For service advisors

This track follows a single vehicle through your day at the counter. You own everything between the customer and the workshop: the booking, the starting agreement, the quote, the money. Work the stages in order the first time; after that, jump to the one you need.

Stage 1: Plan the day in the Diary

Before anything arrives, the Booking Diary shows tomorrow's load against the shop's available hours. Its left rail is your pre-arrival worklist: each booking carries a confirmation chip (Awaiting, Confirmed, Call due), so you ring only the customers who have not replied.

Full walkthrough: Bookings and the diary.

In the product: the Diary tab. Work the rail until nothing needs a call.

Stage 2: Book the vehicle in

A repair order is the container for one visit; everything else in this track lives on it. Booking-in happens at speed, so the intake panel is one compact form: match the customer, match the vehicle, add the booked services, set due-in.

1. Open the intake panel from the dashboard. Type a name, mobile, or email to match the customer, or create a new one inline.
2. Match or add the vehicle. Prior service history sits in the Vehicle section.
3. Add the booked services and set the booking date and due-in, then create the repair order.

Full walkthrough: Book a vehicle in.

In the product: the intake panel, next repair order number already shown.

Stage 3: Process the arrival

Drop-off is the lowest-friction moment to confirm scope, so this is where the starting agreement is captured. Pressing Arrived opens a guided review: confirm the booking, add anything new the customer mentions at the counter, then issue the intake authorisation by SMS or QR.

You do not wait for the signature; once the packet is issued, the vehicle is arrived and you move on. Full walkthrough, including deferring and overrides: Process an arrival.

In the product: the Arrivals tab, Arrived on the expected card.

Stage 4: The floor takes over

The lead schedules the job into a bay and a technician runs the inspection. Findings come back to you with a severity, notes, and photo or video evidence, already triaged for quoting. You do not need to chase anyone; the dashboard updates live as rows are answered.

What you will be reading: Record findings with evidence.

In the product: watch the repair order in Active Jobs until the inspection is submitted.

Stage 5: Build the quote from findings

The quote draft opens in the commercial rail of the repair order, next to the inspection. Every finding seeds a row; the ones not rated OK are ticked on by default. Price the labour, add parts with supplier cost and margin, and add a "Why it matters" line the customer will actually read.

Full walkthrough: Build a quote from findings.

In the product: open the repair order and start the quote draft in the right rail.

Stage 6: Send it and handle the reply

Sending freezes a snapshot of exactly what the customer saw and texts them a secure link. They approve or decline line by line, either on the link with a one-time code, or by replying to the text. An SMS reply is only ever staged: Openhood proposes a decision per line and you confirm before anything applies.

Full walkthroughs: Send a quote and get it approved, Additional work and SMS replies.

In the product: send the quote, then confirm the staged reply when it lands.

Stage 7: Invoice, payment, pickup

Approved lines become an additional-work job card; when the work is done, the draft invoice is already assembled from approved items, grouped by job card. Finalise is the record-of-sale moment: it assigns the number and locks the document. Then send it, record payments as they arrive, and mark the vehicle picked up.

1. Review the draft invoice and correct any customer-facing copy. See Finalise an invoice.
2. Finalise, then send by text, email, or print.
3. Record each payment until the balance is covered. See Record payments.

In the product: the invoice on the repair order, then Record Payment.