NOVEMBER 2014 | ISSUE 90 | VOLUME 11

Wed like you to meet the newest members of the ASA team. Weve hired five professionals with a wide range of skills and experience to solidify our technical support and management groups. Each new team member is eager to provide you with quality customer service. For an introduction to each of these folks, go to page 2.

INTRODUCING... ASAS NEWEST TEAM MEMBERS

IN THIS ISSUE

TIREMASTER ENTERPRISE NEWS & TIPS

For archived issues, visit the ASA Support website.

FROM ASA AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS

Current Product Versions TIREMASTER ENTERPRISE: 3.4.07

(FORMERLY TREADX)

TIREPRO: 5.13.2

ETIRELINK: ET 1.12.1

TIREMAX: R9.4.2.M

NEW TEAM MEMBER BIOS ...................... 2

UPDATING CARFAX INFO ......................... 2

SWAPPNG ISPS ...................................... 4

TIREMAX TIPS ........................................ 4

HANDLING NSF CHECKS ......................... 3

HOLIDAY SUPPORT SCHEDULE ................ 5

New Team Members L to R: Laura Halle, Trifana Argue, Karen Talboys James Spires, and Val Murphy

Please join us on one of the following dates to learn about AtTask, ASAs Support Portal:

Friday, November 21, 10:00 AM ET (7:00 AM PT)

Friday, November 21, 1:00 PM ET (10:00 AM PT)

Tuesday, December 2, 2:00 PM ET (11:00 AM PT)

Thursday, December 4, 4:00 PM ET (1:00 PM PT)

Each session will last approximately 30 minutes. Well begin with a short, focused presentation and give you tips on how to log calls, so we can get to your issues faster. Then well answer your questions.

Well send an email reminder approximately two days prior to each session, but please mark your calendars so you can join us! Were looking forward to talking with you.

TRAINING INVITATION LEARN ABOUT ASAS SUPPORT PORTAL

http://www.asatire.com/support/

Page 2

Name: Karen Talboys Position: Director of Customer Service Karen Talboys comes to ASA with more than 40 years of accumulated experience in various roles including support analyst, trainer, vice president of operations, and most recently the professional services manager for a global company specializing in financial and enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. Shes also the principal of Talboys Consulting, LLC. In addition to significant experience with software, Talboys has worked in manufacturing, distribution, and international trade.

Name: James Spires Position: Technology Services Manager James Spiress information technology career started more than a decade ago in the US Marine Corps. Hes also been a technical consultant to high-visibility clients, including Fidelity, Tyco International, Boston Beer, and Nike Bauer. Before joining ASA, Spires was the director or information technology for

PixelMEDIA, Inc., the largest web design agency in New England. Spires serves on the information technology board at the University of New Hampshire and he holds high-level technical certifications from Red Hat, VMWare, Microsoft, Cisco, CIW, CompTIA, and Boston University.

Name: Trifana Argue Position: Implementation and Training Consultant Trifana Argues career in the tire and automotive industry started more than 30 years ago, and it includes a previous a assignment at ASA as an account manager. Argues responsibilities have included overseeing the financial direction and operations of retail and distributing organizations, and she has participated on several state advisory boards within the Automotive Aftermarket Industry. Before returning to ASA, Argue worked as a controller and an accounting auditor for two of ASAs clients. She has 22 years of experience using ASAs Progress-based TireMaster Enterprise system.

Name: Val Murphy Position: Support Analyst Val Murphy comes to ASA after 12 years as an automotive field adjuster. During that time she crawled under, over, and through customer vehicles at tow yards, body shops, and catastrophe sites! Before working as an adjuster, Murphy was a support and help desk analyst. Murphy obtained her bachelor's degree from Norwich University, Northfield, VT (Nous Essayons! Let us try!) and is an I-Car and ASE Certified Estimator.

Name: Laura Halle Position: Support Dispatcher/Project Coordinator Laura Halle recently graduated from Fitchburg State University, where she studied business administration and marketing. Halle is no stranger to ASA, having spent the last two summers interning in the Marketing department. Her prior customer service experience comes from working in the food service industry.

NEW TEAM MEMBERS Continued from page 1...

TIREMASTER ENTERPRISE TIP UPDATING CARFAX INFORMATION Occasionally, the wrong mileage is entered for a customers vehicle and sent to Carfax. When a Carfax report is run on the VIN, itll show whatever mileage has been transmitted, regardless of whether its correct.

If the mileage is incorrect, you can notify Carfax by following these steps. To begin, log on to the Carfax help center at http://www.carfax.com/cfm/helpcenter.cfm. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and click Submit a Request to Fix a Report.

Then click Update Reports in the upper-left corner of the screen. Clicking the link will open a form that you can fill out to make the correction. Live help chat is also available if you need more assistance.

1

2

Page 3

Federal Law requires tire dealers and manufacturers offer consumers the ability to register their tires (via serial numbers) in the event of a recall.

With TireMaster Enterprise, you can add DOT numbers to a customers ticket at point of sale. The serial numbers are saved with the order when the tires are purchased, and the

information can be electronically transferred to CIMS, an industry leader in tire registration, via a third party interface.

To learn how to electronically register tires via the CIMS interface, click here for instructions.

If you arent participating in electronic tire registrations and would like to get started, contact your account manager for more information.

TIREMASTER ENTERPRISE TIP TIRE REGISTRATION

TIREMASTER ENTERPRISE TIP HANDLING NSF CHECKS If an AR customer paid you with an insufficient funds check, you need to reverse the deposit made to your bank account and remove the payment from the customers subledger account. You might also want to charge the customer for any fees you incurred when you made the deposit.

Example: You applied a $100 check to invoices on the customers account and put the money in your bank account. Your bank returned the check to you, because the customers bank refused to honor the withdrawal. Your bank also charged your account a $25 processing fee.

To record an NSF check

1. Open A/R Cash Receipts and go to the ROA routine.

2. On the Received on Account screen, enter the following information (shown below):

Customer number A reference number, such as NSFnnnn

(nnnn = check number). The amount of the check and the bank fee as a negative

number ($100 check + $25 = $125.00 entered as -125.00).

3. Select 5-Clean Up. Then choose 5-Reverse a Payment or NSF when prompted for the type of cleanup.

4. Enter the date and number for the original check. If date and check number are correct, the invoices paid with the NSF check are displayed. Verify the invoice information.

5. Answer the questions that appear in the lower-left of the screen:

For the question, Is this the correct check? type Yes.

For the question, Is this a Reversal or an NSF check? type NSF.

6. When the Choose Type of Cleanup prompt appears, press to return to the ROA strip menu. The Proof amount should be a negative ($25.00-) to represent the chargeback of the bank fee (shown to the right).

7. Add a debit memo to the customers account for the bank fee.

a. Select 4-Unapplied Cash. The Explanation box appears. b. Type NSFnnnn to note the check number as a reference

for the memo. c. Select 12-Done to finish the transaction.

Recoding the NSF check results in the following entries: For the customer account, a negative check entry that reverses

the original payment (with NSF shown in the far right column) and a debit memo for the bank fee owed to you.

For your bank account, a credit for the amount of the NSF check and the bank fee to record the withdrawal of these funds from your bank account balance.

http://www.asatire.com/support/documents/UtilizingDOT_in_TME.pdf

Page 4

From time to time we decide that our current Internet Service Provider (ISP) is not the best for our business, so we find a new one. Swapping ISPs seems pretty easy. The new provider says itll take an hour to be up and running, and your internet service will work like a well-oiled machine. For the ISP, thats the truth. The new provider isnt likely to be aware of anything that might be an issue.

In reality, preparing to swap ISPs requires time and deliberationyour network needs to be reconfigured to play well with the new ISP. For this reason, a call to ASA is needed early in the process. After all, we want to make sure that when the ISP

installer walks out the door, your profits and sales dont as well!

If youre changing internet service providers, please give us at least one weeks notice of when installation of the new one is scheduled. You might not be the only ASA client whos making moving to a new ISP! A heads up to ASA will help to ensure that we have adequate information and staffing available to get you transferred smoothly and efficiently.

TIREMASTER ENTERPRISE TIP SWAPPING ISPS

TIREMAX TIP FIELD REMINDER Product Category Maintenance has two fields that you might find helpful to use.

8. Allow Price Override?

Selecting N prevents prices for certain product categories, such as parts, from being overridden by users at point of sale.

Selecting Y lets users change prices if they have authorization.

13. Force Mechanic Code in O/E By selecting Y, this switch can be enabled for labor items to ensure that the user enters a mechanic code at point of sale.

TIREMAX TIP SCREEN CLEAN-UP While running TireMax from terminal emulation software, power fluctuations or network static may cause garbage or strange characters to appear on the screen.

Both can be easily cleared up by pressing Ctrl+R on the keyboard. This command updates the screen with fresh characters, usually correcting the problem. If garbage or strange characters frequently appear, it may be time to replace the cabling that goes to the PC.

Many times, simply rebooting hardware resolves communications issues. Because the order and timing of the process can affect the outcome, ASA recommends following this sequence:

TIREMASTER ENTERPRISE TIP COMMUNICATIONS REBOOT SEQUENCE

First, restart the modem. Use the power button, if one is available. If not, disconnect the power cord. Make sure all LEDs are out (if not, remove the battery), plug it back in, and wait up to two minutes for the lights to return to normal.

Next, disconnect the SonicWall. Once the modem is back up, cut power to the SonicWall. Wait ten seconds, and then reconnect the power.

Finally, look at the network switch (if there is one). Disconnect its power, wait ten seconds, and then plug it back in.

CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS: 25 Manchester Street, Suite 100 Merrimack, NH 03054 Phone: 603.889.8700 Fax: 603.880.3438 Email: info@asatire.com

IDAHO OFFICE: 651 South Stratford Drive, Suite 250 Meridian, ID 83642 Phone: 800.657.6409 Fax: 208.361.0159 Email: info@asatire.com

ASA Automotive Systems develops comprehensive systems of on-premise and Cloud-based software tools to help tire dealers, retreaders, and auto repair shops manage all facets of their businesses. Comprised of a series of specialized integrated modules, our systems can be tailored to suit the eCommerce, order processing, accounting, and business needs of any auto repair shop or any size retail, wholesale, or retread tire operation.

FROM THE PRESIDENT A MESSAGE OF GRATITUDE As Thanksgiving and the holidays draw near, I want to share a message of gratitude with all of you. Thank you for your continued support and business over the past year. It has been a year of change, as ASA transitioned to new ownership by Constellation Software and management by the Friedman Corporation.

ASA continues to invest heavily in its ongoing products in order to deliver competitive features for your businesses. I appreciate the trust youve placed in ASA to help you run your businesses. Best wishes to you, your families, and employees in 2015.

Sincerely,

Ken Halle ASA Automotive Systems President

Thursday, November 27 Thanksgiving - Closed

Friday, November 28 Day After Thanksgiving - Closed

Saturday, November 29 Saturday Support - Closed

Christmas

Wednesday, December 24 Christmas Eve - Limited Staff

Thursday, December 25 Christmas Day - Closed

New Years

Wednesday, December 31 New Year's Eve - Limited Staff

Thursday, January 1 New Year's Day - Closed

Thanksgiving

TireMaster Enterprise Support Holiday Schedule

https://www.linkedin.com/company/asa-tire-systemshttps://www.facebook.com/pages/ASA-Automotive-Systems/180207081189http://www.youtube.com/user/asatire25