Create a work order

Summary

This article explains how to create a new work order in Torqueflow. You select or create a customer, select or create a vehicle, add an optional job description, and optionally attach checklist templates. The work order is created with a status of “Booked”.

Prerequisites

• You are signed in to Torqueflow.
• You have permission to create work orders.

Steps

Opening the dialog

1. Navigate to the Work Orders page.
2. Click the New Work Order button.
3. The “Create Work Order” dialog opens.

Selecting or creating a customer

1. Click the Customer dropdown. It shows “Search or create customer…”.
2. Type at least 2 characters to search. The search matches by name, phone, or email.
3. Select a customer from the results. Each result shows the customer’s name, preferred salutation (if set), phone, and email.
4. To clear your selection, click the Clear button below the dropdown.

To create a new customer instead:

5. Click the New Customer button at the bottom of the search dropdown.
6. An inline form appears with the following fields:
   • Title - dropdown with options: None, Mr, Mrs, Ms, Miss, Dr, Rev, Prof. Optional.
   • First Name - required.
   • Last Name - required.
   • Preferred Salutation - free text (e.g. “Bill”, “Mr Smith”). How the customer prefers to be addressed. Optional.
   • Phone - optional.
   • Email - optional.
7. Click Add Customer to save. The new customer is automatically selected.

Selecting or creating a vehicle

1. Once a customer is selected, the Vehicle dropdown loads their existing vehicles. Each vehicle shows its registration plate, make, model, and year.
2. Select a vehicle from the dropdown.

To create a new vehicle instead:

3. Click the New Vehicle button below the vehicle dropdown.
4. An inline form appears with the following fields:
   • Registration - required. Enter the vehicle registration number.
   • Lookup button - click this to look up the vehicle via DVLA. If found, it auto-fills the Make, Model, Year, and Colour fields. MOT and tax status badges also appear.
   • Make - required. Auto-filled by lookup or entered manually.
   • Model - required. Auto-filled by lookup if available, otherwise enter manually. A note appears if DVLA did not return a model.
   • Year - optional. Auto-filled by lookup or entered manually.
   • Colour - optional. A dropdown with colour swatches. Auto-filled by lookup or selected manually.
5. Click Add Vehicle to save. The new vehicle is automatically selected.

Adding job details

1. Enter a Job Description in the text area. This is optional. It describes the work to be done.

Attaching checklist templates (optional)

1. If your organisation has active checklist templates, they appear as a list of checkboxes. Tick any templates you want to attach to the work order. Selected templates pre-populate the task checklist.

Saving the work order

1. Click Create Work Order.
2. Torqueflow creates the work order with a status of “Booked” and takes you to the work order detail page.

Expected Outcome

• A new work order is created and linked to the chosen customer and vehicle.
• The work order status is set to “Booked”.
• Any selected checklist templates are applied as tasks.
• You are redirected to the work order detail page.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Cause	Fix
Customer search returns no results	Fewer than 2 characters entered, or no match found.	Type at least 2 characters. The search checks name, phone, and email. If the customer does not exist, click New Customer to create one.
Vehicle dropdown is empty	The selected customer has no vehicles on file.	Click New Vehicle to add one.
VRM Lookup button is greyed out	The registration field is empty.	Enter a registration number first, then click Lookup.
Lookup returns “Model not available from DVLA”	DVLA does not always return model data.	Enter the model manually. The other fields (make, year, colour) should still auto-fill.
”Invalid vehicle data” error	A required field (registration, make, or model) is missing.	Fill in all required fields before clicking Add Vehicle.
Cannot click Create Work Order	A customer or vehicle has not been selected. Both are required.	Select or create both a customer and a vehicle before submitting.
Email capture banner appears after selecting a customer	The selected customer has no email address on file.	You can enter an email address in the banner. It saves automatically when the work order is created. This is optional.

Notes

• The job description has a maximum length of 2,000 characters.
• When you create a new customer via the inline form within this dialog, fewer fields are available than on the full Customers page. You can add extra details (company name, VAT number, marketing consent, etc.) later from the customer’s profile.
• If a customer has no email on file, a yellow banner appears below the customer field. You can add an email there, and it saves when the work order is created.
• Pressing Escape or clicking Cancel closes the dialog without saving.