Creating Documents

To create a new document in Garage Assistant, simply click on New Invoice / Estimate / Job Sheet from the relevant main menu screen.

A new document can contain as much or as little information as you require, by default the majority of information is not required, giving you flexibility to use it how you wish, the only exception being that a customer is required.

You can setup required fields if needed, the following article helps with this:
https://www.sws-solutions.co.uk/ga4:_required_fields-p158-c3.html

Adding a Customer

You can add a customer in multiple ways. Initially, you can simply type their relevant details into the appropriate fields.

Whilst doing this, If a customer with the same name is found in your database you may be given a prompt to display matching customers, this is to help prevent duplicate entries.

If a customer already exists in your database, you can look them up by either entering their account number or by clicking the customer search option, which allows you to search in a variety of fields to find the relevant customer details.

If a customer is linked as being the owner of one or more vehicles, either the vehicle will be looked up or a list of them will be presented, allowing you to choose the relevant vehicle or add a new one.

A customer can also be added automatically if you enter the registration of one of their vehicles.

Note: The type of customer also determines the document type (Account or Standard), so if the customer has an account, the document will show as an Account Invoice and vice versa.

Adding a Vehicle

As with adding a customer, a vehicle can also be added in multiple ways.  You can simply enter the details directly.  

If the vehicle exists, the details will automatically populate (similar to the account number field for customers).  

If that vehicle is linked to a customer, the customer details will also be looked up automatically.

You can also search for an existing vehicle when doing so the same as entering the registration directly, the owner will be looked up and entered, so long as the owner details are empty.

If you make use of the VRM Lookup service, you only need to enter the registration.  Clicking on VRM Lookup will populate the majority of additional fields available for a vehicle.

Adding Line Items

There are multiple ways to add line items to a document, the most obvious is direct entry of the description and relevant quantity / prices, but you can also use the Job Lookup system or Stock database to either lookup using the Job Code / Part number, or browse / search for items.

Pre-Defined jobs can contain Labour, Parts and Advisories, allowing you to create documents for repetitive jobs, such as Servicing quickly.

With stock items, there are a number of factors which determine how Garage Assistant behaves when adding an item to a document.

This includes:

• How stock control is configured 
• If the item exists in your stock database
• Whether or not the stock order system is in use
• If the item is set to tracked or not
• If the item has a sufficient quantity available for use
• If the document is an Estimate / Job sheet / Invoice

For example, if you are using the stock order system and add a tracked item, with 0 quantity available to an invoice, the system will automatically generate a pending order for that item and allow it to be reserved on a document.

Unlike Job sheets and Invoices, adding stock items to an estimate does not trigger the tracking / order system, until an estimate is converted to a Job sheet or Invoice.

Additional options for Line Items

There are a few techniques that can be used when entering line items, which are not obvious, these are as follows:

If a cost price is entered, you can enter a % into the unit price, i.e 10% and it will use either a markup or margin calculation to determine the Net.  You can specify whether you use markup / margin by going to Admin > Configuration > Labour / Parts Rates.

When entering a description, you can press Shift + Enter to move to the next line, instead of the next field.

If you want to enter a price inclusive of tax, adding an asterisk will make the system calculate it based on the tax rate available, i.e Entering 100*  will result in a net unit price of 83.33 being entered.

To the left of the description is a small up/down arrow icon, dragging this allows you to re-order the line items.

Insurance Excess Invoices

Insurance excess invoices are a special document type in Garage Assistant. Whilst they are an invoice, they are also directly connected to the main 'insurance' invoice and can only be created via another document, for this reason.

To create an excess invoice, from the main insurance invoice click on "Transactions > Insurance Excess"

Any insurance policy excess amount entered here will automatically be deducted from the main insurance invoice and reflect as such on any printout's / PDFs, this includes if the customer is VAT registered. The tax amount will be removed from the insurance invoice and placed onto the excess invoice.

 
Credit Notes

When creating Credit notes, it is advisable where possible to create them from the corresponding invoice.

Initially, this will create the credit note with all items from the original invoice however, you are free to remove / amend the credit note.

When you issue a linked credit note, it looks at the original invoice to determine how / if a refund is required, or if the credit can be applied directly to the invoice.

If the invoice is unpaid or has an outstanding balance matching or greater than the credit amount, the credit can be deducted directly.

If the invoice is paid in full, you will be prompted to add a 'refund' transaction.

You cannot credit values greater than the original invoice.

Standalone credit notes can be created from the Main Menu Invoice screen.  Since these credit notes are not linked to a document, they act as a refund to a customer or a credit to their account balance.  For account credits, these can be later allocated via the Account Manager.

Credit notes are considered 'in progress' documents until they are issued.  They will only show on reports once issued.