End-to-end workflow
Authorize additional findings during repair
Use this workflow when inspection or repair reveals work that was not included in the customer's current approved scope.
Written by the VMOTEK Product Team · Updated August 14, 2026
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1. Confirm roles and prerequisites
Run this workflow with named users and representative test data before using it with a customer. An owner or manager configures the policy; operational staff execute only the actions their role and shop access permit. Confirm the active shop in the header before creating a transaction because appointments, work orders, inventory movements, purchasing and invoices retain that location.
- Technician: records the finding, severity and supporting evidence without self-authorizing sale.
- Advisor: converts justified findings into a customer-readable recommendation and price.
- Customer or fleet approver: decides the added scope.
- Open the existing work order and preserve the original customer concern separately from technician findings.
- Confirm diagnostic/inspection categories and estimate decision workflow are configured.
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2. Execute the workflow from beginning to end
Follow the sequence below in order. Continue from the record already created instead of recreating the customer, vehicle, estimate, appointment or work order. At every handoff, reopen the destination record and confirm its source relationship, shop, status and amounts before proceeding.
- Work Orders → open the active job → Customer concerns & technician findings or Diagnostic tab.
- Add the observed condition, severity, measurement, note and photo where useful; do not rewrite the original concern.
- Select Add as recommendation and define the proposed labor/part, quantity and customer-readable explanation.
- Update/revise the estimate with the additional scope, recalculate price and send a new decision request.
- Keep the added line non-executable while Pending. After approval, add/activate it on the same work order; after decline/defer, preserve it without execution.
- Complete authorized work, invoice only performed approved scope and retain the finding and decision in vehicle history.
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3. Test the blocked and exception paths
A workflow is not ready merely because its normal path succeeds. Repeat the test using the conditions below. VMOTEK should explain why an action is unavailable, retain the existing record and prevent duplicate, stale, unauthorized or physically impossible activity. Do not bypass a business control by creating an unrelated replacement record.
- Inspection completion is not repair authorization.
- A technician cannot approve customer scope merely because the part is available.
- Declined/deferred lines must not appear as consumed labor/parts or billed work.
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4. Verify records, inventory and financial effects
Open the related records after execution and reconcile them. The customer and vehicle remain company-wide identities, while the appointment, estimate, work order, inventory activity, purchase or transfer, invoice and payment retain the responsible shop. Status labels are operational evidence—not substitutes for checking quantities, totals and source links.
- Finding evidence, recommendation, estimate decision and work-order line remain traceable.
- Inventory commitment/consumption occurs only for authorized executable parts.
- Final invoice excludes unperformed declined/deferred work.
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5. Confirm customer communication
Use the customer's permitted contact channel and preserve delivery status. A sent message does not equal approval, payment or receipt. Continue only from the authoritative decision or transaction status. Email and SMS availability depends on the shop's connected providers, customer contact data and consent settings.
- Send the revised decision link with evidence and incremental price.
- Notify the technician/advisor of the recorded outcome through the job status/context, not informal memory.
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6. Completion checklist
The journey is complete only when the final business outcome and the expected audit trail agree. Record any failed check, correct configuration or source data, and rerun the scenario from a clean test record.
- Pending added work remains blocked.
- Approved additions reach the work order once; declined/deferred recommendations remain in history.
- Invoice and inventory match actual authorized completion.
Related product areas
Understand the capability behind the task
Continue to the applicable platform page for workflow behavior, role differences and connected operating consequences.
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Need help with your configuration?
Existing customers should use in-product support for account-aware assistance. Evaluation teams can contact us to discuss requirements.