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Commander
The Command
Post 3000 dispatching module raises
the bar on both manual and automated dispatching.
Drag & drop is not an afterthought,
it’s our core dispatching engine
— and it’s literally on steroids.
Battle-hardened in the real HVAC world,
the engine defies the industry scuttlebutt
that a powerhouse system is hard to learn
and hard to use. We designed the power
in to make it easy to use, and instant
feedback lets you know exactly what you’re
doing at all times. The system’s
ability to be customized to fit your needs
is unlimited.
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Setting up the various
divisions, departments, job types, and
payment methods is straightforward in
Command Post
3000. You can even specify default
values for each of these. Command
Post 3000 automatically tracks
each individual classification so you
get a handle on the profitable aspects
of your business, as well as those aspects
that require your attention. You can configure
your system to be as simple or complex
as you need: you're always in command.
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Nothing saves time like
a shortcut, but they're no good if you
can't shape them to suit your specific
business needs. In Command
Post 3000, you can configure the
main shortcuts for several sections of
the program so you can cut input time,
reduce keyboarding errors, and improve
job throughput at the outset. You can
remove shortcuts entirely, create a small
handful, or build hundreds of shortcuts
if that's what you need — and it's
all controlled with total ease by you,
the commander. You can create different
shortcuts for different job types, which
maximizes flexibility and prevents you
from being locked in to a "one size
fits all" approach.
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Dispatch Configurations
are easy to add, delete, and modify. Each
configuration controls what kind of jobs
will appear on each Dispatch Window, which
dispatchers are authorized to see that
configuration, and which mechanics are
to be included in that configuration.
Job types can be selected from any combination
of company divisions, departments, job
types, and customer types. Simply click
to add additional items to a configuration,
or to de-select items no longer wanted
in any given config. The same is true
for the list of mechanics to appear in
each configuration: click to add or remove.
The simplicity is designed in, so that
you can change configurations on the fly.
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Floor plan control is
particularly important for new residential
construction. You can track each floorplan
designated by a builder, the various revisions
that arise to that plan and the nature
of those revisions, the list of options
for that floorplan, and both general inventory
requirements for that floorplan as well
as specific inventory items and quantities
for that floorplan. The easy-to-use inventory
interface that appears in both the inventory
and flat rate sections of Command
Post 3000 is used in a novel and
powerful new way here, which makes work
order generation with fully-itemized inventory
picklists fast and simple. Of course,
on-hand inventory is automatically recalculated
as the job is sold, using the work order
you've built as an authoritative guide.
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| Employee productivity needs to be
measured objectively, and not left to biased (and inaccurate)
assessment. All relevant factors of a technician's performance
are brought together in one place, and can be printed
out in report form (where it becomes a powerful tool
in your hands to ensure the right people are being commended
or corrected). Too many call backs? Command
Post 3000 tells you exactly how many a technician
had for that month, quarter, or year. Average travel
speed much slower than his co-workers? A good indication
that he's doing something other than getting to the next
job site with your trucks. This is one of the most valuable
reports included in the Command
Post 3000 system, empowering you to get to the
bottom of a problem, correct it, and make sure it stays
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| Command Post
3000 uses powerful color-coding to track technician
performance in each job category. You'll notice that
this screen differs from the one above: the rectangles
along the bottom are colored differently. Orange
signifies a warning condition, while Red signifies
a serious situation. The jobs the mechanic did that
created his rating appear on the bottom list, and
can be double-clicked to bring them on-screen to
double-check what's going on. Mitigating factors
might exonerate the technician — or maybe not!
But you know instantly when performance is not meeting
expectations. |
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| The Employee Productivity Report can be printed
out as well, breaking down the technician's performance for
every job type and trade. The gray circles, like orange on the
screen, signals a warning situation, while a solid circle indicates
a serious problem exists that requires management attention.
These printed reports put employee evaluation on an objective
footing, which improves morale by assuring your workers that
the same standards apply to all of them: no favoritism, and
no cronyism, can influence the results. Only the skill and work
ethics of the employee affect the reports -- as it should be. |
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System security is a snap
with Command Post 3000
— YOU determine what any given user is allowed to see
or manipulate. The initial software release protects 54 different
access points in the program (click on the picture at the
left to see them all in more detail). Pick a user and set
his or her permissions quickly and easily. You can quickly
recover forgotten passwords as well (even though they're encrypted
on your server and would otherwise look like gibberish).
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The easiest way to set
up construction phase shortcuts is by
letting Command
Post 3000 know how many phases
you actually use in your business. (For
example, some companies distinguish between
trim-out and finish, while otherwise combine
them. Command
Post 3000 permits customization
across the board.) Once you've enabled
the appropriate construction phases, set
the number of men and total hours required
for each phase, as well as mechanic complexity
ratings, and Command
Post 3000 is prepped to allow one-button
generation of calls for each phase of
construction your business deals with.
Set it up once, use it many times a day
thereafter — and change the definitions
on the fly if you need to.
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The initial release of
Command Post 3000 allowed
setting up 8 different inventory departments (see the Inventory
tab of this website to see how easily the system organizes
even the most massive inventories). The maximum is now 24
departments. The departments are defined in the Commander
portion of the program, as are the specific locations where
inventory can be located. You can also specify which locations
are valid points of entry for inventory receiving (click the
picture at left to see which locations are so marked). How
do you set a given location to be a receiving location? Right-clicking
on its name toggles it back and forth between a location where
inventory can be received from vendors, and a standard, non-receiving
location. (This right-click approach is used elsewhere in
the Commander, like Floorplan Control, where this technique
permits allocating different pieces of inventory to different
phases of construction.)
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In every contracting business,
one of the most difficult decisions that
an owner makes is how to spend his money.
For instance, how much cash do I have
to put down on a vehicle? Can I safely
act when an opportunity pops up to buy
in bulk? Where do I stand financially
today? It is critical to understand your
accounts payable and accounts receivable
landscape, and to know at a flash exactly
where your company stands that minute.
Command Post 3000's
approach is every owner's or manager's
dream. Decisions will be based on accurate
figures because this system informs you
concerning the number of calls that came
in today, the number of checks written,
and the payables that are owed. The owner
can control every aspect of his computer
system while barring access to unauthorized
users poking around in the system. Command
Post 3000 leaves no part of your
business in the dark.
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Dispatch configuration can
be as simple or elaborate as your company
needs it. Quickly build
as many custom dispatch configurations as
you want, for multiple dispatchers, job types,
departments, employee sets, and even define
geographic regions to assign to each dispatcher.
To the left you can see the map of Austin,
with the northwest region that the dispatcher
defined being shown in red. Each square represents
a map page from one of several major map suppliers.
You can adjust which map pages belong to each
region, add or remove regions or reshape them
to suit you, all with a click of the mouse.
Then you can choose to impose regional distinctions
in setting up your dispatch configurations,
both for clients, technicians, and even which
dispatchers work which regions! |
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| Here you can see how this customer has overlapped
his southwest and southeast regions -- the darker red shows
the region of overlap at an instant. Overlapping regions has
several benefits, the most obvious being that the automated
dispatching system gets a performance boost and provides even
better travel routes when regions have a bit of overlap between
them. The overlap gives Command
Post 3000 the flexibility to generate more mileage-efficient
routes for mechanics who are near a call that is located just
outside their normal region. Smart dispatching by region means
setting up overlaps like this, which take only seconds to create
inside the Commander Module of Command
Post 3000. However, the patent pending Automated Dispatching
system is even more efficient than dispatch-by-region! |
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