Digital Order Processing in the Automotive Industry

4Service Product Manager, Magdalena Jesionowska had been looking for a system to automate internal processes, create transparency, and improve service quality for a long time. Employees should not be on the road using clipboards any more, and the manual entry of thousands of paper orders per month in a company database was outdated and error-prone. The first digitization goal - order management that is orchestrated internally and externally on a modern basis.

4Service turned to the digitization specialist PK Systems. The Berlin-based consulting company supports medium-sized companies with the digitization of business processes and is an authorized partner in “go-digital”, a support program of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology.

A financial review and analysis of 4Service‘s automotive, aviation, and transportation business units showed that the processes in the automotive sector were ideal for the first automation project. They offered optimum added value from implementing the digitization goals of management as quickly as possible; process speed and transparency, longevity of technical implementation, and improvement in customer loyalty across all internal and external interfaces.

The JobRouter digital process automation platform quickly gained an edge over all eligible competitor products. In addition to its mobile usability, JobRouter met all requirements, which were important for 4Service:

• The license model is independent of order volume;  it is not tied to the number of transactions but is aligned to user numbers.
• JobRouter supports 18+ languages, develops and distributes in Germany and ensures support in the German language.
• 4Service‘s sensitive customer data are saved in a German cloud, according to the requirements of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the strict German data protection law.
• Interfaces to other systems can be integrated easily at 4Service and the subsidiaries of their customers.
• The power, flexibility and ease-of-customization in JobRouter enables the transfer and adaptation of services and processes to other clients of 4Service.

The first process, the specification for vehicle delivery, was implemented in JobRouter in October 2016. One month later the agile development of the digital processes was started. In February 2017, the first digitized orders could be processed in daily business.

Magdalena Jesionowska recalls that fundamental issues, such as interdependency with the customer and the complex product system had to be taken into consideration right from the start.  "In this way, we ensured that the offer of individual maintenance packages in the service area for end customer plus the contract and billing structure for vehicle preparation can all be processed with JobRouter."

For the pilot phase, the largest branch office of the customer was selected, as it uses most of the services provided by 4Service. Eight weeks after the pilot was launched, the JobRouter digitization platform was rolled out to all other branches in the capital.

4Service and its key users in the main office were glad to discover JobSync, a JobRouter test system, which enabled the testing of new JobRouter features and process innovations in an early stage and under real conditions. So it became clear almost immediately, which elements of the new automated processes have been proven in practice and which needed to be optimized. The switch from paper documents to mobile devices was dynamic. Starting at 6 a.m. on February 6, all new orders were accepted and scheduled electronically. As an interim solu­tion for orders already booked weeks in advance, paper-based inventory forms could also be entered into the new JobRouter system for a smooth transition.

Today, if leasing returns have to be prepared or a replacement vehicle has to be delivered, the employees of the car dealers do not contact 4Sservice by telephone or fax but book the service themselves online using the JobRouter interface.

All order types are created using an item structure. Ozone handling is an item, nano sealing is another, and the shipment of a new company car also has an item number. Special services such as night surcharges or waiting times are also created as items and are recognized by JobRouter on the basis of the time of day, and calculated automatically.

To enable flawless vehicle handovers in underground garages where no wireless or network connection is available, mobile device management (MDM) was added to the system on request of 4Service. This allows drivers to log in from any tablet and receive an e-mail with a PDF transfer protocol pre-filled by JobRouter, which can be edited offline on the tablet. Whether gathering damage documentation, signatures, mileage, or details of additional services – everything can be added and edited without a network connection.

As soon as the driver reaches the next radio cell, JobRouter reads the data and makes it available for checking and invoicing, including automatically calculating waiting times. The 4Service service teams are equipped with identical tablets.

The most noticeable physical change in everyday working life is experienced by employees in order scheduling. While there used to be background noise like in a call center, today you can only hear the clattering of keyboards. The reason: There are no phone inquiries any more. Customers can look up their order status themselves, at any time. Staff and task planning became much easier too, since it became easy to tell who had completed which task and when, and how busy the individual departments were.

The new process transparency – one of the strengths of JobRouter – has elevated communication between 4Service, its employees and its customers to a new level. Stress, a hectic pace, and tension are all water under the bridge. The working atmosphere has changed totally.

Another advantage of digitization could be seen a few weeks after the switch. Sales and turnover forecasting are now done in real time. Fewer old paper orders were in circulation and full visibility became the answer to the question: Where do we stand right now? The number of orders per day or the cumulated number for a month can now be seen with just one touch of a button. Live tracking enables not only accurate turnover and liquidity forecasts – but also allows internal controls to check the average duration of individual activities in real time and use these numbers as a basis for price calculations.

Accounting benefits greatlly from improved data quality and support through JobRouter sub-processes. Before the invoice is created, the customer checks all performed services for accuracy and confirms acceptance electronically. After that, JobRouter organizes the correct creation and assignment of digital receipts according to cost center and location.

Magdalena Jesionowska is extremely satisfied with the digitization of vehicle preparation and delivery / pick-up services . She can see many opportunities to extend these kinds of services to other customers from the automotive sector:

“Thanks to the instance capability we were able to adapt the JobRouter processes individually and quickly to meet the needs of other major customers. We know that our customers want to see the orders transparently and in an audit-proof way. The order.4service application enables these features exactly and raises our services to a new and higher level. We create transparency throughout the whole service chain, and we offer reliable time and planning management in commissioning,  order performance and invoicing. With JobRouter and the digitization specialist PK Systems at our side we feel well equipped for the digitization of further processes.”

• cutting-edge portal and user frontend is usable via mobile devices, such as tablets and smartphones
• “talks” to all common interfaces, facilitates the connection to third-party and custom software systems
• no initial license costs for SaaS license models (Software as a Service)
• enables any number of instances/customers
• clean logical / content-related data separation and customizability for large clients with complex requirements
• available in 18+ languages
• German language support on all levels: developers, producer, service partner, customer
• once created, process templates can be flexibly adapted and used for further processes
• high process transparency: Every single instance can be traced without gaps even after completion