COSTAR Mobile

COSTAR Mobile

COSTAR Mobile allows you to allocate specific Technicians to workshop jobs and allows them to access these jobs to complete COSTAR inspections forms from a mobile device. Technicians will also be able to add notes (including by voice to text) and photos to individual checklist items.

System Requirements

COSTAR Mobile requires SQL Server Full-Text Search. Full-Text Search is an optional feature that can be installed with SQL Server but is not installed by default. If you need further information on this please contact our Support Team by email or phone.

COSTAR Mobile Hardware Requirements

COSTAR Mobile is designed to work on Apple, PC and Android devices, phones and tablets. COSTAR Mobile is available for download from the Google Play and Apple App Stores.

Minimum Device Requirements

Alert
** Important ** Lenovo devices are not compatible with, nor recommended for use with, Costar Mobile.
Device Operating System:

  1. Apple iOS 10 or higher
  2. Google Android V5 Lollipop or higher
Camera:
  1. 5MP
Wireless and Cellular Internet Access
  1. Wi-Fi 802.11n
  2. 4G cellular network connection or faster is recommended for phones when not using wi-fi.

 

Additional Notes

  1. 7.9” Tablets or larger are recommended for technician in bay use.
  2. Shock and drop resistant cases are strongly recommended.
  3. Avoid purchasing used or refurbished devices. New devices have faster processors, more memory, better cameras, better network connectivity and will perform significantly better than older devices.
  4. While all care is taken to develop and test COSTAR Mobile across a range of popular devices we recommend that you test the app carefully on your selected devices.
  5. In our experience, budget devices are not compatible with Costar Mobile, and we recommend that you test the app carefully and thoroughly on your selected devices.

Shop Internet Requirements

Business Internet

  1. 25Mbps Download Speed
  2. 5Mbps Upload Speed

Wireless Wi-Fi Network

  1. Ensure that you have full-strength, high-speed Wi-Fi internet access throughout your store and workshop area.

Your local IT Support team will be able to assist you with any queries in this area.


COSTAR Mobile User Licensing

COSTAR Mobile is licensed per company (database) and per concurrent user. That means that access is based on the number of users accessing the software at any given time.

For example, if you have 3 COSTAR Mobile User Licenses you can install the COSTAR Mobile application on as many devices as you like but only 3 (different) users will be allowed to login to the application at any given time. COSTAR Mobile does not permit the same employee login to be logged in from two mobile devices at the same time.

Employee Setup

Each Technician in your team will need to have their Employee record enabled for COSTAR Mobile. The settings can be found in Employees, Employee Maintenance, Company Information.



1. Allow Mobile Login

  • This must be checked for the user to login to COSTAR Mobile
    • When enabling mobile login, the end user is forced to re-enter their login password. The password must conform to the password complexity rules (which is described latter in this document)
    • Their new password will be used to login to both the COSTAR desktop application and COSTAR Mobile
    • When this is un-checked it will automatically uncheck and inactivate ‘This is a Shared device’ option (see below)

 

2. This is a Shared Device

  • When this is checked, Salesperson & Technician are automatically unchecked
  • When this is checked, it means the Mobile login being setup is intended to be used on a shared device by multiple users.
    • It is recommended to setup a new Employee for the shared device, for example: “T1 - Tablet 1”
  • After logging into COSTAR Mobile using a Shared Device login the end user is prompted with the “Select User” screen and must complete the login by selecting their name from the list and providing their user PIN
    • When using a Shared Device Employee Login, COSTAR Mobile users must be setup with a user PIN in employee maintenance
  • It is recommended to use the Automatic Login (described later in this document) when setting up a Shared Device
    • Setting up a Shared Device with Automatic Login with user PIN’s will provide a fast and easy way to login to COSTAR Mobile without having to type a complex password each time.

 

3. Salesperson

  • In addition to existing functionality, checking this:
    • Automatically unchecks ‘This is a device’
    • In COSTAR Mobile the user will see the full Jobs List “Work In Progress - Repair Orders” or be able to filter the Job List by technician

 

4. Technician

  • In addition to existing functionality, checking this:
    • Automatically unchecks ‘This is a device’
    • COSTAR Mobile allows the technician to see only the jobs assigned to them

 

Using COSTAR Mobile

Logging In


Shared Device

The Shared Device login flow takes the user directly to the select user screen and Enter PIN Screens


Change User

  • Selecting Change User will logout the current user and present the select user screen & Enter Pin
  • This allows quick user switching

 My Jobs List

After selecting the My Jobs menu item, a list of Jobs will be displayed including the ability to search those jobs.

 

The employee will be able to see all In-progress jobs that have not been marked as Completed.

  • The Tech drop down can be used to filter jobs by a specific Technician

Only Technician Specific Jobs

  • If there is a need to not allow Technicians to see all jobs, including the ability to filter by tech, then there is a setting that will remove the drop down and only display the technician’s assigned jobs. Ask the Support Team for help with this.

Job List Results (Work In Progress)

Jobs will be listed/sorted by date and time

  • If a Repair Order is scheduled in the Appointment Scheduler this date and time will be used, if not the Order Date and promised time will be used.
  • To conserve screen space on the mobile device only the last 4 digits of the Order Entry document are shown

Jobs will be displayed in a list under one of the headings:

  • Old Jobs = Job / Document Date Older Than Today
  • Today’s Jobs = Job / Document Date is Today
  • [Date] = Job / Document Date

 Job Summary

Repair Order Information is summarized on the Job Summary Screen


Vehicle Details

Any vehicle information entered / captured on a job card from this screen will appear in the associated fields within the same job on the COSTAR desktop application.


Mobile Photos

Photos taken with COSTAR Mobile are not saved on the physical device, they are sent via the internet to the COSTAR Desktop Applications Database (SQL Server), therefore photos are only viewable from within either the COSTAR Mobile or COSTAR Desktop Application. Pictures cannot be viewed from Non-COSTAR applications.

Taking Photos

Photos can be taken from within the following job menus


Clicking on the camera icon will launch the mobile device’s camera.
  • Photos can be taken within COSTAR Mobile from the following places:
    • Vehicle Details
      • Use photos to assist the Service Advisor when filling in the license plate, odometer, colour and VIN on the Repair Order
      • Each photo is linked to its specific data entry field (Eg. Vehicle, Odometer)
      • Only one picture can be taken per data entry field

    1. Photos
      1. General Photos

    1. Inspections
      1. Each photo is linked to its specific inspection line
      2. Only one photo can be taken per specific inspection line

Viewing Photos (COSTAR Mobile)

Existing photos are indicated with a picture icon or thumbnail, simply click on the icon or thumbnail to view.


Viewing Photos (Desktop Application)

Photos taken by the COSTAR Mobile device are available from within the COSTAR desktop application in the appropriate Order Entry document.

Photos taken from the Vehicle Details screen can help the Service Advisor fill in the license plate, odometer, colour (etc.) within the desktop application. Clicking on the picture icon on any of the associated vehicle fields will bring up the Vehicle Details screen so the Service Advisor can quickly enter vehicle information.

 



All COSTAR Mobile photos are available from the Order Entry tool bar Photos button and are categorized accordingly.


Assigning Inspections

To view and complete inspection forms in COSTAR Mobile, inspections first need to be assigned to the Repair Order in the COSTAR Order Entry Screen.




On the Repair Order Entry menu bar:

  • Click Inspections
  • Select the inspection(s) to be assigned

 

(Note: Legacy Inspection Forms are not supported on COSTAR Mobile)

  • Select Assign (on the toolbar)
  • These inspections will now be available in COSTAR Mobile

 

COSTAR Mobile - Tips and Tricks

Login

A Technician can only be logged into one COSTAR Mobile device at a time. If a Technician attempts to login to a second device (using the same login credentials) a notification will come up saying that the Technician is already logged in on another device and they will have the option of continuing logging in to that device, doing so will automatically terminate the mobile session on the 1st device, or exiting.

Automatic Login

To speed up the login process you can setup an automatic login. After initial login:
  • Click on the Maintenance icon


  • Click Automatic Login


Enter Automatic Login Info

  • Account Number is their COSTAR Live ID
  • Username is the Employee Code

  • The Next time that COSTAR Mobile is started, it will auto-populate the login information so all the user has to do is click Login.


COSTAR Mobile - Technician Login, My Jobs List

When displaying a specific Technician’s jobs in the ‘My Jobs List’, it will consider:

  • the Primary Technician on the document
  • the Technician assigned to the labor item
  • the Bay the document has been assigned to in the Appointment Scheduler.

This only works if the bay is assigned to a specific Techmician via Appointment Properties (which is set in Settings -> Appointment Properties -> Appointment Grid Captions)



Inspections

Only Vehicle Inspection Forms (formally called MAP Inspections) are supported in COSTAR Mobile. To set these up, go to Settings -> Order Entry Options -> Vehicle Inspections Tab. Legacy Inspection Forms are not supported and must be manually converted to use Vehicle Inspection Forms. Imported inspection forms from third party providers (e.g. REPCO) will be automatically selected on a Repair Order where they have been returned to COSTAR.

COSTAR Quick Email (SMTP)

To e-mail Photos, Inspections, and the selected Repair Order to a customer, the SMTP Quick Email feature must be activated. 

Password Complexity

COSTAR Mobile is available to any user across the public internet, not just via the Wi-Fi connection within the shop, COSTAR recommends using strong, complex passwords for improved security. For Example:

  • 8 characters in length
  • Must contain a lowercase letter
  • Must contain an uppercase letter
  • Must contain a number

 

The password complexity can be changed by going to Settings, Settings 2, Password Complexity.