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Using Your Dealer Management System/Reynolds and Reynolds

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On October 2012, it was announced that Reynolds and Reynolds was shopping for a new order. It is unforeseen how this will affect their current clients.[1]

Reynolds DMS support number is (800)767-0080.

Table of Contents

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Workflow

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When the vehicle arrives on the lot the dealer add them to Reynolds screen 0064, and then they migrate to Vehicle Inventory to 4006.

Reynolds Generations Series

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After release to its customers two years earlier,[2] in July 19, 2005 the board of directors at Reynolds and Reynolds decided to drop the RGS platform. They reported $66.5 million dollars in software development.[3] The Generation Series was set to be the successor to ERA built on .NET,[4] and using a non-MV database.[5] Reynolds spent an additional $27 million on reverse migration back to the older ERA platform in order to keep the 73 dealerships that adopted RGS.[6]

There was at least two lawsuits alleging false claims and insider trading.[7] The SEC began an investigation and stated the company's previously issued financial statements "should no longer be relied upon." The SEC was specifically investigating "company's classification of auction rate securities, the two-class method of reporting earnings per share and its revenue recognition policy".[8]

VSS Package

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VSS package, new program handled by the business group updates all of the color and model codes for you for the new year. This means you will not have to tell Reynolds what an "LT1" really is, or that GXU is Dark-Slate Green.

Shideler, David (2006-10-25). "No Need to Change It!". The Daily WTF. Retrieved 2009-08-12. an amusing article about the development of the Reynolds product.

Third Party Lockouts

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Under the guise of security Reynolds has taken numerous steps which have resulted in vendor lockout. Reynolds intentions to move this direction were first announced in 4Q 2007, when Reynolds sought to give Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) "secure access" to the DMS systems.[9] On January 4th, 2010, modem dial-in was disabled and third parties were no longer be able to dial-in to pull an inventory report or perform other functions by way of modem dial in.[10] The official supported means to connect to Reynolds, RCI, was forced onto the vendors.[11] However, because RCI is cost-prohibitive with entrance fees as high $80,000,[12] many vendors worked around this offering by Reynolds instead opting to fight their lock-out. Reacting to this, Reynolds began to aggressively turn off long abused features like the Preview functionality for reports on the 6910 screen. This functionality permitted third party vendors to screen-scrape and pull down and parse the text right from the report.[13] Reynolds began in January 2011 disabling ERALink entirely by forcing users to access their servers with the ERAccess client which could automatically download future "security updates." This blocked out all third party text-restricted telnet clients that supported the Reynolds Terminal (ie. ProCom Plus, PowerTerm, WinTerm, and Reflections).[14] With text-based third party clients now out of the way, Reynolds started using a proprietary extention to their terminal client that permitted graphical CAPTCHAs.[15] The system of CAPTCHAs replaced their own database of preselected Manual System Access questions that they implemented in 2009.[16] The Manual System Access questions were easily circumvented by cunning third-parties that couldn't afford official Reynolds integration. Subsequently, all users connected using Remote Desktop applications such GoToMyPC, LogMeIn, and Team Viewer to access their desktops with ERALink were locked out; proprietary Reynolds-labeled VPN solutions were pushed in their place.[17] Rumors in Sept of 2012 indicate that Reynolds is next going to eliminate their "Query Builder" tool which many third parties use to pull reports.[18] Further to "mitigate a security risk", Reynolds has withdrawn the ability to create free automated reports using their Report Scheduler tool.[19]


These lockouts often extend to monetary damages to Reynolds clients. One dealer, Grogan's Towne Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge-Ram in Toledo, Ohio reported losing $20,000 in five days when Integralink was unable to poll Reynolds to feed third party marketing companies.[20] This process of defeating third-party integration techniques under the guise of security is rather routine for Reynold's customers. The dealer principle remarked, "but Reynolds constantly discovers the new fixes and shuts out the vendor again."[20]


References

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  1. ↑ "Exclusive: Reynolds and Reynolds explores $5 billion LBO - sources". Reuters. 2012-10-29. Retrieved 2012-12-04.
  2. ↑ "Form 10-K: FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED SEPTEMBER 30, 2004". 2004-09-30. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
  3. ↑ Reynolds and Reynolds (2004-09-30). "For The Three and Nine Months Ended June 30, 2005 and 2004". Press release. http://sec.edgar-online.com/reynolds--reynolds-co/10-q-quarterly-report/2005/08/09/Section2.aspx. Retrieved 2009-01-21. 
  4. ↑ Cox, Beth. "Microsoft Sells Off Dealerpoint". Business. Internet News. Dayton, Ohio-based Reynolds and Reynolds, a company that sells software and technology consulting services to auto dealerships, has worked with Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft before, and already is using .NET technology for its Reynolds Generations Series product family.
  5. ↑ "Large UV VAR abandons Microsoft SQL Server/.NET Effort". 2005-07-25. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
  6. ↑ "Reynolds tries to retain dealerships". 2005-11-4. Retrieved 2009-01-21. {{cite web}}: |first= missing |last= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |late= ignored (help)
  7. ↑ Womack, Brian (2004-09-23). "Reynolds lawsuits piling up". Dayton Business Journal. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
  8. ↑ "SEC investigating Reynolds". Dayton Business Journal. 2007-10-27. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
  9. ↑ Reynolds and Reynolds (2007-10-27). "Reynolds Continues Modem Phase Out; Highlights to be Reviewed at Upcoming AICPA Conference". Press release. http://www.reyrey.com/company/news/102207.asp. Retrieved 2010-01-06. 
  10. ↑ Reynolds and Reynolds (12-02-09). "New ERA Security Enhancements Effective Janurary 4. 2010: Internal Modem Access to the ERA System Will Be Disabled" (pdf). Press release. http://dealer-inventory.com/reynolds-modem-access-termination-noaddr.pdf. Retrieved 01-06-09.  [dead link]
  11. ↑ The Trooper (2009-12-21). "No Access". Reynolds News & Information. Retrieved 2010-01-06..
  12. ↑ Banks, Cliff (2007-04-01). "Industry Debates DMS Security". WARD'S Dealer Business. Penton Media, Inc. Retrieved 2010-01-06.
  13. ↑ "Reynolds finally puts the stop on third parties and 6910 report screen scraping". 2010-06-16. Retrieved 2012-12-04. {{cite web}}: |first= missing |last= (help)
  14. ↑ "Introducing ERAccess – Your New Window to Your ERA® System ERALink Client to be Retired After December 31, 2010". Reynolds System Annoucement. Reynolds and Reynolds. Retrieved 2012-12-05.
  15. ↑ "RCI eNews: Announcing ERA® Report Generator (6910) Functionality Enhancements". Reynolds System Announcement. Reynolds and Reynolds. Retrieved 2012-12-05.
  16. ↑ "ERA Data Mismanagement Milestones" (PDF). Reynolds and Reynolds. 2010. Retrieved 2012-12-05. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  17. ↑ "ERALink Client to Be Retired - Deadline Extended to January 18, 2011". Reynolds System Announcement. Reynolds and Reynolds. Retrieved 2012-12-05.
  18. ↑ "Not a rumour: Query Builder being removed from Reynolds". 2012-09-18. Retrieved 2012-12-04.
  19. ↑ "Important Changes to Report Scheduler". Reynolds and Reynolds. {{cite web}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)
  20. ↑ a b Barkholz, David (2011-11-21). "Dealers decry Reynolds crackdown". Automotive News. Retrieved 2012-12-04.

Contacting Reynolds

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Phone (Technical Assistance Center)
+1 800.767.0080
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