Digital Job Cards Explained: A Complete Guide to Autofid's Workshop Management System

Paper job cards are one of the most expensive inefficiencies in the modern automotive workshop. They get lost. They are illegible. They are invisible to anyone not standing next to them. They cannot notify a service advisor when a job is complete. They cannot calculate a final invoice total. And when a customer calls to ask about their car's progress, someone has to physically walk to the workshop floor to find out.

Autofid's digital Job Card system replaces every paper-based workflow with a connected, real-time, multi-user platform that every member of your team can see and interact with simultaneously — from the service desk to the workshop bay to the accounts office. This guide covers everything: creating jobs, managing technicians, tracking tasks and parts, generating invoices, and documenting warranty terms — all within a single, integrated workflow.

Job Types: Every Kind of Workshop Work, Properly Categorised

When a job card is created in Autofid, the first decision is the Job Type — the category that determines what kind of work is being performed. This is not just an organisational label; it affects how the job flows through the system, how costs are attributed, and how the job appears in your reporting.

The Pre-Sale Preparation job type deserves particular attention. When you create a Pre-Sale Prep job and link it to a specific vehicle in your stock, every cost recorded on that job card — labour, parts, subcontractor fees — automatically flows through to the vehicle's cost record. This means the vehicle's profit calculation in the Profit Per Car report automatically reflects the full cost of getting it ready for sale, without any manual data entry duplication.

Creating a Job Card: What Information Is Captured

A new job card in Autofid captures a comprehensive set of information at creation time:

Customer Information

• Customer name, phone number, and email address
• Customer address (for invoice and correspondence)
• Link to an existing customer record in your CRM, or a new walk-in customer

Vehicle Information

• For stock vehicles: linked directly to a vehicle record from your inventory
• For external customer vehicles: registration number, make, model, year, and current odometer reading (with unit: km or miles)

Job Details

• A clear description of the work to be performed
• Internal notes for the workshop team (not visible on customer invoice)
• Priority level: Low, Normal, High, or Urgent
• Booked date and expected completion date
• Estimated cost (optional — for customer quotation purposes)

Assignment

• Primary technician assignment from your registered technician list

The Job Card Status Pipeline: Six Stages, Zero Confusion

Every job in Autofid moves through a structured status pipeline that controls what actions are available at each stage. This prevents premature invoicing, ensures quality control steps are not skipped, and gives managers real-time visibility into workshop activity.

• Booked — the job has been scheduled. Customer and vehicle details are confirmed. The technician has been assigned. The job is waiting for the agreed start date. No work has begun.
• In Progress — the technician has started work. Tasks are being completed, parts are being recorded, and the odometer reading has been confirmed. The job card is actively updated throughout the working day.
• On Hold — work has paused. The most common reasons: waiting for a parts delivery, waiting for customer approval of an additional cost discovered during diagnosis, or awaiting a specialist subcontractor. The hold reason is recorded in the job notes so the team knows exactly why the job is paused.
• Completed — all tasks are done, all parts have been recorded, and the job is ready for final quality review and invoicing. The actual completion date and time are automatically logged.
• Cancelled — the job will not proceed. No invoice is generated. The cancellation is recorded for historical reference.

Task Lists: Breaking Complex Jobs into Trackable Steps

Within any job card, you can create a task list — individual steps that need to be completed as part of the overall job. This is essential for complex jobs involving multiple workstreams that may be performed by different technicians at different times.

Consider a full annual service that includes: oil and filter change, air filter replacement, brake inspection, tyre pressure check, lights check, and a test drive. Rather than managing all of these as a single job with a binary complete/incomplete status, Autofid lets you create separate tasks for each element:

Each task has its own status (Pending, In Progress, Completed, Cancelled), can be assigned to a different technician, and supports free-text notes. The overall job completion percentage is calculated automatically from the task completion rate.

Parts Management: Record Everything, Bill Everything

The most expensive billing error in any workshop is unbilled parts — components that were used on a job but never recorded and therefore never charged. Autofid's Parts Used section on every job card is designed to eliminate this problem.

For each part or consumable used, the technician records:

• Part Name — descriptive name as it will appear on the customer invoice
• Part Number / SKU — supplier reference for traceability and reordering
• Supplier — which supplier provided this part (links to your supplier records)
• Quantity Used — precise quantity consumed, including fractional amounts for fluids
• Cost Price — what you paid per unit from the supplier
• Charge Price — what you are billing the customer per unit (your markup applied)
• VAT Rate — applicable VAT rate for this part category

The difference between cost price and charge price is your parts margin — automatically tracked in Autofid's Workshop P&L report. This lets you analyse your average parts markup across all jobs and by category, and identify where margins are being compressed (typically when technicians give unauthorised discounts to customers).

Financial Structure of a Job Card

Autofid automatically assembles the financial summary of each job as information is recorded. The cost structure is:

Job Card Financial Summary
══════════════════════════════════════════════
Labour Cost:
  Hours Worked × Hourly Rate
  Example: 3.5 hours × €85/hr = €297.50

Parts Cost (to customer):
  Sum of (Charge Price × Quantity) for all parts
  Example: €142.00

Linked Expenses (optional):
  Business expenses directly linked to this job
  Example: Subcontractor fee: €75.00

Overhead Allocation (optional):
  Portion of workshop running costs allocated to this job
  Example: €32.00

──────────────────────────────────────────────
Subtotal (ex. VAT):    €546.50
VAT (23% on labour + parts): €125.70
──────────────────────────────────────────────
Invoice Grand Total:   €672.20

Every line of this calculation is traceable — you can drill down into which parts contributed which amounts, which hours were logged at which rate, and which overhead category contributed to the allocation. This transparency is essential both for accurate invoicing and for confident customer communication when questions arise.

Service Invoices and Deposit Notes

Autofid generates two distinct financial documents for service work:

Job Deposit Note

For jobs where a customer pays a deposit before work begins — common for large repairs where parts must be ordered in advance. The Deposit Note is a formal acknowledgement that includes: job reference number, vehicle details, customer details, deposit amount received, estimated balance due on completion, and the nature of work to be performed. It is generated instantly from the job card and downloads as a professionally formatted PDF.

Service Invoice

Generated when a job reaches Completed status. The invoice includes a complete itemised breakdown: all labour lines with hours and rates, all parts lines with quantities and prices, any additional charges, VAT calculations per line, subtotal, and grand total. Your garage's name, address, VAT registration number, and logo are included automatically from your account settings. The invoice is a VAT-compliant document acceptable for customer accounting and expense purposes.

Job Warranties: Protecting Your Work and Your Reputation

When a repair is completed, you may wish to offer the customer a warranty on the work performed — a commitment that if the same issue recurs within a defined period, you will rectify it at no additional charge. Autofid's Job Warranty feature formalises this commitment with a structured record:

• Warranty Provider — your garage name, or a third-party warranty underwriter
• Warranty Type — Dealer Warranty, Manufacturer Warranty, or Extended Warranty
• Expiry Date — the date after which the warranty no longer applies
• Expiry Kilometres — an optional mileage limit on the warranty coverage
• Coverage Description — what is covered and any exclusions

Warranty records are permanently stored against the job and can be retrieved instantly when a customer calls to make a claim. Your service advisor can confirm coverage, terms, and expiry within seconds — without searching through paper files or calling back later.

File Attachments and Diagnostic Documentation

Modern automotive repair increasingly involves digital diagnostic tools — OBD-II scanners, manufacturer diagnostic software, oscilloscopes, and thermal imaging cameras. Autofid's file attachment system lets technicians upload the outputs of these tools directly to the job card:

• OBD-II fault code scan reports (PDF)
• Before and after repair photographs
• Manufacturer technical service bulletins
• Customer authorisation documents (signed estimates)
• Parts delivery notes and supplier receipts
• Video evidence of faults (for dispute prevention)

Files up to 10MB per upload are supported. All files are stored securely in the cloud and linked permanently to the job record. They are accessible by any authorised user at any time — whether the job was completed yesterday or three years ago.

This documentation capability transforms your job cards from simple billing records into comprehensive vehicle service histories — a significant value-add for customers who want proof of work performed and for your business when disputes arise.