Overview
Work Order statuses in ShopView track a job’s lifecycle from the initial estimate through to final payment. They show where the job sits in the repair process and control what actions are possible (technician clock-in, part ordering, invoicing, etc.). Real-world Work Orders rarely travel in a straight line from estimate to paid — they often bounce back and forth as new lines or parts are added or when the jobs are completed. We have 8 stages in which the Work Order can be found. Estimate, Approved, In Progress, Review, Complete, Invoiced, Paid and Declined.
How it works:
Statuses reflect the current phase of the Work Order. Status updates happen both manually and automatically based on actions within the Work Order (for example: line approvals, technician clock-ins, line completions, receiving parts, invoicing, and payment posting).
Statuses & Trigger Rules (Exact list & behavior)
1. Estimate
Meaning: The Work Order has been created and none of its lines are authorized.
When it appears: User creates a new Work Order with zero authorized lines.
User actions that keep it here: Adding lines without authorizing them.
Action notification bubbles indicate required service or parts actions (e.g., “1 line in auth required”, “3 parts requested”).
Actions from here: Lines show Approve / Decline options.
2. Approved
Meaning: At least one line on the Work Order is authorized, others can be left in authorization-required status.
When it appears: A user authorizes one or more lines.
Behavior: Work Order moves from the Estimates listing to the Work Orders listing.
Action notification bubbles indicate required service or parts actions (e.g., “1 line in auth required”, “3 parts requested”).
What becomes available: Start (clock-in) button on approved lines. Quoted parts are authorized to order.
3. In Progress
Meaning: Technicians are actively working on at least one approved line.
Automatic trigger: When any technician clocks into an approved line, the Work Order moves from Approved → In Progress.
Behavior: The Work Order stays in the Work Orders listing filter.
Action notification bubbles indicate required service or parts actions (e.g., “1 line in auth required”, “3 parts requested”).
Notes: Any technician can clock into any approved line at any time; multiple technicians can be clocked into a line simultaneously. Technicians cannot clock into lines that are not approved.
4. Review
Meaning: All lines on the Work Order are completed (technician marked them complete) and the Work Order is awaiting service advisor/foreman review for invoicing.
Automatic trigger: When all lines are marked Complete → Work Order moves to Review.
Action notification bubbles indicate required service or parts actions for any lines/parts requiring authorization (e.g., “1 line in auth required”, “3 parts requested”).
Behavior: The Work Order stays in the Work Orders listing filter.
5. Complete
Meaning: The Work Order has been reviewed and checked for billing accuracy and is ready to be invoiced (QA done).
Manual trigger: A service advisor clicks Reviewed (a modal appears to flag missing optional fields like engine hours or vehicle type if your process requires them). Choosing Update & Complete sets the Work Order to Complete.
Behavior: The Work Order moves to the Completed filter (a list of Work Orders ready to invoice).
Note: There will be no action notification bubbles from this status forward, all actions have been fulfilled.
6. Invoiced
Meaning: An invoice has been created for the Work Order
Trigger: User creates an invoice from the Finance tab. The Work Order’s estimate becomes an invoice for this job.
Behavior: Work order status is now invoiced and it moves to the Invoiced filter found in the drop down when filtering "by status" on the work order listing page.
7. Paid
Meaning: Payment has been posted for the invoice linked to the Work Order.
Trigger: A payment is collected at invoicing or posted later via the unpaid invoices flow in the customer file.
Behavior: Work order status is now paid and it moves to the Paid filter found in the drop down when filtering "by status" on the work order listing page.
7. Declined
Meaning: The quoted work was not approved by the customer.
Trigger: All lines on the Work Order have been declined
Behavior: Work order status is now Declined and it moves to the Declined filter found in the drop down when filtering "by status" on the work order listing page and be available for future approval.
Example: Diagnose → Repair (EGR Valve) — status flow & automatic triggers
This follows the exact workflow so you can see how statuses change automatically and why they sometimes move backward.
Create Work Order (Estimate)
From the Work Orders page: open New Work Order modal, select existing Customer and Asset (or create new — links tracked below). Default: Asset Onsite = yes. You can toggle this off if the asset is not onsite. This is available as a filter on the Work Order listing pages. Save.
Result: Work Order created in the background as Estimate (no authorized lines).
Add first line — Diagnosis
Line fields:
What are you doing: Diagnose check engine light (select from canned jobs if available).
Why are you doing: D-rated, loss of power (customer/driver symptom).
Technicians: leave unassigned or assign up to 5.
Labor rate: choose Standard hourly rate.
Time: fill Estimated time (billed to customer) — this auto-populates Technician time (technician expectation) but can be changed independently.
Is line authorized: Leave unchecked (we want this as an estimate).
Save & Close → Work Order stays in Estimate. Line shows Needs approval with Approve / Decline buttons.
Email estimate to customer (Finance tab)
Using the Finance tab, the service advisor emails the estimate. The customer replies with approval. (Email replies return to the sender’s inbox.)
After approval: Approve the line (or bulk set line statuses).
Automatic status change: Work Order moves from Estimate → Approved (because at least one line is now authorized).
Start diagnostic work (In Progress)
Technician clicks Start on the approved diagnosis line → technician clocks in.
Automatic status change: Work Order moves Approved → In Progress. The listing shows technician(s) clocked in and bolds the Work Order.
Technician finds repair needed and calls repair (adds new line)
Technician completes diagnosis line and writes a tech story, then adds a new line: Replace EGR valve — this new line is automatically unauthorized (since lines added by technicians default to unauthorized).
Technician uses Save & Add Parts to request: vendor special-order EGR valve, coolant (inventory), gasket (found part). These part requests create a Parts action notification on the Work Order.
Resulting status behavior: Because new (unauthorized) line exists, the Work Order still reflects that action is required. The listing shows action bubbles (red = service action; blue = parts action).
Example bubbles: Red “1 line in auth req’d”, Blue “3 parts requested”.(bubbles) but the Work Order stays In Progress until technician clocks off the diagnosis line. If all approved lines are completed, then Work Order moves to Review but shows the action notification bubble indicating more work has been called (see step 7).
Parts quoting and approval
Service or parts team quotes vendor part and quotes found/inventory parts. Quoted special-order vendor part status shows Quoted (cannot be ordered until line is authorized).
Service advisor emails quote to customer for approval. Customer approves the repair and parts.
Approving that line changes the line status to Authorized → if at least one authorized line exists, the Work Order will be in Approved, now the repair line is available for a technician to begin work.
Receiving vendor part & core handling
Vendor part marked Ordered → Awaiting. When the vendor bill arrives, the service advisor clicks Receive next to the part, fills vendor bill number, invoice date, delivery note, tax adjustments, then receives the part.
If a part with a Core is present. Core appears as its own line; upon receiving you can mark Core Ok or Core Not Ok:
Core Ok: system sends the core to Returns listing for vendor credit (automatic return flow).
Core Not Ok: the customer is charged the core charge.
When parts are received and staged (inventory part picked, found part staged, vendor part received), the line is ready to be started/continued.
Back to In Progress (if needed)
If additional work is authorized, the Work Order may move back to In Progress when a technician starts the new work. This is expected — statuses are allowed to bounce.
Completing lines & moving to Review
Technician or technicians finish the repair line, write tech story, add mileage if needed, and Complete the line(s).
Automatic status change: When all approved lines on the Work Order are completed → Work Order moves to Review.
Final Review → Complete
Service advisor checks Tech Stories, parts, quantities, margins, and reviews the Stats tab for billing efficiency.
Clicking Reviewed (and Update & Complete) moves the Work Order to Complete Work Order filter. Once in the Completed status this indicates that the Work Order has been reviewed and is ready for invoicing.
Invoice → Paid
From the Work Order Finance tab, create the invoice: the estimate is automatically toggled to invoice (you can toggle back for this view only if necessary).
If payment is collected at invoicing (COD or the customer has no terms), the Payment modal requires a payment and the Work Order becomes Paid immediately.
If the customer has terms (Net # or Due on Receipt), the invoice is created (status Invoiced) and the Work Order will appear in the customer’s Unpaid Invoices tab. A payment can be posted later from that tab which sets the Work Order to Paid.
Things to note
Unauthorized lines added by technicians create a Red action required bubble and require quoting/approval; they do not automatically move the Work Order to Approved until authorized.
Requested parts added by technicians create a Blue action required bubble and require quoting/approval; they do not automatically move the Work Order to Approved until authorized.
Technicians cannot clock into lines that are not authorized. Clock-in is the explicit trigger that sets a Work Order from Approved → In Progress.
Parts must be fully quoted to be Ordered/Picked If parts are showing as requested that means that there is information missing.
Receiving parts (vendor bill + pick action) is necessary to move parts to staged/in-stock and allow the technician to complete repair work.
Core handling affects billing: Core Ok triggers return flow; Core Not Ok charges customer core amount. This decision must be made before completing the line.
Reopening a Complete Work Order is allowed but you will have to uncomplete the lines.
Reversing an unpaid Invoice is possible directly form the finance tab on the work order. This will remove invoice from QuickBooks.
Reversing a paid Invoice is possible but you will have to delete the payment to reverse the invoice. This will remove both the payment and the invoice from QuickBooks.
Invoiced and Paid Work Orders are visable when filtering By Status and then toggling the Invoiced or Paid view on or by navigating to the Unpaid Invoices or Paid tab within the customer file. You can see all statuses from the customer file and asset file as well.
Common Questions / Troubleshooting
Q: I see the invoice in the Finance tab but it has not been sent to QuickBooks?
A: Viewing the invoice in the finance tab does not indicate that the Work Order has been invoiced. If the status is still showing as Complete, the invoice will be shown in the Finance tab, but you must click the Create Invoice button to send it to QuickBooks. This is intended so that work orders in any other status do not get sent to QuickBooks until the invoice is finalized.
Q: I have invoiced my work order but it has not been sent to QuickBooks?
A: Have a look in the Reports screen, under QB Unexported on the left hand side. This will give you a list of any work orders that haven't been sent to QuickBooks. From here the error will let you know what happened and you can fix it and then click the export button to manually push it again or if you like you can fix it in Quickbooks and mark it as exported as well.
Q: I don't see my Work Order on the Schedule listing?
A: Confirm the Work Order is Approved, Estimates are not available for scheduling.
Q: The Work Order is asking for payment when trying to invoice.
A: The customer’s Credit Terms are set to COD. Edit the customer’s Credit Terms
(e.g., change to Due on Receipt or Net #) then retry invoicing. This is the intended workflow to ensure invoices are paid by customers who do not have credit terms
Q: How do I delete a Work Order that already has time clocked on it?
A: Before you can delete the Work Order you must move the time off of it. You can move the time to another work order or to a department.