Repair Approvals
Get clear approval before work begins.
Explains a technician-approved estimate in plain language and records the customer’s decision on each line item against a specific estimate version. Technical questions go to the service adviser, and the workshop is released only for the work the customer explicitly approved.
A real customer situation
A driver receives an estimate for front brake work and an optional cabin filter, and wants only the brakes done. The adviser normally rings, explains, writes the decision on the job card and hopes the price hasn’t changed since.
Where the owner wants to be
Every job starts with a receipt showing who approved which items on which estimate version, for what total and when. Nothing is fitted that wasn’t approved, and the adviser only handles genuine questions.
What it handles
- Explains each estimate line using the technician’s notes
- Records approve or decline per item and recalculates the total
- Blocks approval of a superseded estimate and asks for review
- Routes technical and price questions to the service adviser
- Issues one approval receipt and releases only the approved work
What it deliberately does not do
- Never treats a “yes” to another question as approval
- Gives no technical advice beyond the technician’s written notes
- Does not change prices or scope — the adviser does
Interactive demo
Try it with sample data
No sign-up needed. Pick a scenario, change the inputs, then play the customer and the owner. The right-hand panel only shows what the workflow actually recorded.
Interactive simulation using sample estimates. No message is sent, no job is released and no real authorisation is recorded.
Choose a scenario
The driver approves the brake work and declines the optional filter.
Customer side · Estimate link and SMS
Press “Run scenario” to start. Every message and record here comes from sample data.
Workflow and harness
How Repair Approvals runs
Reference schematic for the proposed workflow. Blue steps do the work, purple paths handle exceptions and returns, and amber checks are the harness controls that a step cannot pass without.
Overview — business stages
Read the full flow as text
- Technician issues estimate (business step)
Versioned estimate; optional items marked. Output: Estimate vN + customer link. Leads to: Verify customer and version. - Verify customer and version (business step)
Token matches customer; version is current. Output: Verified session. Leads to: Explain approved line items. - Explain approved line items (business step)
Plain language from approved notes only. Output: Explanation message. Leads to: Customer chooses items; Technical question. - Customer chooses items (business step)
Explicit selection per item. Output: Draft selection (not authorised). Leads to: Validate explicit approval; Decline all work. - Validate explicit approval (business step)
Current version; totals recalculated. Output: Validated approval. Leads to: Record authorisation and notify workshop; Estimate changed. - Record authorisation and notify workshop (business step)
One authorisation per operation key. Output: Approval receipt + job release. - Technical question (exception or return path)
Service adviser answers; approval waits. Output: Adviser answer. Leads to: Explain approved line items (adviser answer). - Estimate changed (exception or return path)
Block; customer reviews new version. Output: Re-explained estimate. Leads to: Explain approved line items (review new version). - Decline all work (exception or return path)
Stop; adviser arranges collection. Output: Declined record, no authorisation. - Identity and version (harness check)
Verified customer on the current version. Output: Verified. Leads to: Verify customer and version (required check). - No inferred approval (harness check)
Only explicit item selection counts. Output: Explicit decision. Leads to: Customer chooses items (required check). - Current version at submission (harness check)
Must match. Output: Pass / blocked. Leads to: Validate explicit approval (required check). - Authorisation receipt (harness check)
Version, items, total, timestamp recorded. Output: Receipt reference. Leads to: Record authorisation and notify workshop (required check).
Harness controls
- Version locking: approvals must reference the current estimate
- Explicit item-level approval; no inferred consent
- Verified customer before any decision is recorded
- Arithmetic check on the approved lines
- Audit trail with one operation key per authorisation
- Service adviser owns every technical or price claim
Systems and data
Production connects the garage management system, customer verification, estimates and messaging. The demo uses two fictional Northside Auto estimates with a fixed v2 revision and an outbox that holds every message.
Demo boundary
External calls, customer messages, payments and business writes use synthetic fixtures and an on-screen outbox. The demo shows only verified demo state. Custom production connections are a paid implementation deliverable.
What gets delivered
The records your business receives
Approval receipt
Customer, estimate reference and version, approved and declined items, total including GST and timestamp.
Adviser question
A task for the service adviser with the customer’s question and the estimate version; approval waits for the answer.
Workshop release
Job-board update listing only the approved items, written after a valid confirmation.
Custom deployment
Configured for your business during a paid implementation. Integrations are confirmed during discovery, never assumed.
Your business rules
- Which estimate lines are optional and how they are described
- Version locking: when a revision invalidates open approvals
- How customers are verified before approving
- Which questions always go to the service adviser
Systems we connect
Measurement
We measure completed business against a baseline, not messages sent. No results are promised before discovery.
Business results
- Approval turnaround time
- Approved work completed (not total estimate value sent)
Operational reliability
- Work started without a matching authorisation (target: zero)
- Approvals recorded against a superseded version (target: zero)
- Duplicate authorisations from repeated confirmations (target: zero)
Want this sending your estimates for approval?
Book a call about Repair Approvals. We start with discovery: your current process, volumes, systems and who handles exceptions. The proposal then defines the integrations, approvals and acceptance tests before anything goes live.