tablets as our tech clipboards. When a customer calls, we grab our tablets and open a new ticket and record the issue (type it in).
For check-in/out we grab our tablets and create the ticket or take the payment, e-signature t&c and close the ticket.

We have even gone paper-less with this process.
Customers receive all their paperwork via email, but if they like a printed copy we can do that also.

Yeah, the last time I tried the speech to text feature, it did not do so well. If it did, that would be a different story. As for using them to check in customers or log calls or do invoices, its way more efficient to do those tasks on a computer.

By the way, how are you taking the payments? mhelpdesk has not implemented that feature yet.

 

[bitbytes]

That's taking through our regular CC Terminal.
Are you running ICS on the tablet? Speech recognition got much better with this version.

 

[PCX]

Actually I am now. I just got the new 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwhich, so I will try it out and see how well it works.

 

[sudo]

I use a Note sheet. Every computer that comes in gets one.

I attached the document to this post for anyone to see and use. The first page has a section for diagnostics which are always ran first, a section for malware scanners, and the rest is for handwritten notes for every step of the way to service completion. The second page is for continuing handwritten notes if you ran out of space on the first page, which I always do. Also every technician is required to date and initial every time they write notes.

It follows the Business Kit theme that is sold on here. Actually, the note sheet that I use in practice has the Reformat checklist on the back of the first page. I removed the reformat checklist from the document since it is a paid document within the Business kit sold here. Then the second page is just notes continued double sided.

EDIT: I then use ShopManager to help me track the oldest computers in shop. Knowing which computer is the oldest (priority) and then having well documented notes for each computer keeps things running quite well. Just stress to your tech or make it a habit to have things well documented so the next tech can just read and pick up where you left off.

Hope this helps or gives ideas. It works well for me at least.

 

[PCX]

Thanks. This is similar to something I made a while back. The only problem is getting all the information onto a couple of small (but slight larger than normal) sticky notes.

Can anyone possibly give me a quick break down of what their basic procedure for keeping track of repairs between yourself and other techs? I honestly never worked in a shop before I owned my own, so I have nothing to really reference from.

 

[sudo]

Any specific reason for wanting sticky notes?

I usually keep everything in a folder (I use to use black plastic clipboards) and leave it right in front of the client's computer. Check-in form, data back-up, and notes all in a folder with a asset tag on the front. Makes it easier to staple everything together and file it when we are done.

 

[HubCityPC]

You mentioned you use MHelpdesk...have you tried their mobile app? The techs could easily update tickets quickly on their phones without having to be in front of an actual computer. Sure it wouldn't really work for entering detailed notes on a job but it works great for some of the simple things.

I use Mhelpdesk as well but I'm a one man show and I realize your needs are much different than mine. What I do for procedural type stuff is to use Google Docs. I created a spreadsheet that is basically a checklist. I print one out for each job and check off as I go to make sure I don't forget anything. It's not job specific. It's more like add to MHD, give biz cards, upsells, change status in MHD, send survey, follow up call, etc. I left out a lot of steps but I have the document broken down into three sections - start of job, during job and at job completion. All in all I probably have about 25 or so steps that I make sure to hit on with every customer. Obviously this could be shared with your techs (and accessed on a mobile device) or printed, filled out by hand and attached to each computer that comes in.

Just a suggestion...works for me.

 

[PCX]

Because we have about 40+ different computers / tickets that are open at any given time and having clipboards or folders everywhere is just not practical. Sticky notes at least stick to the laptop or desktop. If I had some type of over-sized sticky note form, that would help. I was also wondering how shop owner manage this many ( or more) computers / tickets at a time with several techs.