Arsenault Associates's new version of its maintenance management software, Dossier Version 6.1, offers expanded reporting capabilities and new tools for compliance and benchmarking.
Dossier 6.1 is engineered for scalability from a single PC to the largest corporate environment.

"The enhancements in Dossier 6.1 were developed in close collaboration with our user community," said Bob Hausler, vice-president of marketing & technology at Arsenault. "Reports in 6.1 are even easier to generate, manage, access, and distribute, and our built-in data selection tool, Search and Select, gives users amazing capability to find the information hiding in their data. This new release also includes the ability to have Dossier deliver reports via email or directly to a computer or server, a huge time saving feature."

One example of the retooled reporting capabilities, according to Hausler, is the ability to gauge the efficiency of a preventive maintenance (PM) program.

The PM Compliance tool is available as both a graphical Dashboard view and through a full suite of reports. Users can see the percentage of PMs which were done late, on time, or early.

Dossier 6.1 includes Arsenault's exclusive Instant Recall repair history. which appears automatically in a screen panel when a repair order is initiated. As elements of the repair order are entered, Instant Recall drills down through the vehicle history and displays related work previously performed.

"You can hardly avoid noticing repeat work or indicators of problems behind a particular repair," Hausler noted.

Record keeping in Dossier 6.1 takes a major step forward with the ability to attach files - documents or photographs, for example - to repair orders, quotes, and external work authorizations using the new "documents" tab on the relevant forms.

"You can also attach documents to existing files," Hausler explained. "For example, you can attach a digital photo to an accident repair order, even if the repair is complete and the repair order closed."

Larger Dossier users will now be able to "scale-out" Dossier 6.1 with multiple server systems to increase performance and availability. This can be achieved with either physical or virtual servers.

The enterprise-level architecture in Dossier 6.1 provides the structure for Arsenault's SaaS (Software as a Service) offering Dossier On-Demand, the anywhere, anytime, pay-as-you-go version of Dossier on the Internet. Dossier On-Demand is always available, always backed up, and always secure.

Dossier 6.1 also includes the new Dossier Data eXchange (DDX) Application Program Interface (API) that allows Dossier to connect to other systems in real-time. According to Hausler, this is more far-reaching than it might first seem.

"In 2011, many of our customers are connecting their business systems," he explained. "We also have many opportunities where partner technologies and products could integrate with Dossier to provide value to Dossier users."

Hausler said that Arsenault is already using DDX for some Dossier options that communicate externally. Among them are Dossier On-Board, which provides telematics integration, often used with Networkfleet wireless vehicle monitoring and diagnostics. DDX is also used for the Dossier integration with NAPA TAMS II, which automatically populates Dossier Repair Orders with parts usage data from the customer's NAPA account.