Creating Workorders

Starting the Workorder

A customer comes in and would like work done to their vehicle. You will navigate to the Sales Entry screen from the Main Menu. In the upper left hand corner is a yellow New button. Hovering your mouse over this button gives you a few different options:

• For a brand new customer, you will select the first choice, “Customer & Workorder”.
• For an existing customer, you will search for a customer and select them. Then hover over the New button and select “Workorder for existing customer”.
  

*NOTE: You can speed up the process by selecting the vehicle in the middle of the window after selecting the customer, but before clicking New.

• If you have Multiple Stores, the customer’s home store will default to whatever store you are logged into at the time of creating the first workorder for them. To change the customer’s main store simply go to the Customer Entry and change it in the Address tab.
• For a customer who does not want to give all of their details and only wants to pay with cash you can also select a Workorder for the Cash Customer. This should not be used if you are working on their vehicle.

*NOTE: In addition to creating workorders, you have the option to create quotes as well. Quotes do not affect inventory availability and will be hidden on the main Sales Entry screen, unless the ‘Show Invoices & Quotes’ box is checked.

Adding Details to the Workorder

You are now at the Invoicing window. Here you can complete and finalize the workorder in three easy steps.

Step 1: Filling in Customer Information

• If you have already selected the customer and vehicle, you can skip this step completely, and instead just verify that the information is current.
• You can enter how the customer was referred to you and also their vehicle information including license plate number and VIN. If you would not like to add a vehicle, you can check the box that says “No Vehicle”

*NOTE: If you are not servicing their vehicle, it is a good idea to click the No Vehicle button to reduce your liability. For example, if you sell them a tire that they want to install themselves, this checkbox will protect you.

• Using the Carfax Quick Vin “C” button you can save a lot of time. Simply put in the license plate number and verify the state then press the C button, Carfax will instantly bring in the vehicle’s VIN, year, make & Model information, as well as other information. For more information on the vehicle press the Vehicles button.
• Enter the current Mileage for the vehicle in the space below the vehicle on the Workorder screen.
• Enter your customer’s details, including first and last name, phone number etc.
• In the last column you can change any information however, everything but the sales rep and mechanic should be correct, using the system defaults, for the settings for the selected customer:
  • Assign the Sales Rep & Mechanic,
  • Change the Sales Category,
  • Change the Price Level,
  • Change the Tax Type,
  • Change the Terms,
  • and change the Shipping Method.
• If the customer has a credit available the credit will be displayed beside Credit Available, otherwise it will display “none”

Step 2: Adding Parts, Labor, Etc.

Now you can enter inventory items into your workorder, this can be done in several different ways:

• Via Inventory Search: Select the small magnifying glass on the left side to enter the Inventory Search window. Use the yellow boxes to search by Size, Item, Catalog #, Type, Description, or any combination of these. Once the item you want is selected, either double-click the line or click the Select button at the top to add it to the workorder.
  • Multistore: selecting the “Display Settings” button will give you the option to see what is available at different stores if you don’t have it at your current location.
• Via Catalog Numbers: If you have already entered your inventory and you know the parts catalog number, you can enter it into the catalog column and hit the “tab” key on your keyboard. The item and all of its associated information will be added to the workorder.
• Via One-Click Services: Certain jobs that you may do frequently can be setup as One-Click Services. This is the fastest and most efficient way to enter items into a workorder.

*Note: If you do not keep much inventory, or are still in the process of entering your inventory, you can use AutoFluent’s default Outside Part item, called OP. OP is a generic miscellaneous part that can be changed to your liking from within the workorder. Change the description, quantity, and price as you see fit. Pressing the blue “P” on that line can give you even more options to enter vendor purchase information, cost, markups, etc.

Step 3: Invoicing and Additional Details

Here is where you will apply the last details of the workorder. Most of these features are optional.

• Disc Part / Disc Labor Apply discounts to parts and labor on the fly simply enter the percentage you would like discounted and AutoFluent will do the rest. You can set certain customers up to automatically get a parts and/or labor discount in the Sales tab of Customer Entry.
• Schedule If the workorder is not yet set as an appointment, this will bring up the Scheduler. If it is already scheduled, it will bring up the existing appointment information, allowing you to make changes if needed.
• Pickup Pick a date for pickup of the vehicle or schedule a time for the job to be done by.
• Undo If this workorder is for a scheduled appointment, this is to cancel it.
• Select a Bay: If applicable you can assign this order to a particular bay.
• Profit Margin: Quickly view your profit margin broken down by parts, labor, etc. so that you can make quick adjustments to your order.
• Toggle Columns:To see additional columns that may be hidden from view by default. Once you hide or unhide a column, the setting will be remembered.
• No Shop Supplies This removes the automatic shop supplies on the workorder. If you do not have automatic shop supplies set and need to do so, you may set it up here.
• To the far right is the breakdown of everything on the order, Parts, Labor, Tax, etc.
  

*You can force a price on the whole workorder by selecting the Total button. A window will appear that will make it possible to manually enter the price you would like the workorder to be then choose to adjust either parts, labor or both. You can also choose to adjust the total and have the difference show up as a discount by pressing the Adjust Discount button;the system will make these adjustments instantly.

Step 4: Saving or Finalizing the Workorder

Move the mouse over the Done button, and you will be offered several choices to close the workorder

• Click Save to save the workorder to come back to it later (or simply click the Done button.)
• Convert will turn the workorder back into a quote. Quotes are identical to workorders, except that they do not affect inventory, and they can be purged periodically. Generally, workorders should just reflect the vehicles currently being work on.
• W/O will save and print one or more copies of the workorder. See the Invoice Copies tab of System Settings to specify how many copies are printed, and what they look like.
• Invoice will create the invoice, finalizing the workorder.
• Void will let you void the workorder, but only after requesting your login name, password and a reason for voiding it. (The ‘Reason for Voiding’ must be a minimum of 4 characters.)
• Deposit will let you take money from the customer before finalizing the invoice. For example, you may need to take money to special order a part.

More:
Recommended Services
Parts & Labor
One-Click Services