Web-based dealership management system

• US 8,880,998 B2
• Filed: 06/05/2012
• Issued: 11/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/07/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Keith Jerome, Sandra L. Jerome
• Original Assignee: Keith Jerome, Sandra L. Jerome
• Inventors: Jerome, Keith, Jerome, Sandra L
• Primary Examiner(s): DYER, ANDREW R
• Application Number:
  US13/488,467
• Publication Number:
  US 20120265648A1
• Time in Patent Office: 882 Days
• Field of Search: 715/226, 715/234, 707/602, 707/603, 707/607, 707/705, 707/706
• US Class Current: 715/234
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes

Abstract

An integrated web-based dealership management system providing accounting, financial reporting, parts and service sales tracking, vehicle and parts inventory, vehicle sales tracking, and customer management software developed on a relational database on a web server and with web application tools.

Claims

1. A method for using server and client side scripts in a dealer management system to process and manage financial, customer, and inventory data which comprises:

a. calculating a monthly finance payment for a customer using one or more server side scripts to obtain a default selling price from a integrated vehicle inventory table in a database customized for the automotive, truck, RV, motorcycle or boat industry, a down payment from an integrated accounting receipts table, options and reconditioning costs from an integrated repair order and options tables, and a trade in value from an integrated lead database and using one or more embedded client side scripts in a web page to obtain terms and a bank name from a user of the dealership management system and use the one or more server side scripts to obtain from bank setup tables a calculation method based on the bank name to perform the payment calculations;

b. determining an extended sale amount of parts after the user of the dealership management system selects the customer filtered by the one or more client side scripts and part number filtered by manufacturer and then using the one or more server side scripts to obtain a pricing code from an integrated customer table, and cost, pricing, and source fields from an integrated parts inventory table based on the manufacturer, a price markup or discount percentages from a pricing matrix table that includes price escalations based on price ranges and the manufacturer (source) of the parts, and using the one or more client side scripts to perform the calculations after obtaining a quantity from the user of the dealership management system;

c. determining an extended sale amounts of labor after the user of the dealership management system selects the customer, customer'"'"'s vehicle to be repaired, and type of repairs being performed from integrated customer, vehicles, and labor type tables filtered by the one or more client side scripts, and then using the one or more server side scripts to obtain a pricing code from the integrated customer table, a labor rate based on the type of repairs being performed from a labor rate table, hours from an integrated labor operations table obtained from the manufacturer or other provider and based on the type of vehicle being repaired, and a markup or discount of that rate based on an amount of hours in a labor grid table and then performing extended sale amount calculations using the one or more client side scripts;

d. calculating a sales tax on parts and service sales by using the one or more server side scripts to determine if an item or customer type is taxable based on integrated setup tables, customer tables, and item tables and using the one or more client side scripts to enable the user of the dealership management system to override the one or more client side scripts results and make the customer exempt;

e. calculating a sales tax due on vehicle sales using the one or more client side calculations after using the one or more server side scripts to obtain a correct tax rate based on an address for the customer from the integrated customer table in a tax rate table, the sales type of the items selected by the user of the dealership management system and subtracting any deductions allowed by each state per the tax rate table and using the one or more client side scripts to enable the user of the dealership management system to override the one or more client side scripts results and make the customer exempt or select another taxing authority shown by the one or more client side scripts;

f. determining a balance due on repair orders and parts tickets using the one or more client side scripts to perform calculations totaling the extended sale amounts, other charges, and sales tax and then using the one or more server side scripts to obtain any payments made from an integrated customer payment table and if the customer can charge from the integrated customer table;

g. posting the repair order and parts ticket transactions to a general ledger using the one or more server side scripts to obtain the general ledger account numbers for the transactions based on setup tables in the database customized for the automotive, truck, RV, motorcycle or boat industry and using the one or more client side scripts to select the correct general ledger account number based on the sales and customer type of the repair order and parts ticket;

h. posting deposits and receipts transactions to the general ledger using the one or more server side scripts and updating the integrated vehicle sale deals, parts tickets, and repair orders tables with down payments, parts deposits and other payments received for a related customer record;

i. posting purchases of parts to the general ledger using the one or more server side scripts and updating the integrated parts inventory table with a last purchase date and adjusting the parts inventory on hand balance;

j. posting purchases of vehicles to the general ledger using the one or more server side scripts and updating the integrated vehicle inventory table with cost, invoice, holdback, advertising, and vendor information;

k. posting vehicle sale to the general ledger using the one or more server side scripts to obtain the general ledger account numbers for the transactions based on setup tables in the database customized for the automotive, truck, RV, motorcycle or boat industry and using the one or more client side scripts to select the correct general ledger account number based on the sales and customer type of the deal;

l. calculating payroll wages for technicians using integrated flag hours uploaded from the repair orders using the one or more client side scripts then updating the repair order to prevent changes to paid hours after the payroll has been paid to the technician;

m. calculating payroll wages for sales people using integrated commissions payable records from a vehicle sale deal commission schedules linked to an employee'"'"'s pay using the one or more client side scripts;

n. calculating deductions and net pay using integrated employee receivable with amounts due from the employee'"'"'s purchases of parts, repair orders, vehicles, spiffs, or draws linked to the employee'"'"'s pay using the one or more client side scripts;

o. performing month end processing of scheduled general ledger accounts using the one or more server side scripts that clear a detail display using the one or more client side scripts to obtain from the user of the dealership management system a range of dates and type of clearing process to use;

p. performing month end processing of unscheduled account using the one or more server sides scripts to clear a detail using the one or more client side scripts to obtain from the user of the dealership management system the records to clear;

q. performing month end processing of vendor accounts by using the one or more client side scripts to display a last check date, an average check amount, and a detail to alert the user of the dealership management system to any vendor amounts that need to be accrued;

r. performing year end compressing, backup, and cleansing of parts ticket, repair order, and vehicle sales transaction tables of the database customized for the automotive, truck, RV, motorcycle or boat industry using the one or more server side scripts and database optimization tools; and

s. performing year end maintenance of general ledger accounts with the one or more server side scripts.