First, our deepest apologies for this mornings MESS !  We had tested 9.32.33 for two days in a shop with absolutely no problems, but that didn’t translate to the release you received today.   The problem was in our “API”.  This is what translates our “code” to Windows code.  The update was built with the May release, and in our testing it was working fine.  However, there was a global breakdown so I reverted to the April code which ran fine elsewhere.  That is version 9.32.37.

Some of you may have had a problem because it won’t update to .37.  That revealed another issue.  We started using a date comparison to move the file to your workstation, but will need to update that to do a date and time comparison ( it should have been automatic … drats ).  So, it was only allowing the workstations to update once per day !  If you have a problem, email support@masterlinksoftware.com and we will send back specific instructions on how to get to .37.

So why was this update so important ?  There are 3 things:

1)  We wanted to introduce Voice control.  Some of you noticed that your computer greeted you when you started the program.  That might have had its own issues.  It was just the beginning of what we hope to do in that area.

2)  On Monday we want to follow up with a release that turns on the new CarFax capability.  Essentially, you can click a button in a workorder, Vehicle edit screen, or appointment scheduler and get a CARFAX report on the services that have been performed on the vehicle in the past.  YES, it is installed, tested, and working, but we can’t turn it on until June 15th.

3)  We have included a new capability that is called ServiceIntelligence.  This has been in the works for over a year.  Live testing starts today.  What is it ?  Well, this company installs a program on your computer that tracks the services performed on every vehicle.  It compares that to industry standards and can show what has been performed, and what needs to be performed.  It will provide a nicely formatted report for the client, which you can review before, and after, the service.  AND they do complete followup, pro-active marketing, social media, text messaging, and online appointment scheduling.  We will refine the interface over the next few weeks, and then provide you with information on how to get the system installed on your computers.  This product does meet the requests that many people have sent us for a 3rd party service.  More details will be available soon.

There are more items coming … so hopefully the API problems will be resolved shortly.  Again, my sincere apologies for the inconvenience this morning.  I do realize how much it impacts your work.

When you perform a VIN decode, the data is taken from our CARFAX data file.  This is much faster than always doing it “online”.

An automatic update today should have placed the most current file on your server.  You don’t need to do anything.  It will overwrite the existing file.

If you have problems decoding any VIN number, please email them to us so we can test it here.  If our copy works, yours may not have updated, and we can do that manually.  If its not in the file, we can check with CARFAX and make sure that year/make/model is added to the database.

We attempt to update the file in April, September, and December.  This should keep it very current.