ShopDesk Documentation on Squatch Soft

Introduction

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ShopDesk was the vision of Brian Eilers, a career master automotive technician who saw a need for an all-encompassing automotive shop management suite that could be self-hosted on a small server, or hosted in a data center for other organizations. One of the must-haves for this vision was that it must be affordable to operate for a small independent repair shop that doesn’t have the luxury of unlimited overhead cash flow.

Getting started

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Logging in

Open ShopDesk in your browser and sign in with the username and password your manager gave you. Usernames look like email addresses (for example jody@valleyeuro.com); your login name can never be changed, so keep your password private.

Your Shops

After logging in you land on Your Shops. Click a shop card to enter that shop — everything you see from then on (job board, guests, reports) belongs to that location. Managers and admins see every shop; technicians only see the shop they are assigned to.

Clocking in and out

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Your time clock lives in the top bar — the button next to your name shows your current status: clocked in, on break, or clocked out.

Click it to open the time-clock panel, then choose Clock in, Start break, End break, or Clock out. Managers can clock other employees in or out using the employee dropdown in the same panel.

My Profile

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Click your name in the top bar to open your profile. Keep your phone, email and mailing address current, change your password, and pick Light or Dark mode — the whole app re-themes instantly, per user.

Dashboard

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The dashboard is the shop’s morning briefing: today’s appointments, cars currently in the building, jobs waiting on parts or approval, and key sales numbers. Click any card to jump straight to the underlying list.

Job Board

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The job board shows every open repair order as a card in columns by status: scheduled, checked-in, in progress, waiting on parts, waiting on approval, and ready. Drag a card to another column (or use the move controls on a phone) to update its status. Use the search box to find a car, guest, or RO number instantly.

Checking in a vehicle

When the car arrives, find its card on the Job Board and drag it into the Checked in column (on a phone, use the card’s move controls). The RO’s status updates everywhere — the dashboard, the schedule, and the technician’s view.

Work Orders

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Opening a repair order gives you five tabs:

Summary — guest, vehicle, concern, assignments, notes and activity.
Inspections — digital vehicle inspections attached to this RO.
Estimate — job lines, parts, fees and discounts; send it to the guest for approval.
Work-In-Progress — the technician’s view: start/stop job clocks, mark labor complete.
Payment — build the invoice and take payment.

The odometer In/Out boxes at the top of the RO are editable — tap, type, save.

Digital Vehicle Inspections

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Inspections are built for phones: big Good / Attention Soon / Immediate / N/A buttons, canned findings you can drop in with one tap, plus photo, video and voice-note capture per item. Results flow straight onto the estimate — tap “Add to estimate” on any finding.

Appointments

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The schedule shows upcoming appointments per shop. Create an appointment with guest, vehicle, date/time and concern; it can be converted into a repair order when the car arrives.

Guests & Vehicles

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Every guest has a profile with contact info, notes, and their vehicles. Each vehicle tracks VIN, mileage, service history and open repair orders. Guest records are never deleted — deactivating is not a thing here; history is forever.

Adding a new guest

Open Guests and start a new guest. Enter the contact info, then add their vehicle — VIN, plate, mileage and notes. The guest is immediately available on new repair orders and appointments.

Invoices & Payments

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Turn an approved estimate into an invoice, take payment (cash, card, check), and print or text the receipt. Every invoice and payment posts automatically to the accounting books — no double entry by hand.

Taking a payment

On the RO’s Payment tab, build the invoice from the approved estimate, then take payment — cash, card or check — and print or text the receipt. The payment posts to the books automatically.

Inventory

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Parts on the shelf: quantities, costs and locations. Adjust counts when stock arrives or is used, and import parts lists from a spreadsheet. Low-stock parts stand out so reordering never sneaks up on you.

Adding a part

Open Inventory and add a new part: part number, description, cost, price, quantity and shelf/bin location. Adjust the count any time stock arrives or is used; low-stock parts are flagged automatically.

Reports

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Fourteen reports with graphs across Financials, Employees, Guests and Parts — sales trends, receivables aging, advisor and technician scoreboards, inspection impact, declined work and more. Star the ones you use daily; filter by date range and shop; print any of them.

Running a report

Open Reports, pick one of the fourteen reports, set the date range and shop filter, and run it. Star the ones you open daily — they pin to the top of the page. Any report can be printed.

Assets

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Shop tools and equipment live here, Snipe-IT style: name, asset tag, category, location, and whether it’s available or checked out — and to whom. Everyone can look; only management can add assets or check them in and out. Every asset keeps a full history.

Accounting

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ShopDesk keeps a real double-entry ledger per shop, plus a combined view for the accountant. Invoices, payments, voids and vendor bills post automatically; you can also enter manual journal entries (debits must equal credits). Includes a chart of accounts, general ledger, trial balance, profit & loss, balance sheet, receivables/payables aging, vendor bills and period close (lock a month so nothing posts into it).

The Accountant’s copy button downloads the whole books as an Excel workbook — trial balance, P&L, balance sheet, ledger, AR and AP aging on separate tabs.