Scheduling an Appointment

Scheduling an appointment in TireMaster includes stating the purpose for the upcoming visit, setting a date and time, assigning a mechanic, and allocating a bay or defining the job type. You can also define which items are needed to complete the recommended maintenance or repairs. Appointments can be scheduled at stores only.

To schedule an appointment

1. If the Open Work Order List isn’t open, click Invoicing.

2. Click Schedule. The Appointment List appears.

Note: If you want to hide expired appointments, clear the Show Expired Appts check box. You can define the number of days that expired appointments will remain on the Appointment List by setting the control Schedule - Automatic Delete Days. This setting is on the Other tab of the System Controls screen.

3. Click Calendar. The Appointment Calendar opens.

Note: To bypass the appointment calendar, click Add and go to step 7.

Tip: The appointment calendar can be enlarged by resizing or maximizing it.

4. Type the date on which you want to schedule the appointment in the date field or select it from the pop-up calendar.

5. Change the view, if needed.

To see appointments for a particular day, along with mechanic or service bay availability, select Day. Then select Bay or Technician.
To see the appointments that have been scheduled during the week of the appointment date, select Week.
To see the appointments that have been scheduled during the month of the appointment date, select Month.

Tip: To see the appointments for the previous day, week, or month, depending on which view is selected, click . To see appointments for the next day, week, or month instead, click .

6. Define the time (day and week views only) for the appointment.

In day view, click the starting time in the column for an available bay or technician and drag to the time you want the appointment to end.
In week view, click the starting time for the appointment and drag to the time when you want the appointment to end.

The Appointment Maintenance screen appears.

Note: You can also open the Appointment Maintenance screen by clicking the time you want an appointment to start in both day and week views.

Tip: If other appointments are scheduled at the time when you want to add a a new appointment, click the gap next to an existing appointment and drag (day and week views only) or double click (all views).

7. Identify which customer and vehicle the appointment is for.

a. Click Customer, and look up the customer. For more information, see Looking Up a Customer.

Note: If the appointment is for a new customer, click Cancel. Then click Add and set up the new customer. For more information, see Adding a Customer.

b. When prompted, select the customer’s vehicle, and click OK.

Note: If the appointment is for a new customer, TireMaster prompts you to add the vehicle once you save the customer. For more information, see Adding a Customer’s Vehicle.

c. Click OK. The customer’s name and vehicle are added to the Appointment Maintenance screen.

8. To define whether you want to send the customer a text message with an appointment reminder, select or clear Do not send Text check box.

9. If you haven’t already set the appointment’s starting and ending times, select them from the drop-down lists.

Note: The starting and ending times need to be set in month view and when the calendar is bypassed.

10. To set a promised time for completing the scheduled job, click Promised and select a date and time from the drop-down calendar and list. Otherwise, leave the promised time alone.

11. Type a reason for the appointment and comments about any vehicle problems in the Notes field.

12. Assign resources to the appointment.

a. Click Bay/Job, and select a bay or job type. If the bay/job type was already defined for the appointment, disregard this step.

Note: If a bay or job type is not available, you need to set up the bay/job type list. For more information, see Setting Up a Bay or Job Type List.

b. Click Mechanic, and select the name of the technician who will perform the work. If the technician was already defined, disregard this step.

13. Set aside any items needed for the appointment:

a. Click Add, and look up the items that you want to set aside. For more information, see Looking Up Inventory Items.

Note: Only parent items are displayed on the Appointment Maintenance screen. When the appointment is turned into a work order, add-on items will then be included along with the parent item.

Tip: If you add an item to the appointment in error, select the item and click Delete.

b. Type the quantity for each item.

Note: The numbers entered here are included in the items’ on work order quantities. If the appointment expires without becoming a completed invoice, the appointment quantities will continue to affect the on work order quantities until the appointment is deleted. Appointments can be deleted manually or you can schedule automatic deletions. For more information, see Schedule - Automatic Delete Days.

14. Click Save, and close the Appointment Maintenance screen. The new appointment is added to the Appointment List.