Estimators, managers and all other Blueprint Optimization Tool users now can track their success adding operations flagged by the “BOT” as potentially overlooked repair labor.

The BOT software allows a collision repairer to automatically apply the “SCRS Guide to Complete Repair Planning” to an estimate and identify overlooked items. The “Guide to Complete Repair Planning” includes more than 1,000 operations an auto body shop’s staff might be performing during a collision repair but forgetting to mention on the estimate.

The new BOT feature announced Monday “provides data-driven insight into how frequently the resource is being utilized, the average amount of added operations identified per audit, and how that performance relates to averages of other top users,” SCRS wrote in a news release. “There is also the ability to drill down to estimate lines, missed operations and operations added by clicking hyperlinks within the reporting function.”

Screenshots shared by SCRS show a user informed he or she has added an average of six line items per estimate on 34 percent of sheets after having the BOT check their work. This beat the “Top 25%” of shops, which only averaged 5.5 operations on 22 percent of estimates, according to the image.

Another screenshot shows a user able to see the number of operations added on specific vehicles out of the possibilities available — which for several vehicles were more than 100 — as well as the overall estimate gross total.

“I’ve been that guy who didn’t think that this would work for us, or that we could effectively add more to our sheets. We are on a couple DRPs, and I was shocked when they approved close to everything additional that we identified and captured on our first handful of estimates we ran through the BOT,” Matt Linder, body shop manager of Classic Chevrolet Cadillac of Denison, said in a statement. “The net result is more operations that we didn’t capture on the initial estimate, that we are now. It makes you think more about what is necessary, what you are doing on a technical level, and how that should be communicated on the estimate. I was a skeptic, but I’m 100% sold on the value it’s generated for us.”

Another direct repair program shop also reported success with reimbursement for operations caught in the BOT.

“In short, we were missing a lot that we didn’t realize or intend to,” Union Collision owner Nick Barbera wrote in a testimony shared on the BOT website. “The BOT has helped us identify that, and I love how the procedures go right into the proper subheading of the estimate, and not just lumped at the bottom of the Misc. Operations. The best part is that we have had zero push back from DRP’s and Non-DRP business alike.”

SCRS said users found value in “the extensive list of part codes, effectively minimizing supplements by creating cleaner, more comprehensive estimates the first time. Better documented repairs have been noted by BOT customers to improve credibility with the bill payer while increasing efficiency in the development of more consistent repair plans.”

Those interested in the BOT can also watch live demos every Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. ET. Register here to watch the webinars.

More information:

Society of Collision Repair Specialists Blueprint Optimization tool website

“BOT Now Offers Management Reporting Data”

Society of Collision Repair Specialists, March 29, 2021

Images:

The logo for the Society of Collision Repair Specialists Blueprint Optimization Tool is shown. (Provided by SCRS)

A new feature in the Society of Collision Repair Specialists’ Blueprint Optimization tool lets individual users track how the software has been used on their estimates. (Provided by SCRS)