 |  |
Welcome to a Guided Tour of The Mechanic's Edge
We hope you enjoy this little tour of the Mechanic's Edge software. It's designed to give you an overview of the types of data you can track and the types of reporting you can obtain from the software. The tour is based on a company called Canyon Construction Corporation.
Canyon Construction uses the software to track repair work performed on its fleet of heavy equipment as well as its service vehicles and pick-up trucks. Canyon also uses the system to keep track of when 500 hour oil changes are due, as well as when 1,000 hour and annual inspections are due.
In addition to keeping track of service events on each equipment unit, Canyon also records all parts purchased and used for each equipment unit.
You are welcome to follow the full tour from start to finish. Alternatively, you can follow the links in the outline below to skip to those specific areas that are of most interest.
If you run into any questions along the way, please call 706-749-1541, and ask for Teresa. The software has more functionality than what is covered here, so if you don't see what you are looking for, call us and ask!
Note: the screen shots included below are most easily viewed if your screen resolution is set to 1024 x 768 (or higher).
1. Setting Up Your Equipment List
3. Reviewing Work Order Information Over Time
4. Scheduled Maintenance
1. Setting Up Your Equipment List
One of the first things you'll do when you get The Mechanic's Edge is set up your list of equipment. You can categorize your equipment into different Equipment Types that you specify yourself (e.g., Dozers, Excavators, Graders, etc.). You can also keep track of such things as make and model, serial number, and a variety of other descriptive information. Some people keep their Model information very basic (e.g., CAT, VOLVO), as shown in the picture here; others like to record a more exact model number/description of the equipment.
 |
To add a work order, you can click the work order icon
and pick the
relevant machine number from your list of machines.
 |
If you are using the Scheduled Maintenance feature of the Mechanic's Edge, you can opt to include any scheduled maintenance that is overdue (or due within a certain number of days). Alternatively, you can simply create a blank work order, as you can see from this screen. |
The work order itself has basic information at the top (such as equipment, date, primary mechanic's name), followed by a series of tabs along the center of the work order (Scheduled Maintenance, Repairs, Parts, etc). You can keep your data entry as simple as you want, or you can be quite detailed. Some people simply use the description tab to records notes about their work. Others record labor hours, specific parts used, and specific Pre-Defined maintenance events that they set up beforehand. It all depends on what you want by way of reporting from the system, and how detailed you like to make your record-keeping.
 |
Below, we explore each of the tabs in a bit more detail.
Scheduled Maintenance: The first tab (shown above) allows you to add maintenance events (scheduled or not) that you have pre-defined in the system. If you take the time to create your list of most commonly performed service events when you first get started, you can save yourself a lot of typing time as you begin tracking your work orders in the system. The system knows when a particular event was last performed, so all the user does is pick the relevant service item from a pick list to get it to display in the above grid, and then mark that event as complete when they have done the work.
There is no requirement that you pre-define your list of service events if you don't want. As already noted, some users prefer to "free form" type the work they did on the "Description of Work" tab (shown further down).
Repairs: If you want to segment major repair work onto its own tab (as shown below), you can do so here. That way, when reviewing reports, you can look at a list of major repair items, separate and apart from the routine service events performed on a particular unit. This separation of repairs from routine maintenance can make it easier to see patterns of recurring repairs.
 |
Suppose you
notice that a particular repair needs to be done on this machine, but
you do not have time to take care of it today, or you don't have the
parts available. You can record that repair event in an
"Outstanding Repairs" list. Then, when you create a work order for
that machine in the future, that outstanding repair will automatically
appear on your work order until you have an opportunity to complete it.
Parts: The Mechanic's Edge lets you maintain a parts list in the system (which is optional). When you do a work order, you can then record what parts were used in connection with that work order (as shown in the following picture). The system allows you to either: a) pick from a pre-defined parts list and have the standard part cost follow the part; or b) buy a part directly onto a work order, and enter the cost and supplier information associated with the parts purchase as you are filling out the work order. (See below for more detail on how you can manage your part purchases through the system.)
 |
If you use the
inventory module in the Mechanic's Edge, the system will decrease the
inventory you have in stock as you use the parts on a work order.
Labor: Use the Labor tab to record labor hours spent in connection with the work order. If you have multiple mechanics who performed work in connection with the work order, you would simply have multiple rows for the different guys. Most users simply put in one line item per mechanic with his total hours worked, but if you want, you can break down his hours into time spent on each service event you entered on the first tab. (The "Task" drop-down will show each maintenance event entered on the Maintenance tab.) If the mechanic has to travel out to a job site specifically to do the repair work on this machine, you can even track those hours separately from his actual work time.
 |
If you use the
gross payroll portion of the software, you can set up each of your
mechanics' hourly payroll rates. The system will take care of
applying the overtime rules you set up in the system, and will generate
a gross payroll statement for each employee.
Description of Work: The mechanic can use this tab to type in whatever descriptive information he wants to include as part of his work order (see below).
 |
Special Instructions: Like the Description tab shown above, this tab allows free-form entry of specific instructions to the mechanic. The purpose of this tab is to let a head mechanic communicate special instructions to the specific mechanic that will be performing the work. These special instructions will print out on the Mechanic's version of the work order, but will NOT print out on the Costed version or the Invoice version of the work order.
3. Reviewing Work Order Information Over Time
The Wrench Icon
provides a
"One-Stop" shop for reviewing a variety of information about each
machine.
 |
The window above shows what the right portion of the screen looks like when the "Scheduled Maintenance" radio button is selected for a given piece of equipment. (The radio buttons are in the bottom left corner of the window.)
Below, you can see what the grid on the right looks like for any particular piece of equipment as you select each of these different radio buttons.
|
Work Order Radio Button  |
|
Service Events Radio Button  |
|
Hours Radio Button  |
|
Costs Radio Button  |
|
Repairs Radio Button  |
4. Scheduled Maintenance
The Mechanic's Edge has a feature that allows you to set up scheduled maintenance events for each equipment unit to be performed at certain regular intervals. For example, you may have certain service events that are to be performed every 1000 hours, or every 10,000 miles or kilometers. Or, you may have inspections that are due every 6 months or every year..
Moreover, you may want to set up different equipment units to follow different types of schedules. As with other features in the Mechanic's Edge, you can keep your schedules as simple as you want or you can be very detailed in your scheduled maintenance. For example, some users set up one general "Maintenance Schedule Type", and tie all their equipment units to that type. Others will set up different schedules for different types of machines (e.g., an Excavator schedule versus a Grader schedule). You can even go so far as to set up a different "Schedule Type" for each machine model that reflects the service events from the owner's manual.
In our example, we have set up two simple Schedule Types: one general one to be used for all Equipment, and another general one to be used for all Trucks.
 |
Each Schedule Type then has its own individual service events associated with it. The 1st eleven rows shown below reflect all the different service events set up for the "General Equipment" schedule. The last two rows show the simple service events set up for the "General Truck" schedule.
 |
As you may recall from the Equipment setup list, each equipment unit and truck gets assigned to a single Schedule Type (see below).
The system combines this schedule designation for each equipment with the information from the work orders (and your entries for odometer and hour meter readings which you can enter for your equipment/trucks). With this information, it can keep track of when services are coming due. You can then run a report like the following one to see what equipment units are due for which types of services.
 |
The parts tracking portion of the software is a powerful feature that allows you to record parts used on each piece of equipment. As with most of the other features in the software, you can use it to varying degrees of detail. Some users set up parts they most frequently use, but do not worry about tracking parts costs through the system; they merely want a record of what parts were used on which machines, and when they were used. They can then run a report like the one shown below, where they can see a complete history of all the parts used on a particular equipment unit, along with the corresponding date and work order number.
 |
On the opposite end of the spectrum, some users rely on the system as a database for all their parts purchases. Some also use the inventory tracking feature of the system so that as parts are purchased into inventory, and/or as they are used on work orders, the system will keep track of quantities and costs of parts remaining in inventory.
For users who do keep up with parts purchases in the system, the software serves as a great tool for looking up not only when a part was last used on an equipment unit, but also where that part was purchased, and what the costs were from various suppliers.
 |
For users who have the inventory module of the system enabled, they can call up the inventory look-up grid, and see what specific parts they have on hand, and where those parts are located.
 |
As you can see, the Mechanic's Edge is quite comprehensive in terms of the data that it allows you to collect, but you determine how much or how little detail you want to record. Because of its flexibility, it makes a great tool for simple shops with one mechanic, as well as for sophisticated shops with multiple mechanics and a big parts inventory.
Once you adopt an electronic system for keeping up with your machines and repairs, you'll wonder how you ever functioned with a manual approach!
