Open any job from the board, the list or a customer's page and you land on its order page. It is built to answer four questions at a glance: which car, what it's in for, where the paperwork is, and what happens next.
From top to bottom there is the header, a row of tabs with the work under it, and on a wide screen a panel down the right that holds the money and the paperwork details.
The header
The car and the customer
The car is the heading: the plate, then the year, make and model, then the mileage. Click the car to open its details, where you can correct the mileage and the tire readings recorded on this visit.
Under it is what the car is in for, the job's title. Click it to change it.
The document number sits beside it, for example EST-1043, and it changes
prefix as the job moves on (see documents and PDFs).
Then the customer, with their phone and email. Message opens your conversation with them. Click their name to see their details and get to their record.
A new job with no customer or vehicle yet shows a search box for each, above the car. Once one is picked, it's locked in place.
Where the paperwork stands
On the right of the header, the job's paperwork reads as a track of five stops: Estimate, Approved, In progress, Invoiced and Paid. The name of the current stop is written above it with Step 2 of 5 beside it, so you never have to count segments.
The colour says when the job is waiting on someone. An estimate the customer hasn't answered yet reads Waiting for approval in amber, a declined one is red, and a paid job ends on green.
Under the track is the next step, the one filled button on the page:
| Where the job is | The next step |
|---|---|
| Estimate | Send estimate |
| Estimate sent | Record approval |
| Approved | Start work |
| In progress | Mark completed |
| Completed | Invoice and send |
| Invoiced, money still owed | Record payment |
| Paid | Nothing. The job is done. |
If you have a card reader set up, Record payment has a small arrow beside it with Charge card reader. What each step does is covered in the order workflow.
For the rare move that isn't the next one, click the name of the current stop. Its Move to menu lists every other status, so you can send a job back to estimate, or straight to completed. On an invoiced job the menu offers Reopen invoice instead.
Note
A disabled next step means the job is missing something: a customer, a vehicle or a line of work. Hover the button and it says which.
The board lane
Beside Print is the job's lane on the workflow board, in the lane's own colour. Click it to move the job to another lane. The lane says where the car is and the track says where the paperwork is; changing one never changes the other. See the workflow board.
Print and more
Print downloads the estimate (the repair order, once work has started), the invoice once there is one, and the inspection report once the job has an inspection.
The ⋯ menu holds everything else:
- Send to the customer: the estimate, the inspection or the invoice, by email with the PDF attached.
- Copy review link while the customer still has an estimate to answer, or Copy pay link while an invoice is unpaid.
- Record authorization, for an approval given in person or on the phone.
- Ask for a review, Duplicate, Archive and Delete.
On a phone, Print folds into the ⋯ menu.
What needs your attention
Under the header, a line appears for each thing that is actually wrong, with the fix beside it:
- The car was promised back today, or the promise has passed.
- The customer hasn't answered the estimate yet (Copy review link), or declined it.
- The estimate was edited above what the customer approved (Re-send for approval; see estimates and authorization).
- Required checklist items are still open (Review).
- Parts still need reserving (Reserve parts), or more are reserved than are in stock.
- The job is invoiced, so its services and lines are locked (Reopen invoice).
A job with nothing wrong shows nothing here.
When you scroll
On a wide screen the header folds into a single line as you scroll down the work: the car, the track, the next step and a count of the things that need attention. Click the car or the count to unfold it again.
The tabs
| Tab | What's on it |
|---|---|
| Work | The services and their lines. Covered below. |
| Inspections | The job's inspections. See digital inspections. |
| Time | Timers, hours against the quote and the time log for this job. See time clocks. |
| Notes | Internal notes for your team. They are never printed or shown to the customer. |
| Activity | Everything that happened to the job, newest first. |
The work
What the customer said
The Work tab opens with two short rows. Customer says is the complaint in the customer's words, and We recommend is your advice. While they're empty they read Add what the customer said and Add a recommendation. Click either one to write it. Both print on the estimate and the invoice.
A card per service
Each service is a card. Its top line has the title (click to rename it), the authorization and the service total. A service is Not authorized, Authorized or Declined; change it from the card. An authorized card is ringed in green and a declined one in red, so you can tell from across the room what the customer agreed to.
Under the title, a line sums the service up: how many lines, the labor hours, how many are done, and who is working on it. Assign all labor gives every labor line without a technician the one you pick. Lines that already have someone keep them.
The card's ⋯ menu adds a note (it prints under the service on the estimate and the invoice), sets a category, puts a discount on the whole service, marks the service as recommended, or deletes it.
The lines
A line reads left to right: what it is, who or what it is, how much and what it comes to. For example Front brake pads, 1.5 h × 95.00, 142.50. A labor line names its technician, a part its part number and a tire its size. A discount shows only when there is one, and the cost column only if your shop has turned it on.
Labor lines start with a round toggle. Tick it when the work is done. It works at every stage, including on an invoiced job, because finishing the work is never a billing change.
Click a line to open it in full. Its ⋯ menu adds a tag or a discount, or deletes it.
Adding work
The foot of each card adds a line to that service: Labor, Part, From inventory and Tire, with Sublet and Fee under More.
A sublet is work you send out to another business: a windscreen, an alignment, an ADAS calibration, a machine-shop job. It records what was done, which the customer reads on the estimate and the invoice, and the vendor who did it, which only your team sees. It has the same Cost, Markup, Margin and Retail price fields as a part, so you can price it either way. Turn off Taxable for a fee you pass on unchanged, such as an inspection fee paid in the customer's name. The vendors come from Lists → Vendors, and sublet profit shows in Profitability in the panel on the right.
Under the last card, Add service starts a blank service and Search catalog adds one of your canned services with its lines already filled in.
The panel on the right
The money comes first. Total is what the job comes to, with Breakdown under it for labor, parts, tires, fees, discounts and tax. A deposit taken before the work shows as Deposit held, and then Due on completion is what is left. Once the job is invoiced, the panel shows the Balance due, then Paid in full. Record deposit takes money before there is an invoice.
Below the money are the job's details, one per row: Due date (when you promised the car back), Schedule (the next appointment, or Add appointment), Service Writer, Technicians, PO number, Payment terms, Source when a campaign brought the customer in, and Created.
At the bottom are sections that open when you click them:
- Authorizations: every approval on the job, with a copy of the estimate as it stood when it was signed.
- Order Checklist: the checks your shop asks for on every job.
- Inventory Reservations: which parts are holding stock, and reserving or releasing them.
- Payments & Transactions: what has been paid.
- Deferred work: what this customer turned down on earlier visits, and inspection findings they put off. Add one back as a recommendation.
- Profitability: what the job earns on its parts, labor and sublets, after what each one cost you.
On a phone the panel moves to a bar at the bottom of the screen with the total and the next step. Tap the total to open the rest.
Invoiced jobs
Once a job is invoiced its services and lines are locked, and the page stops offering to add, edit or delete them. You can still tick work done, add tags, record DOT codes and write notes. If something was billed by mistake, Reopen invoice sends the job back to completed; read reopening an invoice first.
What a mechanic sees
Someone with the Mechanic role sees the same page without any money: no prices, no totals and no money in the panel. The work leads, with the done toggles and the hours. They don't move the paperwork, so there is no next step and the track can't be changed. See team and roles.
Troubleshooting
"The next step is greyed out." The job is missing a customer, a vehicle or a line of work. Hover the button; it says which.
"I can't find the job's status." It's the name above the track on the right of the header. Click it to move the job to any other status.
"I can't add or change lines." The job is invoiced. Reopen the invoice if it was billed by mistake.
"There's no total." Your role doesn't see prices.
"Where did the Summary tab go?" Its parts moved to where they're used: what the customer said to the top of the Work tab, the job's details to the panel on the right, the to-do list to the done toggles on the labor lines, and the activity to its own tab.