The Business Type Wizard: Six Steps, Almost All Tick-Boxes
Every shop application has one moment that decides whether it gets used or abandoned: the first evening, when you realise every list is empty. No fault categories. No service list. No product categories. And the shop still opens in the morning.
That is the moment most people close the tab and go back to a paper book.
The Business Type Wizard exists for exactly that moment. It asks the one question that actually matters — car workshop, motorcycle workshop, phone and computer counter, or general electronics repair — and then fills in the rest itself.
A car workshop gets wheel alignment and balancing in its service list, complaints like brakes feel weak and check engine light on, and equipment such as registration papers and a spare wheel. A phone counter gets a completely different set: dead device, boot-loop, SIM card and SIM tray. Not one generic list reused for everybody.
Six steps, and nearly all of it is ticking boxes. The only typing is your shop name and phone number.
One worry stops a lot of people here, and it deserves answering before anything else: this wizard does not delete your data. Automan distinguishes an empty store from one already in use, and in a store that already holds transactions, existing data is never removed. That is not our interpretation — the wizard says it on screen before you press apply.
Before you start
- An active Store App you can open.
- An answer to one question: car workshop, motorcycle workshop, phone and computer counter, or general electronics repair.
Steps
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Step 1 — Store: the details that print on receipts
Shop name, phone or WhatsApp number, and address. All three appear on customer receipts, so write them the way customers say them. Below that sits payment pockets: cash is active from the start, and you can add a bank account or e-wallet. This part is optional and can wait.
This identity is what prints on every receipt. -
Step 2 — Units: pick what you actually repair
Choices are split into two families, vehicles and electronics/general. Tick what fits. If your unit is missing, there is an option to add a custom service unit — type its name, then choose its family so Automan knows which form to show. At least one unit is required before you can continue.
What you pick here shapes every master list after it. -
Step 3 — Service: masters that follow your choice
Automan offers unit brands, problem types, complaints, accessories, and job services — all pre-ticked as recommendations, and all matched to the units you picked. A motorcycle workshop never inherits a phone counter list. Select-all and clear-all buttons are there if you would rather choose in bulk.
The service master follows your unit choices. -
Step 4 — Products: tidy this now, save hours later
Categories, subcategories, and brands for what you sell or consume, then quantity units, dimension units, and variant attributes. This is the step people most regret skipping: restructuring hundreds of products after they are already in the system is far more painful than ticking boxes here.
Tidying products now saves hours later. -
Step 5 — Receipts & Rules: the settings that resist changing later
Receipt paper type (standard for dot-matrix and inkjet, thermal for small till printers), whether staff may see cost price and COGS, inventory valuation method, when the warranty clock starts (at drop-off or at collection), how product search behaves, and your time zone. Get the time zone right — a wrong one throws off every report and every job timestamp.
These are the settings that hurt most to change later. -
Step 6 — Review: read the summary before you apply
Automan shows exactly what it is about to create: unit types, pockets, product subcategories, who may see cost and COGS, and your tax status. Tick the statement confirming you have reviewed it, then apply. It takes a few seconds and ends by reloading your store.
Read the summary before you hit apply.
What you end up with
Your shop now holds unit types, brands, fault catalogues, accessories, service lists, product categories, units of measure, and receipt rules that match your trade — without typing a single list from scratch, and ready for your first transaction.
If something goes wrong
I am afraid this wizard will wipe the data I already entered
It will not. Automan distinguishes a genuinely empty store from one already in use, and the wizard states this on screen: in an active store, existing data is never deleted. Only the default masters of a brand-new store can be replaced.
The wizard did not appear, even though my store is new
It opens by itself while setup has never been completed. If you closed it, reopen it from Settings. If it still does not appear, setup has most likely already run — check your repair menu, where the catalogues are usually already filled.
My trade is not exactly one of the options
Pick the closest one, then use the custom service unit option to fill the gap. Every seeded list is only a ticked recommendation — you may clear all of it and replace it with your own.
I chose wrongly in an early step and already moved on
Every step has a back button, and nothing is actually saved until you apply at step six. Before that button is pressed, everything is still reversible.
I run a workshop and a phone counter
One Store App covers one family of units so the wording and forms never contaminate each other. Run two Store Apps under the same account. As soon as your account holds more than one active store, the inter-store stock transfer menu appears on its own.
Related tutorials
- Tutorial
Your First Minutes: Sign-Up to Ready for Business
The step before this, if your store is not created yet.
- Tutorial
The Minimum Setup Before Your First Job
What still needs tidying once the wizard is done.
- Tutorial
The Complete Store App Settings Guide
What each setting means, if you want to go further.