Quick start

workshopstory.com  ·  Log in with the email or username and password you were given.

Tech translation

1. Open Tech translation. Type or paste the technician's notes exactly as they wrote them. Shorthand is fine.
2. Add the measurements. Type brake pad and tyre figures into the boxes, or leave them in the notes. Measurements matter: "front pads 1mm" is better than "pads low".
3. Press Translate. It takes a few seconds. If a box headed Worth checking with the technician appears, read it first. It is for you only and is not part of the wording.
4. Read the wording. It is set out in sections: the measurements, the work carried out, then anything still needed under Urgent or Work required. Each item still needed says what was found, what it means and what happens if it is left. Change anything you disagree with.
5. Press Copy and paste it into the repair order in your DMS or invoicing software. If the lines run together when pasted, tick the blank line box and copy again.
6. It learns as you go. Wording you copy (or a technician sends) unchanged goes into the Wording library at the bottom of the page, including faults, kept with the side of the vehicle left blank. Next time the same work or fault comes up it is written straight from the library with no wait, and the page shows how many stories needed no AI this week. Anything you reword before copying is not kept.

The workshop PC: technicians type their own story

1. Set it up once. The owner opens Account, gives each technician a PIN in the Staff logins list, then presses Show the workshop PC link and opens that link on the shared PC in the workshop. Leave it open there.
2. The technician signs in. They type their PIN, enter the RO number and press Open.
3. They type the story in their own words, add the brake pad and tyre figures, and press Translate. It is worded on the spot.
4. They check the customer's version. The wording appears in a box they can type in. They read it through, change anything that isn't right, and press Looks right: send it to the front counter. Until then the service advisers see it marked as not checked. To change it later they edit the box and press Send my changes.
5. They press Finished. The PC goes back to the PIN screen for the next person. It also does this after three minutes without a key press.
6. The service adviser collects it. The story is waiting at the top of Tech translation, under Stories from the workshop. Press the RO, check the wording, then press Copy and paste it into the repair order. Once copied it moves to Already copied, and the technician can see it was collected.

Collection board

1. Put each RO on the board. Open Collection board, enter the RO number, the customer's surname and the time they're collecting. The day is today unless you type another (or press Tomorrow). A time with no am or pm, such as 3:30, is read as the afternoon.
2. The colours. Each RO is green while it's on track, turns yellow 30 minutes before the collection time, and red once the time has passed. The board shows the time left on each and keeps itself up to date.
3. Touch base with the tech. If the technician's story for that RO hasn't come through (checked and sent) 30 minutes before collection, the service advisers and the workshop controller get a pop-up and a warning bar on every screen, so someone can go and check with the workshop. The technician also sees the collection time on the RO.
4. When they collect, press Collected. Collected ROs are kept for 30 days, then deleted with the surname.
5. The workshop controller. Add them under Account with the role Workshop controller. They see the board and the team chat.

Team chat

1. On every screen. Press Chat in the bottom corner. Everyone with a login on the account (front counter, parts, warranty, the controller and technicians) reads the same chat, without leaving what they're doing. New messages pop up and the button shows how many you haven't read.
2. Pass on a task. Press ☐ Task before you send, and choose who it's for: anyone, a team (for example Parts) or one person. The message gets a tick box.
3. Tick it off. Whoever does it presses the ☐. It turns to ✅ with their name and the time, for everyone to see. The Tasks tab lists what's still open, yours first.
4. Messages are kept for 30 days. Keep customers' phone numbers and addresses out of the chat.

The gradings

Brake pads are graded on the measurement: 1 mm or less is Urgent, over 1 mm and up to 2 mm is Work required, and anything over 2 mm is listed as a measurement only.

Extra work found by a technician

1. Set the technician up. The owner opens Account, adds a login with the role Technician, then presses QR code and prints the card. The technician scans it with their phone or tablet. No password is needed.
2. The technician reports it. They type the RO number, press Open, describe what they found, add a time estimate if they have one, and press Send it.
3. Parts price it. If you have a Parts login (added under Account, with a username and password), the report goes to parts first. They enter the part number, price and availability for each part, then press Send to the service advisers. With no Parts login, the report goes straight to the front counter.
4. The front counter is told. A number appears beside Extra work in the menu. Open it to see the RO, who reported it, what was found, the time estimate, and the parts with their prices and availability. Press Mark as seen so others know it has been picked up.
5. Record the customer's answer. After calling the customer, press Customer approved or Customer declined. Within half a minute the technician sees the answer on the RO on their own screen, and parts see it on theirs with the list of parts to supply.
6. Changed their mind? Find the report in the Decided list and press Reopen.

Warranty helper

1. Add the manufacturer's documents first. The owner, a service adviser or a warranty clerk opens Warranty helper, then Manufacturer documents, picks the make and drags in the warranty manual, code lists and labour time guide. Until they are there, the helper gives a general evidence list only and can't look up codes or times.
2. The technician opens the job. On their phone or tablet they open Warranty helper, type the RO number, fill in the make and describe the fault in their own words, then press What do I need for this claim?
3. They work down the list. Each item is a photo to take, a reading to type or a question to answer. An item ticks green when it is done. If something can't be provided, they say why. Then they press Send to the warranty clerk.
4. The clerk prepares the claim. A number appears beside Warranty helper. Open the claim and press Prepare the claim. It writes the concern, cause and correction, lists the codes and labour times it found in your documents with a link to the page each came from, and gives the steps to lodge it.
5. Lodge it with the portal open beside it. Copy each part of the story and each code across, download the photos in one go, and tick the steps off. Check every code against its page first: a code marked Not on the page must be looked up.
6. Something missing? Type what is needed and press Send back to the technician. They see it at the top of the claim.
7. Set the time limits once. Under Manufacturer documents, enter for each make how many days you have to lodge a claim and how long old parts must be kept. Each claim then shows the days left to lodge it, and the Parts store shows when each old part can go.
8. Photos are checked on the spot. The VIN, odometer and part label photos are read back as soon as they are taken. If one can't be read, the technician is told to retake it while the vehicle is still there.
9. Tag the old part. Press Print the tag for the old part and tie it on. The Parts store lists every part being kept, and moves it to OK to throw away when its time is up. Press Thrown away as each one goes.
10. If a claim is rejected, type the reason the manufacturer gave. The next similar claim warns the technician and the clerk about it.
11. Report shows the month: claims started, lodged, paid and rejected, by make and by technician.

Good to know

• The wording never adds a fault, measurement or result the technician didn't write. It does spell out what a named job covers and what it is for, so "safety check" becomes a full line.
• No customer names or phone numbers are kept. The RO number is the link back to your own system.
• Technician notes typed into Tech translation are not saved on our servers; what you are working on stays in your own browser until you press Clear for the next job. Stories technicians send from the workshop PC or their own screen are kept against the RO number for 90 days, then removed. Reports sent from the technician's screen are saved against the RO number, with the technician's name.
• The Phrase book keeps the finished sentence for each piece of repeat work. When every remark in a set of notes is already in it, the story is written without the AI. Change a sentence there to have it worded your way from then on.
• Always on the story holds work your workshop does on every vehicle, such as "road tested". Shorthand is fine: each item is written into every story as a full sentence.
• Job templates sit above the notes box. Type the notes a kind of job always has (for a used vehicle recon: safety check, service, detail), name it and press Save notes as a template. From then on one press drops those notes in, ready for the technician's own notes to be added.
• The time estimate on a report is the technician's own figure when they give one. Otherwise it is a guide only.
• Today is the first screen for owners and service advisers. It counts what is waiting in each part of the system; press a card to go there.
• The search box at the top of the menu finds anything kept against an RO number: stories, extra work and warranty claims.
• A ? beside a heading opens a short explanation of that section.
• On a phone or tablet, use the browser's Add to Home Screen to open Workshop Story like an app. Dark mode is in the menu and is remembered on that device.
• Account has an Activity list: who sent, priced, approved, lodged or removed something, and when.
• One person can hold more than one role. Under Account, tick each one they do, for example Parts and Warranty clerk. A technician's QR login stays on its own.
• Warranty claims, their photos and your manufacturer documents are saved, unlike Tech translation. The claim story and suggestions are drafted by AI and need checking against the technician's notes before a claim is lodged.

If you have the full Workshop Story

• New job writes up a whole repair order: enter the car and invoice number, add the job lines, check the technician notes, press Write it up for the customer, then copy the wording and press Save job and follow-ups.
• Findings there have a third grading, Satisfactory: checked and fine, or repaired during the visit.
• Follow-ups lists every Urgent and Work required item that wasn't done, with its invoice number. Add a note after each call and set the status. Items with no contact for two weeks are marked.
• Technicians can also add job lines and notes with hours. Their ROs appear on the Job board on the dashboard, and extra work they report is drafted as a quote with labour priced at your labour rate.
• Quotes use the RO number as the reference. Labour is hours times your labour rate; add each part with its part number and price, then press Save and print.
• A red time check means the hours clocked ran well over the guide. It is a prompt to ask, not an accusation.