Migrating to Repairshopr, questions about setting up a "bench queue"

[drnick5]

Hey folks,

I'm currently in the process of migrating to RepairShopr, and trying to figure out the best way to go about making a bench queue. Just wondering how you guys have set it up and how you operate in your shops.

in our current system, when a computer gets dropped off, it gets signed in and falls into a queue. once the tech finishes the diagnostic, our Office manager gets a task to call and go over the quote with the client. if approved she marks it as approved and it automatically moves into an "approved work" queue.

From what I can tell, Repairshopr doesn't have any queue or teams functionality. Does anyone operate in a similar fashion who uses repair shopr? just wondering how you set it up. One option I saw is to make a new blank user called "bench". we could then assign any bench jobs to this user so we can sort by jobs. this seems like a crude workaround.

The other option I see is making a customer ticket status or Ticket type for "bench". but I'm not sure if that will fully accomplish what I'm looking for, or if its the best way to go about it. With either option there doesn't seem to be any way to automatically make a task for my office manager that a diagnostic is done.

It seems like Repairshopr gives you the tools, but is open to interpretation on how to go about it setting it up.

 

[PCX]

Hey folks,

I'm currently in the process of migrating to RepairShopr, and trying to figure out the best way to go about making a bench queue. Just wondering how you guys have set it up and how you operate in your shops.

in our current system, when a computer gets dropped off, it gets signed in and falls into a queue. once the tech finishes the diagnostic, our Office manager gets a task to call and go over the quote with the client. if approved she marks it as approved and it automatically moves into an "approved work" queue.

From what I can tell, Repairshopr doesn't have any queue or teams functionality. Does anyone operate in a similar fashion who uses repair shopr? just wondering how you set it up. One option I saw is to make a new blank user called "bench". we could then assign any bench jobs to this user so we can sort by jobs. this seems like a crude workaround.

The other option I see is making a customer ticket status or Ticket type for "bench". but I'm not sure if that will fully accomplish what I'm looking for, or if its the best way to go about it. With either option there doesn't seem to be any way to automatically make a task for my office manager that a diagnostic is done.

It seems like Repairshopr gives you the tools, but is open to interpretation on how to go about it setting it up.

We don't have a Queue per se, each computer that comes in our shop gets checked in and the initial diagnostic (hard drive and memory) is immediately run. The diagnostic bench is usually being worked in during the morning and again in the evening to start any tests that can run over night. Once these computers are done with the diagnostic, the diagnostic technician determines which bench (software or hardware) the computer belongs in and moves and assigns it appropriately. From there, the technicians in those departments determine the exact problem, the repair process and the cost of those repairs and then calls the customer for approval. Typically, we already have approval for repairs (done at checkin) and we can usually just keep going unless we find something outside the scope of the approved service. During this whole process computers are moved in and out at a pretty fast rate. In software, everything is multitasked, so queue is not such a big deal unless our benches are completely full and we are now resorting to working on shelves. That said, each computer is prioritized by date, turn around time quoted and priority service if applicable as well as a few other factors. In hardware and mobile device, queue is determined by date and turn around time quoted as well as priority service if applicable.

All this is controlled by checklist that each tech/bench must follow in order to take stock in what is currently assigned to them and it ensures that everything keeps moving along, stays on track and that nothing is forgotten. The dashboard for each area shows the created date as well as the last time it was updated. This helps us to keep everything on track.

I guess what I am saying is that Queue for us really does not matter a whole lot because everything keeps moving and those computers that need to be done sooner gets prioritized. We also quote a reasonable turn around time and update the customer throughout the process so that even if it does take a little longer, they are aware and usually not upset about it taking a little longer.

A few things that we have done in order to make sure that everything stays on track and gets done by the quoted time is

Date the customer label
Make a customer field in the ticket with quoted turn around time
Use colored stickers to mark priority and service type
keep up with the checklist each day, which ensures that every computer is looked at.

RepairShopr has a priority label that you can give each ticket, but we really have not found it to be too useful. We used to use a status label in Mhelpdesk that would highlight the whole row for each ticket on the dashboard and the color would signify the priority and status, which for us was a much better visual queue and indication of current ticket status.

Anyways, I don't know if that will help, but I thought it might if you knew what our process was and how we handle it.

 

[drnick5]

Thanks for the detailed reply!

One idea we are toying with is not necessarily having a bench queue as we currently do, but having a list of tickets sorted by the order they are created. (with exception to our MSP clients, which we would put a high priority on so they would be at the top of the list). A tech can then take ownership of a ticket when they start working on it. The only pitfall I can see is if a bunch of remote jobs come in, it may push bench items further down the list where they may get neglected.

The way we work for bench drop offs is that we take care of them in the order they are checked in, we offer a free diagnostic to anything dropped off. However we do ask if they want us to perform a backup before we start the diag (we charge for the backup). Currently if a computer is dropped off and requests the backup, it falls into the "approved work" queue for us to back it up, once the backup is complete, it will get pushed to the "diagnostic" queue. Once the diagnostic is complete the report gets pushed to the office manager to call and get approval. once approved it gets put into the "work approved" queue. Once the job is complete it get pushed back to the Office manager to create the invoice and call the client for pickup.

We have 3 techs, 1 does bench almost exclusively, 1 does the more difficult bench items and remote jobs, and a 3rd just does remote jobs and onsite jobs. In most cases the bench tech will do the diagnostic as well as the repair.

When you talk about a checklist, is this something inside of Repairshopr?

 

[PCX]

Thanks for the detailed reply!

One idea we are toying with is not necessarily having a bench queue as we currently do, but having a list of tickets sorted by the order they are created. (with exception to our MSP clients, which we would put a high priority on so they would be at the top of the list). A tech can then take ownership of a ticket when they start working on it. The only pitfall I can see is if a bunch of remote jobs come in, it may push bench items further down the list where they may get neglected.

We basically sort the dashboard according to the checklist item we are on. So if we are wanting to check all the tickets that just came in and ensure that everything has been started, we would sort it by created date. If we are checking to see if all tickets have been updated in the last 3 days, we would sort it by last updated.

As for MSP and Remote, I would either have those on a separate RS account or assigned to an MSP and Remote Bench. Of course, you have to have enough of that going on to make sense. If you do not have enough MSP or Remote work to keep a tech busy all day, then you should probably have a floater that can take on these tasks as they arise. We have one of these for when one of our benches get full or when a department needs additional help. Either way, I would have these assigned to its own tech/group. This is where you will have to set your own policies on who handles these jobs and how it is communicated to them that jobs are in queue. Or you can have your floaters check their dashboard at the beginning of each shift and from there whoever takes the call and sets up the remote job would be responsible for assigning that job to them and letting them know that they have a job in queue.

The way we work for bench drop offs is that we take care of them in the order they are checked in, we offer a free diagnostic to anything dropped off. However we do ask if they want us to perform a backup before we start the diag (we charge for the backup). Currently if a computer is dropped off and requests the backup, it falls into the "approved work" queue for us to back it up, once the backup is complete, it will get pushed to the "diagnostic" queue. Once the diagnostic is complete the report gets pushed to the office manager to call and get approval. once approved it gets put into the "work approved" queue. Once the job is complete it get pushed back to the Office manager to create the invoice and call the client for pickup.

To be honest with you, this setup seems a little convoluted. If you have set policies in place, each department can move the computer along and assign them to the appropriate departments once they are done, without having the manager sign off on everything. Everyone does things differently, but we have a pretty extensive set of polices and procedures that everyone follows. Each department assigns and moves each ticket to where ever it needs to go. Each department calls their own customers for approval and each department fills out their own invoices. It is then managements job to ensure that all this is being done properly and address any issues that arises. Generally, everyone follows policy and corrections are rarely ever made. This frees up management for other more important tasks.

We have 3 techs, 1 does bench almost exclusively, 1 does the more difficult bench items and remote jobs, and a 3rd just does remote jobs and onsite jobs. In most cases the bench tech will do the diagnostic as well as the repair.

When you talk about a checklist, is this something inside of Repairshopr?

These checklists are ones we have created. Trust me when I say it has helped to make things run more like clock work. Each tech is required and trained to go by the checklist without any deviation until they know the checklist in and out. Then they are allowed to go throughout their shift performing these tasks from memory SO LONG AS they refer back to the checklist each day and make sure that they did not forget anything. These checklists are then randomly checked by management and compared to the dashboard and tickets assigned to each area in order to ensure that everyone is in fact doing their checklists. I can send you a copy if you would like to PM me.

 

[Mokester]

I think PCX is right on the money. The problem is your work flow is very much vertical. Flattening out your organizational structure and giving techs more responsibility/authority in working with your customers makes more sense. It removes the complicated approval process, speeds up your workflow, and will overall just make you more efficient. You can still have an approval manager (or helpdesk/customer service manager)for when things go out of scope, or to deal with situations that require a more skilled approach to the client.

I run similar to PCX in that MSP clients get priority. RepairShopr does have color notifications when tickets start to get stale that can be tweaked...this would ensure that nothing sits in queue for too long. I would probably just make a company policy that all tickets need to have a time entry per day that updates the status. Your administratiion staff can review this to make sure nothing is being neglected.

PCX, by all means correct me if I'm wrong...I will admit I only briefly skimmed the thread so I apologize in advance if I'm off base.

 

[PCX]

I think PCX is right on the money. The problem is your work flow is very much vertical. Flattening out your organizational structure and giving techs more responsibility/authority in working with your customers makes more sense. It removes the complicated approval process, speeds up your workflow, and will overall just make you more efficient. You can still have an approval manager (or helpdesk/customer service manager)for when things go out of scope, or to deal with situations that require a more skilled approach to the client.

I run similar to PCX in that MSP clients get priority. RepairShopr does have color notifications when tickets start to get stale that can be tweaked...this would ensure that nothing sits in queue for too long. I would probably just make a company policy that all tickets need to have a time entry per day that updates the status. Your administratiion staff can review this to make sure nothing is being neglected.

PCX, by all means correct me if I'm wrong...I will admit I only briefly skimmed the thread so I apologize in advance if I'm off base.

Geez Mokester, how could you get it so wrong!!!!

Seriously though, you got it.

 

[pcpete]

We also use a method of a manager helping to create all of the quotes and presenting these options to the customer. It does have the advantage of keeping quality control higher at the expense of slowing things down. Having two people look at every job may help catch errors which will save time in the long run. I am really torn with our method and wonder if it is wasting to much precious time or is it a better way to keep quality up.

 

[PCX]

We also use a method of a manager helping to create all of the quotes and presenting these options to the customer. It does have the advantage of keeping quality control higher at the expense of slowing things down. Having two people look at every job may help catch errors which will save time in the long run. I am really torn with our method and wonder if it is wasting to much precious time or is it a better way to keep quality up.

That is the whole point of have a policies and procedures manual or SOP. With a good SOP and of course proper training, quality control should not be an issue. I mean how hard is it to quote a price to a customer and give them their options? Sure there are times that you will want your manager to handle the bigger stuff like contracts, but in a break fix shop pretty much anyone can put an invoice together and give a customer their choices for repairs. If they can't, then how well do they really know their job?

 

[pcpete]

That is the whole point of have a policies and procedures manual or SOP. With a good SOP and of course proper training, quality control should not be an issue. I mean how hard is it to quote a price to a customer and give them their options? Sure there are times that you will want your manager to handle the bigger stuff like contracts, but in a break fix shop pretty much anyone can put an invoice together and give a customer their choices for repairs. If they can't, then how well do they really know their job?

Maybe we make it more difficult than it should be. It seems we spend a lot of time updating our quoting procedure. I have suspected we probably spend more time than we should on it.

 

[drnick5]

To be honest with you, this setup seems a little convoluted. If you have set policies in place, each department can move the computer along and assign them to the appropriate departments once they are done, without having the manager sign off on everything. Everyone does things differently, but we have a pretty extensive set of polices and procedures that everyone follows. Each department assigns and moves each ticket to where ever it needs to go. Each department calls their own customers for approval and each department fills out their own invoices. It is then managements job to ensure that all this is being done properly and address any issues that arises. Generally, everyone follows policy and corrections are rarely ever made. This frees up management for other more important tasks.



These checklists are ones we have created. Trust me when I say it has helped to make things run more like clock work. Each tech is required and trained to go by the checklist without any deviation until they know the checklist in and out. Then they are allowed to go throughout their shift performing these tasks from memory SO LONG AS they refer back to the checklist each day and make sure that they did not forget anything. These checklists are then randomly checked by management and compared to the dashboard and tickets assigned to each area in order to ensure that everyone is in fact doing their checklists. I can send you a copy if you would like to PM me.

thanks for the reply, I sent a PM about the checklist. We are set up a little different ahn you are, in which we only have 1 bench (not separate departments for hardware, software, etc.) For our bench work procedures, the "office manager" (really a secretary, but I don't like the term) has the job of interfacing with clients, so the techs (me and 2 others) can spend our time doing tech work. She also has the job of creating invoices, scheduling appointments, taking payments and doing most of the clerical work. We have 1 tech that does most of the bench work, but does occasional remotes and onsites as well. I act as more of a floater that does remotes, onsites and serves as tier 2 bench (if the other tech gets stuck on something he can't figure out he can kick it up to me). While it may work for you, I think switching to a procedure where the techs call clients directly will likely decrease efficiency, since in some cases the bench tech can diag a bunch of computers in a row. This would be slowed down a lot if after each diag he needed to call and contact the customer. I'd rather have the secretary handle that so he can move on to doing more billable work.

What bothers me a bit is repairshopr doesn't seem to be that clear on how to set it up exactly. It seems very much like "here are some tools, you figure out how to make it work for you". Which worries me, as the entire reason I chose this system was because its tailored for our type of business. (As opposed to Mhelpdesk which I also looked at, but would have taken a lot of time to set up properly).

They say repair shopr isn't exactly geared towards MSP work (which we also provide, although it seems they are moving in this direction). It doesn't seem to be super smooth on the bench end either, so I'm trying to figure out what exactly their niche is. (I decided against using PC repair tracker because it seems mainly geared toward bench service, but nothing else). It's also possible that I don't have a great grasp on the software yet. I've gone through all the training videos but there doesn't seem to be any answer to my questions on how to set this part up.

The only options I can think of are, A) make a new user called bench and assign all bench jobs to that. B) assign all jobs to the bench tech or C) open tickets and don't assign them anywhere. It will be up to the bench tech to go through the tickets and assign the ticket to himself when he starts working on them.

The main issue I'm running into is figuring out the best way to handle the tech completing a diagnostic to have the secretary call and get approval, and for her to send the job back to the tech once its approved. All the while making sure nothing gets lost in the cracks. Maybe once I see your checklist things will be more clear to me. I just can't imagine I'm the only shop using Repairshopr that operates in a similar fashion, but I can't seem to find anyone.

 

[PCX]

thanks for the reply, I sent a PM about the checklist. We are set up a little different ahn you are, in which we only have 1 bench (not separate departments for hardware, software, etc.) For our bench work procedures, the "office manager" (really a secretary, but I don't like the term) has the job of interfacing with clients, so the techs (me and 2 others) can spend our time doing tech work. She also has the job of creating invoices, scheduling appointments, taking payments and doing most of the clerical work. We have 1 tech that does most of the bench work, but does occasional remotes and onsites as well. I act as more of a floater that does remotes, onsites and serves as tier 2 bench (if the other tech gets stuck on something he can't figure out he can kick it up to me). While it may work for you, I think switching to a procedure where the techs call clients directly will likely decrease efficiency, since in some cases the bench tech can diag a bunch of computers in a row. This would be slowed down a lot if after each diag he needed to call and contact the customer. I'd rather have the secretary handle that so he can move on to doing more billable work.

What bothers me a bit is repairshopr doesn't seem to be that clear on how to set it up exactly. It seems very much like "here are some tools, you figure out how to make it work for you". Which worries me, as the entire reason I chose this system was because its tailored for our type of business. (As opposed to Mhelpdesk which I also looked at, but would have taken a lot of time to set up properly).

They say repair shopr isn't exactly geared towards MSP work (which we also provide, although it seems they are moving in this direction). It doesn't seem to be super smooth on the bench end either, so I'm trying to figure out what exactly their niche is. (I decided against using PC repair tracker because it seems mainly geared toward bench service, but nothing else). It's also possible that I don't have a great grasp on the software yet. I've gone through all the training videos but there doesn't seem to be any answer to my questions on how to set this part up.

The only options I can think of are, A) make a new user called bench and assign all bench jobs to that. B) assign all jobs to the bench tech or C) open tickets and don't assign them anywhere. It will be up to the bench tech to go through the tickets and assign the ticket to himself when he starts working on them.

The main issue I'm running into is figuring out the best way to handle the tech completing a diagnostic to have the secretary call and get approval, and for her to send the job back to the tech once its approved. All the while making sure nothing gets lost in the cracks. Maybe once I see your checklist things will be more clear to me. I just can't imagine I'm the only shop using Repairshopr that operates in a similar fashion, but I can't seem to find anyone.

I agree, RepairShopr's documentation is pretty terrible and their organization is also pretty bad in areas like their reports and settings. As for your situation, without seeing how your shop runs or how it is setup, the only thing I can suggest is have a different user for different "benches" or "tasks." So for instance, have one user for the "Shop Bench" and assign all repairs physically in the shop to that user. Have another user as "Remote Bench" and of course assign the remote jobs to that bench. You can have another for "Onsite" and another for Admin. If I was keeping the same procedures as you, I would initially assign everything to it's appropriate bench and keep detailed logs about what is going on and what needs to be communicated to the customer. Once the customer has to contacted, I would then assign it to the admin (your secretary) so that they can see it on their dashboard and know to contact the customer. This will require them to keep on top of their dashboard, which should not be too hard to do. Once the customer has been contacted and has approved repairs, it would simply get assigned back to the original or appropriate user.

The only other thing I would suggest is that if you are really set on these procedures, then at least have the bench tech fill out the estimates for the customer approval, so that when the ticket gets assigned to the Admin, they know exactly what the quote the customer. The only other thing they would have to do is check to logs just in case there are different upgrade or repair options or other up-sales that might be appropriate to add to the invoice. Once the estimate has been approved, it can then easily be converted to an invoice. Either way, having the tech who is already aware of what is going on with the repair and what needs to be done fill out on the estimate, will help streamline the process significantly, rather than requiring the Admin to go through all the logs in order to make sure they don't miss anything.

Finally, those checklists that I sent you are tailored for RepairShopr and our procedures as well as our statuses, which may all be different from what you are doing in your shop. However, the concept of the checklists is pretty universal --keep everyone on track and keep them from forgetting about repairs or about updating customers, tickets, etc.

Anyways, good luck and PM me if you have another questions or need any help with RS.