Service Requests in GAGEtrak 7
The Service Requests portion of GAGEtrak is used to track and print both in-house service requests and those for outside service providers. Additionally, you can use this feature to document, track and report on corrective actions that you've issued for failed or malfunctioning gages, general repairs, calibrations or any other service that requires tracking. Requests can also prove valuable when evaluating a supplier and tracking gages issued off site. The Requests feature is accessible under Main Records in the Navigation Menu, and as its position indicates, it's a feature which is designed for frequent use.
Some of the advantages of this feature are that it creates a packing list of gages, date stamps and shipped/received dates and allows you to include special instructions to your vendor. The list can be forwarded to accounting to accompany the PO for the services being purchased.
The header section of the Requests form determines who originated the request, what kind of request it is and the supplier for the requested service.
The CA/Request No. auto generates when a new request record is created. This numbering scheme is formatted in the Setup -> Settings -> Automatic Numbering tab and may be configured to include the current date in the service request number.
The Request Date, by default, is today's date, but may be set to the true date of origination.
The default Requester is the person currently logged into GAGEtrak; however, the drop-down list will permit selection of anyone included in the staff records.
Insurance Amt is the sum of the cost to replace the gages on the list.
Letter Type is a significant field, as it allows you to choose the type of request you are making. The defaults are Calibration Request, Repair Request and Corrective Action. You may need to send gages off site for other reasons, so you may compose your own letters in Setup -> Setup CA /Service Request.
The supplier is selected from the Service Supplier drop-down list; this field is populated from the supplier records stored in GAGEtrak.
Status is the status of the request. It is either Open, meaning all gages have not yet been returned, or Closed, meaning all have been returned. GAGEtrak can be configured to automatically update the status of a gage when it's added to a service request (thus removing it from the Calibration Due Listing) and when its status is closed. These settings are defined in the Setup -> Settings -> General tab in the Service Request Options pane.
The Completion Date is the date all gages have been returned and checked in. If all gages have been returned at the same time, you may click the button to the right of the field and enter the date. Otherwise, this field will populate when the last individual gage is returned.
The Comments field allows you to make additional notes regarding the request.
The section of the form below the Comments field allows selection of individual gages. You may select as many gages as you like. When the first one is selected, another blank row appears to add a second gage, and so forth.
If all gages are not returned at the same time, you would enter the return date for the specific gage in the Completion Date column. Clicking in the field will display a calendar icon; click the icon to open the calendar and select a date.
The Insurance Amt column receives its data from the Gages -> Information tab -> Cost field. The Cost field in Gages should reflect the purchase cost for the gage. This is considered to be the estimated replacement cost for the gage; this column is totaled in the header.
The Status column reflects the status of each individual gage in the request. As mentioned before, you can configure GAGEtrak to automatically change the status of a gage when the gage is returned.
The unmarked field below each Gage ID allows you to enter notes which will display on the printed form to provide to your vendor regarding individual gages on the request.
GAGEtrak is much more than a tool for tracking your calibrations; with great features like Service Requests, you can easily expand your control over your measurement systems and add new, effective processes to your gage surveillance efforts.
We encourage you to explore the additional capabilities in your GAGEtrak software and as always, keep an eye out for future Tech Tips.
