Paint Materials Cost Importer (PMCI)





Overview

Paint Materials Cost Importer was developed to allow shops to easily and quickly update repair orders with the actual paint cost as calculated by your paint scale. PMCI will save countless hours of manual RO data entry through this two click process. PMCI will interpret the files exported by your mix system and turn them into an entry by PMCI in your job costs for the paint material cost as calculated by your mix system.

Below is all pdf documentation on PMCI for Summit 8 and 7 Users, if you require additional assitance please contact SummitCRS Support at 1-800-789-9112 or 208-947-1738.


Current Version: PMCI 8.1.2.1
AKZO Nobel

PMCI Imports Costs from AKZO Nobel into SummitCRS

PPG

SummitCRS has full support for PPG Paint Scales with optional RO export via Databridge in addition to cost importing.

BASF

SummitCRS has full support for BASF SmartTrak Paint Scales with optional RO export via Databridge in addition to cost importing.

Frequently Asked Questions

The PMCI application does require some simple manual steps to import your costs as each mix system exports its costs at different intervals. Simply open PMCI when you want to import your costs and select the mix file and press the load mix data button. From there it should take you to the export tab where we simply press the "Update Summit Costs" button to send our costs to SummitCRS.
This is entirely up to you, each shop is different in how often they run the export. Some paint techs run PMCI as soon as they finish a job while others may wait till the end of the day or even week to update their costs to SummitCRS.
Your paint mix machine records the amount of material used for each RO, based on these amounts your mix software will calculate the cost of materials used. Summit will simply pick this number up and enter it in as a Job Cost for the Repair Order.
No, if an RO is closed the export tab list will update the Result field indicating that this was a closed RO. Once an RO is closed PMCI will no longer update the costs.
PMCI does not look for manual paint material entries, it will only look for and update existing PMCI entries. Your manual entry would cause a duplicate job cost on the RO, if you utilize PMCI you do not want to manually enter costs as you will duplicate data entry.
If you do not possess this information it can be simply located by opening Summit to the login screen and clicking on the blue location: link below your Username.
PMCI does not export any data to your Mixing Software it only updates SummitCRS with Job Costs. SummitCRS does offer an application called Databridge which exports RO Admin information to PPG and BASF Paint Scale systems ONLY.

There are a few things that could be impacting this particular issue. If you know you have completed paint jobs and should have new costs to import there are three things to check based on your paint scale software.

First, lets check that PMCI is looking in the correct directory for the file. On the Setup tab verify the file path for the "Cost Export Folder:" this path should match what your mix software has for its export path. If these paths do not match correct them so that both applications are pointed to the same directory, there is no required path. Once matched try manually exporting from your scale software, check with your mix software support to obtain instructions.

Second, check to see if you are exporting in the correct file format. PMCI expects an XML file to be placed in the Cost Export Folder, any other file type would not be recognized by PMCI. Verify your file format and adjust accordingly to XML.

Finally, check to see if your scale software is running or shut it down and restart it. Many times when we have recieved calls about this issue we find the paint scale software is frozen or its export component is not even running. Simply close the software and reopen it, should the problems persist at this point please contact Summit Support for additional assistance.

If you are able to see the mix XML file in the "Select Mix File" tab yet the "Update Summit Costs" is not working you will want to start by verifying you have the correct IP Address, Port and DBName entered in the setup. This information can be found by clicking the location link on the login screen of Summit. You can click the "Test" button to verify the connectivity to the server when you update the settings.

Verify the mix file is in XML file, PMCI will only read XML files not log or other formats used by Paint Scale Software. If it is not an XML file consult with your Paint Scale Software Support to correct the export file type.

This error is indicitive of a few different things. First, you will want to check your server IP, port, and DBname as they are set up in the setup tab. You can test for connectivity by hitting the "Test" button. Verifiy your IP,Port, DBName by clicking on the location link on the login screen of any functioning SummitCRS client software.

Should the error still persist next would be to make sure the paint scale machine is on the same network as the rest of the shop and has necessary permissions to access the server.

PMCI will only update exisitng PMCI entries in Job Costs, it will not add an additional entry. The only way for a duplicate entry would be if there were a manual job cost entered for paint materials.
PMCI will only write to it configuration file upon closing of the application, this means if you make changes you will need to completely close PMCI before those settings are saved. If you have done this and still have issues with the configuration file saving try deleting the PMCISetUp.txt file and setting up PMCI again. Should the problem persist please contact SummitCRS Support.
With the server upgrade from SummitCRS 7 to SummitCRS 8 we will need to update the PMCI version being used on your paint scale. Our upgrade techs will typically inquire at the time of the upgrade to identify any paint scales that may needs the update. If your paint scale was missed simply contact SummitCRS Support to get the software update.

The PMCI application is only half of the process for import. You will need to contact your paint scale software provider to set up the mix XML export.

Contact Summit Support to have our technician set up PMCI on your paint scale machine, this process typically takes about 10-15 minutes depending on internet connection speeds. To expedite the process please have your IP, Port, and DBName from a working Summit Client. Our PMCI Guide will guide you through the steps of setting up PMCI, however you can only obtain a copy of the application from a SummitCRS Support Technician.

This Path in PMCI should be pointed to the same directory that your paint scale software is exporting the XML file to.