A General Overview

The first step in running a  good workshop module is to keep correct customer records. These records can be used to generate follow up work with your existing customers.

Below is an example customer (nice people these chaps). This is a standard setup for a customer who is workshop only. always set Invoice To to Contract Address, the program will then assume the customer is workshop and not recovery. 

Customer Vehicles

Customers can also have vehicles assigned to them. This could be a single car for Mr Smith or a fleet for Fred's Taxis. The principal is the same with both.

Vehicle List

Here are two vehicles assigned to account MTT.

Create a Job

The next step is to create jobs for your customers. Firstly go to workshop manager and click the NEW button.

First you select an account by clicking the ? button or by simply typing in the account ref. If customer type is contract then Customer Details and Owner Driver details will be filled in for you. This will also be the invoice address.

Vehicle Selection

Next you need the vehicle. When creating a new workshop job the first time you enter the Vehicle Reg field the program will look to see if any vehicles are assigned to the account. If found a list will appear, you can select from this list or add a new vehicle.

Workshop Information

Any changes you make to the vehicle details can be sent back to the vehicle record at time of invoice, see below.

Next you can add the workshop information, including and labour, see below for an example. To add labour double click on the Mechanics Grid.

Adding Parts

Now you can add stock. Method 1 involves double clicking on the Parts grid. This way you can select stock items from your stock data. Any select stock will have its levels reduced if stock is held.

Quick Parts Entry

Method two is a quick way of entering stock. Levels are again adjusted from your stock but this method should not be used for items which are being Tracked.

Both methods add stock to the job and reduce stock levels as required.

 MOT Charges

You can also record details of any MOT charges for this job.

Job Options Menu

When the job is saved to the main grid there are further options available. Most of these are available by click the Right Mouse button while the job is highlighted on the grid. As you can see invoice, pro-forma, worksheets and more are available. The keyboard shortcuts are also shown.

Vehicle Update

When you invoice a workshop you will be given the option to update some vehicle data, see below. The Service and MOT due dates enable you to create reminder letters for existing customers.

MOT Reminders

On a regular basis you can run letters and reports on MOT due dates. This is the vehicles last MOT date plus MOT weeks interval. Any vehicles that fall within the range will be included. As you can see below you can print a report or create letters. You can also select the source to be customer vehicle records and/or invoice history. If you keep all vehicles updated the Customer Vehicles will be enough. If however not all vehicles are stored then you will need both, this will produce some duplicates but at least none will be missed.

Service Reminders

You also do the same for service reminder reports. This function draws its data for customer vehicles so you need to ensure records are kept up to date.

Vehicle History

All invoiced records remain available for re-calling, re-printing and reporting. These records can be exported to Sage if required or you can pay them off internally with mini-accounts. A copy of invoices can be sent to Credit Notes and also back to workshop.