The VHC area of the app allows your service technicians to inspect a vehicle and highlight any potential work that needs to be discussed with the vehicle owner.
A Red/Amber/Green report can be produced for your Customer in order to highlight any defects found, giving you the opportunity to upsell more service work. You can also record a video which can be sent by text to the customer so they can see any defects found and approve the work.
Vehicle Health Check Settings
Firstly, you will need to complete some company details in the DragonDMS settings. These will be used when the VHC is sent out to the Customer. Within your DragonDMS go to Settings > APPraise > VHC.
Insert your Company name and telephone number in the contact details section. You will also need to add in an email address that you want notifications to be sent to when a video has been watched by a Customer and when a VHC has been completed by a Technician.
You can also limit the Bookings / Services that your technicians can view on the APPraise App to just those that do not have a VHC already created. To do this tick the box Limit list to Service / Booking with no VHC’s.
Creating your own VHC Templates
You can create your own templates for your VHC’s so that you can decide what checks your Technicians carry out. You may even want to have different checks for different types of vehicles. You can create as many templates as you need.
There are three VHC templates already in DragonDMS: Standard VHC, Alternative VHC, and PDI.
To create your own template, go to Settings > APPraise > VHC and click on the Add button at the bottom of the list of templates. You will be given the option of copying an existing template, this will help save time if you are just adding or removing certain checks.
Once created, double click on a template to edit.
The standard checks for Tyre Depths and Brake Measurements can be excluded from a template by ticking to remove. You can also specify how you wish to record the Brake Measurements.
Use the Add buttons to add new Categories, and new Items. If you wish to change the order of the categories or items, use the up and down buttons.
To add items to a category, ensure that the category is selected and then use the Add button to create a new item. Again, the up and down arrows can be used to reorder the list of items within the category.
Default Conditions
You can also select the Default Condition for the items on the template. This will determine the confirmation that the items on the VHC will automatically be set too. You can choose from the following Default Conditions:
- Green – If selected, all items on the VHC will automatically be set to this colour
- Amber – If selected, all items on the VHC will automatically be set to this colour.
- Red – If selected, all items on the VHC will automatically be set to this colour.
- Not Checked – If selected, all items on the VHC will NOT have a default colour selected and will be marked as Not Checked. The items will need to be changed to the relevant colour, or a comment added to explain why the item has not been checked.
- No Default Selected – None of the above default conditions will be selected on the template
Tyres / Brakes Settings
You can specify the thresholds at which the Amber and Red indicators will show for Tyre Depths and Brake Wear by adjusting the figures in settings.
Completing a VHC
To carry out a VHC, when you are logged into Dragon APPraise click on VHC.
VHC will automatically open on the Bookings page. The navigation bar along the top has 4 options:
- Bookings – A list of all Service Bookings
- Services – A list of Services currently in progress
- Incomplete – Any VHC’s that have been started but have not yet been completed
- Failed – Any VHC’s that have failed to upload to your DragonDMS
There is also the option to select New VHC. This allows you to enter details for a vehicle that does not already have a Booking or Service Record in your DragonDMS.
When clicking on Bookings or Services the list will show you the Vehicle Registration, Customer, Vehicle Description and the Booking or Service Number. These lists can be filtered using the Search bar. If it is a Service in Progress with multiple stages, each stage of the service will show in the Services list so the VHC can be completed against the relevant stage of the job.
Selecting a Booking/Service will start the VHC and will firstly ask you to select a template as shown below. If you have created your own templates in the Settings, these will also be shown in the list. At this stage, you can also update the mileage for that vehicle if applicable by clicking the Edit button.
Recording Type / Brake Measurements
Once you have selected the template you want to use, you will be asked to record the Tread Depths of each of the tyres (unless this has been removed from the template).
Tap the relevant area and scroll through the numbers to select the relevant tread depth. Click Done once completed.
To add more information about the manufacturer, size, condition or photos of the tyres, click on Additional Details.
When you have entered all of the Tread Depths, press Next to move on to the Brake Measurements section (unless this has been removed from the template).
Tap to set the measurements for Disc Remaining and Pad Remaining for each area and enter the percentage figure.
If the vehicle has Drum Brakes, tick the Drum Brake box so no measurements will need to be recorded.
By clicking on the pencil icon, you can add any comments or photos for the Brake Wear.
Red / Amber / Green Items
When you have entered all of the brane tyre information, press Next and you will be given a list of components to check depending on which template you have selected. You can also move between categories by dropping the Category list down at the top of the page and selecting the category you wish to go to without the need to keeping moving back or to the next page of the VHC.
Record either Red, Amber or Green for each section. Please note that all components will be automatically set to Green when you start the VHC. This can be changed in the Appraise settings on your DragonDMS by going into Settings > Appraise > VHC and double clicking on the relevant template. You will then be able to select the default condition for that template.
Clicking on Red, Amber or Green will open a box where the Technician can record any comments. Photos can also be added if required. Once any additional details have been logged, a box will appear next to that area confirming Detail Added.
At the bottom of each category of items there is an option to Add Items. Click the + button and enter the item name and click Add Item when complete. The new item will be listed at the bottom of the category where you can indicate if this is Red, Amber or Green and add additional detail if required. There is no limit to the number of items that can be added.
** Added items will only be on the VHC they were added to and will NOT be added to the VHC Template **
Saving a VHC
If you are midway through completing a VHC but are unable to continue, you can exit the VHC and you will have the option to save the work you have already done. Click the Back arrow in the top left hand corner of the screen and you will have the following options:
- Save – This will save the VHC and the work already completed. The VHC will show in your Incomplete list for you to return to and complete at a later date.
- Discard – This will delete the VHC you are in and will take you back to the beginning to select a vehicle and start again.
- Cancel – This will take you back into the VHC you are currently working on and will allow you to continue.
Recording a VHC Video
The last screen of the VHC is where you can record a video. A quick and simple 60 second video from your technician helps to boost customer satisfaction and increases the likelihood of any identified work being authorised. The APPraise app from Dragon2000 allows you to take advantage of this.
Not all Health Check Videos have to identify issues. Clean video reports help to build Customer trust leading to repeat business and referrals. get into the habit of performing a VHC on every vehicle you service.
Click on Add Video Clip and you will have the option to select Camera where you can record a video or Library where you can upload a video already saved on your device. Once you have recorded a video, you can watch it and then select Use Video or Retake.
Multiple videos can be recorded and then stitched together when uploaded. Once you have multiple video clips recorded, you can change the order by dragging them up or down the list. The video will be stitched together in the order that you have selected. When you are happy with everything you have recorded select Done.
If the VHC is being carried out on a vehicle that has already been created as a booking or a service job in DragonDMS, you will be given the option to send the video directly from the app either as a text message or email.
If you do not want to send the video at this stage select Skip.
**Click Here to see our “Best Practice Health Check Video Guide”
Submitting your Vehicle Health Check
Once you are happy with everything you have recorded in the VHC, select Done in the top right hand corner of the screen.
You will then get a message saying ‘Health Check complete. Are you finished?’ select Yes.
The screen will then show Converting Video. Once the video has been converted, it will then say Uploading Video. Once the video has been uploaded, the VHC will be sent to your DragonDMS.
What to do if your VHC fails to Upload
If you are in the process of uploading your completed VHC but the upload is not successful (for example if you lose your internet connection), you will have the option to Retry or Save.
Retry will attempt to upload the VHC again and Save will move the entire VHC into the Failed list in your VHC menu. The VHC will be locked so no changes can be made but you will have the option to re-try the upload at a later date.
Any elements of the VHC that were successfully uploaded will appear in your DragonDMS.
The Failed VHC list is generated by the VHC’s completed on that particular device and is not user specific. Therefore, all users that log into the APPraise app on that device will be able to access the Failed uploads and retry if applicable.
Viewing the Vehicle Health Check in your DragonDMS
Within your DragonDMS, go to APPraise > Vehicle Health Checks > Pending Health Checks.
You will then see a list of your Pending Health Checks separated into Unassigned (no Booking or Service Record), Bookings and Services. You can also view your Completed Health Checks here.
Completed Health Checks are attached to invoiced jobs which means you can’t do anything with them other than view and print the report.
Double click on a VHC to open the details. This shows you all of the information from the check you completed on the Dragon APPraise App. On the details screen you will see the following buttons along the top:
- Add Item – This allows you to add a new item to the Vehicle Health Check Record
- Delete VHC – This will permanently delete the Vehicle Health Check Record
- Go to job – This will take you to the Service or Booking Record
- Customer – This will take you to the Customer Record
- Print – This allows you to print the VHC Report or attach it to an email where the Customer has an email address in their record.
From the record, you can also see the Video Status. This will be one of the following:
- No Video Recorded – No video was captured therefore cannot be sent to the Customer.
- Video Currently Processing – A video has been captured and is in the process of being uploaded.
- Video Recorded – Either watch the video or click Send Video to send it to the Customer.
- Pending – A request has been made to send a SMS and a check is being made to ensure there are enough credits to send the SMS. Once the text has been sent, Dragon2000 Support will confirm with the SMS provider that it has been sent successfully.
- Video Sent, Not Watched – An SMS link has been sent to the Customer successfully but they have yet to watch it.
- Video Watched – The Customer has clicked the link and watched the video. You will also receive an email notification alerting you it has been watched.
- Failed – The video failed to be uploaded. If the VHC has been moved into your Failed list of the Dragon APPraise App then you can try to upload it again from here.
There is a tick box marked Show Green Items. Unticking this box will hide all of the items that were marked as Green. This allows easier viewing of the items requiring attention.
Editing a Vehicle Health Check in your DragonDMS
Double clicking on a VHC item will allow you to change the item colour, add labour hours or add parts.
All VHC items that have been logged should also have an Action. The Action indicates how the customer wants to proceed.
- Authorised to Job – Selecting this will add the labour (and parts if added) to the jo
- Waiting for Customer – Indicates that the Customer has been informed of the work required and you are awaiting their decision
- Work Deferred – Will give the option of adding the VHC item as an advisory on the job.
If any items have been missed from the VHC, you can click on the Add Item button to add a new item to the VHC.