AutoPlayAuto.com Release Notes - Version 20.9.1 Released 1st October, 2020

AutoPlayAuto.com Release Notes - Version 20.9.1 Released 1st October, 2020

Licence/Registration Plate OCR - AUSTRALIAN DEALERS ONLY (SPW-2097)

In 20.9.1 it is now possible for Australian Dealerships to scan a vehicles licence plate/registration plate when completing a vehicle appraisal.  This is not available by default - please contact support@autoplay.com.au to request access.  The functionality is controlled by a dealer level role called 'OCR Vehicle Registration' - which when activated will add a camera icon next to the Reg No. field.  Users can take a front on, at height picture of the licence plate and it will populate the Reg No. as well as the State.  



Note - for the scan to work accurately you must be square in front of the vehicle and the camera must be at a reasonable height to clearly capture the plate details.




Redbook Vehicle Data Lookup - Australian Dealers Only (SPW-2097)

It is now possible to complete a Redbook Vehicle lookup from within AutoPlay.  This is not available by default - please contact support@autoplay.com.au to request access.  The functionality is controlled by a role called 'Redbook Australia'.  Role works at the YARD level with the yard determined by whatever yard the lead is on.  Role also works at USER level.  The Redbook button is always visible unless disabled by either marking the API record as inactive, or by adding a Dealer API record for Redbook and marking that record as Inactive.

To provision the Redbook Lookup you must not only set up the role management, but also add an API record for 'Redbook Australia' and set as Active.  Note - this is something that the AutoPlay team will take care of.  If you wish to start using this service contact support@autoplay.com.au



If you have done the Licence Plate OCR it flows nicely to complete a Redbook lookup - for which you require a REGO + STATE.  Redbook lookups can be completed via the 'NEW' button next to the Redbook icon in the Vehicle Appraisal Form.  Redbook Lookups cost AU $0.65 for each transaction and you will be billed via AutoPlay.



From time to time the Redbook lookup will return multiple results.  When this occurs you will be presented with a popup to select which vehicle details you wish to use.



When the Redbook lookup is completed it will return the following information;
  1. Redbook Code - mapped to new Redbook Code field
  2. Make - mapped to Make
  3. Model - mapped to Model
  4. ManufacturedYear - mapped to Year
  5. Colour - mapped to Colour
  6. VIN - mapped to VIN
  7. Description - mapped to Variant


There is also some simple parsing of the description which looks for common terms. 

For transmission, the code translates the below and then appends the number of gears e.g. "4sp" is appended as "4 Speed".
man -> Manual
auto -> Automatic
cvt -> CVT

Body Type is parsed according to existing rules we have when importing a listing e.g. "s/w" translates to "Station Wagon".  Several values all translate to "RV/SUV", these being "suv", "4x4", "rv", etc
If the description contains "Diesel" or a word ends with "dt" or "td" then we translate to "Diesel".  If a word is numeric and ends with an "i" we translate to "Petrol" (e.g. 3.5i)


New Close Won Mandatory Field Options (SPW-3865)


We've recently expanded on the options we have available for mandatory fields when using the Close Won Validation role.  It is now possible to enforce the completion of additional customer, vehicle and test drive information when a user is closing a lead as won.  This can be useful when the data is being passed on to a third party system such as a CRM at brand level and they require certain fields completed for compliance reasons.

In addition to the existing Close Lead Won Validation settings we now have added additional options below.
  1. Address – Street
  2. Address – Suburb
  3. Address – Country
  4. Address – Postcode
  5. VIN
  6. Rego
  7. Test Drive

Like the existing function, you can still set the role as 'Hard' (enforces completion of the fields) or 'Soft' (warning only).  When the role is activated there are additional options under My Company>Mandatory Fields which allow users to customise which fields they require as mandatory.



With the setting activated when closing a lead as 'Won' the user will be presented with the fields that have been set up as mandatory - along with the values that are required.  If any of the mandatory fields are missing information they will be highlighted at the bottom of the screen.  As with existing functionality if you have the role set to 'Soft' you can proceed after acknowledging the warning, whilst if the role is set as 'Hard' you will be forced to complete the missing information. 



In 20.9.1 alongside the new customer and vehicle info fields, dealers can choose to make asking the dealer if they did a test drive compulsory.  If a Test Drive Form has been completed, or the Test Drive Progress has previously been selected the date will pull through to the 'Test Drive Completed' field as shown above (the system will use the latest date that applies here).



If a Test Drive is not detected (either a form or progress), then the user will be prompted to ask a question.  If  the customer has genuinely purchased without completing a Test Drive users can slide the toggle left to mark 'No' Test Drive Completed.



However if missing the recording of a Test Drive was an oversight slide the toggle right and you will be able to specify when the Test Drive was actually completed.  This will provide the user with a date and time picker that they can complete before closing the lead.  This will not create a Test Drive Form, however it will record that Test Drive Progress was completed.  When set to 'Hard' it is not mandatory to complete a Test Drive, but it is mandatory to acknowledge and answer the question.




Include The Splat Graphic On Printed Appraisal PDF's (SPW-3881)

In 20.9.1 we have automatically added the Splat graphic to the printed PDF appraisal forms.  This includes any markups added within AutoPlayAuto.com on the graphic to indicate damage.  The Splat graphic has been added automatically to the default Appraisal Form.  If you do not see this, then it means you have a customised version of the form and you will need to contact AutoPlay to add this to your specific template.  If your custom form has already been created and you are not changing anything else then you will not be charged to add the Splat graphic.




Added VIN, Rego & Colour To Write Up Forms Completed On Brochureware (SPW-3812)

Brochureware is a handy feature to load leads when vehicles are not yet in the dealers local inventory.  Due to customer feedback we have found that many dealers would like to utilise the Write Up Form to complete a negotiation or deal before the listing arrives into stock.  As brochureware is often generic this did not allow for the user to specify the actual vehicle.  In 20.9.1 we've added 3 new fields on the Write Up Form;
  1. VIN
  2. Rego
  3. Colour
These fields will ONLY appear if you select your listing from a brochureware yard managed outside your main account.  If you choose a listing from within your yards the additional fields will not display.  This enables salespeople to populate the Rego, VIN and Colour on the Write Up Form PDF even if the vehicle is not yet in stock.

If the brochureware listing already has these details added for whatever reason they will pull through to these text fields.  However they can then be overwritten within the Write Up Form without updating the original brochureware listing.




Added Internal & External SMS To Lead History (SPW-3510)

We've had a lot of feedback from dealerships that they want more transparency around logging of SMS that have been sent and recieved from AutoPlayAuto.com.  In 20.9.1 we've added the following SMS activity logging to the 'History' popup.
  1. Lead assign SMS 
  2. Sent to customer 
  3. Reply back from customer 
  4. Automation 



Splitting Role Notifications - September (SPW-3961)

As with 20.8.1 in 20.9.1 we dedicated some time towards improving the way that we handle Notifications in AutoPlayAuto.com.  Instead of a single overarching 'Notifications' tick box we are slowly transitioning each of our notifications to allow users to specifically set what type of notifications they want - from in-app notifications, email and sms.  You can read more about this project HERE.

This is a significant project for AutoPlay and to ensure we can still keep pumping out new features we've been chunking this work off to complete over multiple sprints.  Where possible we've also been investing time to make the internal setting up an maintenance of these notifications easier.  In 20.9.1 we completed migration for the following roles and notifications;
  1. Request Insurance - No notifcations
  2. Closed Lost Survey - Not used
  3. Multiple Listings/Lead - No Notifications (dealer wide)
  4. Multiple Listings/Write Up - No Notfications (dealer wide) 
  5. Vehicle Wishlist - No Notifications (Not used, replaced with new wishlist role) 
  6. Include Pending Listings - No Notifications (dealer wide)
  7. Vehicle Appraisal - No Notifications (dealer wide)
  8. Send Video Notification - Not Used (realestate)
  9. Health Check - once a day - No Notifications (uses manager flag to send report)
  10. Health Check - once a week - No Notifications (uses manager flag to send report)
  11. Listing Quality Report
  12. Send Test Drive Finance Email - Not Used
  13. Contact Audit Report - No Notifications
  14. Kia Assistance Daily Requests Report - No notifications
  15. Customer Change Audit - No Notifications (dealer wide)
  16. Receive Closed Lead As Lost Notification
  17. Close Lead Lost Permission
  18. Lead Forwarding - Not Used
  19. Vehicle Appraisal Manager Approval
  20. Loan Vehicle - No Notifications


Modified PPSR Messages For Greater Clarity (SPW-4090)

In 20.9.1 we've improved the clarity of system messaging when running PPSR to more descriptively inform the user of the PPSR lookup's success or failiure
  1. If the connection to SS/PPSR cannot be made – “The PPSR search is not currently returning results from the 3rd party provider, please try again later”
  2. If the connection is able to be made but the record cannot be returned – “The record cannot be found from the PPSR check. Please check the details you have entered and try again”
  3. If the query is successful – “Your PPSR lookup was successful. Please review the data to ensure accuracy”

Automation - 'Reallocate To Manager' Action (SPW-2958)

As we continue to expand our Automation offering we've been getting feedback on what dealers want to use Automation for.  One of the tools that many dealers believed would help them manage their sales team was the ability to automatically reallocate leads to other users (managers or otherwise) under certain scenarios.  In 20.9.1 we've added an additional Action called 'Reallocate Lead'. 

If a lead meets the conditions set up in this automation record (i.e yards, users, source etc) once if hits the trigger it will automatically reallocate the lead to a new user (who will receive a new lead allocation notification).  With this setting it's now possible to remove leads from users who are not doing anything with them, and reassign to make sure your customers are getting the required level of service.  Actions are not available on every Automation trigger, with the following triggers allowing for the 'Reallocate Lead' action.
  1. Lead Inactive
  2. Lead Not Updated
  3. Lead Overdue
  4. Lead Stalled
  5. Lead Progress Not Updated
As you can see from the types of triggers it is available for, the 'Reallocate Lead' function should only be used to reallocate only the leads that are getting severely neglected by the sales team.  When setting up the Automation record you need to select the 'Reallocate Lead' action, set the timeframe after the trigger hits that you want it to reallocate (i.e 1 hour after the lead becomes Stalled) and the user you want to reallocate the lead to.  Leads can only be reallocated to one user and they can be a manager, or non-manager.

As there could be multiple managers in the Manage Leads role it is required for you to specify the recipient of the reallocated leads.  The best approach to setting up this automation setting is to add Yard and User groupings to the Automation filters, and select the manager who looks after that yard/user grouping.





Automation - Multi Select Yards, Models & Body Types With Monthly Automated Emails (SPW-3942, SPW-3921)

When setting up Automation records for Monthly Live Leads eDM's it is now possible to set up multiple Makes and Models when specifying the listings you want to include.  Unlike On Demand Live Leads, when setting up Monthly Live Leads the automation setting is not matching against the vehicle the customer has specifically enquired upon.  To ensure the right people get the right vehicles on their Live Leads you can set up your Automation record to only trigger to certain Yards or Makes (i.e Audi & BMW), and then specify that the only cars included on the email are the Makes/Models included in the 'Include Listings' section.  This increases the chances that customers receive a Live Leads eDM with vehicles that are relevant to them.




Similarly, in 20.9.1 it's now possible to select multiple Yards when setting up your 'Include Listings' rules for Monthly Live Leads.  This ensures that the email will only include listings from the yards specified, and like the Make/Model filter outlined above ensures the recipients are receiving the most relevant content to them.



In 20.9.1 it's also possible to set up in advance the Body Type(s) of the listings you want to include in your Monthly Live Leads.  This feature can be useful if you are targeting a certain type of buyer such as Commercial or Passenger customers, where you know the types of vehicles that are appropriate to send.  For example; you run a web campaign where you are capturing leads for Fieldays.  You know the audience is most interested in Utes and SUV's and so you only want to include these emails in your automation settings.





Automation - Allow Live Leads Campaigns To Be Delivered Via SMS (SPW-3922)

When manually sending Live Leads eDM's or other Email Campaigns you have always had the option to deliver the campaign via SMS instead of email.  When you choose this option it sends your Live Leads/Email Campaign as a link within a SMS instead of as an HTML email.  In 20.9.1 we've expanded our Automation capabilities so that we can replicate this process automatically.  

When setting up a Monthly or On Demand Live Leads/Email Campaign in Automation, you can select 'Send As SMS' when configuring your email.  With this option ticked, provided you have the SMS Gateway set up and the 'SMS Campaign' role enabled, you can SMS your campaign instead of emailing it.  When this option is selected you will need to complete the additional field 'SMS Intro Text' in order to save your setting.  This field controls what message is displayed in the body of the SMS (the link is generated automatically).  

Please note that you are charged for each SMS that is sent externally via Automation - so please be aware this can generate high volumes of SMS being sent depending on your objectives and the way your Automation setting has been configured.  Any SMS Campaign sent on a Monthly basis via Automation will also be logged in the 'SMS Campaigns' screen.




Automation - Assorted Improvements 

In 20.9.1 we have made a number of small but important improvements to better meet dealer requirements for Automation.  These improvements include;

1.  Minimum Number Of Listings For Live Leads (SPW-3938)
When Automating Live Leads it now requires a minimum of 3 listings before it will trigger a Live Leads type email.  In scenarios where there are not enough matching listings - even when taking into account the Fill Priority rules - it will not trigger the Live Leads to be sent.  Instead it will write a record to the Automation History to say “Automated Live Leads Failed - Not Enough Matching Listings”.  This only applies when sending Live Leads emails - not Email Campaign or Email Responses. 

2.  Added Leads Created In Last X Days To All Triggers (SPW-3939)
When setting up Automation triggers the account may have a lot of old leads that have yet to be closed lost.  In some scenarios it's appropriate to reach out to these cold leads, whilst in others you may want to ensure that your automation trigger only triggers against more recent leads.  When setting up a new Automation trigger you can now add the age of the leads you want to be triggered against - giving dealerships greater control over who they contact and why.



3.  Added Time Picker To Monthly Live Leads/Email Campaign Automation (SPW-3940)
When setting up Live Leads or Email Campaigns to run Monthly we now have a time picker to supplement the existing day selection options.  Dealers can now specify exactly when their Live Leads/Email Campaign will be sent rather than just the day - meaning if you get better responses from emails sent at 8am, you can schedule this in advance.


4.  Added 'Process Each Lead Only Once' Checkbox (SPW-3943)
The previous iteration of Automation had some rules bakes into certain triggers to ensure that they didn't trigger repeatedly if it wasn't appropriate to do so.  For example if checking for leads that reached Test Drive Progress you do not want to necessarily keep emailing a customer for as long as the lead remains at Test Drive.  These settings were baked in, however they were invisible and not configurable.  In 20.9.1 it's now possible to specify whether you want automation to trigger only once on each automation trigger, or trigger multiple times if appropriate.  Existing Automation settings have been automatically set up to trigger only once with the exception of 'Customer Replied To Email/SMS', and 'Email/SMS Failed To Send' triggers. 

An example of where it is appropriate to trigger multiple times is when a lead is Inactive.  You may decide it's appropriate to send a notification to the owner of that lead every 4 hours until he updates the lead record.



5.  The Lead Inactive Timeframe Can Now Be Specified By Hours & Minutes (SPW-3945)
When configuring the 'Lead Inactive' trigger it is now possible to specify the "inactive" period by Hours and Minutes, instead of only by the number of Days.  This enables this trigger to be more widely utilized as an alternative to 'Lead Not Updated' or 'Lead Progress Not Updated' triggers.



6.  Added 'Status' Setting To Control Automation Triggers On All Lead Statuses (SPW-3983)
In earlier iterations the majority of Automation triggers would only trigger against 'Open' Leads.  We've now added a drop down selection to allow users the control to specify whether they want the automation to be triggered against All Leads, only Open Leads, only Closed Leads or even more granular - only Closed Lost or Closed Won leads.  The type of action or message that might be appropriate for an Open Lead vs a Closed Won Lead could be quite different and this setting now provides far more transparency over which leads will trigger the automation.
 




7.  Added An Additional 'Brake' Setting For 'Reopened Leads' (SPW-3916)
Hand in hand with the ability to configure Automation for Closed Leads we now have a new 'Brake' setting called 'Lead Reopened'.  This brake will ensure that if you are communicating with a Closed lost lead and the lead is reopened that it will no longer trigger the automation record.  This is designed to help ensure the context of your messages is appropriate to your audience.





AutoPlay Rewards -  Assorted New Functions (SPW-3980, SPW-3874, SPW-3873, SPW-3875, SPW-3872)

In September we continued to build out our AutoPlay Rewards functionality including;
  1. Added a 'Notes' field to the Reward Category screen to document the KPI logic being calculated.  For internal use only (SPW-3980)
  2. Built a new out of the box KPI for 'Average Email Response Time' - allowing users to earn points based on keeping responses to electronic leads under a specified timeframe (SPW-3874)
  3. Built a new out of the box KPI for 'Overdue & Stalled Leads' - allowing users to earn points if they have less than X leads at the month that have fallen into Overdue or Stalled (SPW-3875)
  4. Improved the capabilities around setting Minimum counts of records required to earn points, and Maximum number of points earned (SPW-3873)
  5. Tested Rewards Shop single sign on functionality (SPW-3870)
  6. Built out a reconciliation report designed to help AutoPlay validate points earning behaviours (SPW-3872)


Assorted Improvements & Bug Fixes

In 20.9.1 we've also made a number of smaller improvements, as well as addressing some bugs and other issues. 
  1. Conducted testing across Australian timezones to tidy up any discrepancies between visual time displayed and back end logging (SPW-3810)
  2. Internal improvement when AutoPlay users close a account it will automatically remove any users associated with that account from the PlayBook NZ, PlayBook Aus or Release Note contact groups in the AP1 account (SPW-3814)
  3. Added a 'Yards' column to the API Management screen that displays the yard, multiple yards or All Yards that the API record is enabled for (SPW-2273)
  4. Added a 'Method' filter to the Data API Management screen (SPW-4049)
  5. Changed length of Wholesale SMS default message to reduce message count to 1.  New message reads "Valuation request from Dealer Name on a Year, Make, Model, Variant. View more details and submit a quote via - URL" (SPW-3957)
  6. Expanded the functionality to restrict Lead Export for AutoLine BMW portal by leads that have not passed the specified progress stage, but are Closed Lost (SPW-3912)
  7. Changed Monthly Write Up, Monthly Delivery and Monthly Traded Appraisals targets to % fields for use in Dealer Performance Benchmarking Report (SPW-4004)
  8. Fixed bug where clicking on roles from the Users screen was taking you to a legacy version of the Role Management screen (SPW-4058)
  9. Added a 'Import Images Only' flag to the Listings Import screen (SPW-4015).  Also remedied issue with manual import not being triggered from icon (SPW-4092)
  10. Fixed bug for Kia NZ where bulk approval/decline of Assistance Requests were not displaying the custom Kia approval options (SPW-4055)
  11. Addressed config issue where users set as 'Groomers' could not access Settings menu in AutoPlayAuto.com (SPW-4070)
  12. Fixed glitch experienced when removing users from one role and adding them to another (SPW-4113)
  13. Added Odometer to the 'Download List' CSV on the Vehicle Appraisals screen (SPW-4118)
  14. Fixed display issue blocking brochureware listings from being selected in Assistance Forms (SPW-4008)
  15. Fixed bug with Lead Reminder Notification Role that was only acknowledging the Yard, resulting in users getting notifications for leads they cannot view in AutoPlayAuto.com.  Fixed the role so that it acknowledges both the users and the yards in the Manage Leads role and only sends the reminder to a manager that can view the leads (SPW-4065)
  16. Fixed issue with Test Drive Kiosk mode ignoring the User Sort Order set in My Company (SPW-3892)
  17. Resolved bug with 'Dealer Hubs' where hubs were not being filtered by dealer, and instead returning all leads from all hubs the dealer was loaded in (SPW-3920)
  18. Fixed bug where 'Delete' was not working on Edit KPI's screen (SPW-4096)
  19. As part of regular maintenance consolidated differences between YTD reports and data warehouse reports (REP-1075, REP-1082)
  20. Fixed issue with missing data for 12 Month Dealer Performance Automated Reports (REP-1080)
  21. Added Leads closed with no reason, and lead ID's to the export for Dealership Score & EMD Dealership Score Report to assist dealers with finding the leads with poor scores (REP-1166)
  22. Added Campaign and Sub Campaign to EMD Dealership Score Report filters (REP-1180)
  23. Modified reporting to use Dealer Brand Group to determine the dealers that should be returned when searching by Make/Model at Group level (REP-1181)
  24. Fixed issue with Communication Conversion reports failing if running for anything other than this month/last month.  Report now is forced to run for this month/last month only (REP-1190)