Repair Orders

The repair order is the durable identity for the shop visit. Its workspaces keep customer, vehicle, concern, commercial revisions, customer decisions, assigned work, inspections, parts/materials, invoice, payment, notes, and activity connected.

Create the record

Open Repair Orders → New Repair Order, search for the correct customer and vehicle, then record the actual concern and visit context. If the identity does not exist, create it through the normal customer/vehicle controls rather than entering an unlinked name.

Add work

Add service lines individually or from governed canned jobs. Each line can carry labor, parts, sublet, description, assignment, customer decision, and applicable warranty terms. Reordering presentation does not change prior commercial or authorization evidence.

Assign a Technician or Apprentice

On an eligible editable repair order, use the current assignment control for the service line/job. Assignment sends work to My Work. Ready and Waiting state still depend on current authorization, parts, DVI, review, and other prerequisites.

Follow the primary action

The repair-order primary action reflects the current lifecycle and effective authority. Do not force a status to imitate completion. A failed prerequisite or mutation cannot render Authorized, Completed, Invoiced, or Paid.

Parts and materials are different handoffs

Inventory-linked parts use the stock/reservation/purchasing workflow. A Technician’s quick materials entry is only an actual-use scratchpad; the Service Advisor later decides whether it becomes a billed part, inventory-linked line, shop supply, no charge, or record-only note.

History and correction

Commercial revisions, authorization evidence, posted invoices, payments/reversals, assignments, notes, and lifecycle changes retain history. When current facts change, ShopCommander adds the new fact or correction instead of silently rewriting prior evidence.

Next: Estimates & Authorization.