CASE STUDY
Internal ERP for a drive repair business
One system produces more than ten document types and manages customer repair records. Quotes, intake forms, diagnostic reports and the rest are generated from the same job record, so nothing is retyped.
RESULTS
What this project changed
- -90%
- Document production hours
- 10+ types
- Document types generated automatically
The problem
Every repair job produces a full set of documents between intake and closure: intake form, quote, diagnostic report, repair log, warranty note and delivery note. These were maintained as separate Word and Excel templates.
- The same customer and device details were entered into more than ten documents, and one wrong character meant checking all of them again.
- When a template was revised, existing files did not follow, so several versions of the same document were in use at once.
- Job status was scattered across folders and individual computers, so a progress call meant hunting through files.
What we did
We made the job record the single source of data, with documents as its output.
- We built a data structure for customers, devices and repair jobs, with a full status history on every job.
- More than ten document types are now generated from job data through templates, in one consistent format.
- Templates are maintained centrally, and every new document uses the current version as soon as it is changed.
- Job search and a status board let front-desk staff answer progress questions without asking anyone else.
Results
Documents are no longer extra work; they fall out of the process itself.
- Hours spent producing documents fell by about 90%, so technicians spend their time on repairs.
- More than ten document types are generated automatically, and format and content no longer vary by person.
- Customer repair records are managed centrally, with progress and history in the same system.
CONSTRAINTS
Constraints
The conditions that were fixed from the start. The trade-offs behind the approach only make sense once you know them.
In the repair trade, documents are formal papers handed to customers, so the format could not be changed for the system's convenience.
- The existing layouts of intake forms, quotes and diagnostic reports had to be kept, because that is the document customers and partners recognize.
- Templates get revised, but a revision affects only documents produced afterwards, and papers already issued must never be altered retroactively.
- Devices sent in often hold customer data, so the system records job information only and never touches the contents of a device.
- Technicians use it at the bench, so data entry had to be short enough not to interrupt the repair.
HOW IT WORKS
Technology and integrations
What the system connects to, how the data moves and why those choices were made — written so that no technical background is needed.
We made the job the single source of data, with more than ten document types as its output.
- Customers, devices and repair jobs are held as one set of related records, so the same detail is entered once.
- Documents are generated from job data through templates. Change a template once and every new document follows.
- Job status sits on one board, so front-desk staff answer progress questions directly instead of asking a technician or searching folders.