The shop floor: who sees what

What this does

Once a job is approved, the floor takes over. Three screens carry that: the Shop Floor board (what's in each bay, who's clocked in), the technician dashboard (each tech's assignments, clock, and numbers), and the writer dashboard (the counter's queue of things that need a decision). Inspections and diagnostics hang off work orders and feed back to the writer.

Who uses which

Technicians live on their dashboard and the board. Tier 1 Technicians can also open customers, parts orders, and diagnostics; Tier 2 Technicians see only their assignments, the board, inspections, and assets.

Service Writers and Office Managers live on the writer dashboard and see the board and inspections in review.

Service Managers and General Managers see all of it plus the Team view of every technician's clock and efficiency.

The loop

A job reaches the floor as Approved. A technician clocks in to it, works it, runs an inspection if the job calls for one, and moves it to Ready for Pickup. Findings from the inspection go back to the writer as Awaiting Authorization items; parts needs surface as Waiting Parts. The writer dashboard shows each of those as a queue. Comebacks, when a job returns, are flagged from the technician side and resolved from the manager side.

Common problems

A technician says the job isn't on their dashboard. It isn't assigned to them, or it's still in Estimate. Assign it and move it to Approved.

The board shows a bay occupied but nobody's there. Someone forgot to clock out. Any manager can see who from the Team view.