Bay & Workshop Management

Overview

The Bay & Workshop Management feature is the heart of your garage's daily operations. Think of bays as the physical workstations in your workshop -- each bay represents a spot where a vehicle can be serviced. This feature lets you see at a glance what is happening across your entire workshop: which bays are busy, which are free, who is working on what, and how long each job has been running.

Why it matters: Without a clear picture of your workshop floor, jobs slip through the cracks, bays sit empty when they could be earning revenue, and your team loses time figuring out what to work on next. Bay management brings order to your workshop so you can serve more customers, keep your team productive, and track every job from start to finish.

Key things you can do:

• Set up bays that match your workshop layout
• Assign confirmed bookings to available bays (which automatically starts the job)
• Track how long each job has been in progress with live timers
• Assign one or more technicians to each job
• Put jobs on hold when waiting for parts or customer approval
• Complete jobs and free up bays for the next customer
• Place bays into maintenance mode when equipment needs servicing
• Search across all active jobs by customer name, vehicle, or service type
• Filter bays by type (General, Oil Change, Tire, Brake, Diagnostic, Quick Service)
• Review bay utilization data in your analytics dashboard
• Open a dedicated TV Display mode for wall-mounted workshop screens

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How to Access

1. Log in to your autoGMS dashboard.
2. From the left sidebar, select your garage.
3. Click Workshop (or Bays) in the garage navigation menu.

You will land on the Workshop page, which is your real-time view of every bay in your garage.

Good to know: Technicians who log in will only see the bays and jobs they have been assigned to, along with their recently completed jobs from the past 7 days. Owners and managers see the full workshop view.

Good to know: Technicians access this through the autoGMS web app (desktop or mobile browser). There is no separate technician-only native app.

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Key Features

Real-Time Workshop Dashboard

A live view of all your bays displayed as cards on a single page. Each card is colour-coded so you can instantly tell what is happening:

• Green -- Bay is available and ready for a new job
• Blue -- Bay is occupied with an active job (and pre-inspection is complete or not required)
• Orange -- Bay is occupied but a required pre-inspection has not been completed yet
• Amber -- Bay is occupied but the job is on hold (waiting for parts, customer approval, etc.)
• Red/Amber -- Bay is in maintenance mode and cannot accept jobs

Summary Stats

At the top of the page (on desktop, hidden on mobile), you will see two key numbers:

• Active Jobs -- How many bays currently have a vehicle being serviced
• Free Technicians -- How many of your technicians are not currently assigned to a job, alongside how many are busy and the total on your team

These stats are hidden for technicians -- they only appear for owners and managers.

Search

A search bar at the top of the bay list lets you quickly find a specific job. You can search by:

• Bay name
• Customer name (first name, last name, or full name)
• Vehicle make or model
• License plate or VIN
• Service type

Bay Type Filter

You can filter the workshop view by bay type to see only bays of a specific category. Use the bay type dropdown to filter by:

• All types
• General Service Bay
• Oil Change Bay
• Tire Service Bay
• Brake Service Bay
• Diagnostic Bay
• Quick Service Bay

Your filter and search preferences are saved per user and per garage, so they persist across sessions and page loads.

Status Tabs

The workshop view has tabs to switch between different bay groupings:

• Active -- Shows only bays with jobs currently in progress (default view)
• History -- Shows bays with completed or cancelled jobs
• All -- Shows both active and historical bays

TV Display Mode

For shared workshop monitors, you can switch the Workshop page into TV mode.

How to open it:

1. Open Workshop.
2. In the page header, click TV Display.

What changes in TV mode:

• Simplified, larger bay cards optimized for distance viewing
• A top status bar showing garage name, current time, and bay counts (active, available, maintenance, on hold)
• Auto-refresh every 30 seconds
• Fullscreen toggle and quick exit controls

Status cues in TV mode:

• Blue active jobs
• Orange on-hold jobs
• Red overdue active jobs (elapsed time beyond the service duration)
• Green available bays

Bay Types

Each bay can be categorized by the type of work it handles:

• General Service Bay -- For all-purpose work
• Oil Change Bay -- Dedicated to oil services
• Tire Service Bay -- For tire fitting and balancing
• Brake Service Bay -- For brake repairs and inspections
• Diagnostic Bay -- For electronic diagnostics and fault finding
• Quick Service Bay -- For fast-turnaround jobs

Bay types help you organize your workshop and make it easier to match the right job to the right workstation.

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Step-by-Step Guide

Setting Up Your Bays

When you first access the Workshop page for a new garage, you may be guided through a Setup Wizard. You can also add bays at any time.

Using the Setup Wizard (First-Time Setup)

1. The wizard will ask: "How many bays does your garage have?" Enter the number.
2. You will see a preview of the bays that will be created (e.g., "Bay 1 - General Service Bay", "Bay 2 - General Service Bay").
3. Choose one of two options:
   • Quick Setup -- Creates all bays with default names and the General Service type. Great for getting started fast.
   • Customize Bays -- Takes you to a second step where you can rename each bay and choose a specific type for each one.
4. Click Complete Setup to finish.

What you will see: Your bays will appear on the Workshop page as cards, all showing a green "Available" status and ready for jobs.

Adding a Single Bay Later

1. Look for the Add Bay button on the Workshop page.
2. A dialog will appear with two fields:
   • Bay Name (required) -- Give it a clear, recognizable name like "Bay 3" or "Alignment Lift A."
   • Bay Type -- Select from the dropdown (General, Oil Change, Tire, Brake, Diagnostic, or Quick Service).
3. Click Create Bay.

What you will see: The new bay card appears immediately on your Workshop page in the "Available" state.

Good to know: Bay names must be unique within a garage. If you try to create a bay with a name that already exists, you will see an error message.

Editing a Bay

1. On any bay card, click the gear icon (settings) in the top-right corner.
2. An Edit Bay dialog will open where you can change the bay's name or type.
3. Click Save Changes.

Good to know: Only owners, admins, and garage managers can add or edit bays. Technicians and staff members cannot modify bay settings.

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Assigning a Booking to a Bay

This is the most important workflow in bay management. When a booking has been confirmed and the customer's vehicle is ready for service, you assign it to a bay to start the work.

Important: Assigning a booking to a bay automatically transitions its status from Confirmed to In-Service. You do not need to manually change the booking status -- the system handles it for you.

From the Workshop Page

1. Find an available bay (shown in green with a checkmark icon).
2. Click the Assign Booking button on the bay card.
3. You will be redirected to the Bookings page, filtered to show only Confirmed bookings.
4. From the bookings list, select the booking you want to assign and choose the bay.

From the Bookings Page

1. Navigate to Bookings and find a booking with the Confirmed status.
2. Click Start on the booking row to launch the smart dispatch workflow.
3. Select a technician from the assignment modal.
4. The system automatically creates a job card bay and assigns the booking.

What you will see: The bay card immediately changes from green (available) to blue (occupied). It now displays:

• The job/booking number
• Customer name and contact details
• Vehicle information (make, model, license plate)
• Service type and price
• A live timer showing how long the job has been in progress
• The assigned technician(s)

If the job was started from the Bookings page, the Workshop view shows the new job card immediately and then refreshes the rest of the bay details in the background.

If the booking price is later adjusted from Bookings -> Details -> Activity, the bay card updates to show that latest final price instead of the original service catalog amount.

Owners and managers can also click the displayed price on an occupied bay card to jump straight to that booking's Activity tab and open the same reason-and-authorization workflow used on the booking detail page.

Good to know: The assignment happens in real time via WebSocket connections. If another team member is looking at the Workshop page on a different device, they will see the bay status update automatically -- no need to refresh. The Workshop page also listens for new bookings and status changes from other pages.

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Assigning Technicians to a Bay

Once a job is assigned to a bay, you will want to assign the technician(s) who will do the work.

Assigning a Single or Multiple Technicians

1. On an occupied bay card, find the Technician section (visible to owners and managers).
2. Click the gear icon next to the technician section.
3. The Manage Technicians dialog will open, showing:
   • A list of all technicians in your garage
   • Any technicians already assigned to this job
4. For each technician you want to assign:
   • Select the technician from the dropdown
   • Choose their role: Primary (lead technician), Secondary (supporting), or Assistant (junior)
5. You can add multiple technicians by clicking the Add Technician button.
6. To remove a technician, click the delete icon next to their name.
7. Click Save to apply the changes.

What you will see: The bay card updates to show the assigned technician names. If there are more than two technicians, the card will show the first two names plus a "+X more" indicator.

Good to know: When a technician is assigned to a bay, they will see that job in their personal dashboard when they log in. This keeps everyone on the same page about who is responsible for what.

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Viewing Bay Details

For a deeper look at any bay, you can open the Bay Details panel.

1. Click on an occupied bay card (clicking anywhere on the card body, not on a button).
2. A side panel (drawer) slides in from the right, showing:
   • Current Status -- Available, Occupied, or Maintenance, with the last updated timestamp
   • Current Booking Information -- Customer name, vehicle details (make, model, colour, license plate), service type, bay type, and assigned technician
   • Job Timeline -- Key dates including when the booking was created, when it was assigned to the bay, when work started, and how long the job has been active
   • Recent Activity -- A log of actions taken on this bay (if available)
3. From the panel footer, you can take quick actions:
   • Complete Service (if occupied) -- Finishes the job and frees the bay
   • Mark as Available (if in maintenance) -- Returns the bay to service
   • Set Maintenance Mode (if available) -- Takes the bay offline

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Completing a Job and Releasing a Bay

When the work on a vehicle is finished, you complete the job to free up the bay for the next customer.

1. On the occupied bay card, click the Complete Job button (green button with a checkmark).
2. The system will check for any blockers before completing the job:
   • Pre-inspection required: If your organization requires a pre-inspection and it has not been done yet, you will be prompted to complete it first. The button will show as an orange Start Pre-Inspection button instead.
   • Pending inventory items: If parts or inventory items have been assigned to this job but usage quantities have not been confirmed, an Inventory Confirmation dialog will appear. Confirm how much of each item was actually used before the job can be completed. If inventory is the only blocker, the inventory dialog opens directly without showing the full blockers list.
3. Once any blockers are resolved, the job is marked as Completed, the booking status updates automatically, and the bay returns to the green "Available" state.

What you will see: The bay card transitions from blue (occupied) back to green (available) with an optimistic update -- the UI changes instantly while the server processes the completion in the background.

Good to know: Only completed bookings count toward your revenue calculations. Making sure jobs are properly completed (not just abandoned) keeps your financial reporting accurate.

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Putting a Job on Hold

Sometimes a job needs to be paused -- maybe you are waiting on parts, or the customer needs to approve additional work.

1. On an occupied bay card, click the Hold button (amber/yellow button with a pause icon).
2. The Put Job On Hold dialog will appear, asking you to:
   • Select a reason (required): Choose from common reasons such as:
     • Waiting for parts
     • Waiting for customer approval
     • Technician unavailable
     • Bay needed for another job
     • Customer request
     • Other
   • Add notes (optional): Provide any additional context.
3. Click Put On Hold.

What you will see: The bay card changes to an amber colour scheme with a pause icon badge, making it immediately visible that this job is paused. The job still occupies the bay -- the vehicle has not moved.

Resuming a Held Job

1. On a held bay card, the primary action button changes to Resume Job (green button with a play icon).
2. Click Resume Job to continue the work.
3. The bay card returns to its normal blue occupied state.

Good to know: Putting a job on hold is a great way to communicate across your team. Anyone looking at the Workshop page can immediately see which jobs are paused and why, without needing to ask around.

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Using Maintenance Mode

When a bay needs to be taken offline -- for equipment maintenance, cleaning, or any other reason -- use maintenance mode.

Turning Maintenance Mode On

1. On an available bay card, you will see a Maintenance toggle switch in the card footer.
2. Flip the switch to enable maintenance mode.
3. Confirm if prompted.

What you will see: The bay card changes to an amber/red colour scheme with a wrench icon and the label "Maintenance." The bay will not appear in the list of available bays when assigning bookings.

Turning Maintenance Mode Off

1. On a bay that is in maintenance mode, flip the Maintenance toggle switch off.
   • Alternatively, open the Bay Details panel and click Mark as Available.
2. The bay returns to the green "Available" state and can accept new jobs.

Good to know: You cannot put a bay into maintenance mode while it has an active job. Complete or reassign the current job first, then enable maintenance mode.

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Technician View

When a technician logs in, the Workshop page shows a tailored view:

• Page title changes to "Your Jobs" instead of "Workshop"
• Only bays with jobs assigned to the logged-in technician are shown
• A status indicator in the header shows how many active jobs the technician has
• The summary stats section is hidden
• Recently completed jobs from the past 7 days are visible, so technicians can review their recent work
• Technicians can complete jobs directly from their assigned bay cards

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Tracking Bay Utilization

Understanding how efficiently your bays are being used helps you make better decisions about staffing, scheduling, and capacity.

Live Timers

Every occupied bay card shows a live elapsed-time counter. This tells you exactly how long the current job has been running, updated every minute. Look for the blue timer badge in the top-right area of the card.

Bay Utilization in Analytics

If your organization has the analytics feature enabled, you can access detailed bay utilization data:

1. From the Workshop page header, click Job Analytics (if available).
2. In the Analytics dashboard, look for the Bay Utilisation section.

What you will see:

• Overall Bay Utilization -- A percentage showing how much of the time your bays are actively in use, displayed as a progress bar
• Peak Hours -- The busiest times of day across your workshop
• Peak Days -- The busiest days of the week
• Per-Bay Breakdown -- Individual utilization percentages for each bay, so you can see which bays are overworked and which are underused

Bay Utilization Table

In the Financial Dashboard, there is also a Bay Utilization Table that shows:

• Bay name and type
• Total number of job assignments
• Total service time

You can sort this table by any column and paginate through the results.

Good to know: If one bay consistently has much higher utilization than others, it might be time to add another bay of that type or re-balance how you assign jobs.

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Managing Multiple Bays

As your garage grows, managing many bays becomes even more important. Here are some tips for staying organized:

Naming Conventions

Give your bays clear, descriptive names that your team will recognize. Some common approaches:

• Numbered: Bay 1, Bay 2, Bay 3
• By location: Front Left, Rear Right, Upstairs Bay A
• By equipment: Alignment Lift, 4-Post Lift, Quick Pit

Using Bay Types Effectively

Setting the correct bay type helps you quickly match jobs to the right workstation:

• If you have a dedicated alignment machine, create an "Alignment" or "Diagnostic" bay
• If you have a quick-service pit for oil changes, mark it as an "Oil Change" or "Quick Service" bay
• Use "General Service" for bays that handle a variety of work

Monitoring from the Workshop Page

• Use the search bar to quickly find a specific job or customer across all bays
• Use the bay type filter to focus on a specific category of bay
• The Active Jobs and Free Technicians stat cards at the top give you an instant health check of your workshop
• The bay cards are displayed in a responsive grid -- on larger screens you will see 2-3 columns side by side for a broader overview

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Tips & Best Practices

• Keep bay names short and clear. Your team will reference them constantly -- "Bay 3" is better than "Third Service Bay on the Ground Floor."

• Assign technicians as soon as a job starts. This helps with accountability and ensures your team knows who is responsible for what. It also keeps the "Free Technicians" stat accurate.

• Use the Hold feature instead of leaving notes. When a job is paused, putting it on hold with a reason is much more visible than writing a note that someone might miss.

• Complete jobs promptly. When a vehicle leaves the bay, complete the job right away. This frees up the bay for the next customer and ensures your revenue numbers stay current.

• Review utilization weekly. Check your bay utilization analytics at the end of each week. Consistently low utilization may mean you are overstaffed or underbooked; consistently high utilization may mean it is time to expand.

• Put bays in maintenance mode during off-hours. If you are servicing equipment overnight, toggle maintenance mode on before you leave so the morning shift knows which bays are available.

• Use bay types to prevent mismatches. If a particular bay only has equipment for tire work, marking it as a "Tire Service Bay" helps your team avoid assigning a brake job there by mistake.

• Use the bay type filter to focus. During busy periods, filter by bay type to quickly see just the bays relevant to a particular job category.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What happens to the booking when I assign it to a bay?

The booking status automatically changes from Confirmed to In-Service. You do not need to update the booking status separately -- the bay assignment takes care of it.

Can I assign a booking to a bay that is in maintenance mode?

No. A bay must be in the "Available" state to accept a new booking. Take it out of maintenance mode first.

Can I move a job from one bay to another?

To move a job, you would need to release (complete) the job from the current bay and then re-assign it to a different bay. Direct bay-to-bay transfers are not currently supported.

What happens if I complete a job but forgot to assign a technician?

The job will still be completed successfully. However, it is best practice to assign a technician so your records accurately reflect who did the work. This also helps with technician performance tracking and utilization reports.

Can technicians complete jobs themselves?

Yes. If a technician is assigned to a bay, they can complete the job from their view. They will see a prominent timer and a "Complete Job" button on their assigned bay cards.

Why is a bay card showing orange instead of blue?

An orange occupied bay means that a pre-inspection is required by your organization's policy but has not been completed yet. The main action button on that card will prompt you to start or complete the pre-inspection before you can finish the job.

Why can I not see all the bays?

If you are logged in as a technician, you will only see bays that have jobs assigned to you. Owners, admins, and managers see all bays. If you believe bays are missing, check with your garage manager.

How many bays can I create?

There is no hard limit on the number of bays you can create. Keep your bay list manageable for your team.

Does the workshop page update automatically?

Yes. The Workshop page uses real-time updates via WebSocket connections. When another team member assigns a booking, completes a job, or changes a bay status, your view updates automatically without needing to refresh. The page also listens for booking creation and status changes from other parts of the dashboard. You can also manually click Refresh in the page header if needed.

Can I show the workshop on a TV screen?

Yes. Use the TV Display action in the Workshop header. TV mode provides larger cards, a status bar with counts and current time, auto-refresh every 30 seconds, and fullscreen controls for shared technician displays.

What is the "Inventory Confirmation" dialog that appears when I try to complete a job?

If parts or inventory items were assigned to the job, the system needs to know how much was actually used before the job can be completed. This ensures your inventory levels stay accurate. Simply confirm the quantities used for each item and the job will complete.

Can I delete a bay?

Bay deletion is handled through the backend. If you need to remove a bay, contact your administrator. Bays can be renamed or repurposed through the edit dialog instead.

Where can I see how efficiently my bays are being used?

Check the Analytics section of your dashboard. The Bay Utilisation panel shows overall utilization percentages, peak hours, peak days, and per-bay breakdowns. The Financial Dashboard also includes a Bay Utilization Table with assignment counts and total service time per bay.

What do technicians see differently?

Technicians see a simplified view titled "Your Jobs" that shows only bays assigned to them, plus their recently completed jobs from the past 7 days. They do not see the summary stats, add bay controls, or other management features.

What is the bay type filter?

The bay type filter lets you narrow the workshop view to show only bays of a specific type (e.g., only Diagnostic bays or only Quick Service bays). This is useful when you want to quickly check availability for a specific kind of work. Your filter preference is remembered between sessions.

How does the system handle inventory when completing from the Workshop page?

If inventory items are the only outstanding blocker, the Inventory Confirmation dialog opens directly. If there are multiple blockers (inventory plus pre-inspection, for example), a blockers list appears first, and you can open the inventory dialog from there.

How does Central Warehouse affect job part assignment?

If Central Warehouse is enabled and a garage is short on a part, autoGMS can use garage stock first and pull only the warehouse shortfall during Assign to Job. This keeps job flow fast without manually opening warehouse first.

For full setup and workflow details, see Central Warehouse.

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Quick Reference

I want to...	Go here	Do this
View all bays	Sidebar → Workshop (or Job Cards)	See bay cards on the workshop page
See active jobs only	Active tab	Shows bays with in-progress jobs
See completed jobs	History tab	Shows bays with completed/cancelled jobs
Assign a booking to a bay	Available bay card → Assign Booking	Redirects to filtered Confirmed bookings list
Assign technician to a bay	Occupied bay card → gear icon → Manage Technicians	Select technicians with Primary/Secondary/Assistant roles
View bay details	Click on an occupied bay card	Side panel slides in with full job info
Complete a job	Occupied bay card → Complete Job (green button)	Resolves any blockers, marks job done, frees bay
Put a job on hold	Occupied bay card → Hold (amber button)	Select reason, add notes
Resume a held job	Held bay card → Resume Job (green button)	Lifts hold, returns to active
Enable maintenance mode	Available bay card → Maintenance toggle	Bay goes offline, cannot accept jobs
Disable maintenance mode	Maintenance bay → flip toggle off (or Bay Details → Mark as Available)	Bay returns to Available
Add a new bay	Add Bay button	Enter name and type, click Create Bay
Edit a bay	Bay card → gear icon	Change name or type, Save Changes
Search for a job	Search bar at top	Type bay name, customer, vehicle, plate, or service
Filter by bay type	Bay type dropdown	Select General, Oil Change, Tire, Brake, Diagnostic, or Quick Service
Open TV Display	Workshop header → TV Display	Fullscreen view for wall-mounted monitors