Workflows and boards: does the software fit your process?

Every body and paint shop has its own way of working. One assesses every car before approval, another orders the parts before the customer even brings the car in. A third location mainly does smart repair. When the software does not fit that process, the team works around it. Then there are lists next to the system, shouted updates across the workshop and statuses that do not match the shop’s own steps.

Car Repair Flow is the software body and paint shops use to run their repair jobs. Each shop sets up its own process in it. On the board, the whole team sees every job in its step, and every change straight away. It mattered to us that the software follows the shop’s process, not the other way round.

Your process, in your words

On the Workflows page, the shop sets up its process. Every status gets the name the team already uses, in German and in English, and a colour of its own. The shop decides the order. Steps that belong together are grouped into sections, such as check-in, repair and completion.

For every status, the shop also decides which statuses may follow it. The workflow then reflects how a job actually moves through the shop. When a new step comes along, the shop adds it and moves it into place. A finished workflow can be exported as a file and imported again. Before an import, Car Repair Flow shows what will change.

Each location, its own process

The shop assigns each location the workflow that fits its work. Across several locations, everything still stays in one system.

For every workflow, the shop decides which worker types can see it. Staff then see the jobs of the processes they are cleared for, and the board stays clear.

Every job in its step

On a location’s board, every status is a column of its own, in the colour from the workflow. The sections sit above them. Every job is a card with its plate, customer and further details, and its colour band shows the status. The column header shows how many jobs are in each step.

When a step is done, the team drags the card on to the next one. While the card is being dragged, the steps that may not follow yet are greyed out. Alternatively, a click on the card opens the list of allowed statuses. The job’s status changes the moment the card is dropped.

The team finds a particular job by searching for its plate, claim number or customer. Next to the board there is a list view, and on a phone the columns stack one below the other.

Everyone sees the same board

When someone moves a job, everyone else sees the change straight away, without reloading the page. The office and the workshop floor work from the same, current picture. The question of where a car is right now is answered by the board.

The same goes for the workflow itself. When a status gets a new name or a new colour, the team sees the change on the board.

One board across locations

Some topics concern every location, such as complaints or invoicing. For those, a shared board brings together the matching processes of all locations. On it, every status belongs to one of four stages: to do, in review, blocked or done. The board then shows where every complaint or invoice stands across all locations, even though each location works with its own steps.

When a card is moved on this board, the job lands in the matching status of its own location. The shop decides in the workflow which topics get a shared board and which status belongs to which stage.

Every step on record

Every status change is recorded in the job’s history, with the old and the new status, the name and the time. That makes it transparent who passed a job on, and when.

When a job reaches a status the shop has set as its finish, it is marked as completed automatically. On the board, completed jobs can be hidden with one click.

Your customers see only their steps

Inside the shop, a job passes through many statuses. The shop also decides which few steps its customers see in the Track My Repair customer portal. These could be received, in repair, ready for pickup and picked up. The steps follow the job automatically, so there is no second status to keep up to date. The article on the customer portal covers what else it does.

What a shop sets up

Before the board goes into use, these things need doing:

• Set up the workflow with its statuses, colours, sections and allowed next statuses.
• Assign each location its workflow.
• Decide which worker types see which workflow.
• Mark the statuses that complete a job.
• For shared boards, create the topics and give every status its stage.