Official subscriber documentation

Odenaro Auto Workshop

A complete practical guide to setup, front-desk workflow, workshop execution, parts, customer approvals, billing and customer access.

Appointments & schedule Workshop execution Parts & purchasing Customer access

Updated for the current Auto Workshop workspace — September 2026

Core operating flow

Customer → Vehicle → Appointment → Job Card → Diagnosis / Inspection → Labour & Parts → Approval → Work Completed → Invoice / Payment → Service History

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How Odenaro Auto Workshop works

The Garage workspace connects the customer request, vehicle, appointment, workshop work, parts, approvals, billing and service history in one operational record.

Customer → Vehicle → Appointment → Job Card → Diagnosis / Inspection → Labour & Parts → Approval → Work Completed → Invoice / Payment → Service History

1. Configure the workshop

Set Job Card numbering, labour rate, mileage unit, appointment duration, opening hours and the optional Garage features used by the business.

2. Create customers and vehicles

Keep the customer and vehicle identity accurate before appointments or Job Cards are created.

3. Capture the request once

Create an Appointment and write the Customer Request / Complaint exactly as described. When you create the Job Card, that text is transferred unchanged.

4. Perform and document the work

Assign the mechanic, track time when enabled, record labour and parts, create inspections, request parts and manage additional-work approvals.

5. Complete, invoice and retain history

Move the Job Card through the controlled status flow, create the invoice, record payment and keep the completed work in the vehicle service history.

Recommended new-account order: Settings → Mechanics / Staff → Customers → Vehicles → Parts/Suppliers if used → Appointments → Job Cards.

Initial setup checklist

Complete the workshop defaults before the team starts using live Job Cards.

Area	What to configure	Why it matters
Company / invoice settings	Company details, currency, VAT, invoice numbering and email settings.	Used on financial documents and customer communication.
Garage numbering	Job Card prefix and starting Job number.	New Job Cards receive consistent workshop references. Existing numbers do not change.
Labour & mileage	Default labour rate and km or miles.	Controls default labour pricing and vehicle mileage labels.
Appointments	Default appointment duration plus workshop opening and closing time.	Keeps the schedule consistent and easier to plan.
Optional features	Time Tracking, Inspections, Courtesy Cars, Parts Inventory, Customer Approvals, Customer Portal and Online Booking.	Only enable the workflows the workshop actually plans to use.

Before live operation, create one test customer, vehicle, appointment and Job Card and complete the whole workflow through invoice/payment.

Roles, profiles and access

Garage access is server-side restricted by role/profile; hiding a sidebar item is not the only control.

Role / profile	Typical access	Recommended use
Owner / Admin	Full Garage workspace and Settings.	Workshop owner or primary administrator.
Service Advisor	Dashboard, customers, vehicles, appointments, schedule, Job Cards, inspections, estimates, invoices/payments, courtesy cars, reminders and online bookings when enabled.	Front desk / service reception.
Parts	Parts inventory, part requests, purchase orders, suppliers, products/warehouse and Job Card parts access.	Parts department or stock controller.
Accountant	Invoices, payments, Garage reports, Job Card view and Accounting.	Finance / accounts user.
Mechanic / Technician	Mechanic Panel, assigned Job Cards, inspections, part requests, attachments and Job Card PDF.	Workshop technician. The route gate prevents access to unrelated office/admin pages.
Customer Portal user	Own vehicles, upcoming appointments, repair approvals, estimates, inspections and service history.	Optional customer self-service access.

Dashboard: daily workshop control

Use the Dashboard as the owner/service-advisor starting point for appointments, current workload and work that needs attention.

Review today’s appointments before customer arrivals.
Review live workshop load and Job Cards by operational status.
Identify waiting parts, waiting approval or other work that needs intervention.
Use the financial indicators only after invoices and payments are being recorded consistently.

Customers & Vehicles

Customer and vehicle records are the master data behind every appointment, Job Card, invoice and service reminder.

Create the customer

Use accurate name, phone, email, billing details and address. The same customer record is also used by invoices and payments.

Add the vehicle

Record registration number, VIN, make, model, variant, year and current mileage where available.

Maintain service targets

Set next service date and/or mileage to drive the Service Reminders area.

Use Service History

Completed Job Cards remain linked to the vehicle, providing a practical historical record of work and invoicing.

Avoid duplicate vehicle records. Search by registration/VIN before creating a new vehicle.

Appointments & Workshop Schedule

Appointments capture the customer request before workshop work begins; the Workshop Schedule gives the office a planning view.

Create the appointment

Choose date/time, customer, vehicle, estimated duration, optional mechanic and operational flags such as courtesy car required or waiting customer.

Write the Customer Request / Complaint

Record what the customer says as accurately as possible. This text is copied unchanged when a Job Card is created.

Maintain the appointment status

Use the appointment status to reflect arrival, cancellation/no-show or the normal booking state.

Create the Job Card

Use Create Job Card when the vehicle is ready to enter the workshop. Cancelled/no-show appointments cannot be converted.

Use Workshop Schedule to balance mechanic capacity and appointment timing before the day becomes overloaded.

Job Cards: the central workshop record

A Job Card is the operational source of truth for the vehicle’s current workshop visit.

Area	How it is used
Customer request	Preserve the customer’s original complaint/request so diagnosis and final work can be compared to what was requested.
Vehicle & mileage	Keep registration, VIN/vehicle identity and mileage at intake connected to the job.
Assigned mechanic	Controls who is responsible for the job and which mechanic sees it in the mechanic workflow.
Labour	Add labour descriptions, billed hours, rate, discount and VAT as applicable.
Parts	Add used parts and connect workshop stock/requests when the inventory feature is enabled.
Additional work	Propose extra work discovered after intake and route it through the approval process when required.
Timeline & attachments	Operational events and attachments provide context for what happened during the job.
PDF / invoice link	Produce the Job Card PDF and link the final financial document when the job reaches invoicing.

Controlled Job Card status flow

Statuses are not free text. Odenaro allows only valid transitions so the workshop history reflects the real process.

Draft / Booked → Checked In → Assigned → In Progress → Waiting Parts or Waiting Customer Approval when needed → Work Completed → Ready for Collection → Invoiced → Closed

Cancelled is a terminal status.
Waiting Parts and Waiting Customer Approval can return to In Progress when the blocker is cleared.
Work Completed can return to In Progress if further work is required before collection.
Invoiced moves to Closed after the final financial stage is complete.

Mechanics, Mechanic Panel & Time Tracking

Mechanic logins are intentionally focused on workshop execution rather than office administration.

Owner manages Mechanics / Staff and the account/profile relationship.
Mechanic Panel shows the technician’s operational jobs without exposing unrelated financial/admin screens.
When Time Tracking is enabled, mechanics can start, pause, resume and complete actual work time.
Reports compare billed hours with actual tracked hours to calculate technician efficiency.

Do not share one mechanic login among several technicians; it weakens job ownership and time-tracking accuracy.

Vehicle Inspections

Inspections provide a structured vehicle health check linked directly to the Job Card.

Open or create the inspection

Create it from the Job Card or Inspections page when the feature is enabled.

Record each item

Use condition Good, Attention Soon or Requires Repair together with notes, suggested work and optional estimated price.

Convert findings into additional work

A suggested inspection repair can become an additional-work proposal connected to the same Job Card.

Complete the inspection

Completed inspections become part of the customer-facing history when the Customer Portal is enabled.

Parts Inventory & Part Requests

The parts workflow separates what the mechanic needs from stock control and purchasing.

Parts & Inventory stores reusable workshop parts, selling/cost data, stock and supplier relationships when enabled.
Mechanics can raise Part Requests from the workshop flow instead of editing stock directly.
The parts team can issue available stock or move the request through ordering/receiving before it is issued to the Job Card.
Use Waiting Parts Job Card status when parts availability prevents work from continuing.

Purchase Orders, Suppliers & Business Tools

For workshops that manage stock and purchasing inside Odenaro, the Garage module integrates with supplier, product, warehouse and accounting tools according to user permissions.

Create suppliers before regular purchase ordering so costs and source history remain consistent.
Purchase Orders support the workshop parts replenishment process and receiving flow.
Products / Warehouse are available to Owner/Parts profiles when those Business Tools are enabled.
Accounting is available to Owner/Accountant profiles when enabled.

Estimates & Customer Approvals

Use Estimates before work is authorised, and use Additional Work approvals when extra work is discovered after the Job Card has started.

Estimates use the Odenaro document engine and can include labour, parts and other lines with VAT/discount rules.
Track estimate status such as draft/sent/approved/declined/expired/converted according to the available workflow.
Approved estimates can move into the workshop workflow rather than recreating the customer request manually.
Additional Work can be approved internally/phone or through secure expiring customer approval links when Customer Approvals is enabled.

Do not perform chargeable additional work before recording the approval method/status required by the workshop’s process.

Invoices & Payments

Garage invoices use the main Odenaro financial engine, while the Garage Payments page gives the workshop a focused way to record collections.

Review Job Card charges

Confirm labour, parts, discounts, VAT and approved additional work before invoicing.

Create/open the invoice

Use the linked invoice flow so the financial document remains connected to the Job Card.

Record payment

Garage Payments supports amount, payment date, method, reference and notes. Keep the amount aligned with the actual collection.

Settle several invoices

From Invoices, use Bulk Mark Paid to view every open invoice, select the confirmed collections and process them in queued batches of 10. The page shows only the five latest bulk jobs; History opens the full paginated job history.

Automatic payment confirmation

When Automatic payment confirmation with Mark Paid is enabled in Settings → Email, both single Mark Paid and Bulk Mark Paid queue a confirmation email with a fresh invoice PDF after the payment is recorded.

Close the Job Card

Move from Invoiced to Closed when the workshop’s final process is complete.

Courtesy Cars

When enabled, Courtesy Cars tracks the fleet, reservations/issues and returns linked to customer and optionally Job Card.

Maintain each car’s registration, make/model, mileage and availability status.
Reserve/issue a car with Date Out, Expected Back, mileage and fuel information.
On return, record Mileage In and Fuel In. Odenaro protects against Mileage In being lower than Mileage Out.
Returned cars automatically go back to Available status.

Service Reminders

Service Reminders turn the vehicle’s next-service date/mileage into an actionable follow-up list.

Upcoming remains future work outside the due window.
Due is used when the service date is within the next 30 days.
Overdue is used when the date has passed or current mileage has reached/exceeded due mileage.
Use Contacted, Booked or Dismissed to record the office follow-up outcome.

Update current mileage whenever reliable mileage information is available; mileage-based reminders depend on it.

Garage Reports

Reports combine financial and workshop-performance indicators for a selected period.

Indicator	Meaning
Revenue	Invoice revenue linked to workshop work in the selected period.
Labour Revenue	Revenue from Job Card labour lines.
Parts Revenue	Revenue from Job Card parts lines.
Completed Jobs	Number of completed workshop jobs in the period.
Average Job	Average value per completed/linked job according to the report calculation.
Outstanding	Unpaid balance from linked invoices.
Technician efficiency	Billed hours compared with actual tracked hours where Time Tracking is used.
Top parts usage	Frequently/value-significant parts from Job Card usage.

Customer Portal for Garage

When enabled, the existing Odenaro Customer Portal gains Garage-specific vehicle and service information.

Customers see only their own active vehicles and next-service information.
Upcoming workshop appointments are visible when applicable.
Repair Approvals allow Approve, Decline or Decide Later with an optional note for awaiting-approval additional work.
Estimates can be reviewed with their status and PDF.
Completed vehicle inspections show condition findings and suggested work.
Service History shows completed/closed workshop jobs, mileage and linked invoice information.

Customer Portal must be enabled in Garage Settings before using this customer-facing workflow.

Online Booking requests

Online Booking is optional and is designed as a request/review flow, not an uncontrolled direct workshop booking.

Enable Online Booking

Turn on the feature in Garage Settings only when the workshop is ready to review public requests.

Review incoming requests

The office reviews the customer/vehicle/service request before accepting it into the live schedule.

Create the appointment or dismiss

Convert an accepted request into a normal Appointment, or dismiss requests that should not proceed.

Garage Settings & optional modules

Garage Settings controls the workshop defaults and which specialised workflows appear in the module.

Setting	Function
Job Card prefix / starting number	Controls numbering for new Job Cards without renumbering existing records.
Default Labour Rate	Default price used when adding normal labour lines.
Mileage Unit	Kilometres or miles across Garage vehicle/workshop screens.
Default Appointment Duration	Default number of minutes proposed on a new appointment.
Workshop Name / opening hours	Workshop identity and the normal daily planning window.
Technician Time Tracking	Enables start/pause/resume/complete actual-time workflow.
Vehicle Inspections	Enables condition checks with findings and photos.
Courtesy Cars	Enables fleet availability, issue/reservation and return tracking.
Parts Inventory	Enables saved workshop parts, stock, suppliers and purchase-order workflow.
Customer Approvals	Enables internal/phone decisions and secure expiring online approval links.
Customer Portal	Adds Garage vehicles, estimates, inspections, approvals and service history to customer access.
Online Booking	Accepts public booking requests for office review before appointment creation.

Recommended daily / weekly operating routine

A consistent operating rhythm prevents Job Cards from remaining in the wrong status and keeps parts, approvals and billing aligned.

When	Recommended checks
Start of day	Dashboard → today’s Appointments → Workshop Schedule → waiting parts/approvals → courtesy-car availability.
Vehicle check-in	Confirm Customer Request, vehicle, mileage, mechanic assignment and initial status.
During work	Track time if used → inspections → labour/parts → part requests → additional work approvals → status updates.
Before collection	Confirm all work/notes → Work Completed → Ready for Collection → invoice → payment or outstanding balance.
Weekly	Review Service Reminders, overdue jobs, Parts/Purchase Orders, unpaid invoices and Garage Reports.

Troubleshooting & risk controls

Check the data relationship and user profile first; most Garage workflow problems are caused by missing links or disabled optional features.

Problem	Likely cause	Action
Garage login shows workspace not available	Garage was not included in the customer-facing product availability list in an older build.	Update to the current build where Garage is a released customer-facing product.
Mechanic opens the wrong/limited pages	Garage mechanics use a deliberately restricted technician route allow-list.	Use Mechanic Panel and the permitted job/inspection/part-request pages; use a different profile for office work.
A Service Advisor / Parts / Accountant page redirects	The manager profile does not have server-side permission for that route.	Assign the correct Garage staff profile rather than only changing the sidebar.
Customer Portal Garage page is unavailable	Customer Portal is disabled in Garage Settings or the portal account is not linked correctly.	Enable the feature and verify the customer portal identity/link.
Inspection / Courtesy Cars / Parts page is missing	The optional feature is disabled or the current profile lacks permission.	Check Garage Settings and the user profile.
Service reminder is not correct	Vehicle next-service date/mileage or current mileage is missing/outdated.	Update the vehicle service targets and current mileage.

Demonstration access, security & good practice

Use a manually provisioned demo/training workspace or trial for workflow evaluation, but use separate named accounts and least-privilege profiles in a live workshop.

Demo credentials are not published openly. Demonstration workspaces are created for a specific evaluation and access is provided directly by Odenaro.
Give each staff member an individual login instead of sharing the Owner/Admin password.
Use Service Advisor, Parts, Accountant and Mechanic profiles according to actual duties.
Before enabling customer-facing portal/approval/booking features, verify contact data and test the workflow with a controlled record.

Ready to review the complete Auto Workshop workflow?

Request a guided demonstration or contact Odenaro when you want an Auto Workshop workspace provisioned. Demo credentials are not published openly.

Request a demo / access