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.
- Organization-level Transfers queue with approval, dispatch, receipt, history, and notifications.
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
Use Export stock report on the Warehouse inventory table to download the current filtered warehouse stock list as a CSV. The report includes warehouse location, item name, SKU, category, bin location, stock status, on-hand quantity, reserved quantity, available quantity, thresholds, unit costs, selling prices, stock value, currency, and last-updated time.
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.
If you manage both the warehouse and destination garage, the withdrawal completes immediately:
- stock leaves the warehouse
- stock appears in the garage
- warehouse reporting updates
If you do not manage both locations, autoGMS creates a transfer request instead. The source manager approves and dispatches it, then the destination manager confirms receipt. Open Organization > Transfers to follow the request. Source stock is deducted at dispatch; destination stock increases when receipt is confirmed.
You receive notification-bell updates when a transfer needs approval, is approved, is dispatched, is rejected, is cancelled, or is received. Each notification opens the exact transfer.
The Transfers page also shows this month's usage against the organization plan limit. New requests stop when that limit is reached and resume in the next UTC calendar month.
For low-stock items, you may also see a row-level Withdraw action directly in the inventory table.
Transfer Rules at a Glance
A transfer can be created only when all of these are true:
- Inventory Management is enabled for the organization.
- The source and destination are different locations in the same organization.
- The requester has Inventory access for the destination garage.
- The selected item belongs to the source location.
- The source has enough available stock. Reserved stock cannot be requested again.
- The quantity is positive. Countable units require whole numbers; measured units such as liters, kilograms, meters, and gallons allow decimals.
- A reason of 5–500 characters is provided.
- The organization has not reached its monthly transfer limit.
The permission to request stock is separate from the permission to approve, dispatch, or receive it.
| Action | Who can do it |
|---|---|
| Create a request | A user with Inventory access for the destination garage |
| Approve or reject | A manager of the source location |
| Dispatch | A manager of the source location after approval |
| Receive | A manager of the destination location after dispatch |
| Cancel while pending | The requester or an organization owner/admin |
| Manage every location | The recorded organization owner/admin or a platform admin |
Garage owners, garage admins, and managers act only for locations they manage and only when their Inventory page access allows it. A role name by itself does not grant organization-wide control.
The Central Warehouse is organization-controlled. A branch manager may request warehouse stock for an accessible destination and receive it there, but does not inherit approval or dispatch authority over the warehouse. The recorded organization owner/admin or a platform admin handles the warehouse side.
Statuses, Reservations, and When Stock Moves
| Status | What it means | Stock effect |
|---|---|---|
| Pending approval | The source team must approve or reject the request. | No stock is reserved or moved. |
| Ready for dispatch | The request is approved. | The requested quantity is reserved at the source, so it cannot be promised twice. |
| In transit | The source team marked the physical stock as dispatched. | Source stock is deducted and the source reservation is cleared; destination stock has not increased yet. |
| Received | The destination team confirmed physical receipt. | Destination stock is increased and the transfer is completed. |
| Rejected | The source declined a pending request. | No stock moves. |
| Cancelled | The requester or organization manager cancelled a pending request. | No stock moves. |
Do not click Receive until the stock has physically arrived. Receipt is the point at which the destination inventory quantity is posted.
If a matching destination item exists, autoGMS adds the quantity to it. If no suitable item exists, autoGMS creates the destination inventory item from the source item details. If several destination items are equally plausible matches, receipt is blocked so the team can reconcile the duplicates safely.
Auto-Approval and Immediate Warehouse Withdrawal
Requests do not always start at Pending approval.
- If the requester manages both the source and destination, autoGMS auto-approves the request and reserves the source stock immediately.
- If the source is the Central Warehouse, the user manages both locations, and the warehouse withdrawal flow requests immediate completion, autoGMS completes the stock movement in one step.
- Immediate completion is not available for ordinary garage-to-garage transfers.
- If the user does not manage both locations, a warehouse withdrawal becomes a normal approval request.
This is why an organization owner may see a new request appear directly as Ready for dispatch, while another user sees Pending approval.
Where Requests and Alerts Appear
- Organization > Transfers is the main queue across all locations the user can see.
- Garage Inventory > Stock movement > Manage Transfers opens the same workspace filtered to that garage.
- Active contains pending, ready-for-dispatch, and in-transit requests.
- History contains received, rejected, and cancelled requests.
- All transfers combines active work and history.
- The notification bell shows garage-scoped transfer alerts. Selecting an alert opens the exact transfer, including after it has been read.
The source team receives the approval request. The destination team and requester receive approval and dispatch updates. Both involved teams receive terminal updates such as received, rejected, or cancelled, scoped to their relevant garage. Garage managers receive these alerts only when they retain Inventory page access; organization owners/admins continue to receive organization-level operational alerts. A requester stops receiving later transfer details if their account is inactive or they lose Inventory access to the destination garage.
Priority, Age, Search, and Plan Limits
Priorities control queue order, not permissions or automatic approval:
- Urgent
- High
- Normal
- Low
Within the same priority, newer requests appear first. Urgent requests also use a high-priority notification treatment.
The Over 24h card counts active requests whose request time is more than 24 hours old. It is an attention indicator, not a separate status or automatic escalation.
Search can match the item, SKU, garage, requester, or reason. Status and priority filters are stored in the page URL, so a filtered view or exact transfer can be shared as a deep link.
The This month card counts all transfer requests created during the current UTC calendar month, including requests later received, rejected, or cancelled. When the plan limit is reached, creating another request is blocked until the next UTC month or until the organization’s limit changes.
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)
Available only to:
- the recorded organization owner
- a recorded organization administrator
- a platform administrator
A garage owner or garage admin who manages only a branch does not get this page from the role name alone. Branch users request and receive warehouse stock from their garage Inventory flow instead.
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.
If someone can open Inventory but cannot see or perform a transfer action, check all three layers:
- Inventory Management is enabled for the organization.
- The user has Inventory page access for the relevant garage.
- The user manages the source or destination required by that action.
Being able to request stock does not automatically allow the same user to approve or receive it.
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.
"Insufficient available stock"
- Check the source item’s available quantity, not only its on-hand quantity.
- Approved transfers reserve stock and reduce what can be requested by another transfer.
- Reduce the quantity or finish/correct the existing transfer first.
A request went straight to "Ready for dispatch"
This is expected when the requester manages both the source and destination. autoGMS auto-approves the request and reserves the stock.
I cannot cancel, reject, or edit an approved transfer
- Cancel and reject are available only while a request is Pending approval.
- After approval, the supported path is dispatch followed by receipt.
- If the physical movement should not continue, stop the handoff and contact an organization admin or autoGMS support before confirming receipt.
- If an incorrect transfer was already received, use a new corrective transfer rather than manual stock edits so the audit trail remains clear.
Receipt fails because several destination items match
- Do not retry against an arbitrary item.
- Reconcile the duplicate destination items, SKUs, barcodes, or part references.
- Retry Receive after there is one clear destination match.
A transfer alert appears in the wrong place or is missing
- Open the garage involved in that stage of the transfer and check its notification bell.
- Confirm the user still has access to that garage.
- Open Organization > Transfers directly if the notification has already been read.
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.
How do I know if I am in garage stock or warehouse stock?
Garage inventory pages show stock for the garage you are currently working in. The Warehouse page in the organization workspace is the central warehouse. In job parts and scan flows, autoGMS shows the source split, such as Garage 2 + Warehouse 2, so you can see whether the part is coming from local garage stock, warehouse stock, or both.
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)
When is stock actually deducted from the source?
Approval reserves the quantity. Dispatch deducts the source stock and clears that reservation. The destination quantity increases when the destination confirms Receive.
Can the requester cancel after approval?
No. Cancellation is available only while the request is pending approval. After approval, stop the physical movement and contact an organization admin or support before anyone confirms receipt.
Can a source manager approve a request without enough stock?
No. autoGMS checks available stock when the request is created and again reserves the quantity at approval. Stock already reserved for another transfer is not available.
Does Urgent bypass approval?
No. Priority changes queue order and notification urgency only. It does not change permissions or lifecycle steps.
Why did my request skip approval?
The requester manages both the source and destination, so autoGMS auto-approved it. A Central Warehouse withdrawal can also complete immediately when the same user manages both locations and uses the immediate withdrawal flow.
Can a branch manager approve or dispatch a Central Warehouse request?
Not merely because they manage a branch. Branch managers can request stock for and receive stock into an accessible branch. The warehouse approval and dispatch actions belong to the recorded organization owner/admin or a platform admin.
Can I transfer between different organizations?
No. Both locations must belong to the same organization.
Can I transfer decimal quantities?
Yes, for measured units. Countable units such as pieces, sets, rolls, bottles, and tubes require whole numbers. Measured units such as liters, kilograms, meters, and gallons allow decimals.
What happens if the destination does not already have the item?
autoGMS creates a destination inventory item using the source item details when the transfer is received. If several destination items appear to match, receipt is blocked until the duplicates are reconciled.
Do rejected or cancelled requests count toward the monthly limit?
Yes. The monthly usage card counts requests created in the current UTC month, regardless of their final status.
Can purchase orders receive supplier stock directly into Central Warehouse?
Purchase-order receiving is currently garage-scoped. Receive the purchase order into its garage inventory, then use the warehouse setup move or a controlled transfer to place stock in Central Warehouse.
Should I correct a received transfer with manual stock adjustments?
Prefer a corrective transfer in the opposite direction. That keeps the source, destination, actors, and quantities together in the transfer and inventory audit trails.