February 2009. Garage Data Systems customer bucking the trend amidst falling car sales. Norwich Citroen Dealer, Duff Morgan had a "storming month" in January, selling 71 used vehicles against its usual average of 50 sales per month.
» Citroen dealer rewarded by driving used car sales

February 2009. Garage Data Systems launch a free / low cost system called GDS Vehicle Manager. The system provides basic customer and vehicle management facilities, and integrates with subscription based services, including VRM Vehicle Lookup, Postcode Lookup, SMS Text Messaging and Repair Times & Service Schedules, to enhance it's functionality.
» GDS Vehicle Manager Website

November 2008. Garage Data Systems were asked by a new customer in Somerset to investigate transferring data from their current GarageBase Pro system. We were able to create a data import utility to do this, and we were also able to import the data from their previous Unipart Direct system alongside their current data as well.

October 2008. Garage Data Systems moved to new modern offices in East Yorkshire. The new offices will provide the necessary space and resources required for our continued planned growth.

September 2008. Garage Data Systems installed a new dedicated telephone support line and took on a new member of staff to improve our ability to provide immediate and effective support to any customers with queries or requiring assistance .

August 2008. GDS Workshop Manager was chosen by the service department of a large franchised dealer in Norwich. Our system was chosen as a replacement to Unipart Direct. Prior to the installation we developed a Unipart Direct Data Migration utility in order to transfer the customer's data from their old system.

May 2008. A new enhanced website launched to offer a better online presence and provide more information to existing customers and prospective customers.

May 2008. GDS developed their MAM Autowork Data Migration utility for a new customer in Inverness. The customer wanted to move to our package and it was important that he was able to retain his vehicle MoT Reminder Records for 2008 and 2009. We transferred all of his customer and vehicle records to the GDS Workshop Manager system, including the MoT Reminder dates.

April 2008. saw the development of the Ultra Plus Data Migration utility for a new customer in Nottingham. The customer's previous supplier is no longer trading, and the customer needed the system on additional workstations, and it was important that they were able to retain all customer, vehicle and service history records. We were able to visit the customer to migrate the data, install the new system and give the staff some training.

March 2008. saw the formation of a partnership between GDS and an established software marketing business in Northern Ireland to raise awareness of our GDS Workshop Manager product and to help grow our sales in Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and the rest of the UK. Since the Irish launch of GDS Workshop Manager in April, many garages have adopted the system so far and we are confident that it will continue to be a very successful product in that market. GDS Workshop Manager was specially modified to deal with multiple service VAT rates and NCT reminders.

January 2008. GDS made a substantial investment in the ICME Repair Times and Service Schedules databases supplied by EurotaxGlass's.

December 2007. GDS made a substantial investment in a market-leading remote assistance package, LogMeIn Rescue, to offer our customers unbeatable support via the internet

December 2007. GDS developed their Gemini IGIS Data Migration utility for a new customer in Grimsby. The customer was looking for additional functionality in their workshop system, and it was important that they were able to retain all customer, vehicle and service history records.

November 2007 saw the development of the NAS/Concept 2000 Data Migration utility for a new customer in Hampshire. The customer had an existing unsupported system and wanted to upgrade to new IT equipment, which was not compatible. It was important that they were able to retain all customer, vehicle, stock and service history records.

October 2007 saw the development of the Unipart KiS Pro Data Migration utility for a new customer in Surrey. The customer was no longer able to use their existing rented system and it was important that they were able to retain all customer, vehicle, stock and service history records.

September 2007 saw the launch of our advertising campaigns on Google, MSN and other leading websites.

July 2007 saw the sale of GDS Workshop Manager to our second customer. After an extensive testing and improvement period when we worked closely with our first customer, we started to roll out GDS Workshop Manager to other local workshops.

November 2006saw the development of the Garage Master Data Migration utility for our initial customer in Cleethorpes. The customer was looking for a new system, and it was important that they were able to retain all customer, vehicle and service history records.

June 2006 The initial development of the GDS Workshop Manager system began. The product was written in response to a request from a local garage who had an old unsupported system which they feared may stop working.