SEF-MLA7104 - AI for Automotive: Operations Fundamentals
Course Description
This workshop builds on the prompting skills introduced in the first session and applies them to the day-to-day operations of an automotive business. Participants use an operations lens—Is it language-based? Is it repetitive? Can the output be checked?—to identify practical AI opportunities in customer communications, estimates and follow-ups, scheduling and workflow, administrative tasks, documentation, and invoicing.
Through three hands-on exercises, participants improve a real customer message, streamline a real administrative task, and develop a plan to measure results. The workshop also sets clear expectations about AI’s limitations, particularly when it cannot access a schedule, system, or business data, while keeping human review and oversight at the center of every application.
Learner Outcomes
Upon completion of this workshop, participants will be able to:
- Draft customer communications, including estimate explanations, follow-ups, and difficult messages, that they would actually send.
- Apply AI to scheduling and capacity decisions without over-relying on what the tool cannot see, such as the DMS or live bay status.
- Apply four tests to decide whether a repetitive task is worth automating before investing time in it.
- Convert documentation, repair-order notes, and invoice explanations into repeatable, prompt-driven work.
- Develop reusable prompts for common operations tasks, including the guardrail that AI adds nothing and flags what is missing as a question.
- Review and improve AI-generated content for accuracy, professionalism, and appropriate customer communication.
- Identify information that should never be entered into public AI systems, and strip identifying details before using AI.
- Define a before-and-after measure so an operational improvement can be verified rather than assumed.
Notes
Target Population
Automotive professionals involved in dealership, repair shop, collision center, fleet, parts, customer service, scheduling, administrative, or operational functions. This workshop is appropriate for both frontline employees and supervisors.
Prerequisites
- Basic computer and internet skills are required.
- Previous completion of AI for Automotive: AI & Effective Prompting or equivalent basic familiarity with generative AI and prompting is required.
- Participants should have general familiarity with automotive workplace processes.