Solutions
Superbase
Case Studies
DK Audio Visual Services Ltd. 
When David King decided to start his ownservice business he had
already concluded that smart use of computer technology would be
key in establishing and gaining market share in this highly competitive
area. As an employee in a similar service business, he had been
acutely aware of the length of time it took for customer telephone
queries to get answered as they were constantly passed from one
department to another, and of the consequent frustration and stress
caused to customers and staff alike. David realized that electronic
an information system, accessible by all departments, would go a
long way to providing a solution.
DK Reception area at Horley
Today DK Audio Visual Services is a thriving independent service
company jointly owned by David and his wife Anne, specialising in
the repair of all consumer electronic products. Established in 1988,
the company is an authorised repairer for Sony, Panasonic and JVC
(digital and analog camcorders in the lower third of the country
dealing direct with their customers), Hitachi (they hold the repair
agreement for Hitachi camcorders for the entire country), Pioneer,
Thomson, Daewoo, Sanyo, Kenwood, Mitsubishi, Aiwa, Akai, Sharp,
Toshiba, Denon, Samsung, Grundig and Philips. As if that isn't impressive
enough, DK also service all
Camcorder Repairs at Horley
Virgin Atlantic hand-held Video 8 Watchmans provided in-flight.
The original site at Horley is also both a technical center specialising
in the servicing of digital and analog camcorders and most still
cameras, as well as a television repair center. For several years
they have operated a national service door-to-door, collecting repairing
and returning at the customer's convenience from this site. Tunbridge
Wells is the audio center of excellence and all audio engineering
is now carried out there.
In 1998 DK Audio Visual Services acquired the material assets of
Triadcolour, a field service organization that had been in business
in Mitcham for almost 30 years, but which had just gone into receivership.
On acquiring the assets, DK offered most of the Triadcolour staff
positions in the new venture. A large investment has been made in
Mitcham, which has just undergone extensive refurbishment in readiness
for its new role and as the call center for the whole company
All incoming telephone traffic will go through the call center and
then be routed to the appropriate department and site, ensuring
that queries and requests get processed with maximum efficiency
for the customer. Having three sites means wider service coverage
but there are, of course, associated logistical problems. The smooth
running of the entire operation hinges on the business information
system which David has developed using the Superbase platform.
How it Started
David's long relationship with Superbase started back in 1989 when
the business was just being set up.
"I was working for an employer, building an extension on the
house and running my own repair business from home in the evenings.
We had reached the point where we couldn't continue like that. I
either had to give up my day job or my dream of my own business.
So we took the plunge and I gave up my day job. If it had failed,
we would have been homeless."
Needing a database system for basic record keeping, he walked into
a software supplier in Croydon and chose from three or four products
put in front of him. Not knowing how to choose between them, he
opted for Superbase for its pretty box!
"I had an old Atari at that time. No hard drive, we just worked
on floppies. I just wanted a job-tracking system, a sort of electronic
card index. I needed to be able to find enough information to generate
an invoice from it. Superbase was very easy to use and I stayed
with it when I migrated to the PC about a year later."
Having moved to PCs with hard drives, it was still quite some time
before David did any programming with Superbase.
"It was when sitting down in the evenings, I started reading
and looking into it and wondering could I do this and that, and
I just started experimenting."
Asked if he had had any previous programming experience he replied,
"No, none at all. I'm an engineer. I like reading and I like
a challenge but I had never done any programming before I started
with Superbase. It was so easy to use; I just kept experimenting.
The more I found I could do, the more I experimented and the more
we moved forwards."
The System Today - Ease of Use with High
Functionality
The Main Screen from which a wide variety of functions are accessible.
The system is remarkably comprehensive, tracking every stage of
the business from the first call to the completion of repairs and
invoicing. An incoming request for repair is booked from the main
screen. Every job has a unique identifier number, and a lookup file
allocates an engineer to a job. The system prompts the operator
at every stage to ensure the fullest and most accurate data is held
for each job. The function keys have pre-formatted statements for
quick entering.
If the customer requires the repaired item to be delivered back
a courier charge is automatically added by the system. If the item
arrived by courier also, the cost is included on the screen. The
system can print out an estimate letter on hitting enter.
A printed carrier collection request is then generated which will
be formatted to the individual carrier company's specification.
This completely replaces the usual manual form-filling and duplication
of effort and has proved to be a major time-saver.
Collection Request form pre-printed and formatted to the specification
ofthe individual carrier
On arrival for repair, the 'Arrived booked into system' area will
validate the unit against the information on screen. After validation
a series of dialog boxes ask key questions of the operator which
help to exactly pinpoint the requirements of the job, as well as
keeping track of peripherals. If the unit is a camera for example,
a dialog will ask whether there was a tape in it, or any other accessories.
If the camera is a digital video camera, it will be assigned to
a different engineering department. The unit will be booked as Arrived
Confirmed when all information is complete, and given a consignment
number that is used for accounting purposes.
An engineer will be allocated the repair and any parts necessary
to complete the work can be ordered through the system which will
then be processed by Anne King who is in charge of this area. Reminder
screens always ask if details are correct before information is
saved. All events are date and time stamped.
The Repair Chase information screen provides workshop information
on the fly regarding status of a repair. Temporary file is made
for example of all video repairs in the system.
When a price query on a part has been made, the system asks if postage
and packing are to be added and if so, a lookup table will be accessed.
When a price query has been sent, the trade and retail prices for
the parts are exported to the Estimate screen that enters the labor
cost (a set cost determined by item).
The Estimate screen
The minimum parts cost and the retail price information are then
combined to price the job. The status of every repair job and parts
order can be easily tracked and this is backed up by a very comprehensive
set of built-in reports that are simple to generate and available
to both office and engineering staff alike.
For engineers working in the field, a diary system is used. An engineer
will be allocated a visit and an arrival time scheduled. Postcodes
are the key to allocating visits most efficiently.
Communication and connectivity between Sites
A repair coming into Mitchum, might be sent to Horley if it is felt
that the appropriate expertise resides there. With three sites and
many hundreds of bookings, keeping track of where any particular
appliance is could be problematic. However the system runs extremely
smoothly. Connectivity between sites is addressed by way of overnight
download. The company decided not to go the route of wide area networking
at present, as costs have to be kept to a minimum, and 24 hours
old data is fine.
At present information is downloaded once a night from Tunbridge
and Mitcham. All information is held at Horley. In the case of a
repair going from Mitcham to Horley as above, the download system
will make the original Mitcham file available for view from Horley.
DK and Innovation
Much of the repair work undertaken by the company is under warranty.
In the past warranty claims sheets had to be filled out from information
on the screen and sent back to the various manufacturers, each of
whom demanded adherence to their own format. To avoid this wasteful
duplication, David and colleague Roy decided to build the warranty
claims pad electronically so that it could be filled in on-screen
and printed out.
Canon screen
All major manufacturers were contacted for their input and all have
eventually accepted the idea. To this day, JVC UK use DK's design
as the benchmark for computer generated warranty claims.
- Auto claims with Panasonic
With Panasonic, claims are validated then exported to a flat file
format to Panasonic's specification, then e-mailed direct to their
systems. This system was completed in less than one week and achieved
the comment from Panasonic that "larger companies could not
compete with the speed that this system was completed" - it
worked perfectly on the second attempt!
When cleared, Panasonic's claims department email back a credit
note that is directly imported into Excalibur Superbase, paying
all spares and labor claims automatically, leaving only the incorrectly
paid claims to check and resubmit as required.
Customer Focus and Usability
The strong customer focus evident throughout the business is reinforced
in the design of the system. Working on the premise that a system
has to be user-friendly in order to get the best from it, and those
operating it, David has gone to great lengths to ensure ease of
use. Although the user is confronted with a wide variety of options,
all members of the team reported finding it simple to learn and
use, typically taking a week to master. In fact the team
from Mitcham had to make the crossover from a Unix system which
they had been using for many years, and have achieved this without
any problems at all. At every stage there are screens to help the
user. Dialog boxes appear with reminders covering areas such as
packaging for safe transit, or with warnings when a product is under
warranty for example, in which case crucial facts such as date of
purchase must be established.
The system has been developed over many years and David's loyalty
to the Superbase platform is evident. Asked why he has remained
with the product he replied:
"Its easy, flexible. I think it's easy to understand. I obviously
know the product very well now, but I have also tried Access, and
find it much easier to quickly design and produce screens in Supebase
than in Access. It's a very powerful product."
David also stresses the need for control over development in an
industry that is increasingly driven by the need to operate economically.
"With Superbase I can control things myself. I don't need an
IT department or expensive support contracts. We have to react quickly
to changing manufacturer and customer demands as not doing so means
loss of market share. This usually means modifying our system. Superbase
always has an answer. To date no challenge has proved too great.
I'd hazard that if we had bought something else, we would no longer
have the control we have now for the price. And on the few occasions
when we have needed help, we can always pick up the phone and get
an answer when you need it. That has not been my experience with
other companies. "
Future Development
According to David, the Parts Ordering system, of which Anne, his
wife, is in charge, is an area that has been slightly neglected
up until now, due mainly to Anne's competence and expertise in ensuring
its smooth running. It has been all too easy to 'leave well enough
alone' but Anne is now heavily involved with David in the re-design
of this module. Using her expert knowledge of this area, they are
developing a system that will not only track the stock but also
re-order items automatically. Anne admitted that since her involvement
in the re-design, she also has become a Superbase enthusiast, as
she increasingly realises how the system can work for her.
There will also be a need for more work on the system when the call
center comes fully into operation at Mitcham, but as David is now
able to stand back from the day-to-day management at Horley, he
looks forward to this shift in focus and to the opportunity to develop
the system to even higher levels of excellence.
You can visit DK's website on WWW.dkavs.co.uk
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