A customer brings something in to be fixed — a TV, a phone, a generator, a vehicle. You book it, a supervisor approves it, the workshop lists the parts it needs and orders any that aren't in stock, the technician fixes it, you bill the customer (or the warranty), and the customer collects it. The Repairs board shows every booking by where it has got to.
Before you start
- You need the right to record sales transactions to book and bill repairs. Approving (and un-approving) a booking needs the Approve booked repair tick on your user: Setup → Users → open the user → Special Roles tab → Approval / Billing. Without it the Approve button is greyed out.
- Ordering parts from a supplier needs the right to record purchases.
- Go to Repairs → Repair Settings once and say what you call the unit's identifier (Serial number, IMEI, Plate / VIN…), which department repairs by default, and the labour item to put on every bill.
- If you honour warranties, create a sales discount called Warranty (Products & Services → Sales discounts, 100%) and choose it as the Warranty discount in Repair Settings. Without it a warranty bill is refused, because the discount is what stops the customer being charged.
- Who can be the technician. If your company has the Projects module, the Technician list on the booking form is Projects → Personnel: add each technician there once (New person: name, role, phone; tick Active). They do not need a login — but if a technician does sign in, choose their login on the person's record so the two match up. Without Projects, or until someone is on Personnel, the list is your active users.
The board
Each column is a stage: Booked → Approved → Awaiting parts → In repair → Ready for collection → Billed → Concluded, plus Cancelled. Drag a card to move it on. If a move is not allowed (approving without the right, dragging to Billed) the card snaps back and tells you why. Billing, concluding and cancelling are done from the booking itself so the right details get recorded.
A card shows the customer, the unit and its identifier, the fault, how many days it has waited, the promised date (red when passed), the parts situation and the technician's initials. A green edge means the unit is under warranty.
Tick Show concluded to see finished and cancelled work. Switch to the list to search and sort.
Steps
1. Book the repair
- Press Book a repair.
- Choose the customer to bill.
- Did we sell it? If yes, type the invoice number and press Find invoice: the customer, purchase date and item fill in. If the unit was bought elsewhere, type what it is.
- Enter the brand / model, the identifier, the accessories the customer left with it and its condition on arrival — these protect you when the unit is collected.
- Write the fault the customer reports.
- Tick Under warranty if it is, and enter when the warranty expires.
- Choose the repairing department, the technician (from Projects → Personnel, or your users — see Before you start) and a promised date, then press Book repair. The booking gets a number; print the slip for the customer. The technician can be changed at any time, even after billing.
2. Approve
A user with the approval right opens the booking and presses Approve. Until then nothing else can happen to it. Un-approve is possible until a bill exists.
3. Parts
The Parts panel lists the parts, one row each: the part, quantity, what the repairing department has on hand (red when not enough), and where it comes from with how far it has got (PO 10 · Ordered, SR-2 · Received…).
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Press Add parts (or Add / edit parts). A window opens with one row per part. Pick the part, the pack it is Counted in (single units or a pack size) and the Qty; On hand shows at once. Press Add another part for more, then Save parts.
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For a part that is short, choose where it comes from under From:
- Transfer — another store in the company has it. Pick the store under Store (each shows how many it holds) and save. Back on the booking, press Request from store in the yellow strip above the parts. The store's manager is told and sends it with a stock transfer; you cannot move stock out of their store yourself. The row shows SR-… · Waiting for the store, then Received, or Declined with the store's reason.
- Supplier — buy it. Save, then press Order from supplier in the yellow strip, choose the supplier and press Raise purchase order. The order is referenced REPAIR-<booking no>.
Either way the booking moves to Awaiting parts by itself. Parts that are ordered or requested are shown in the window but locked.
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When the part arrives (the store's transfer, or the supplier's bill received into stock), the booking moves back and the part shows as available. If your company confirms stock on arrival, the part shows Confirm received: press it when the part is in the workshop.
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Changed your mind before the store sent anything? Press Withdraw on the part. A declined or withdrawn part can be asked for again, from the same or another store, or switched to Supplier.
4. Repair
Press Start repair, and when done, Ready for collection. Record the diagnosis with Edit.
5. Bill
- Press Raise bill.
- Under warranty is ticked when the booking's warranty is still in force. Every line is then billed at full price with a 100% discount: the customer sees what the repair was worth, pays nothing, and your accounts show the warranty cost as discount.
- Leave Bill the listed parts ticked to charge the parts (stock leaves the repairing department). The labour line is already there at your labour item's selling price (Repair settings) — change the quantity or price if this job took more or less. Add any other charges with Add line.
- Press Raise bill. The invoice goes on the customer's account; take payment on the invoice or with a receipt as usual.
6. Conclude
When the customer collects, press Conclude and enter who collected it.
Keeping the customer informed
Every booking has its own private web page where the customer can see what stage their repair is at, what is owed, and answer an estimate. Nobody can guess the address — it is a long random link that only you and the customer have.
The page follows the booking as it moves, in the customer's words: Received — awaiting assessment, Approved — repair to start (with whether the parts are in), Waiting for parts, Being repaired, Ready for collection, Collected. It never shows part names, prices, stores or the technician.
Send the customer their link, or tell them it is ready
- Open the booking and press the speech-bubble button (Tell the customer).
- Choose how: Email, SMS or WhatsApp (automatic) send it for you using the contact details on the customer's record (or one you type in). Give me the link and text writes the message for you to send yourself: press Open in WhatsApp, or copy the text or the link.
- Add a line of your own if you like ("We close at 6pm").
When the booking is at Ready or Billed, the message tells the customer the unit is ready for collection and the booking records when they were told.
Send an estimate for approval
Use this when the customer must agree to a cost before you go ahead — a repair out of warranty, or a dearer part than expected.
- The booking must be approved. Press Estimate.
- Tick Include the listed parts to quote the parts at selling price, and check the labour line (it opens at your labour item's selling price) and add other charges. Add a note ("Valid for 7 days").
- Press Make estimate, then Tell the customer so they get the link.
- The customer presses Approve or Decline on their page. The booking shows the answer and when it was given, with any comment they left. Making a new estimate replaces one they have not yet answered.
The estimate is kept as a sales order ("Estimate for repair #…") so it also appears under Sales Orders.
Print the booking slip
Press the printer button on the booking. The slip lists the customer, the unit, what was left with it, its condition, the fault reported, the warranty position and the tracking link with a QR code the customer can scan with their phone camera, and signature lines for both of you. The footer text comes from Repair Settings.
Working with other modules
- Job card (when Projects is on): the briefcase button creates a Job named after the booking — for the technician's tasks, time, photos and notes — and links it to the booking. Press it again to open the job. On the job, the back button reads Repair #… and returns to the booking, and Edit repair opens the booking's own form (the customer, unit and dates live on the booking).
- Asset register (when Fixed Assets is on): pick the asset on the booking form when the unit being repaired is one of your own assets.
- This unit before: the booking shows the unit's earlier bookings (matched by its serial / IMEI / plate), with the fault and diagnosis each time.
- Warranty months on items: set Warranty (months) on an item you sell. When you book a repair against one of your sales, the warranty expiry is filled in from the sale date — and the booking is marked under warranty if it has not passed.
Repair reports
Reports → Repair Reports shows, for a date range:
- Open work by stage today, with how many are past their promised date and the oldest in days.
- By technician and by department — booked, open, concluded, and the average days from booking to ready.
- Warranty cost by month: the discount on warranty bills, i.e. what honouring warranties cost you.
- Parts waiting on suppliers: every part on an open purchase order, with the order number, date and supplier. Click a row to open the booking.
Tips
- The number on the card, #123, is the booking number: quote it to the customer and on the supplier's order.
- Sort the list by Days to find what has waited longest.
- History at the bottom of a booking shows everything that happened and who did it, including the parts: ordered, billed by the supplier, requested from a store, sent, received, declined or withdrawn.
- A booking can be cancelled at any point before billing; a reason is always recorded, and it can be reopened.
Common problems
The labour line has no price, or no labour line appears. Set the labour item in Repair settings, and give that item a selling price (Products & Services). The bill and estimate then open with it filled in.
"Only a user who can approve booked repairs can approve." Ask an administrator to tick Approve booked repair on your user (Setup → Users → Special Roles tab). The same applies when the Approve button is greyed out, or Un-approve is missing.
The parts list won't save: "The booking must be approved before parts are listed." Approve first (step 2).
"A part requested from another store can't be changed while the store is on it." Press Withdraw on the part first (only possible before the store has sent anything), then change it. Once the store has sent part of it, ask the store to close the rest.
"A part is requested from another store for this booking" when cancelling. Withdraw the request first, or receive what the store has sent.
Ask store says "No other store has it". No other department holds that item right now. Order it from a supplier.
"A part that is on order can't be changed." Cancel the purchase order under Purchases → Purchase Orders, then change the part.
"Not enough stock for …" when raising the bill. The parts haven't been received into the repairing department yet. Receive the supplier's bill into stock, or untick Bill the listed parts if the parts were supplied some other way.
"The repair has been billed; it cannot be un-approved." A billed booking's facts are fixed. Delete or credit the invoice first if it is wrong.
"To bill under warranty, choose the warranty discount item in Repair settings." Set up the Warranty sales discount (see Before you start) and pick it in Repair Settings, then raise the bill again.
The booking's warranty shows "Expired". The expiry date on the booking has passed. You can still tick Under warranty on the bill if you choose to honour it; the discount is recorded either way.
"The customer has no email/phone on record" when sending. Type the address or number in the box, or add it to the customer's record first. For WhatsApp, numbers need the country code (+234…).
The customer says the link does not open. The link only works on your company's web address; make sure the whole link was copied. A cancelled booking still opens and shows Cancelled.
The Technician list shows every user, not my technicians. Nobody is on Projects → Personnel yet (or your company does not have the Projects module). Add your technicians there and reopen the booking form. A person who has been made inactive on Personnel drops off the list, but stays shown on the bookings they already have.
"That technician is no longer on the personnel register." The person was deleted from Personnel after this form was opened. Pick another technician, or add the person again.
The Estimate button is missing. Estimates are made after approval and before billing, and not while an approved estimate is already in place.
"Repair Reports" shows no warranty cost. Choose the warranty discount item in Repair Settings — the report reads the discount on lines that carry it.