Managing Parts, Stock, and Suppliers

Summary

The Parts section (/parts) lets advisors and owners manage an internal parts catalogue, track stock across locations and bins, and view supplier order history. Parts can be associated with work orders so technicians see allocated parts and their status on the job card.

Prerequisites

• You are signed in with an advisor, manager, or owner account.
• Your account has the parts.access capability.

Steps

Navigating the Parts Section

1. Open /parts from the sidebar navigation. This redirects to /parts/catalog.
2. The parts section has four sub-pages, accessible via the navigation tabs at the top:
   • Catalog (/parts/catalog) - manage parts and inventory.
   • Categories (/parts/categories) - manage the category list used across parts (see Managing parts categories below).
   • Stock Locations (/parts/stock-locations) - manage storage locations and bins.
   • Orders (/parts/orders) - view supplier order history.

Browsing the Parts Catalogue

1. The catalogue page shows a header with the title “Parts”, subtitle “Manage your parts inventory”, and an Add Part button.
2. Below the header is a table with the following columns:
   • Name - part name (sortable).
   • Part Number - supplier or internal part number (sortable).
   • Category - part category (sortable). Nested categories show as a breadcrumb (e.g. “Brakes › Pads”).
   • Stock - total quantity across all locations (sortable as “total_quantity”).
   • Unit Cost - cost price (sortable).
   • Sell Price - customer-facing price (sortable).
   • Usage - number of times used on work orders (sortable as “usage_count”).
3. Click any column header to sort ascending. Click again to sort descending. An arrow icon shows the active sort direction.

Searching and Filtering Parts

1. Use the search box at the top-left of the table. Type a name, part number, or category to filter. Search is debounced (300ms) and server-side.
2. A result count displays below the search box (e.g. “Showing 1-50 of 120 parts” or “No results for “widget"").
3. Use the Category filter dropdown to narrow the list to a single category. Picking a parent category (e.g. “Brakes”) includes all of its child categories too (Pads, Discs, and so on).
4. If any parts are below their reorder level, a Low Stock (X) button appears. Tap it to filter to only low-stock items. Tap again to clear the filter. Low-stock rows display with a warning indicator. When a category filter is also active, the low-stock count reflects only the parts inside that category.
5. With a category filter active, a Move all in filter action appears in the toolbar. This lets you bulk re-categorise every part the current filter matches in one step - useful when restructuring your catalogue.

Adding a New Part

1. Tap the Add Part button (top-right of the page).
2. Fill in the form fields:
   • Part Name (required) - the display name.
   • Part Number (required) - unique identifier or supplier code.
   • Description (optional) - additional details.
   • Category (optional) - select from existing categories via a searchable dropdown. Nested categories appear with the breadcrumb path (e.g. “Brakes › Pads”). The list is loaded when you open the dialog - if a colleague creates a new category while your dialog is open, close and reopen the dialog to see it.
   • Unit Cost (optional) - cost price.
   • Sell Price (optional) - customer-facing price.
   • Reorder Level (optional) - stock threshold for low-stock alerts.
   • Stock Location (optional) - default storage location (pre-selects the default location if one exists).
   • Storage Bin (optional) - specific bin within the chosen location.
   • Initial Quantity (optional) - starting stock count.
3. Tap Save to create the part. A success toast confirms creation.

Viewing Part Details and Stock Breakdown

1. In the catalogue table, click any row to expand it.
2. The expanded section shows a stock breakdown by location and bin, including quantity at each.
3. From the expanded row you can:
   • Edit the part (opens the edit dialog with the same fields as add).
   • Delete the part (opens a confirmation dialog).
   • View Usage (opens a side sheet showing work orders that used this part).
   • Add Stock (opens a dialog to add quantity to a specific location and bin).

Managing parts categories

1. Navigate to /parts/categories.
2. The page shows a header with “Categories”, a subtitle, and an Add category button. New organisations start with eight default categories (Brakes, Engine, Suspension, Electrics, Filters, Fluids, Tyres, Consumables) - rename, reorder, nest, or delete them to match your workshop.
3. A first-visit hint banner appears above the list. Dismiss it once you have read it; it does not return.
4. Each category row shows the name, a part count, and (for owners and managers) controls to edit, delete, and drag to reorder.
5. To add a category, tap Add category. Enter the name (1-50 characters, unique within your organisation) and optionally pick a Parent category to nest it underneath. Save to create.
6. To rename or re-parent a category, tap the edit icon on the row. The change appears immediately on the category list, the catalogue filter dropdown, the add-part dialog, and the Category column on the catalogue table.
7. To reorder categories, drag the handle on the left of the row. You can drag root categories among other roots, and child categories among siblings under the same parent. To move a child to a different parent, use the edit dialog instead.
8. To delete a category, tap the delete icon. The confirmation dialog has two shapes:
   • If the category has no parts and no child categories, you see a simple confirm.
   • If the category has parts, you choose between moving the parts to another category (recommended) or leaving them uncategorised. Leaving them uncategorised means you lose the category link for those parts - if you change your mind, you have to re-tag each part manually.
   • If the category has child categories, those children are promoted to root categories on delete. Their parts stay with them; only the parent goes.
9. Nesting is one level deep. You can have Brakes › Pads, but you cannot create Brakes › Pads › Performance. If you need that depth, get in touch and we will look at extending it.

Managing Stock Locations

1. Navigate to /parts/stock-locations.
2. The page shows a header with “Stock Locations”, subtitle “Manage storage locations and bins”, and an Add Location button.
3. Existing locations are listed in a card with their name and bin count. If you have more than one location, you can drag to reorder.
4. To add a location, tap Add Location and fill in the name and optional garage location association.
5. Each location can contain multiple bins. To manage bins:
   • Add Bin - add a new named bin within the location.
   • Edit Bin - rename an existing bin.
   • Delete Bin - remove a bin (with confirmation).
6. You can also edit or delete the stock location itself.
7. To transfer stock between locations, use the Transfer Stock dialog available from the stock breakdown in the catalogue.

Viewing Supplier Orders

1. Navigate to /parts/orders.
2. The page shows a header with “Parts Orders” and subtitle “Track supplier orders”.
3. The order history list displays past and current orders with supplier name, order date, status, and item details.
4. Filter by supplier using the supplier filter.
5. Orders are paginated (20 per page) with navigation controls.

Parts on a Work Order (Technician View)

1. When parts are allocated to a work order, technicians see them in the Parts tab on their job card.
2. The Parts tab shows each allocated part with:
   • Part name (from catalogue or custom name).
   • Quantity required.
   • Status (e.g. available, ordered, awaiting).
   • Order details with expected delivery date (if ordered from a supplier).
3. If the work order has an “awaiting parts” flag, the Parts tab badge shows an alert indicator.

Expected Outcome

• The parts catalogue shows all parts with accurate stock levels, sortable and searchable.
• New parts are created with optional initial stock at a chosen location.
• Stock breakdown per location and bin is visible in expandable rows.
• Low-stock parts are flagged with a warning and filterable with one tap.
• Stock locations and bins organise physical storage.
• Supplier order history is browsable and filterable.
• Technicians see allocated parts and their status on job cards.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Cause	Fix
”Failed to load parts catalog” error	Server or database connectivity issue.	Refresh the page. If persistent, contact your system administrator.
Redirected to /dashboard when accessing /parts	Your account lacks the parts.access capability.	Ask an owner or admin to grant you parts access.
Search returns no results	Search is case-insensitive but requires a match in name, part number, or category.	Check your spelling. Try a partial match (e.g. “brak” for “Brake Pad”).
Cannot delete a part	The part may be associated with active work orders.	Remove the part from all work orders before deleting, or archive it instead.
Low Stock button not visible	No parts have a reorder level set, or no parts are below it.	Set reorder levels on parts you want to track.
Parts tab on job card shows nothing	No parts have been allocated to that work order.	Ask the advisor to add parts to the work order.

Notes

• The catalogue uses server-side pagination with 50 records per page. URL parameters (?q=, ?sort=, ?dir=, ?lowstock=1, ?page=) are preserved in the address bar for bookmarking and sharing.
• Part numbers must be unique within your organisation.
• The default stock location is pre-selected when adding parts or stock.
• Sorting defaults to name ascending when no sort parameter is set.

Permissions

• Requires parts.access capability for all pages in the parts section.
• Adding, editing, and deleting parts, locations, and bins requires parts.access.
• Adding, editing, deleting, and reordering categories requires the parts.manage_catalog capability. Users with parts.access but without parts.manage_catalog see the Categories page as read-only - the buttons appear but are disabled.
• Technicians have a separate stub page at /my-jobs/parts for viewing parts on their jobs. They do not have access to the full catalogue.