Table of Contents
- Content of This Document
- POS Version; Multilocation
- Integration Setup/Installation
- Data Processing
- Employee Setup
- Employee Assignment
- Work Order Status: Appointments, Estimates, Repair Orders, Invoices; Drop Off & Closeout
- Work Order Items
- Customers
- Vehicles
- Recommendations and Declined Jobs
- Canned Jobs / Service Packages
Content of This Document
This document contains details about Protractor and how data from Protractor transfers to AutoVitals.
POS Version; Multilocation
How to Identify POS Version #

Does the POS version affect AV integration?
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Not in the past. We have never seen a POS update cause a problem for this integration, though that can change with future significant updates.
Can this POS be Multilocation?
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Yes
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How to identify
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How that affects the setup in AV
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Service Packages (canned jobs) and Employees can be configured in one place in the enterprise setup for Protractor.
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All other information is location-specific.
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Integration Setup/Installation
How this POS is Integrated or Installed
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API integration with no install
How to Identify Server Computer
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No Server
Data Processing
Available Processing Hours
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24/7. When Protractor sends us data, we process it.
Expected Delay of Data Transfer
Primary Data
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< 30 seconds |
Service Packages |
1 hour |
Employees |
1 hour |
Employee Setup
How the POS Works and How it Transfers to AV
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How to get there in the POS
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Setup
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Employees
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Adding a new employee
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Add
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The “Name” field is the name that is displayed in AutoVitals. “File As” and “Display Name” are not used.
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Select “Technician” and/or “Service Advisor”
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If neither Technician or Service Advisor is selected, then the employee will not appear in AV.
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An employee can be technician, service advisor, or both.
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How are they deleted or marked inactive?
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There are two ways for an employee to be considered deleted.
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The “Delete” button.
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Or unchecking the box next to “Employee” in the Employee Details window, which marks them as inactive in Protractor.
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What happens if employee was manually deleted in AV?
Common Troubleshooting
Missing employee
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Was it created in the POS > 1 hour ago? It takes up to 1 hour for new employees to appear.
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Are they either inactive or deleted in AV?
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Are there any employees with a blank name in AV? See below section “Blank Name”
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Check POS if properly configured
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Under “Active” employees
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“Type” has the desired role selected
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If no explanations found, escalate
Blank Name
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If the employee account is showing a blank name, it’s because the “Name” field in Protractor is blank.
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You cannot check this through the Employees list in Protractor. You have to take a different route:
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Search by name
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Double-click on contact
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Check the “Name” field as described in above section for How the POS Works
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SMS/POS Code
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The SMS Code which AV uses to identify employees is not displayed in Protractor, so it’s not easy to get.
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The best way to confirm which employee account is the one that the shop is trying to use is to create an RO an assign it to that SA or tech, then see under which account it appears in AV
Employee Assignment
How the POS Works and How it Transfers to AV
Service Advisors
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By default, no service advisor is assigned to the work order in Protractor. One can be selected
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The advisors initials will appear on the vehicle tile on Today’s Vehicles Page
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The advisor’s name will appear on the RO details on Today’s Vehicles Page
Default Technician
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By default, no technician is assigned to the work order in Protractor. One can be selected
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The default technician will show in AutoVitals and the tech will be assigned to all of the jobs on the RO which are not already assigned to someone else
Technician Per Job
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In addition to default tech, techs can be assigned to individual job groups in Protractor.
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This is done by right-clicking on a job group, then selecting “Assign Technician”
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Work Order Status: Appointments, Estimates, Repair Orders, Invoices; Drop Off & Closeout
How the POS Works and How it Transfers to AV
Types in Protractor
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Protractor has the option to create an Appointment, Estimate, Credit Slip, or Work Order
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Appointments
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Cannot contain labors/parts
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Can be converted into a work order
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Estimates
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Can contain labor/parts
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Cannot be scheduled / have an appointment.
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Are typically rarely used in Protractor.
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Credit Slips
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are ignored by AV
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Work Order
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Can contain labors/parts
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Can be considered either an estimate or repair order in AV, depending on the status selected in Protractor.
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It’s considered an estimate in AV if the status is “Scheduled Work”
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Protractor automatically sets status to “Scheduled Work” if no default tech is assigned and the appointment date is changed to tomorrow or beyond. If a default tech is assigned, the status can be manually changed to “Scheduled Work”.
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It’s considered a repair order in AV if it’s in any status other than “Scheduled Work”.
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It can be converted from an appointment. An appointment can also be added after the work order was already created.
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Invoice
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A work order which has been posted and closed out.
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How They Appear in AV
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Appointments, Estimates, and Repair Orders will only transfer to AV if they have a customer and vehicle.
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Appointments
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If the shop has an AV package with workflow steps, the appointment will appear in appointment columns such as “Today’s Appointments”. If the appointment is > 2 days in the future, it will not be visible on Today’s Vehicles Page.
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If the shop has an AV package without workflow steps (such as DVIx), the appointment will not be visible on Today’s Vehicles Page.
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Estimates
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Will appear in the exact same area as appointments. This happens regardless if the shop is configured to ignore estimates. The setting to ignore estimates only affects workflow steps, not the appointments columns
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Work Orders in “Scheduled Work” status are considered the same as estimates.
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Note - if a work order was initially created and saved before setting the status to “Scheduled Work”, then the work order will already have appeared in AutoVitals like a repair order.
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If the shop has drop off detection enabled, changing it from repair order to estimate status (“Scheduled Work”) will still leave the work order as a repair order in AV.
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If the shop has drop off detection disabled, changing it from repair order to estimate status (“Scheduled Work”), then the work order will become treated like an estimate in AV.
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Additional information on drop off detection is available at Drop Off Detection
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Work Orders in any status other than “Scheduled Work” are treated like repair orders in AV.
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Invoice
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A work order which is “posted” in Protractor will be considered closed out in AV and removed from Today’s Vehicles Page.
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Work Order Items
How the POS Works and How it Transfers to AV
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Protractor always contains all labors & parts within a job group (or “Service Package”)
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There are different types of services: Concerns, Inspections, Services
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All of them are treated the same in AV
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Job Group Name vs Description, Labor, and Parts
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The job group name and description, labors, and parts appear in AV. Footers do not.
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If a job group contains no labor or parts, it will still appear in AV and can be sent to the technician’s tablet.
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If there are multiple labors, all parts in the job group will appear under the first labor.
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If a job group contains a part but no labor, AV will add a generic labor line so that the part(s) have somewhere to appear.
Labor Hours
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Protractor has “Hours” and “Technician Hours”
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Technician Hours (aka Paid Hours) are what AV displays on TVP and tablet
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To view, double-click on the labor in POS. The summary view of the work order only displays the hours billed to customer, so viewing the job details is necessary to see Technician Hours.
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Declined Jobs
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A job group can be declined, or sent to “Deferred Work”.
To view Deferred Work, see tab at bottom of screen:
To move a job to Deferred Work, right-click:
Customers
How the POS Works and How it Transfers to AV
Customer Name
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The “Name” field is used for the name displayed in AV.
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If “Name” is empty, then “File As” is used instead.
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Any additional names listed are ignored.
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Edits to the customer name transfer to AV quickly (<1 minute).
Email Address
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The first email listed in Protractor will be used in AV.
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Any additional emails will be ignored.
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Edits to the email address transfer to AV quickly (<1 minute).
Phone Numbers
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The first two phone numbers listed in order in Protractor will be the two numbers stored in AV.
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If the first one is a mobile number, it will be used for texting.
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If the first one is a landline, the second one will be used for texting if it’s a mobile number.
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If neither of the first two numbers are mobile numbers, then the customer will not be opted in for texting.
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Customer Communication (No Marketing)
Protractor has 3 fields at the customer: No Messaging, No Email, No Post Card
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Selecting “No Messaging” will disable texting in AV
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Selecting “No Email” will disable emails in AV, except for updates on the current visit
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Selecting “No Post Card” has no effect
Protractor also has options at the vehicle for “No Email” and “No Post Card”. These have no effect on the customer communication settings because AV manages communication per customer, not per vehicle.
Vehicles
How the POS Works and How it Transfers to AV
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YMM, VIN, and license plate transfer to AV.
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If Protractor has a 17 character VIN and it can successfully be decoded, AV displays the YMM which is decoded from that VIN.
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If there is no VIN or the VIN is invalid, then we will display the YMM selected in Protractor.
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VINs < 10 or > 17 characters will be ignored
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Edits to the vehicle information transfer to AV quickly (<1 minute).
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The setting for “No Email” has no effect, as described in the Customer Communication section above.
Recommendations and Declined Jobs
How the POS Works and How it Transfers to AV
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Protractor does not have a separate area for recommendations. Jobs can be declined (Deferred Work) and AV can use these as recommendations.
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How the POS works:Protractor: Integration Between POS & AutoVitals | Declined-Jobs
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How to enable the setting in AV to turn declined jobs into recommendations:
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Go to Communication > Post Visit > Service Reminders > “Make declined jobs recommendations for the next visit”
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Canned Jobs / Service Packages
How the POS Works and How it Transfers to AV
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How to get there in the POS
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Setup
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Services
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New jobs can be added with the “Add” button at the top. They will take up to 1 hour to be available in AV.
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Existing jobs can be found through search. You can check in a specific category or through all of them in a group like “Automotive Service” as shown here
Job Codes
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By default, service packages in Protractor do not have a visible job code. These packages will still work with 2-way integration if the shop creates their own inspection sheet and has no plans to share the inspection sheet with other shops.
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If the shop wants to use the inspection sheet of another shop or wants to share their inspection sheet with other shops, it is mandatory that job codes are added in Protractor before configuring the inspection sheet.