How to measure technicians or work bays performance

To measure technicians or work bays performance, follow the instructions below.

Configure the work bays and assign them to technicians.
If technicians don't use the Punchclock, assign jobs to technicians and enter the planned and real times in the Point of sale.
Generate the Performance reports by work bay / technician.
Generate the Tech time report.

With these reports on hand, you have all the needed information to measure technicians' performance. Please note that the data used by GEM-CAR to generate the statistics are available 24 hours after having completed the end-of-day procedure. This is to be taken into account when generating the reports if you want the statistics to be as precise as possible. The statistics will also be much more precise if you use the Punch clock module.

Understand the technician performance reports

After having generated the technician performance reports, you are now ready to read them considering the the measurement units and ratios definitions detailed below.

Technician performance reports measurement units

Actual time: The time technicians are working on income-producing jobs. It includes comebacks and company vehicles if they are punched on work orders.
Expensive time: The time technicians are working on jobs that don't produce income. It includes comebacks and company vehicles if they are punched as internal jobs.
Available time: The total time technicians are available for work excluding breaks and lunch time. It is equal to the actual time plus the expensive time.
Sold time: The time technicians are working on jobs customers are charged for.

Technician performance reports measurement ratios

Productivity: This ratio measures the income-generating work againsts the total worked time. It is equal to the actual time divided by the available time and measures how much work was done on jobs that produce income.
Efficiency: This ratio measures the time sold to customers against income-generating jobs. It is equal to the sold time divided by the actual time and measures how much income-generating work was sold. It's an indicator of work speed.
Proficiency: This ratio measures the time sold to customers againsts the total worked time. It is equal to the sold time divided by the available time and measures how much time technicians work on sold time.

Calculations of statistic for technicians performance

Number of work days

With the Punch clock

The number of worked days is calculated according to the punched hours in the Punch clock by the technicians.

Without the Punch clock

The number of worked days is calculated according to the number of days for which technicians took part to jobs on estimates, whatever the number of invoiced hours.

Paid time

With the Punch clock

The paid time is calculated according to the punched hours in the Punch clock by the technicians.

Without the Punch clock

To simplify management, GEM-CAR considers that technicians worked for 8 hours when they start their working day. Paid time is then equivalent to the number of worked days multiplied by 8 hours.

Invoiced time

As per the hourly rate

GEM-CAR calculates the labor sales total and divides it by the technicians' hourly rate and by the number of invoices. 90% of shops in the industry calculate the invoiced time this way.

As per the quantity

GEM-CAR multiplies the sold quantities by the planned time configured for each labor inventory items. For example, 4 tire changes for which all planned times are of 15 minutes on an invoice corresponds to 1 hour.

Planned time

Planned time corresponds to the total of planned hours in the Calendar. By default, the planned time is equal to the invoiced time. You can modify this data directly in the Point of sale, if need be. To do so, select the jobs on the estimate and modify the duration in the field. You can also right-click the jobs in the calendar.

Real time

Real time corresponds to the sum of real hours configured for each labor inventory item. By default, it is equal to the planned time.

Invoice rate

The invoice rate corresponds to the invoiced time divided by the paid time. As an indication, 50 to 60% is sufficient to cover the fix costs while efficient shops generally reach 70%. Concerning car dealers, they normally reach 80% and more.

Average per invoice

The average per invoice corresponds to the average invoiced hours for each invoice. It should ideally be over 1.3.

Cost price

GEM-CAR calculates the cost price by multiplying the real time by the technicians' bays cost price, all of it divided by the technicians' hourly rate.

Sale price

GEM-CAR calculates the sale price by adding the quantities entered in the Point of sale and multiplying them by the unitary sale price of jobs.

Profit margin

GEM-CAR calculates the profit margin by doing the following operations. It first deducts the cost price from the sale price to calculate the profit. Then, it divides the profit from the sale price.

Calculations relative to the theoretical pricing

You will find below 3 formulas used by GEM-CAR for calculating the theoretical pricing.

[Real hourly pricing] = [Planned sales] * [Hourly rate] / 100
[Planned sales] = [Sum of sales] / Sum([Required time]) / [Number of invoices] * 100
[Sum of sales] = Sum([Labor sales]) / [Hourly rate] / [Number of invoices]

Recommendations for accurate technicians performance statistics

Use the GEM-CAR Calendar and Punch clock

GEM-CAR can collect statistics from the Calendar and the Punch clock to generate the Performance report by bay / technician. In fact, using these modules and selecting the With punch option when generating the report should be the way to go and will provide with the most accurate statistics. See Performance report by work bay / technician. for more information. If you can't, enable Option 50 - Schedule appointments without scheduled time in the punch window. This will unable transferring work orders and the works to technicians by having them scanned.

Avoid assigning jobs to wrong work bays

If you don't use the Punch clock and dvisors assign jobs to wrong work bays, the technicians' performance data will be inaccurate. This may happen if the default bay is assigned to a technician and they forget to assign it to the wright technician. To avoid this situation, we suggest that you don't assign a technician to your default bay and that you block invoicing for this bay. See Work bay and technician management for more information about word bays configuration.

Configure cost prices for each work bay

To generate statistics, you must configure cost prices for your work bays. The cost prices should ideally be equal to the technician’s salary plus a margin of 20 to 25%. See Work bay and technician management for more information about bay configuration.

Close invoices and do the end-of-day procedure

If you don't use the Punch clock, GEM-CAR will collect statistics from closed invoices after closed days. Therefore, don't forget to close invoices and perform the end-of-day procedure each day.

Avoid long unclosed jobs if you don't use the Punch clock

If you don't use the Punch clock, GEM-CAR only collects statistics when closing invoices, days and months. Because long jobs that take more than 1 day to complete will count only for 1 day, avoid long jobs planned over multiple days. Create kits with multiple jobs that can be planned and rescheduled and produce different invoices that can be closed each day instead. This is also good practice to optimize cash flows. See Management of kits and Work steps for more information about kit configuration and work steps.

Make sure technicians close their day in the Punch Clock

If you use the Punch Clock, GEM-CAR collects statistics about technicians if technicians close their days. Therefore, make sure they select the Stop button when they finish their shifts.

Validate technicians’ timesheets

Incorrect timesheets affect technicians' performance statistics, especially if you don't use the Punch Clock. Therefore, validate their timesheets every day before doing the end-of-day procedure.

Group jobs in Appointment categories

The performance report ignores any inventory item that isn't contained in an appointment category. Therefore, select the APPOINTMENT category type when configuring categories including labor. See Inventory management: Category management for more information on category configuration.

Use an average hourly rate for the Performance report by bay / technician

If you use multiple hourly rates for different job types, use an average hourly rate for the performance report.

Returns and comebacks

For returns or comebacks, first create a copy of the original invoice and assign it to the same technician who did the work, but with negative quantities to nullify the original invoice. Then, create a new copy of the invoice with positive quantities and assign it to the technician who redid the job.

warranty

For warranties, create an invoice and assign it to the technician who did the job. Then, create a copy of the invoice, assigned it to the same technician, but with negative quantities.

Wage change

GEM-CAR uses the configured technicians' wage when generating the Performance report by work bay / technician. Therefore, if this wage changed during the period, expect slightly inaccurate statistics.