Job cards
A job card is a car's repair order, from the moment it arrives until it leaves. It holds the complaint, the inspection, the mechanic and bay, and links to the estimate and the bill, which are ordinary quotations and sales invoices.
Go to Auto section › Job Cards. Your plan needs the Automotive section.
Permissions
The Auto pages have their own permissions (Auto Section in Roles and permissions):
| Permission | Allows |
|---|---|
| Job Cards › View | See job cards |
| Job Cards › Create | Check cars in |
| Job Cards › Edit | Change details, move steps, hold and resume, link the estimate and invoice |
| Job Cards › Delete | Cancel a job card |
| Job Cards › Approve | Deliver the car |
| Workshop Board › View | See the workshop board |
| Vehicles, Bays | The vehicles and bays pages |
The estimate and the invoice are made on the standard Sales pages, so they use the standard Sales permission. A mechanic usually needs only Workshop Board and Job Cards (View, Edit). A service advisor also needs Sales.
Checking a car in
- Click Check in (on Job Cards, the board, or a vehicle's page).
- Choose the Customer, then the Vehicle. A customer with one car gets it picked automatically. New vehicle adds a car on the spot.
- Check the Odometer (it starts from the car's last reading), and optionally set the Promised date, Bay and Mechanic (your HR employees).
- Enter the Complaint, what the customer says is wrong, and click Check in.
The job card gets the next number (JC-0001, JC-0002…) and starts at Checked in. A car can have only one open job card.
Steps
| # | Step | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Checked in | The car is received |
| 2 | Inspection | A mechanic is finding the problem |
| 3 | Estimate pending | The estimate was sent; waiting for the customer's yes |
| 4 | Approved | The customer accepted |
| 5 | Waiting for parts | Parts are ordered or not in stock |
| 6 | In progress | The work is being done |
| 7 | Quality check | Testing the work |
| 8 | Ready | Waiting for the customer to collect and pay |
| 9 | Delivered | The car has left |
Click a later step in the step bar to move there. You can skip forward (a quick oil change can go from Checked in straight to In progress), but never go back.
Hold pauses the job card from any step 1–8. Choose a reason: Customer decision, Waiting for payment, Sent to outside shop, Waiting for insurance, Customer unreachable or Other (with a note). Resume returns it to the step it was on.
Cancel job card ends it, for example when the customer refuses the estimate. A linked draft invoice stays: delete it on its page if it isn't needed.
Every change is in the Timeline, with the time and who did it.
Estimate and invoice
The money is in standard documents. The job card links to them:
- Estimate: click New quotation (it opens in a new tab), make the quotation for the same customer with the parts and labour, and save it. Back on the job card, choose it in Link a quotation and click Link. Move the job card to Estimate pending, and to Approved when the customer agrees (approve the quotation too).
- Invoice: with an approved quotation, click Invoice from estimate. The quotation becomes the invoice and the job card finds it by itself. Without an estimate, click New invoice and then link it with Link an invoice.
- Add or change parts and labour on the invoice while it's a draft. Parts are your stock items and labour your service items, with their normal prices, tax and discounts.
Only quotations and invoices of the job card's customer from around the check-in date, not linked to another job card, can be linked. Unlink (the x) removes a link.
Delivering
- Approve the invoice on its page. Stock goes down and the sale is posted, as for any invoice.
- On the job card, click Deliver and enter the odometer at delivery. The job card becomes Delivered and the vehicle's odometer is updated.
- Take the payment with Record Payment on the invoice, or leave it on the customer's account. The job card shows any Balance due.
Deliver needs the linked invoice approved; otherwise you see "Approve the invoice first."
Printing
The print icon prints the job card for the workshop: customer, car, odometer, mechanic, bay, complaint and inspection.