1. Purpose and Users
The Workshop Module manages fleet maintenance from inspection evidence to controlled vehicle release. It is used by drivers, service advisors, workshop managers, supervisors, technicians, storekeepers, fleet teams, and compliance teams. The module keeps repair work traceable by linking each job card to the asset, source checklist or service schedule, technician, parts, labour, approvals, quality checks, documents, and final release.
The module supports both corrective and preventive maintenance. Corrective work often starts from a submitted daily checklist with failed inspection items. Preventive work starts from a maintenance schedule that becomes due by date, odometer, or both. Manual job cards can also be created for breakdowns, management instructions, accident repairs, outsourced work, or other workshop cases.
2. Daily Checklists and Defect Capture
Daily checklists capture the inspection condition of a truck before or after a trip. A checklist records the checklist date, service type, truck, trailer, trip, driver, odometer, notes, attachments, and inspection lines. The inspection template is built from the selected service type plus the configured daily checklist template.
A checklist can be saved as draft or submitted. Submitted checklists become the official inspection record. Failed lines are the items answered No. A submitted checklist with failed items can generate a corrective job card. Once a job card is generated, the checklist status changes to job card created, the generated time is stored, and the checklist becomes locked to preserve the source record.
When a checklist generates a job card, the job card complaint is composed from the failed inspection lines and remarks. Checklist attachments are copied to the job card so workshop teams can see the original photos or files without searching elsewhere.
3. Preventive Maintenance Planning
Service schedules create preventive maintenance reminders for assets. A schedule stores the asset, service type, schedule mode, kilometre interval, day interval, last service odometer, due odometer, last service date, due date, status, and notes. The planning status is calculated as upcoming, due soon, due now, overdue, or completed.
For kilometre-based schedules, the system compares the asset odometer with the due odometer. For date-based schedules, it compares the due date with today. For combined schedules, the most urgent state wins. This gives planners a live maintenance queue instead of a static reminder list.
A preventive schedule can raise a preventive job card. The job card receives the service type, source schedule, complaint text, preventive template lines, odometer, maintenance type, priority, and initial requested status. If an active job card already exists for the schedule, the system opens the existing job instead of creating a duplicate.
4. Job Card Lifecycle
The job card is the central workshop record. It stores job card number, asset, source checklist, source schedule, maintenance type, source type, priority, technician, workshop bay, service type, status, odometer, complaint, diagnosis, root cause, defect category, downtime reason, delay reason, planned costs, actual costs, quality checklist, final checklist, notes, and workflow actors.
Job card statuses include requested, inspected, estimate prepared, awaiting approval, approved, rejected, waiting parts, parts reserved, outsourced, in progress, quality check, rework, ready for release, released, closed, and cancelled. This workflow keeps work visible from first complaint to final closure.
The normal path is request, inspection, estimate preparation, approval, parts reservation or waiting parts, work start, labour booking, quality check, technical sign-off, release, and closure. Rejected estimates return the job to estimate prepared. Failed quality checks move the job to rework.
5. Parts, Reservations, and Labour
Job card lines can represent parts, labour, or external service costs. Preventive service templates can pre-load required parts and labour tasks. The module can match template part descriptions against inventory items, using category, normalized text, and token matching to suggest stock items.
Parts reservation connects Workshop to Inventory. When stock is reserved, the reservation records the inventory item, job card, quantity, user, status, and context. If parts are not available, the job can move to waiting parts. Released or deleted job cards release unused reservations. When a job card is completed or released, reserved parts can be consumed so inventory stock reflects actual usage.
Labour entries record technician work and actual labour cost. Planned cost comes from estimate lines, while actual cost uses labour entries, consumed parts, and external costs. This allows workshop reporting to compare estimated cost against actual cost.
6. Quality Check, Sign-Off, Release, and Closure
Before release, workshop records a quality checklist. The system expects labour bookings before completing the quality check. If the quality check passes, the job moves into quality check status with a passed result. If it fails, the job moves to rework and must be corrected before release.
Technical sign-off moves the job to ready for release. Release requires the job to be ready for release, technically signed off, and approved. Release can automatically close the job with a final checklist result. Closure stores the closed user, closed time, completed time, final checklist, and final checklist result.
The workshop availability service keeps the fleet asset status aligned. If an asset has active job cards, it moves to maintenance unless inactive. When active job cards are closed, released, completed, or cancelled, the asset can return to active and compliance is recalculated.
7. Controls and Business Rules
The module prevents uncontrolled maintenance changes. Checklists generated into job cards are locked. Closed, released, or completed job cards cannot be freely edited. Released or closed work needs a follow-up job card for extra work. Closed job cards cannot be deleted. Preventive schedules do not create duplicate active job cards.
Dispatch safety is also protected. Assets with active workshop job cards are marked under maintenance, which blocks allocation in operational workflows. Compliance is refreshed after workshop changes so the asset register, dispatch, and maintenance views stay aligned.
8. Reporting and Connected Modules
Workshop connects to Fleet, Daily Checklists, Inventory, Procurement, Approvals, Audit Trail, Reports, and Operations. Reports can show preventive maintenance compliance, downtime analysis, workshop management dashboards, technician productivity, driver checklist results, repeat repairs, delay hours, planned cost, actual cost, and open job card pressure by workshop bay.
In short, the Workshop Module starts from inspection findings or scheduled maintenance, creates a controlled job card, assigns technician and workshop context, estimates and approves work, reserves parts, books labour, performs quality checks, releases the asset, closes the job, updates fleet availability, and leaves a full audit trail for reporting.