Repairs From Your Phone: Intake, Quick, Handover
Until now the Android app was good at one thing in repairs: viewing and updating jobs that already existed. Creating them still meant a computer.
That made sense until you look at where repair work actually happens. Customers arrive at the front counter, not at the computer desk. Technicians hold the unit in their hands, not beside a keyboard. And in a busy shop, the only computer is already in use by someone else.
Now the three most-used repair screens live on the phone — and deliberately as three screens, not one do-everything form:
Repair Intake for units left behind. It is built to work without a signal, because recording an arriving unit must never wait for a connection.
Quick Repair for work finished while the customer waits — one device, from intake to payment, in one staged screen.
Handover for units that are done. This one needs a signal to open, and the reason is worth stating plainly: four of its important figures — the deposit already paid, the current bill, promotions and points, and stock — are known only to the server. Copying an invoice onto a phone and letting it sit unopened for hours means staff quoting stale numbers to a customer standing in front of them. That failure costs more than waiting briefly for a signal.
Before you start
- Automan Mobile is installed, the device is paired, and the staff account can sign in.
- Repair permissions are open for that account — the app uses the same rights as the web version.
Steps
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Understand that these three screens answer three different situations
Repair Intake for a unit the customer leaves behind. Quick Repair for work finished while they wait. Handover for a unit that is done and going home. Choosing the wrong screen leaves the history incomplete.
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Repair Intake: fill in one device card at a time
One invoice can hold several devices, and each becomes a card that folds away so the phone screen never turns into an endless scroll. Brand, fault, symptoms and accessories follow the item type, read from data already stored on the phone.
Each device is a card; only the one being filled stays open. -
Repair Intake works without a signal
The note is stored on the phone and sends itself once signal returns. One exception the screen states plainly: warranty claims need a signal, because the customer past repair history is not kept on the phone.
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Quick Repair: one device, five stages
The form is split into Invoice, Device, Work, Bill and Pay. The stages can be tapped back and forth rather than forcing an order — in the field, the order of filling is rarely as tidy as a design.
Five numbered stages, freely tapped — not a forced wizard. -
Quick Repair: know what needs a signal and what does not
The work and the payment can be filled offline. Promotions, coupons and point redemption cannot — all three are computed by the server so the phone never guesses a discount. Spare part serial numbers are typed, not picked from a list.
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Handover: open it while you have a signal
This screen opens an existing invoice, and four of its figures are known only to the server: the deposit already paid, the current bill, promotions and points, and stock. Filling it in may continue on a patchy connection, but opening it needs one.
Handover opens an existing invoice, so it needs a signal. -
Handover: read why a device cannot be released
Devices that are not finished still appear, together with the reason, rather than being greyed out without explanation. Devices you do not tick for handover are also never recorded as collected.
What cannot be handed over still shows, with the reason. -
Watch the word remaining, which can mean change due
If the deposit exceeds the bill, the label switches to change due rather than showing a negative number. That spares staff from translating a minus sign in front of a waiting customer.
What you end up with
Repair work can be completed from a phone for all three different situations, with records as complete as the web version, and without stopping every time the signal weakens.
If something goes wrong
The Handover screen will not open
That screen genuinely needs a signal, because its figures come from the server. Find a connection briefly; once open, filling it in can continue even if the signal comes and goes.
Promotions or points do not appear in Quick Repair
All three are online only. Without a signal the discount is not shown — deliberately, so the phone never computes a discount the server is supposed to decide.
An invoice I made offline has not appeared on the computer
Offline invoices wait for a signal, then send themselves. Check the send queue in the app. While it is still queued, do not recreate the invoice — that is how duplicates are born.
A warranty claim is refused while I am in the field
Warranty claims need the customer past repair history, and that history is not stored on the phone. Do the rest first, then finish the claim once you have a connection.