Why should a file service keep every tuned file?

A file service tunes the same few engines over and over. Yet many keep their work in folders named after customers, on one person's laptop. Every time the same car returns, someone starts again, or spends half an hour looking.

What should you keep for every job?

Everything that would let you understand it in three years:

• The original read, exactly as it came.
• The decrypted copy, when there is one.
• The tuned file, and every revision of it.
• The encrypted copy that went back, when there is one.
• The car, the ECU and its numbers, and what was asked for.
• The conversation, so you can see what was agreed.

How does a library make you faster?

The second time you see a software number is much quicker than the first. Your tuner starts from what worked, checks how close the new read really is, and then spends time on what is different. As the library grows, more of your work becomes checking and less of it starts from nothing.

Does it make the work better too?

Yes, and this is the part people miss. A library makes you consistent. Two tuners give the same customer the same result, a new tuner learns from past work, and when a customer says the last car felt better, you can compare the two files and see why.

Your library is the one thing a competitor cannot copy by lowering a price.

When can a repeat file go out by itself?

When it is truly the same job: the very same read, for the same work as a file you or your team tuned before. On a TunerEngine portal, File Match, an add-on and part of Master, can send it once the job is paid, so a customer can get a repeat file while your team is asleep. The guide to repeat files explains the steps. When only the software number matches, your tuner is offered what you did last time and decides.

How do you build a library from what you already have?

Start with your existing folders. You can bring folders, batch uploads and WinOLS projects with you into your own library, and then every file is searchable by software, hardware and ECU. Years of old work become useful on the first day, and there is no need to tidy it by hand first.

Who should be able to see it?

Your team, in the roles that need it. Files are your business, and each role sees only what its job needs. Your customers get what they ordered, and your library stays yours: if you ever leave, your data leaves with you.

How long should you keep files?

For as long as you are in business. Storage costs little, and an original you threw away is impossible to get back once the car has gone. Customers return, cars change hands, and a question about a job from four years ago is easy to answer when the file is still there.