Overview
Welcome to Shop Manager! We're excited to have you on board as you begin your journey with the program. This guide will walk you through the essential first steps, helping you set up your parts, account, and shop information with ease. By following these instructions, you'll be on the path to seamlessly managing your operations and getting the most out of Shop Manager.
If you have not yet logged into Shop Manager, or need basic understanding on how to navigate the toolbar, please view this guide.
Table of Contents:
Account Settings
Once you've successfully logged into your Shop Manager account, one of your first tasks should be setting up the basic Account Settings. To configure these settings, simply go to the User Icon within the left-hand toolbar and select 'Account Settings' from the menu:
Account Info
The Account Info tab is where you can see or change the Account Owner, view/change the Business name, set your shop's URL, and adjust feature options.
**NOTE: These settings are application wide for all users in your account. They are separate from your shop details.
Take a moment to review each field in the Account Info tab to ensure that your business name, account owner, and shop URL are accurate. Additionally, explore the Feature Options section to enable settings that provide greater control over your account.
Below is a list of the current Feature Options available under Account Info settings, including support article links to learn more about that option, if applicable:
- The Expeditor
- Expedite repairs with in-app transfers, messaging, and timers
- Technician Service Clocks
- Track technician time on individual services and compare against Billed Hours and Shift Clocks
- For more information on Service Clocks, click here.
- Track technician time on individual services and compare against Billed Hours and Shift Clocks
- Inventory Controls
- Control when parts are received in Inventory, via Purchase Orders or part quantity corrections.
(Otherwise Shop-Ware will automatically receive unfulfilled parts when a Repair Order closes.)
- Control when parts are received in Inventory, via Purchase Orders or part quantity corrections.
- Lock Titles on Services Built from a Canned Job
- Control if users can edit titles on services built from Canned Jobs
- Tire Parts Reporting
- Do you want your tires to report separately from all other part sales?
- For more information on Tire reporting, click here.
- Do you want your tires to report separately from all other part sales?
Subscription
The next tab under Account Settings is the Subscription tab, where you can view your Shop Manager subscription details. To view or update your payment method, please reach out to [email protected]
Transparency
Select the Transparency tab to control what information the customer can see. The default settings are most typical; you can adjust these to your liking. More details about the transparency options will be covered in a separate article, for now please see the image below for a view of the current options.
Labels
The next tab under Account Settings is Labels. Labels are color-coded tags that can be applied to Repair Orders (ROs) to highlight special needs or issues. For example, you can create a "New Customer" label to alert staff when a customer is visiting for the first time. Simply apply the label to the RO while creating the estimate, and it will be visible wherever the RO is listed.
For more information on Labels and how to apply them to ROs, click here.
Statuses
The Statuses tab under Account Settings helps track the progress of a Repair Order (RO) throughout its lifecycle. A typical list of statuses includes:
- Checked In
- Needs Estimate
- Waiting for Approval
- Waiting for Parts
- Warranty
- Completed and Contacted
- And more...
Statuses can be applied to ROs and updated at any time after the job has started. However, the Estimate phase of an RO does not have an associated status.
Within the Statuses tab in Account Settings, you can add, edit, and delete statuses as needed. You also have the option to determine whether a status should be displayed on the Workflow page under Jobs in the Shop for better visibility and tracking.
For more information on Statuses and how to apply them, click here.
Categories
The Categories tab is a way to track your service mix by overarching groups. Common examples are "Tires", "Maintenance", "High Performance" etc., but you can create whatever and however many categories as you wish.
Categories are Account Level, not Shop Level, to better track common types of services across an entire organization (including multi-shops).
API Connections
The final tab in Account Settings is the API Connections tab. This tab is optional for those who would like to connect to third party services using Shop Manager's API, a means for other web-based applications to connect, access information, and use that information to deliver their own services. You can grant access to as many (or as few) of these applications as you wish.
If you are curious about what data is included and in what format, please refer to our API documentation here. Generally the data corresponds to what you see surfaced in the application; it does not include job log and user tracking information.
Before connecting to an API Partner, ensure you’ve contacted them and set up an account. Once ready, navigate to the API Connections tab in Account Settings within Shop Manager and check the box next to the partner’s name to enable the connection. You can update these settings at any time to revoke access if needed.
Now let's get your shop settings and operations configured by navigating to the User Icon → Shop Settings:
Below is a list of specific shop settings that need to be set up to get quickly started:
- Shop Info
- Setup Tax Rates
- Setup Labor Rates and Labor Matrix
- Setup Shop Supplies
- Down Payments and Odometer Requirements
- Recommendation Approvals (CA Shops)
- Terms of Service* and Warranty Attachment
- Enable Carfax
*Note: Terms of Service are pre-set. You can edit if you wish, be advised that #4 and #5 are important for electronic payment/signature.
a. Shop Info
The Shop Info tab is where you will set up your shop's contact information. You can setup/change the shop name, address, and phone number. You may also upload a branding image here. The settings available here will dependent on your subscription.
b. Tax Rates
To configure your Tax Rates, from the Shop Settings page select the RO Info tab. Click the blue text on each tax setting to make the appropriate entries for your business jurisdiction.
c. Labor Rates and Labor Matrix
You can configure as many Labor Rates as you'd like. Labor rates are applied to RO's and can also be applied to services on an RO. For example, the overall RO may use your standard labor rate but a particular service on the RO may be set to a different labor rate.
To configure labor rates, scroll down the page while on the RO Info tab. You can add and delete labor rates from here.
You may also configure a Labor Matrix, for more information on the Labor Matrix, click here.
d. Shop Supplies
Shop Supplies add a generic fee to all RO's based on a percentage of dollars. You can leave this blank or you can set a percentage that will be applied to the labor dollars along with setting a cap. For example you may want to charge 10% to all labor dollars but cap it at $29.99.
On the RO Info tab, scroll down to the Shop Supply Fees section and adjust as needed for your business by clicking on the blue text and making adjustments. You may also set your Shop Supply Fee to not be taxable.
e. Down Payments and Odometer Requirements
Further down the RO Info page, you will see the ability to configure Down Payments information and set Odometer Requirements. 
f. Recommendation Approvals (important for shops in CA)
If you are a Shop Manager user in California, it is highly recommended you turn both settings for Recommendation Approvals to "ON" so you may appropriately capture information needed for the CA BAR.
For more information on Recommendation Approvals, click here. 
g. Terms of Service and Warranty Document Attachment
Scroll down the RO Info tab to adjust your Terms of Service and/or upload a warranty document that can be added when printing or saving the RO. We have defaulted values for you. The items on #4 and #5 are important for electronic signature approval and payment. We recommend you leave those as is. You can click anywhere on the blue text to make edits.
**Note that the Terms of Service shows the same across Estimates, Work Orders, and Invoices. Please ensure you adjust the language accordingly to include all 3 stages.
*Note - Special Requirements:
- If you're in Florida be sure to choose the 12 point font option.
- If you need to add a manager’s signature to the TOS, scroll to the bottom of the page, and click the Add Signature button. Then, add the tag “_SIG_” to the TOS where you want the signature to appear.
h. Carfax
This is all the basic setup that is needed to get you up and running. You may return to the Shop Settings page at any point to configure parts, merchant, accounting integrations, and add staff.