This template applies the four-block method — THE THINGS, THE LINKS, THE STATES, THE NUMBERS — to the independent auto repair shop. It's filled in for a general-mechanics garage with two mechanics: the example shows how to describe the full thread of a repair order, from appointment to vehicle handover, without ever describing a screen.
To adapt it, follow your own flow: how a vehicle arrives, who diagnoses, how the client's approval is given, what gets noted at handover. The STATES block is the heart of the workshop: list the exact stages a vehicle goes through in your shop, in real order, in your words.
Filled with your vocabulary, this text briefs a developer — or is submitted as-is to Blueprint Maker, which turns it into an application plan you validate, then a generated application: database, screens, dashboard and demo data.
The template to copy
My business: general-mechanics repair shop, two mechanics, one person at the front desk who also handles appointments. THINGS tracked: - Clients (name, phone, e-mail) - Vehicles (plate, make, model, mileage, engine type) - Appointments (date, reason, morning or afternoon slot) - Repair orders (date in, requested work, diagnosis, work done, parts fitted, amount, mechanic) - Mechanics (name, specialty) LINKS: - A vehicle belongs to a client. - An appointment concerns a vehicle. - A repair order concerns a vehicle and follows from an appointment. - A repair order is carried out by a mechanic. STATES of a repair order: vehicle received, in diagnosis, quote to approve, approved, under repair, ready, handed over, paid. NUMBERS to see every morning: - Vehicles currently in the workshop - Quotes awaiting client approval - Vehicles ready for handover - Amount collected this month
Adapting this template to your shop
- Specialties: if you also do tyres, bodywork or roadworthiness-test drop-offs, add a service type on the repair order — it becomes a filter and a dashboard axis.
- Client approval: the "quote to approve" state materialises the wait for approval. If you work on immediate verbal agreement, remove that state; if you need a dated trace, note "approval received on" on the order.
- Courtesy cars: if you lend vehicles, add a "Courtesy car" entity linked to the ongoing repair order — and a "courtesy cars out" indicator.
- Per-vehicle history: this template gives it by construction — all of a vehicle's repair orders form its workshop logbook, readable at every return.
- The "paid" state marks settlement: the compliant invoice itself is made in your invoicing tool, not in this application.