Central Warehouse
Central Warehouse gives your organization one shared stock pool that all garages can draw from.
Use it when:
- You buy or store parts centrally
- Multiple garages need access to the same stock
- You want jobs to keep moving even when a garage is short locally
The simple model is:
- Warehouse supplies garages
- Garages supply jobs
This means your team does not have to manage another visible garage. They just see warehouse stock where it matters.
What Is New (Current Release)
- Faster assignment flow in jobs: Assign to Job can pull warehouse shortfall automatically.
- Clear stock source visibility in job and scan flows:
Garage X · Warehouse Y. - Warehouse restock flow from garage inventory: Withdraw from Warehouse.
- Organization-level warehouse workspace with movement and usage insights.
What Central Warehouse Does
Once enabled, Central Warehouse lets you:
- Store shared stock in one place at the organization level
- Withdraw parts from the warehouse into a garage
- Pull parts from the warehouse and assign them to jobs in one step when the garage is short
- See warehouse inventory, movement, and usage from a dedicated Warehouse page
It is designed to reduce clicks for workshop teams while still keeping stock movements accurate.
How Stock Is Chosen (Decision Table)
When someone assigns a part on a job, autoGMS follows this order:
| Situation | What autoGMS does |
|---|---|
| Garage has enough stock | Assigns from garage only |
| Garage is short, warehouse has enough | Uses garage stock first, then pulls only the shortfall from warehouse |
| Garage has 0, warehouse has stock | Pulls from warehouse, then assigns |
| Warehouse match is ambiguous | Blocks one-click pull and asks for manual warehouse withdrawal |
| Neither garage nor warehouse has enough | Assignment is blocked with an insufficient stock message |
Example:
- Garage: 2 filters
- Warehouse: 10 filters
- Job needs: 4 filters
Result:
- Uses 2 from garage
- Pulls 2 from warehouse
- Assigns 4 to the job
Who Should Use It
Central Warehouse is a good fit if:
- You run more than one garage and want one shared stock room
- You have one active garage but still want a central stock location
- Your front desk or workshop team often has to check another location before assigning parts
It is probably not necessary if:
- You only need shelf/bin labels inside one workshop
- All stock is always stored and used in the same place
How to Turn It On
- Open Organization Settings.
- Turn on Central Warehouse.
- Confirm whether you want to:
- enable warehouse only, or
- enable it and move current stock into it now
If you move stock during setup:
- free stock moves into the warehouse
- parts already needed for jobs stay in the garage
This makes warehouse mode easier to adopt without breaking active work.
What Happens After Setup
When Central Warehouse is enabled:
- A Warehouse page appears in the organization workspace
- Garage inventory pages show warehouse availability
- Garages can use Withdraw from Warehouse
- Job parts and barcode scan flows can use Assign to Job with warehouse shortfall support
If you disable Central Warehouse later:
- warehouse stock is preserved
- warehouse workflows are turned off
- turning it back on reuses the existing warehouse setup when possible
The Warehouse Page
The Warehouse page is the organization-level view of shared stock.
You can use it to see:
- warehouse inventory
- available stock
- recent stock movement
- withdrawals by garage
- top moved parts
- recent job-driven warehouse pulls
This page is meant for managers and admins who need oversight of shared stock across the organization.
Moving Stock Into the Warehouse
If your current garage inventory is becoming the new warehouse stock, use the one-time setup move during enablement.
What happens:
- stock that is free to move goes into the warehouse
- parts already needed for jobs stay in the garage
- the warehouse becomes the main shared stock source going forward
This is the cleanest way to switch from “each garage owns all of its own stock” to “shared stock lives in the warehouse.”
Withdrawing Stock Into a Garage
When a garage needs parts from the warehouse:
- Open the garage Inventory page.
- Click Withdraw from Warehouse.
- Choose the part and quantity.
- Confirm the withdrawal.
The withdrawal completes immediately:
- stock leaves the warehouse
- stock appears in the garage
- warehouse reporting updates
For low-stock items, you may also see a row-level Withdraw action directly in the inventory table.
Pulling From Warehouse While Assigning to a Job
This is the fastest warehouse workflow.
If a job needs a part and the garage does not have enough local stock:
- the system shows both Garage and Warehouse stock
- the action remains Assign to Job
- autoGMS shows where the quantity will come from, such as
Garage 2 + Warehouse 2orFrom warehouse
When you click it:
- the shortfall is pulled from the warehouse into the garage
- the part is assigned to the job immediately
Example:
- Garage has 2 filters
- Warehouse has 10 filters
- The job needs 4 filters
autoGMS uses the 2 already in the garage and only pulls 2 more from the warehouse.
This is the fewest-clicks path for urgent workshop work.
Barcode Scan Flow
Barcode scan also works with Central Warehouse.
When a scanned part is short locally, the system can show:
- garage quantity
- warehouse quantity
- source split preview before assignment
This lets service advisors and technicians keep working without leaving the job screen first.
What Your Team Will See
With Central Warehouse enabled, users commonly see:
Garage X · Warehouse Yin job parts and scan flows- Withdraw from Warehouse in garage inventory
- Warehouse in the organization workspace
The warehouse itself is not supposed to feel like another normal garage in day-to-day use.
Roles and Access
Warehouse access is split between oversight and day-to-day usage.
Warehouse Page (Organization Workspace)
Typically available to higher-trust roles such as:
- organization owners
- garage owners
- garage admins
- platform admins
Day-to-Day Workshop Actions (Garage / Job Flows)
Workshop-side actions such as inventory withdraws and job assignment flows are available to the day-to-day roles that already manage parts and jobs in the garage.
If someone can manage booking/job inventory in the workshop, they should be able to use the faster warehouse-assisted assignment flow too.
For default role behavior, see Roles & Access Control.
Disable and Re-Enable Behavior
If you disable Central Warehouse:
- Warehouse workflows turn off.
- Warehouse stock is preserved.
- Re-enabling restores the setup when possible.
Use disable only when you intentionally want to stop warehouse workflows across the organization.
Troubleshooting
"Warehouse is not configured for this organization"
- Go to Organization Settings.
- Turn on Central Warehouse.
- Save and refresh the warehouse page.
"Multiple warehouse items match this part"
- Use Withdraw from Warehouse manually from inventory.
- Clean up duplicate/ambiguous matching items (SKU, barcode, part family).
- Retry assignment.
"Insufficient warehouse stock"
- Check warehouse available quantity.
- Reduce assignment quantity, or replenish warehouse stock first.
Warehouse page is visible but workflows are disabled
- Confirm Central Warehouse is still enabled in Organization Settings.
- Refresh after changing the toggle so workspace state updates.
Implementation Checklist (For Rollout / Training)
Use this when onboarding a location:
- Enable Central Warehouse in Organization Settings.
- Decide whether to move current garage stock into warehouse now.
- Verify Warehouse page opens and shows stock.
- Test one manual withdraw from warehouse into a garage.
- Test one job assignment where garage is short and warehouse fills the gap.
- Confirm team roles can access only the intended actions.
Best Practices
- Keep shared stock in the warehouse, not spread unpredictably across garages
- Use garage inventory for what is physically on hand at that workshop
- Let job assignment pull from warehouse only when local stock is short
- Use the warehouse page for oversight, not for everyday front-desk navigation
Common Questions
Is Central Warehouse another garage?
No, not from the user’s point of view. It is a shared stock workspace for the organization.
Do jobs use warehouse stock directly?
No. Jobs still consume garage stock. If needed, the system first pulls stock from the warehouse into the garage, then assigns it.
What happens if I turn warehouse mode off?
Warehouse workflows stop, but the warehouse stock is kept. If you turn it on again later, the system reuses the warehouse setup when possible.
Do I have to open the warehouse page every time I need a part?
No. The usual fast paths are:
- Withdraw from Warehouse from garage inventory
- Assign to Job while working on a job (autoGMS pulls only the warehouse shortfall when needed)