DRIVE SMS v26.8.0 – Release Notes

This release focuses on repair order management, parts and inventory, scheduling, payments, reporting, customer communication, usability, and overall system performance. The updates below are written for clients and exclude internal issue numbers and technical links.

Repair Orders & Estimates

• ◆ Improved technician and service advisor assignments, including the ability to clear assignments when needed.
• ◆ Improved service and labor line management when changes are made to repair orders.
• ◆ Enhanced validation when completing services to help identify missing information.
• ◆ Improved handling of recommendations, inspections, and service details.
• ◆ Refined customer and vehicle selection when creating estimates and repair orders.
• ◆ Improved repair order activity tracking for better visibility into changes and actions.
• ◆ Enhanced the display and handling of discounts, fees, taxes, and totals.

Why it matters: Service advisors gain a more consistent experience when building, editing, reviewing, and completing estimates and repair orders.

Scheduling & Workflow

• ◆ Improved technician work scheduling and assignment workflows.
• ◆ Enhanced workflow board behavior and repair order updates.
• ◆ Improved the display and handling of estimates within workflow screens.
• ◆ Refined scheduling controls and related notifications.
• ◆ Improved consistency when moving between workflow views and repair order details.

Why it matters: Teams can manage work assignments and move between scheduling, workflow, and repair order screens with clearer and more consistent information.

Parts & Inventory

• ◆ Improved visibility into parts purchasing status within repair orders.
• ◆ Enhanced parts search and return workflows.
• ◆ Improved supplier selection and filtering.
• ◆ Refined PartsTech and other parts-ordering workflows.
• ◆ Improved handling of part quantities, costs, and purchasing information.
• ◆ Enhanced inventory information and related calculations.
• ◆ Improved the presentation of parts information throughout the system.

Why it matters: Parts teams and service advisors receive clearer purchasing and inventory information when sourcing, ordering, returning, and reviewing parts.

Payments & Financial Reporting

• ◆ Improved payment and refund information displayed within the system.
• ◆ Refined the presentation of payment details and payment-related activity.
• ◆ Improved invoice and payment receipt workflows.
• ◆ Enhanced consistency across financial reporting.
• ◆ Refined the display of sales, discounts, and profit analysis information.
• ◆ Improved the presentation of invoice totals and other financial details.

Why it matters: Shop teams receive more consistent financial information when reviewing payments, refunds, invoices, sales, discounts, and profitability.

Customer Communication & Notifications

• ◆ Improved access to customer conversations directly from repair orders.
• ◆ Refined communication tools and customer contact handling.
• ◆ Improved notification behavior for customer approvals and completed work.
• ◆ Enhanced activity tracking for customer communications.
• ◆ Refined the display of customer approval and payment-related information.

Why it matters: Service advisors can more easily review customer communication activity and keep customers informed about approvals, payments, and completed work.

Inspections & Recommendations

• ◆ Improved recommendation management within repair orders.
• ◆ Refined inspection report navigation and related actions.
• ◆ Improved the handling and display of recommendations.
• ◆ Enhanced customer and vehicle information in inspection reports.
• ◆ Refined validation and workflow behavior when inspection and service information is updated.

Why it matters: Inspection and recommendation information is easier for shop teams to manage and clearer when presented to customers.

Reports, Invoices & Printed Documents

• ◆ Refined invoice and estimate print layouts.
• ◆ Improved the presentation of warranty claim documents.
• ◆ Enhanced formatting consistency across printed reports and customer communications.
• ◆ Improved the display of payment information on invoices.
• ◆ Refined report filters and date-based information displays.

Why it matters: Documents generated by Drive SMS are more consistent and readable for customers and internal shop use.

User Interface & Everyday Usability

• ◆ Improved grid scrolling and data display.
• ◆ Refined buttons, icons, labels, and other interface elements.
• ◆ Improved dropdown behavior and data-entry interactions.
• ◆ Enhanced information presentation in sales, inventory, and workflow screens.
• ◆ Refined the experience across different screen sizes and display settings.

Why it matters: Everyday tasks are easier to navigate across common screens and different device or display configurations.

Performance & Reliability

• ◆ Optimized selected system operations and data requests.
• ◆ Improved performance in sales and workflow-related areas.
• ◆ Addressed issues affecting screen behavior and data refreshes.
• ◆ Refined connected workflows to provide a more consistent experience.

What This Means for Your Shop

• ✓ More confidence when managing repair orders, estimates, assignments, and service details.
• ✓ Better visibility into parts, inventory, payments, customer activity, and reporting.
• ✓ Clearer customer communications, inspections, recommendations, and printed documents.
• ✓ A smoother and more consistent experience across scheduling, sales, workflow, and connected areas.