Review Asset and Vehicle Records
Learning Objectives
After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:
- Explain the relationship between Asset and Vehicle objects in Automotive Cloud.
- List the tabs of the Asset page.
- List the tabs of the Vehicle page.
- Identify customization requirements and solutions.
The Need to Customize
Automotive companies sell cars and support customers in their vehicle ownership and service journey. But there are many cars and many customers. An automotive company must not only track data about its customers but also data about its vehicles. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a single place where you could find all that data? Enter Salesforce Automotive Cloud.
Automotive Cloud helps original equipment manufacturers, fleet management companies, dealers, and all other stakeholders in the ecosystem discover key information about vehicles and customers. You get information about your customers and drivers, their service history, and key moments and milestones in the vehicle ownership journey. And there’s information about all the vehicles you have, and all the parts and accessories in a vehicle’s hierarchy.
Neo Motors, a global automotive manufacturer, has implemented Automotive Cloud and is happy with the many features that the Salesforce solution offers. See Automotive Cloud Foundations to learn more about these features.
Rosa Diaz is the customer service manager at Neo Motors. She leads a global team of sales agents and service representatives who provide timely support to customers and dealers. Although Rosa’s team finds the Vehicle and Asset pages in Automotive Cloud helpful, they need a unified view of their customers to answer queries better.
Rosa reaches out to David Gunther, the admin at Neo Motors. David is confident about the flexibility of Automotive Cloud. He assures her that he can customize the Vehicle and Asset pages to match her requirements and boost her team’s productivity. In this module, discover more about each page and follow along as David customizes them.
First, let’s find out how vehicles and parts are represented in Automotive Cloud.
The Asset and Vehicle Relationship
Do you remember your middle school chemistry lesson about bases and alkalis? You’d have heard, “All alkalis are bases, but not all bases are alkalis.” You can apply the same principle to assets and vehicles in Automotive Cloud: All vehicles are assets, but not all assets are vehicles. A vehicle has both an Asset record and a Vehicle record. However, a part or accessory will only have an Asset record.
Let’s check out two asset records in Neo Motors to understand better.
Neo Ionic EV CD4 VXi Blue is a vehicle that was sold to Geoff Minor, a customer, and Neo Spark Battery EV 35 kWh is a part installed in that vehicle.
The Asset record of Neo Ionic EV CD4 VXi Blue includes the following key fields and values.
Field |
Value |
|---|---|
Asset Name |
Neo Ionic EV CD4 VXi Blue |
Product |
Neo Ionic EV CD4 VXi |
Account |
Geoff Minor |
Status |
Purchased |
Quantity |
1 |
Serial Number |
VCAR73762890123 |
Price |
$34,570.00 |
Asset Level |
1 |
Purchase Date |
2/21/2022 |
And here are the key fields and their values for the Neo Spark Battery EV 35 kWh part on an Asset record.
Field |
Value |
|---|---|
Asset Name |
Neo Spark Battery EV 35 kWh |
Product |
Battery EV 35 kWh |
Account |
Geoff Minor |
Status |
Installed |
Quantity |
2 |
Serial Number |
BTRY938563 |
Price |
$8,899 |
Asset Level |
2 |
Install Date |
2/21/2022 |
Parent Asset |
Neo Ionic EV CD4 VXi Blue |
Now, let’s explore Asset and Vehicle pages.
Explore the Default Asset Page
Automotive Cloud has a predefined console-type page layout for Asset and Vehicle pages. If you open an Asset record from the Automotive app or the Service Console, you’ll find the following tabs on the Asset page.
- The Overview tab shows alerts related to records that reside in the Salesforce org or in external systems. Record alerts can range from information about required service appointments to warnings about upcoming renewals and unpaid insurances. Even real-time telematics data related to faults in a vehicle are shown as alerts. Agents can track the key moments and milestones of the asset and tailor personalized offers and marketing communication for the customer. For example, a sales agent can offer a heavy discount on the upcoming 6-month periodic service of the vehicle. Service agents can check a chronological timeline, which lists all work orders for the asset and the total cost incurred for each repair or replacement job.
- The Assets tab lists assets marked as replacements, upgrades, and crossgrades for the Neo Ionic EV CD4 VXi Blue asset. This data is helpful when sales managers upsell products to customers.
- The Warranties tab lists warranties for the asset and its child assets. For example, agents can see that the Neo Ionic EV CD4 VXi Blue asset has a valid basic bumper-to-bumper warranty and an extended warranty.
- On the Cases tab, service agents track cases related to the asset. They can go through the list to find recurring issues and investigations.
- On the Claims tab, service agents track claim items related to the asset and its child assets. They can resolve dealer queries regarding pending or rejected claims right from the page.
- On the Repair Orders tab, service technicians track work orders related to the asset and its child assets. They can trace labor and parts expenses of each repair or replacement job right from the console.
Explore the Default Vehicle Page
Like the Asset page, the Vehicle page or console features several tabs packed with information.
- The Details tab shows information such as market price, registration and vehicle identification number, chassis number and odometer reading, servicing, recalls, subscriptions, and warranties related to the vehicle. You can bring in more information from external sources to populate the existing or custom fields.
- The Related tab gives a quick view of all the accounts and contacts related to the vehicle asset. For example, dealers, financial institutions, and households are listed as asset account participants. Customer service representatives, drivers, service technicians, and family members are listed as asset contact participants.
- The Parts & Accessories tab lists compatible parts and accessories related to the vehicle. Sales agents can upsell parts and accessories to customers or suggest newer upgrades. The tab also shows a list of installed parts and accessories related to the vehicle. Service agents can view all the components that make up the base configuration of the vehicle.
- The Warranties tab shows standard warranties, extensions, and exceptions for the vehicle and its parts. Service agents can use this data to help customers revise their warranty terms.
- The Claims tab shows claim items related to the vehicle and its parts. Service agents can estimate the amount of work and expenses involved in repairs during a vehicle’s lifecycle.
- The Appointments tab lists planned, upcoming, and completed service appointments for the vehicle. If the vehicle is used as a demo car at dealerships for test drives, the tab shows all the test drive appointments where the vehicle was used.
- The Assets tab gives you an overview of the vehicle. Agents can see the vehicle’s hierarchy of parts and the assets marked as replacements, upgrades, and cross grades.
We’ve reviewed Asset and Vehicle pages. Let’s get back to Rosa to find out her requirements.
Design a Blueprint for Success
In a meeting, Rosa discusses her requirements with David. She explains the need for each customization, and David maps her needs to the actions he must take.
Rosa’s Requirement |
David’s Action |
|---|---|
View different fields and related lists for an asset based on whether it’s a part or a vehicle. |
Create separate page layouts based on Asset record types. |
View a list of all the locations that the asset has been associated with. |
Add the Associated Locations related list to the Asset page. |
View a list of service entitlements for an asset to understand the agreed-upon level of customer support. |
Add the Entitlements related list to the Asset page. |
View a list of all test drive appointments related to an asset and quickly search the list from the asset console. |
Add the Service Appointments list to the Asset page and filter the list to show only test drive appointments. |
Quickly take notes and calculate warranty claim amounts from the Asset page. |
Add actions to the Actions and Recommendations component on the Asset page. |
View a chronological list of engagement topics and cases for a vehicle. |
Create a timeline to show topics and cases and add it to the Vehicle page. |
Visualize all the accounts, contacts, household members, and related relationships for a vehicle. |
Create an Actionable Relationship Graph and add it to the Vehicle page. |
View vehicle-specific milestones in the vehicle console. |
Hide some milestones on the Events and Milestones component of the Vehicle page layout. |
View a list of retail delivery reports related to a vehicle. |
Create a custom object to store details of the rebate claim related to a vehicle sales report and show a list of sales records on the Vehicle page. |
Quickly assign tags to vehicle records for upsell activities. |
Create interest tags and tag categories and add the Interest Tag component to the Vehicle page. |
In the next unit, David customizes the asset console.