Implementation Guidelines

The following describes how a service provider should implement a rapid repair assessment process within one of its locations:

1. A service provider should start small  . No matter how many shifts are run or how many days the facility is open, a service provider should implement the rapid repair assessment process on the shift that is most monitored. This is usually the day shift, Monday through Friday. Once the process is established on this shift, expand the process into other shifts and weekends.
   Fig 1: Rapid Repair Assessment Flow Chart

   
2. Identify the technician who will be performing all the diagnostics on a specified shift  . This technician should be one of the highest-trained technicians at the service provider's location and possess good communication skills.
3. Meet with all managers and review the policy and processes that will be put into place with a tentative start date  . It is critical to the success of this process that the parts department understands the importance of quick turn-around, parts availability, parts pricing and to whom such information should go. Remember, it should take no more than four hours to check-in and diagnosis a vehicle so a mutually acceptable repair plan can be made.
4. Explain the procedure in detail to your diagnostic technicians  . Let them know who their main contact is in both the parts and service departments. The diagnostic technician will:
   1. work on the mutually agreed upon mission-disabling item only. Any other issues will be worked through the normal queue of the shop.
   2. diagnose the complaint and give the estimated time to repair the issue to the person in the service department who has been designated as the customer liaison. If the repair can be made within the two-hour diagnostic window - which starts when the customer checks in with the service consultant - and no parts are needed, then the diagnostic technician can, if time permits, go ahead and make the repair. This is communicated to the customer via the customer's preferred method of communication as quickly as possible.
   3. submit the needed parts list to the designated parts person. Once the parts person determines the price and availability, the parts person communicates that to the service department. The service department then prepares a repair plan for the customer and estimates the time frame within which the repair will be made.
5. The technician will bill diagnostic time to the repair order even if it is a large job that will need to be scheduled for additional repairs in the shop.
6. Once the rapid repair assessment process is in place and working smoothly, the management team can then implement the process on other shifts and weekends. The key is to work slowly and manage the process.

Following these guidelines will greatly reduce any issues that may arise while implementing this process. Once the process has been implemented, customers will enjoy faster service, better communication and a friendlier experience each time they return to the service facility with a single-item complaint.