Service and job card software: the process, flow by flow

Reads booking emails and website form entries and drafts a booking with the customer, vehicle, job type, concerns and preferred date.

• Matches the vehicle by registration number first, then by the customer's mobile number. A registration that is not on file is flagged as a new vehicle for the adviser to create.
• Copies the customer's description of the problem word for word, and sets a job type only when the wording matches an entry on the job type list. Otherwise the job type is left blank.

Confirms the draft booking, or enters phone and counter bookings straight into the schedule.

• Sizes the slot from the job type's standard time (for example 2.5 h for a 60,000 km service), so the booking takes the hours the job needs.
• Accepts the booking for a day only if rostered technician hours with the right skill, less the hours already booked, cover the standard time, and a bay of the right type (lift, alignment bay, aircon station) is free in that window.
• Holds back 15% of each day's technician hours for walk-ins and comebacks. Only the service manager can book into that share more than one day ahead.

Reserves the parts for fixed-content jobs such as scheduled services and drafts the booking confirmation for the adviser to send.

• Takes the service kit for the vehicle's model and engine from the kit list (filters, oil quantity, plugs). Any part short in stock goes on the next-day parts list so it can be ordered before the car arrives.
• The confirmation reaches the customer only when the adviser sends it.

Checks the vehicle in with the customer present, recording the mileage, fuel level, warning lights, existing damage and any items left in the car.

• The mileage must be equal to or higher than the last reading on the vehicle record. A lower reading stops check-in until the adviser records the reason (instrument cluster replaced, earlier typing error).
• Check-in cannot be completed without the minimum photo set: four corners, the dashboard with the ignition on (mileage and warning lights in one frame) and a close-up of each item of damage noted.

Records each concern the customer raises as its own job card line, in the customer's words.

• Every concern line needs an answer before the job can be invoiced: fixed, not reproduced, or found and declined.
• Records who may approve extra work and how to reach them, and any amount the customer pre-authorises for extra work (S$0.00 unless the customer sets one).

Opens the job card with the booking, check-in record and vehicle history attached, and lists open recommendations and live warranties on the vehicle.

• Shows declined or deferred work from earlier job cards. For example, JC-4870 noted the front pads at 4 mm at 78,900 km on 14 May, and the car now reads 84,200 km.
• Links any job card closed on the vehicle within its warranty term, so a returning fault goes to the comeback flow instead of becoming a new paid job.

Signs the check-in record on the adviser's tablet, accepting the recorded condition, the concerns as written and any pre-authorised amount.

• The signature is stored with the time and the photo set, and the adviser can send the customer a copy.

Assigns the job card to a technician and a bay from the day's board.

• Offers only technicians whose skill tags match the job type, for example aircon refrigerant handling or hybrid and EV high-voltage work.
• Orders the board by promised time, then by check-in time, so cars promised for the morning are started first.

Records each finding on the job card as a line with a measurement or photo and an urgency of safety, soon or monitor.

• A finding without a measurement (pad thickness, tread depth, battery test reading) or a photo cannot move on to pricing.
• Urgency follows the workshop's own thresholds, for example brake pads under 3 mm are safety and 3 to 5 mm are soon.

Turns handwritten inspection sheets and photo notes into draft job card lines, each linked to the photo it came from.

• Leaves a value blank and flagged when it cannot read it, so the technician fills it in.

Confirms the finding lines before they are priced.

• Each line either answers a customer concern or is marked as a separate finding, and duplicates from the technician and the intake draft are merged.

Prices each confirmed line from the standard labour times and the parts price list, and checks stock for every part.

• Labour is the standard time for the operation on that model multiplied by the labour rate (S$80.00 an hour at Northbay). An operation with no standard time is drafted as an hourly estimate, with the hours left for the adviser to set.
• Parts are priced from the customer's account price list first (fleet accounts), then the retail list. A part with no price is left blank.
• Free stock is checked at the workshop store. A shortfall shows the supplier's lead time and moves the earliest completion date.
• Urgent and optional lines are kept apart, and each line is priced on its own so the customer can accept line by line.

Totals the quote with GST at 9% on parts and labour and routes it for approval on the GST-inclusive total.

• Up to S$2,000.00 goes to the service adviser, and above S$2,000.00 to the service manager.
• A discount of more than 5% on any line goes to the service manager whatever the total, so it is settled at quote stage and does not first surface on the invoice.

Reviews the draft, edits prices or times where needed, and approves it.

• Every edit is logged against the agent's draft with who made it, so the price source of each line stays visible.

Sends the approved quote to the customer and records the answer on each line with the time, the channel and the name of the person who answered.

• Only the person named at check-in as able to approve work can accept lines, for example the fleet manager on a fleet car.

Raises a purchase request tied to the job card for accepted parts that are not in stock, and sets the promised date from the latest part's due date.

• Parts are ordered only for lines the customer accepted.
• The job card moves to waiting for parts and stays on the waiting-for-parts list, with its due date, until the parts are received.

Adds the finding as a new line with a measurement and photo, and marks whether it blocks the approved work.

• The new line starts as awaiting approval, and the system refuses parts issues and clock-ons against it until it is approved.
• A blocking finding (the car cannot be put back together until the customer decides) pauses the job on the board, and the bay shows as occupied but idle.

Confirms the line and checks it against what the customer has already been told.

• If the same finding was quoted and declined on an earlier visit, the earlier line, price and date are shown so the adviser can refer to them.

Prices the extra line and drafts a revision of the quote showing the approved total, the extra lines and the new total.

• Deducts labour that overlaps with approved work: when the standard time includes removing a wheel or part that is already off for the approved job, that portion of the time is left out.
• Checks stock for the extra parts and shows any change to the promised date.

Routes the revision for approval on the revised GST-inclusive total of the whole job.

• Up to S$2,000.00 the service adviser approves. Above S$2,000.00 the service manager approves, even when the extra line on its own is small.

Contacts the customer, explains the finding with the photo, and sends the revision.

• The agent can draft the message, and only the adviser sends it.

Attaches replies that arrive by email, or are forwarded from WhatsApp or SMS to the shared inbox, to the job card line with the time they arrived.

• Matches a reply to the job by the quote number in the message first, then by the customer's phone number or email. A reply it cannot match waits in the adviser's queue.

Records the customer's answer on each extra line with the time, the channel and the name of the person who answered.

• Accepted channels are the quote link (logged automatically), email, a forwarded message, or a phone call logged by the adviser with the call time.
• A phone approval for extra lines totalling more than S$500.00 including GST is followed by a written confirmation from the adviser, and the line shows both.

Releases approved lines to the technician and saves declined lines on the vehicle record as recommendations with a follow-up date.

• Follow-up depends on urgency: safety items are printed on the invoice and collection sheet as declined, soon items get a reminder drafted for 30 days later, and monitor items show at the next check-in.

Clocks on to the job card line from the bay tablet or a phone when work on it starts.

• A technician is clocked on to one line at a time. Clocking on to another line clocks off the first.
• Clock-on is refused on a line that is awaiting customer approval.

Issues parts to the job card line the technician names at the parts counter.

• Parts can be issued only to an approved line on an open job card, or as an item on the no-charge consumables list.
• The part number must match the quoted part or an approved substitute. Superseded part numbers are mapped, so the right price follows the part.
• Issuing more than the quoted quantity needs the adviser to change the line, which goes through extra work approval if it changes the price.

Reads the supplier's delivery order or parts invoice for parts ordered for a job and drafts a parts receipt against the purchase order tied to that job card.

• Matches part numbers and quantities to the purchase order lines, and leaves unreadable or unmatched lines blank for the storekeeper.
• Matching the supplier's bill for payment happens in finance, not on the job card.

Confirms the parts receipt, which moves the job card from waiting for parts to ready and tells the foreman.

• A part received for a job is reserved to that job card, and only the service manager can release it to another job.

Returns unused parts to the store, and the storekeeper reverses the issue on the job card line.

• A part goes back to stock only if it is unused and in its original packaging. Anything else is recorded as scrap against the job.
• Returns are taken before the parts reconciliation that sends the job to quality check, so the invoice is drafted from net issues.

Clocks off and marks the line complete with a note of the work done.

Compares clocked time with standard time for each line and flags lines outside the tolerance.

• Flags a line clocked above 125% or below 50% of its standard time. The low flag catches missed clock-ons and time booked to the wrong line.
• Bills the customer the standard time on standard operations whatever the clocked time. Hourly lines are billed at clocked time, rounded to 0.1 h, up to the approved cap.

Reviews each flagged line and records a reason code: seized or corroded fixing, wrong part supplied, rework, training, or clocking error.

• Rework time is costed to the workshop and never added to the customer's invoice.
• Clocking errors are corrected by the foreman, and the correction is logged alongside the original times.

Reconciles the parts issued to the job card against its lines before the job can go to quality check.

• Every issued part must sit on a chargeable line, the no-charge consumables list or a warranty line. An issued part with no line holds the job at this step.

Runs the quality check list built from the job types on the job card.

• The list comes from the job types: brakes need the wheel nut torque recorded and the pedal feel and fluid level checked, and a service needs the oil level checked and the service reminder reset.
• The checker must be someone other than the technician who clocked the most time on the job.

Road tests the car where the job type requires it and records the mileage before and after.

• Brakes, steering, suspension and any noise or driving concern need a road test.
• Each concern line is marked fixed, not reproduced, or found and declined, and the road test distance stays on the job card so the customer can see why the mileage moved.

Checks that the job card is complete before an invoice can be drafted.

• The checks run in this order: every approved line complete, every concern line answered, parts reconciled, every flagged time line given a reason, quality check passed. The first failure stops the draft and names the line.

Drafts the invoice from the job card at the prices on the last approved quote revision, with GST at 9%.

• Standard-time labour is billed at standard time, hourly lines at clocked time up to the approved cap, and sublet lines at vendor cost plus markup.
• The draft total is compared with the approved total. A draft above it is blocked until the difference goes through extra work approval, and a draft below it shows the reason line by line.
• Declined lines are listed under recommendations and not billed, and the payer (driver, fleet account or insurer) comes from check-in.

Approves the invoice.

• Every invoice at job close goes to the service manager, with the comparison against the approved quote shown.
• A discount up to 5% can be given by the adviser. Above 5% it needs the service manager, and waiving a charge as goodwill needs the workshop owner.

Hands the car back, going through the work done, the old parts if the customer asked for them, and the declined recommendations.

• The customer signs the collection sheet, and signs separately for any declined safety item.

Takes payment at collection and records it against the invoice before the key is released.

• Cash and card customers pay before the key is released. Account customers collect on their credit terms if the account is within its credit limit, and an account over its limit goes to the service manager.
• Payment matching, receivables and the ledger are handled in finance, or in the accounting system you keep until finance joins.

Closes the job card, sets the vehicle's next service due by date and mileage, and starts the warranty term on each line.

• The next service due is the interval for the vehicle's schedule (for example 10,000 km or 12 months, whichever comes first), counted from today's mileage and date.
• Each line's warranty runs from the close date and mileage, for the term set for its job type.

Links the new job card to earlier job cards on the vehicle whose lines are still within warranty.

• A line is in warranty when both the days and the kilometres since its job closed are within its term, which at Northbay is 6 months or 10,000 km, whichever comes first.
• Only lines whose job type relates to the reported concern are suggested, and the adviser confirms the link.

Opens the comeback job card with the payer set to pending diagnosis, so nothing is quoted to the customer until the cause is known.

• The customer is told at check-in that diagnosis is free if the cause is the original work or part, and charged at the normal rate if the fault is unrelated.

Diagnoses the fault and records the cause as workmanship, part failure, unrelated fault or misuse, with photos.

• A cause is required before any repair time can be clocked.
• The failed part is tagged with the job card number and kept in quarantine, because supplier claims usually need the part returned.

Confirms the cause and sets the payer.

• Workmanship: the workshop pays. Part failure: the workshop pays for the repair and claims from the supplier. Unrelated fault: the customer pays through the normal quote flow. Misuse: the customer pays, with the evidence on the job card.

Prices the rework at internal cost for the warranty account, and drafts a normal customer quote for any unrelated fault found at the same visit.

• Parts are priced at cost and labour at the technician cost rate, so the write-off shows what the comeback cost the workshop.

Approves the warranty write-off on the comeback job card.

• Every warranty or goodwill write-off goes to the workshop owner whatever the amount, with the cause, the original job card, the cost and the amount expected back from the supplier.
• The rework can start once the service manager has set the payer, and the job card cannot close until the owner has approved the write-off.

Raises the supplier warranty claim with the original purchase, the fitting date and mileage, the failure mileage, the photos and the tagged part.

• The claim deadline comes from the supplier's terms, and claims still open 7 days before their deadline are listed for the service manager.
• The claim includes labour only when that supplier's terms cover it.

Reads the supplier's claim reply or credit note and drafts the claim outcome on the claim record.

• Compares the amount credited with the amount claimed and flags any difference. The service adviser confirms the outcome, and finance books the credit note.

Closes the comeback job card with the customer's copy at S$0.00 and the cost on the warranty account, and counts the comeback against the original technician and part.

• Comebacks are reported monthly by technician for workmanship and by part number and supplier for part failures, so a repeat problem shows up as a pattern.