CARS - the basics

As we wrap up 2014, I want to thank you for your willingness to learn CARS and help get us ready for how invoicing and evaluations will be done in the future.

As a quick review:

• starting March 1, 2015, all invoices and evaluations will need to be done in the CARS application (no matter how big or small your firm is)
• If you have been trained in CARS (or watched the videos or read the manual), you can start using CARS
• If your WisDOT PM has not been trained, you may not be able to use CARS for invoicing or evaluations - keep in good communication with your PM
• If you create an invoice, please email the PM to let them know when you have submitted
• If you have any other questions, please visit the CARS website.
• to get access to CARS, fill out the form DT1522 for access
• The list of firms trained in CARS is here.

CARS Training by the Numbers

We've wrapped up our December CARS Training (and our training for 2014). It is a good time to reflect on how many people have been trained in CARS at this time.

WisDOT - 304 people trained

• regions trained completely (SW, NW, NE, Bureaus)
• SE partially trained

Management Consultant Training - 36 people trained

• this training included some WisDOT employees

Consultants - 106 people trained


The list of firms trained in CARS is here.

The link to the CARS Videos to learn remotely is here.

You will also note that I have created a link in the upper right corner of this site that links to the "CARS Video Tutorial."

If you are a consultant who has reviewed the training remotely, I would be happy to add you to the list of firms that have been trained in CARS. Just email me, and I will add you to my list.

Training Week in Green Bay

A big training week for the CARS application. Just got done training WisDOT employees in Green Bay - the Northeast Region. 

Now that this is done, it opens up an entire region of people who now have the ability to review and approve invoices that you are sending in electronically.

Looking at how CARS is coming along, we are starting to see about 5 electronic invoices come in per day. Now that Northeast can start receiving invoices, I'm expecting to see more invoices come in.

Training for consultants is on December 16. Am thinking about possibly creating another consultant training date in January, or possibly doing a WebEx class (remote training).

Here is a list of firms that have been trained in CARS.

CARS Tutorial Videos

Below you will find some CARS videos that will assist you getting into CARS, setting up your firm, and creating invoices. This now include videos for evaluations (updated 12/21/14). These videos complement our CARS Manual.

Intro to CARS

Consultant – Adding Staff Members

Consultant – Assign Contracts and Roles

Consultant – Assign Contracts and Roles with Groups

Consultant – Main Menu and Dashboard

Consultant – Contract Navigation

Consultant - Invoicing - Actual Cost Contract

Consultant - Invoicing – Cost Per Unit Contract

Consultant - Invoicing – Lump Sum Contract

Consultant - Invoicing – Specific Rate Contract

Consultant - Invoicing - Include and Create Sub Invoices

Consultant - Invoicing - Creating an Invoice as a Subconsultant

Consultant - Invoicing - Create a $0 Subconsultant Invoice with Previous Paid Amounts ** NEW**

Consultant - Invoicing - Create $0 Prime Consultant Invoice to include Sub Invoices **NEW**

Consultant - Evaluations - Respond to WisDOT Evaluation

If you have not had CARS Training, and would be comfortable using CARS after watching these videos, please let me know and I could add you to the list of firms that have been trained in CARS.

If there are additional topics that you would like me to address in the videos, please let me know via email.

We will be training WisDOT employees in Green Bay on Dec 9 and 10.