Welcome to the revised and revamped IDS Insights!

IDS Insights reflects our ongoing commitment to improving the efficiency and increasing the profitability of RV and Marine Dealers. We’ve undergone some significant changes over the past year, restructuring and reorganizing our business to better service yours.

We’ve enhanced our core product suite, Astra, with added functionality and flexibility (See the upcoming article in the July issue regarding powerful new features to be found in our latest Astra release). And we’re very pleased to announce the availability of our G2 products. The realization of an enterprise-wide initiative intended to meet the changing needs and expectations of an increasingly competitive marketplace, G2 includes two powerful new tools, both fully integrated with Astra. Service Scheduler will help you leverage your mechanic availability for maximum efficiency, while CRM represents the industry’s most comprehensive solution for managing your all-important contacts, from initial lead to satisfied customer.

With exciting new products on or about to reach the market, a realigned organization better able to respond to current and future needs of our customers, and a renewed focus on quality and usability, we’re committed to helping you increase your profitability. IDS Insights will help you stay on top of issues and developments that affect your day-to-day business – and your long-term success!

A thoroughly satisfied customer base is proof that Astra, our fully-integrated Dealer Management System, has stood the test of time remarkably well. But today’s business environment is tougher than ever, and dealers tell us they need more power, more flexibility to adapt to increased customer expectations and fierce competition.

We’ve been listening. And we’re pleased to announce the availability of two powerful new products – Astra CRM and Service Scheduler. Based on Windows technology, and employing a familiar, intuitive graphical interface, Astra CRM and Service Scheduler leverage two of your dealership’s most valuable assets – a technician’s time, and your customer contact data!

In years past we have had many requests from you, the dealer, to improve our customer service by having technicians available to answer those simple “How Do I” questions in specialized areas. We have taken your suggestions seriously and have implemented a program in our support department which we call Rapid Response. Now, rather than waiting for an email or call-back from a support technician for your simple questions, you can choose to speak directly to a support specialist.

IDS has support technicians specializing in Accounting, Parts, Service, Rentals, Unit Inventory, Sales, F&I and FIpoint, available to help you quickly get the answers you need to do your job. When dialing the support hotline (800)962-7872, the prompts are as follows:

• Hardware or Printer Issues = 0
• Help Desk Analyst = 1
• Accounting = 2
• Parts, Service and Rentals = 3
• Unit Inventory, Sales and F&I = 4
• FIpoint = 5

If you choose options 2-5, you will be placed in a call queue, and the appropriate support technician will answer your call in the order in which it was received. Rapid Response is intended to help those with quick questions, and we are happy to provide this service to you.

Astra’s Menu system can be bewildering if you can’t remember where a particular option resides. The answer is Astra’s Menu Search function! Simply enter S followed by the keyword(s) you’re looking for (for example, “S PARTS SALE”.)

Astra will return a list of all menus where the option is found. Enter the line number to go directly to that menu, or follow the path provided.

Ever been told by Astra that you don’t have adequate security to perform a specific action? There is a quick and easy way to find out what security you do have and what you need! Simply reply to the security message with a WHY command.

Astra will display the Security Subroutine in question, your User ID, your current security level, and the level of security required to perform the action.

This information will help your system administrator adjust your security. Note that the WHY command works most of the time, but there may be instances where you don’t get a response.

The Port File settings, found in Astra menu 11-3-1, control how each workstation interacts with peripherals such as printers and cash drawers and with software applications such as Microsoft Office. To alter port file settings, you must have menu access granted through Astra security. IDS recommends that only the dealership’s system administrator make alterations to the port file settings.

In today’s fast-paced, competitive marketplace, a dealer management system alone doesn’t guarantee the success of your organization. To achieve long-term satisfaction and a superior return on your technology investment, your solution must be backed by a dedicated, highly professional service organization. When you choose Integrated Dealer Systems, you not only benefit from today’s leading dealer management systems, but you also get peace of mind, knowing that it’s backed by the IDS Professional Services Division.