Taking a digital inspection from checklist to estimate

A digital inspection begins as a reusable checklist, becomes a sheet tied to one repair order, and freezes as evidence when somebody completes it. The technician records what the car says; an advisor decides whether a problem becomes work the customer may be asked to buy.

1. 1

   Step 1: Build or install a checklist

   Open Settings › Inspection templates. If the shop has none, choose Install courtesy inspection. To make your own, enter a Template name, group each row with its section, choose Add checklist item as needed, then press Create template. The visible checklist rows post as ordinary form fields, so creating or editing a template still submits those rows when JavaScript is switched off.

2. 2

   Step 2: Start it from the repair order — a technician's screen

   Open the repair order you are assigned to. There are no tabs on it: the work fills the screen and the Inspections panel is in the right-hand column, listing any sheet already on the car. Choose the checklist and how many wheels the vehicle has, then press Start inspection. A repair order needs a vehicle, and at least one active checklist must exist first — when the shop has none the panel says so, and an owner or manager adds one in Settings.

3. 3

   Step 3: Start it from the repair order — an advisor's screen

   An advisor, manager or owner opens the repair order's Inspections tab, chooses + Add inspection, selects the checklist and wheel layout, then presses Add inspection. Without leaving the work, the ticket's right-hand Inspections panel folds open to + Start an inspection and the same two pickers with Start inspection. Every door starts the same sheet.

4. 4

   Step 4: Work down the sheet

   For each item choose OK, Soon, Now or N/A. Add a note or any offered gauge readings before choosing the rating. The repair order shows the sheet in progress, including its rating counts, notes and photo count.

5. 5

   Step 5: Keep the evidence with the item

   Choose Add photo on the item the picture explains. JPEG, PNG and WebP photos are compressed before upload. With no signal, Torqix keeps a queued photo on that signed-in device and sends it when the connection returns — you can leave the screen. If an upload keeps failing, a note in the corner says why and offers Try again and Discard photo. The device holds twenty photos; past that the camera says so and offers Discard the oldest photo. Remove photo takes one back off the item.

6. 6

   Step 6: Or record it, when a picture will not carry it

   The same item takes video. Add video accepts MP4, WebM and QuickTime, up to a size limit your shop sets — the button says the number in megabytes, so read it rather than guessing. A noise, a leak under pressure or a play in a joint is a clip; everything else is a photograph. Remove video takes one back off. Two things behave differently from photographs and are worth knowing at the car: a video is uploaded as recorded rather than shrunk first, so a long clip is a long upload, and there is no offline queue for video — with no signal, record it and add it when you are back on the network.

7. 7

   Step 7: Let an advisor price a problem

   A yellow or red item offers Make job only to somebody allowed to edit estimates. Pressing it adds a job to the same repair order and marks the item On the estimate. A template may suggest the job title, but no rule presses this button for the shop.

8. 8

   Step 8: Complete the record, and answer the question it asks

   After the checks are finished, press Complete inspection. Nothing is frozen yet: the sheet saves what you have typed and asks Complete this inspection?, naming what completing does. Press Yes, complete and send to finish it, or Not yet to carry on — what you typed stays on the screen either way. The completed sheet can no longer be rated, and its photos can no longer be removed or added to. It appears in the customer's glovebox; use Send with the estimate when the findings should also travel on an estimate.

What changes when a checklist changes

Choose Edit as new version for a checklist already in use. Save as new version changes only inspections started later; an open or completed sheet keeps the rows, order and wording it began with. Retire removes the checklist from the start picker without changing old sheets. A row marked Suggest a job when this comes back with a problem may prefill a title after the chosen yellow or red result, but a person still has to press Make job.

When completion is refused

A shop can turn on Require a reviewer before sending or Require photos on red items under its preferences. If the first rule stops a technician, the sheet says A reviewer must sign off before this inspection goes to the customer. Have an advisor, manager or owner open the same sheet and press Complete inspection. If the second stops it, the sheet says Every red item needs a photo before this goes out. Add a live photo to each red row, then try completion again.