The timing for the collaboration between D-Tools and Tracknicity’s inventory management software could not be better. Integrators are facing extreme supply chain shortages that only seem to be getting worse every day. Products that used to take 48 hours to get are now reportedly backlogged up to eight months.
Mismanaged inventory can mean dealers have spent valuable cashflow on old and never-to-be-used items, or have too many (or not enough) supplies on trucks. It can also mean wasted time spent on returns and change orders.
Thus, the need to manage inventory efficiently is vital. That’s why the new Tracknicity For D-Tools direct integration between Tracknicity’s inventory management system and D-Tools SI Version 18 software will enable dealers to be even more streamlined.
“You need a product catalog to do inventory management,” says Travis Leo, president of Tracknicity, noting that prior to this, Tracknicity integrated to D-Tools SI only via Quickbooks.
“Tracknicity worked with Quickbook’s API but not with D-Tools’ API. So, you could do estimates in D-Tools, then sync it with Quickbooks and then access Tracknicity. Unfortunately, most dealers don’t have strong skillsets in QuickBooks.
“For many of them, it meant they needed to clean up their data, such as their chart of accounts in Quickbooks, before they could utilize Tracknicity. Because of that task, many dealers just put it on the backburner. Now, they can access Tracknicity directly via SI.”
The changes to the D-Tools’ SI API were made specifically with the Tracknicity integration in mind, according to Tim Bigoness, chief marketing officer and vice president of sales at D-Tools.
“They weren’t wholesale changes, but we needed to expose certain areas that weren’t previously available,” he says.
Related: D-Tools System Integrator Latest Update: Integrated Inventory MGMT; Sales Efficiencies
“Tracknicity needed to access more fields within SI. Now, everything is tied together. A dealer can immediately apply inventory to a project via a field change order if they need to. It not only shows you what you have in stock but even if you have a component staged for another job. So, if you really need that part, you can rob Peter to pay Paul so to speak to get the current project done.”
Tracknicity For D-Tools allows employees to quickly see what has been purchased and staged for a job. It also makes it very easy for a technician or project manager to add parts to an existing project in D-Tools in real-time fashion, and it enables integrators to see what they have in stock when selling or designing a project.
Features via the mobile app include:
- Enhanced search capabilities
- Add parts to an existing D-Tools project without going into SI
- The ability to view project item reports from the mobile app
- The ability to set notifications of item receipt
- When viewing an item’s inventory, “staged items” are now included
- The ability to view all staged items with details on ordered/received/delivered
- The ability to return items to the staging area
The Tracknicity web dashboard has a new user interface that is faster and more responsive, enables more reports to be created, and offers enhanced search capabilities.
The need for streamlined inventory management could not be more pressing.
“The days of just in time inventory are gone,” comments Bigoness. “We knew this would resonate with the market. It’s only been out about one week and the response has been immediate. Dealers adding it every day.”
The integration is exclusive to D-Tools SI and not D-Tools Cloud, notes Bigoness.
