Repair Orders
What Is a Repair Order?
A Repair Order (RO) is the central record for one job on one vehicle. It collects everything about the job in one place — the vehicle, the customer, the work performed, parts used, labor charged, tax, and payment. Every invoice, every technician task, and every payment in the app ties back to a Repair Order.
Each RO gets a unique RO-XXXXXXXX number assigned automatically. The name is generated from the main customer concern — no need to type one.
Creating a Repair Order
Click + New Repair Order on the Repair Orders list. You must select a vehicle — everything else flows from there. The customer name is pulled automatically from whoever owns the vehicle. Set a service advisor, technician, expected completion date, and tax rate, then save.
If you are using the Scheduling module, you can convert an appointment directly into a Repair Order with one click — all the vehicle, customer, and concern information carries over automatically.
The Repair Order Screen
The RO screen is organized into tabs. Each tab focuses on a different part of the job.
RO Details
The main tab — vehicle, customer info, service advisor, primary technician, start and expected completion dates, status, advisor stage, tax rate, and internal notes. Notes on this tab are shop-internal and never shown to the customer.
Labor
Add the labor lines for this job — either by picking a saved preset or typing an ad-hoc description. Each line has a description, hours, rate, and an approval status (Pending, Approved, or Declined). Only Approved lines bill the customer. The breakdown box updates live as you add lines.
Tech
The technician’s workspace. Customer concerns (complaints) are listed here with a field for tech findings. The technician updates their stage (Not Started, In Progress, Waiting on Parts, Done) on each labor line and records any tech notes. The advisor can see tech progress without navigating away from the job.
Parts
Add parts from your Inventory catalog. Each part line shows description, quantity, unit cost, taxable status, and status (Pending, On Order, Ready, Provided). If stock tracking is on, adding a part reserves it from available inventory. You can also get a parts quote from this tab for items you need to order.
Payments
View the total owed, amount paid, and balance. Record manual payments, send the customer a checkout link, or use the kiosk. Full payment history is shown here. The total is always the approved labor and parts — pending or declined lines are shown separately for reference.
Time Tracking
Log the actual time a technician worked on this job — separate from the flat-rate billed hours. Useful for tracking real performance and for hourly-paid employees. Each entry records the employee, the labor line it applies to, and the clock-in and clock-out times.
Status and Advisor Stage
A Repair Order has two separate progress tracks that work alongside each other.
Status (Billing)
Open → Completed. This is the billing lifecycle. An RO becomes Completed when the job is done and the invoice is final. Completed ROs appear in revenue reports. You can also archive a declined or inactive RO to remove it from the active list without deleting it.
Advisor Stage (Shop Floor)
New → Estimate Sent → Approved → In Progress → Ready for Pickup → Picked Up. This tracks where the job is in your shop’s workflow. The advisor moves the stage as the job progresses. The Repair Orders list shows the current advisor stage so anyone can see the status at a glance.
Locking and Archiving
Locking
Locking an RO freezes it completely — no edits, no new labor or parts, no time entries. Unlock it at any time to make changes. Use locking when you need to hold a record exactly as it stands — for example, while resolving a billing dispute.
Archiving
Archiving removes an RO from the active list and excludes it from reports, but keeps it in the system. Use it for declined or cancelled jobs. Archived ROs can be viewed again by checking “Include archived” in the filter bar.
Invoice and Customer Receipt
Print or view the invoice from any Repair Order. The invoice shows your shop’s business name, address, and contact info, plus all approved labor and parts with totals. Declined lines appear in a separate “Recommended — Declined” section so the record is clear about what was offered and what the customer chose not to do. Your customers can also view their receipts in the Customer Portal.