GarageKeeper 2000 Info

GarageKeeper 2000
Invoice Sales Analysis Report (GKSales)

The GKSales utility gives you the ability to analyze your sales by make, by zip, and by model year.Each category will show you the total dollars invoiced and the average invoice.

This GKSales information is valuable in making long term decisions about the optimum workload for your shop. Once you decide the minimum average invoice that meets your profitability requirements, this report will help you make those decisions.

What makes do you want to pursue or avoid? If, for example, the report shows that Mercedes constitutes 1% of your annual sales, you may decide it is not worth maintaining the tools, training, and contacts needed to provide top service on this make. You may find that in your area Buicks and Cadillacs bring your highest average ticket and you could decide to aggressively pursue those makes.

How should you spend your promotional budget? You may find that total dollars from a particular postal code are too low to justify advertising in that area. Conversely you might find an area that is hot and you may want to sponsor the track team or other high visibility activity in that area.

Do you need to cut off older vehicles? You will see that at a certain age of vehicle the average ticket no longer meets your needs. You can make a policy decision based on that information. For example you may decide you do not accept new customers with vehicles more than 10 years old. You may decide that you need to charge an additional $5 an hour on those vehicles because the tools, technical information, and parts are not readily available for those older vehicles.

GarageKeeper 2000
Report of Hours Left To Sell (GKHours)

The GKHours utility helps you to schedule work more efficiently. You will be able to see how many hours of labor are left to sell each day for each billable worker. GKHours works together with the open work orders screen in GarageKeeper. When you write an estimate you can look at the GKHours screen to see the days that the appropriate tech has enough time to do the job. You set the date and time promised in the heading of the GarageKeeper work order. GKHours sees this and reduces the time available to be sold.

You can set up the number of hours to book in an average day for each individual tech. That means that you can set some workers for 10 hours a day and others at 8 hours, or whatever number of hours is appropriate for that person.

You can set fudge factors for each day of the week. You probably book 110% of normal on Monday and Tuesday and taper off during the week in order to get most jobs out the door before the weekend. The fudge factors let you automate that procedure.

GarageKeeper 2000
Interface to Microsoft Excel (GK2Excel)

The GK2Excel utility provides an interface to Microsoft Excel. It requires Excel 97 SR-1 or later. There are two parts to this utility.

GK2Excel takes the GarageKeeper 2000 weekly report and converts it to an XML file. That file is created in your DATA folder or directory. The file is created on days when the internal date of the GarageKeeper data files matches the date of the weekly report. (The internal date is the date you set when starting the day.) The new XML file remains available until you run the next weekly report, and your regular weekly report file is saved with the current date as part of the file name. You can use the file, WKFILE.XML, for other purposes if you wish.

GK2Excel adds a button labeled GK2Excel to the buttons on the Excel task bar. When you click this button you are asked to enter or browse to your WKFILE.XML file. You are also asked for the number of billable techs and non-billable workers. You are asked if your shop is located in one of the major metropolitan areas shown.

GK2Excel then converts your GarageKeeper data into an Excel workbook and automatically graphs much of the data. You may have noticed that there are often different types of data on a single page of the weekly report. This utility puts each type of data on a separate page of the Excel workbook. You should save this workbook by using the date or a sequence number as the file name.

GarageKeeper 2000
Interface to Microsoft Word (GK2Word)

The GK2Word utility lets you use the capabilities of Microsoft Word 97 SR-1 or later to send e-mail and to make your printed mailing pieces look nicer.

GK2Word adds two letters called LETTERW1.DAT and LETTERW2.DAT to the data directory and adds an item titled GK2Email to the program group. To use the utility, create your mailings like before. Choose the print to disk option for output. You use LETTERW1 for mailings with service reminders and LETTERW2 for those without. You can put customer e-mail addresses on the customer notes screen. Running GK2Email creates a file which cross-references license numbers and e-mail addresses.

GK2Word adds the GarageKeeper steering wheel icon to the Word taskbar. You click it and type in or browse to CUSTS.ASC, the file you printed to disk. In most cases this will be in the M1 folder or directory below the GKN folder or directory on the C drive.

You choose which format you want. There are plain paper, letterhead, and postcard formats for LETTERW1 and LETTERW2. GK2Word helps you alter these formats to change the letters for content, to add your company name, phone, etc. You can save these changes to make them permanent. You can e-mail to some people and send printed output to others, or to send printed output to all. The e-mail will be plainer than the printed letters or postcards. E-mail is sent by the default e-mail client on your machine and will work with a variety of e-mail programs.

Copyright © 2007 Computer Assistance Inc.
Last modified: 05/01/07