Steve's guide to running the garage with Torqueflow

You own a small independent garage - maybe one site, maybe a couple. You have technicians in the bays, a service advisor on the front desk, and a hundred things competing for your attention before the kettle has boiled. This guide walks through how Torqueflow fits into your day, from the moment you unlock the door to when you cash up and head home.

Think of this as your playbook. It covers what to check, when to check it, and where to find the detail. For step-by-step instructions on any specific feature, follow the links to the relevant support articles.

First thing: the Dashboard

Your day starts at the Dashboard. It loads automatically when you sign in and gives you a snapshot of everything that matters right now.

The stat cards

Four cards across the top of the screen tell you the essentials at a glance:

• Active Jobs - how many work orders are currently open. Click through to see them all.
• Outstanding - the total value of unpaid invoices. If this number is creeping up, it is time to chase.
• This Week Revenue - invoiced revenue for the current Monday-to-Sunday week, with a trend arrow showing whether you are up or down on last week.
• Voice AI Today (if you have Voice AI enabled) - how many calls your AI receptionist handled and its resolution rate. If Voice AI is not active, this card shows either your AI messaging stats or a count of items needing attention.

Each card is clickable and takes you straight to the relevant page.

Needs Attention

Below the stat cards, the Needs Attention panel is where Torqueflow flags things that are slipping. It has up to four tabs:

• Overdue - work orders that have gone past their due date.
• Stale - jobs where nothing has happened for a while. A car sitting in the bay with no progress logged is a red flag.
• Unbilled - completed work that has not been invoiced yet. This is money you have earned but not billed for.
• Promises - if Voice AI is enabled, these are callback promises the AI made to callers. They have staleness indicators so you can see which ones are getting urgent.

Work through each tab. Click items to jump to the detail. If something is genuinely handled and you just need it out of the way, hit the acknowledge button. You get five seconds to undo if you change your mind.

When all the tabs hit zero, you get a satisfying green tick and “All caught up!” - the best way to start the morning.

Cash Position

The donut chart to the right of Needs Attention breaks down your outstanding invoices. Click any segment to jump to a filtered finance view. Use the period selector to switch between timeframes.

Revenue Pulse and Bay Timeline

Further down, Revenue Pulse shows a line chart of daily invoiced revenue over time. The Bay Timeline (on desktop) gives you a barcode-style grid of bay utilisation across the week - colour-coded by status so you can spot gaps and bottlenecks.

For the full breakdown of every dashboard widget, see Dashboard Overview.

Managing the workshop flow

With the dashboard checked, it is time to look at the actual work happening in the bays.

The Workshop Kanban

Navigate to Workshop in the sidebar. The Kanban board shows every active work order as a card, organised into columns by status. The columns match your configured workflow - they are not fixed, so they reflect however you have set up your process.

Each card shows the customer name, vehicle reg, job description, and key flags like “Awaiting Parts” or “Customer Waiting”. Jobs with today’s appointments get a “Today” badge with the time slot.

Drag cards between columns to update their status. Torqueflow updates the server immediately. If there is a conflict (say another user changed it at the same time), the card snaps back and you can try again.

A few rules to keep things clean:

• Cards in a terminal status (like Complete) are locked. You cannot accidentally drag a finished job back into play.
• Jobs in the initial status cannot skip steps - they must progress through the workflow in order.
• If a work order has no appointment scheduled, Torqueflow prompts you to book one before moving it forward.

Use the filters at the top to narrow by date range (“Booked Today” is handy for the morning review), search by customer or reg, or filter by “Awaiting Parts” to see what is stuck on supplier delivery.

The board auto-refreshes every 30 seconds. If you see a card move on its own, one of your team changed its status.

For the full details, see Using the Workshop Kanban Board.

The Scheduler

The Scheduler at /scheduler shows a day-view calendar with each bay as a column. Appointments appear as blocks on a time grid, colour-coded by work order status. A red line tracks the current time so you can see where you are in the day.

As an owner, you have full control here:

• Drag appointments up or down to reschedule within a bay.
• Drag horizontally to move a job to a different bay.
• Resize by dragging the bottom edge to change the duration.
• Click an empty slot to create a new appointment with the bay and time pre-filled.

Use the technician and status filters in the toolbar to focus on what matters. For multi-location setups, the location selector lets you switch between sites.

For scheduling details, see Using the Scheduler Calendar and Scheduling an Appointment.

Finance oversight

Money in, money out. Torqueflow gives you the tools to stay on top of both.

Sales invoices

Navigate to Finance > Sales Invoices. The list shows every invoice with status badges (Unpaid, Part Paid, Paid, Overdue), amounts, and due dates. Overdue invoices get a red highlight so they jump out.

You can generate invoices directly from work orders - Torqueflow pulls in the approved quote items, parts, and labour automatically. Or create standalone invoices for ad-hoc work.

From the detail page you can:

• Record full or partial payments, choosing the payment method and adding a reference.
• Download or print a PDF.
• Email the invoice directly to the customer (provided they have an email on file).
• Use Bulk Settle to clear multiple invoices at once - handy for end-of-week cashup.

For the full walkthrough, see Sales Invoices.

Financial reports

Under Finance > Reports, five tabs give you the numbers you need:

• Purchases and Sales - filter by period, supplier/customer, category, and status. Summary cards show net, VAT, gross, paid, and outstanding totals. Export to CSV for your accountant.
• Outstanding Creditors - what you owe suppliers, grouped by supplier with aging analysis (Current, 30 days, 60 days, 90+ days).
• Outstanding Debtors - what customers owe you, same aging breakdown. This is your chasing list.
• VAT Summary - select a VAT quarter and get figures mapped directly to HMRC box numbers (Box 1, Box 4, Box 6, Box 7). Makes VAT returns straightforward.

For the full guide, see Financial Reports.

Staff management

Roles and permissions

Torqueflow uses a capability-based permission system. Every staff member has a role, and every role grants a set of capabilities controlling what they can see and do.

Three system roles come built in - Owner, Advisor, and Technician. You cannot rename or delete them, but you can adjust their capabilities. Need something more specific? Create custom roles - “Senior Technician” with parts ordering access, or “Office Manager” with finance but no workshop access.

Each capability is granular. You can grant finance viewing without payment recording, or messaging access without the ability to send directly (gated sending goes through an approval queue instead).

For setup details, see Roles and Permissions.

Time tracking

Torqueflow offers two ways for your team to clock in and out:

• The kiosk at /time-clock - designed for a workshop tablet. Staff tap their card, optionally take a photo for verification, and they are clocked in. Break tracking is built in.
• The header widget - a clock icon on every page that lets staff clock in or out with a single click.

As the owner, you can review everyone’s time entries under Time Tracking, including hours worked, break durations, and audit trails showing device info and timestamps.

For details, see Clocking In and Out with the Time Clock.

AI and Voice monitoring

If you have Voice AI enabled, Torqueflow’s AI receptionist handles calls when you cannot - typically after hours, but it works during busy periods too.

Call logs

Under Voice > Calls, you can browse every call the AI has handled. Each entry shows the caller, duration, outcome (Resolved, Escalated, Voicemail, Failed), and any promises made. Click through to listen to the recording with speed controls, read the full transcript, and review a technical timeline of what happened during the call.

Use the date, outcome, and flagged-only filters to find specific calls. The transcript search lets you search across all call content.

For the full guide, see Call Logs, Recordings and Transcripts.

Escalation queue

When the AI cannot resolve something, it creates an escalation. The queue at Voice > Escalations shows all items needing human attention, sorted by urgency. Each card has an SLA countdown - when it goes red, you are overdue on calling the customer back.

From the detail panel you can:

• Mark an escalation as “in progress” before you call back.
• Resolve it once handled.
• Reassign it to another team member.

Overdue items automatically bubble to the top. The queue refreshes every 30 seconds.

For the full guide, see Managing the Voice Escalation Queue.

Promise queue

Under Voice > Promises, the AI’s callback promises are tracked separately. Each promise has a status (Pending, Approaching, Overdue, Fulfilled) so you can see at a glance what needs doing. This ties into the Promises tab on your dashboard’s Needs Attention panel.

AI Analytics

Under Messages > AI Analytics, you get performance metrics for your AI across messaging channels:

• Resolution Rate - what percentage the AI handles without human help.
• Escalation Rate - how often it needs to hand off.
• Average Response Time - how quickly it replies.
• Total Conversations - volume for the period.

The intent breakdown chart shows what customers are asking about, and the outcomes donut shows the split between completed, ongoing, dropped-off, and escalated conversations. Use the audit table to drill into specific conversations.

For the full guide, see AI Analytics Dashboard.

Communications

Messaging inbox

The Messages page is the central hub for all customer conversations - WhatsApp, SMS, portal messages, and voice transcripts in one place. Filter by unread, unassigned, or “mine” to focus on what needs your attention.

Each conversation shows the channel (WhatsApp, SMS, Portal, Voice) so you know how the customer reached out. You can reply, assign conversations to team members, and link work orders for context.

For the full guide, see Using the Messaging Inbox.

Settings and configuration

As the owner, the Settings section is your domain. Here is what lives there and when you might need it:

• Organisation & Branding - your garage name, logo, colours, and contact details. These appear on invoices, the customer portal, and notifications. See Organisation Branding.
• Locations - for multi-site setups, manage each location’s address, contact details, and working hours. See Locations Management.
• Bays - add, name, colour-code, and type your workshop bays. These drive the Scheduler and Kanban board. See Managing Bays.
• Workflow - configure the work order statuses that appear as Kanban columns. Set which statuses are initial, workable, and terminal. See Workflow Configuration.
• Roles - manage system and custom roles, and fine-tune capabilities. See Roles and Permissions.
• Staff - invite team members, assign roles, and manage their profiles. See Inviting Staff.
• Scheduler - configure display hours, business hours, and per-day schedules. See Scheduler Settings.
• Finance - set default payment terms, payment methods, VAT registration, and nominal codes. See Finance Settings.
• Voice AI - configure your AI receptionist’s personality, knowledge base, operating hours, and recording settings. See Voice AI Settings.
• WhatsApp - connect your WhatsApp Business number and configure templates. See WhatsApp Settings.
• Notifications - control which events trigger email, SMS, or push notifications for staff and customers. See Notifications Settings.
• Checklist Templates - create reusable checklists (like vehicle health checks) that attach to work orders. See Checklist Templates.
• Time Tracking - set rounding rules, break tracking, and photo verification requirements. See Time Tracking Settings.
• Data Import - bring in existing customer and vehicle data from CSV files. See Data Import.

Your daily rhythm

Here is what a typical day looks like with Torqueflow:

First thing (5 minutes)

1. Open the Dashboard. Check stat cards for the overnight picture.
2. Work through Needs Attention tabs - acknowledge what is handled, click through anything that needs action.
3. If Voice AI is active, scan the after-hours activity widget and check for any escalations or unfulfilled promises.

Morning (ongoing) 4. Review the Scheduler for today’s bookings. Move appointments if needed. 5. Check the Kanban board. Drag jobs through statuses as they progress. Flag anything waiting on parts. 6. Scan the messaging inbox for overnight messages. Assign conversations to the right team member.

Midday 7. Check Outstanding Debtors if invoices are piling up. Chase where needed. 8. Review time tracking entries if you want to check who is in and on break.

Afternoon 9. Generate invoices for completed work. Email or print as needed. 10. Check AI Analytics if you want to see how the AI is performing this week.

End of day 11. Quick scan of the Dashboard again. Make sure nothing slipped through. 12. Check tomorrow’s Scheduler to confirm the diary looks right. 13. Review any open escalations or promises before the AI takes over for the night.

The beauty of it is that Torqueflow surfaces problems to you rather than making you hunt for them. The Dashboard’s Needs Attention panel, the Voice AI escalation queue, and the messaging inbox all push items your way. Your job is to review, decide, and act - not to dig through spreadsheets wondering what you have missed.