Finding any repair order, open or long closed

The board is the work in the shop right now. Closed work, declined estimates, no-shows and anything paid longer ago than the board keeps it (a week, unless you changed it) leave the board — and all of it is on Repair orders, the first place under Work in the rail, beside Board and Quotes in the Workflow column, and in Ctrl+K. It is Shopmonkey's Workflow list view: every order the shop has, newest first.

The tabs, and what each one holds

The tabs run All, Estimates, In progress, Unpaid, Paid, Closed, Declined and Archived. Each prints how many repair orders it holds, counted under whatever search and dates you have set, so the number beside a tab is always what pressing it lists.

All

Every repair order and counter sale, in any status, except the ones archived.

Estimates

Written, not yet approved or declined.

In progress

Approved, In Progress, Quality Check or Complete: every stage between the yes and the invoice.

Unpaid

Invoiced and not yet paid in full. A repair order cannot be marked paid or closed while any of its invoices is unpaid, so this is the list of money still owed on finished work.

Paid

Paid in full, not yet closed.

Closed

Finished and filed.

Declined

Estimates the customer said no to, and no-shows — the work worth a call later.

Archived

Orders archived from their own screen without closing them, and only those. Each keeps its status, shown beside the Archived mark.

Archiving an order without closing it

An order nobody is going to work on for now can be filed away without lying about it. On the order, open ⋯ and press Archive. Nothing else about the order changes: an approved order stays approved, in its lane, with its money exactly as it was. It leaves the board and every tab here but Archived, and the order screen says Archived above it. It still opens and works normally. Restore in the same menu puts it back where it was. Any open order can be archived; a closed one is already filed, and a quote is declined instead.

One box finds it

The search box takes whatever you have in front of you: a repair order number (RO-1042 or just 1042, with or without a # in front), the customer's name or company, a phone number, a plate, VIN or unit number, the car's year, make or model, or the work — any job title on the order, or what the customer came in for. A plate can be typed the way it is read off a bumper: abc 123 finds ABC-123. Bare digits also match plates, VINs and phone numbers that contain them, because 4471 is as often the back of a plate as an order.

Created beside the box opens two dates, From and To. The range is read in the shop's own calendar days, so an estimate written at 5 p.m. on the 31st belongs to the 31st. Press Apply dates. Each search or date you have set shows as a chip above the list with its own × to clear just that one, and the tab you are on is kept while you search.

1. 1

   Step 1: An estimate from last month

   Estimates, then Created: the first and last day of last month, and Apply dates.

2. 2

   Step 2: A closed order by its plate

   Closed, then type the plate and press Search.

3. 3

   Step 3: Every unpaid invoice

   Unpaid. The Balance column says what is still owed on each.

4. 4

   Step 4: Declined estimates to chase

   Declined. Like every tab it opens newest first.

Columns and sorting

Repair order (the number, with the first job and how many more under it), Customer, Vehicle with its plate, Status, Total, Balance and Created show from the start. Invoiced, Payment due, Advisor and Last updated are one tick away in Customize, and the list remembers what you tick. So are the columns Shopmonkey's list adds: Inspection (No inspections, Not yet completed or Completed), Authorization (Authorized, Awaiting approval, Partly authorized, Not authorized or Declined), Appointment, Technician, and four dates — Authorized, Fully paid, Status since (when the order moved to the status it holds now) and Last messaged (the last text or email the shop sent the customer about it that was not blocked, bounced or failed). Balance reads Not invoiced before there is an invoice, Paid once what was billed is settled, and otherwise what is still owed — worked out the same way the order's own screen works it out. A counter sale has no car and says so.

Repair order, Customer, Vehicle, Status, Total, Created and Last updated are sort links; Status sorts in the workflow's order — estimate first, through to closed, with declined and no-shows after. Balance is not sortable. A page holds 50 rows, and a view you use every day — the Unpaid tab, say — can be kept with Save view.

The ⋯ on each row

Each row's ⋯ holds View order, View inspections, View time clocks, Print, New payment and Upload photo. New payment opens above the list for an order with a balance owed: pick the payment type, check the amount (the balance is filled in, and a smaller amount leaves the rest owed), add a tip or a reference, and press Record payment. An order not yet invoiced takes a deposit instead, so there the entry opens the order's own New Payment. Upload photo opens above the list the same way and puts the photo in the order's Files, kept internal until you switch it on for the customer. Either way you land on the order afterwards with the payment or the photo on it, and Cancel puts the list back as it was.

Taking the list away

Export › Export CSV downloads exactly the rows your tab, search and dates select, in the order on screen: number, work, customer, vehicle, plate, VIN, status, total, balance, created, invoiced, payment due, advisor and last updated. Money is in dollars and cents and dates are the shop's days. Every export is written to the audit trail with who took it.