Workshop management software built for South African workshops
Autolly is workshop management software for South African workshops and engine machine shops. It replaces the paper job card book and the separate invoicing system with one record. The job card is created at the counter, the workshop works off it, the customer signs on it, and the invoice comes off it.
It runs in a browser on what you already have, a tablet at the counter, a phone in the workshop, the desktop in the office. It keeps working when the power goes off, which matters more here than it does anywhere else.
Here is what it does and what your shop gets out of it.
One record from booking in to invoice
In most workshops every job gets captured twice. Once on the card when it is booked in, and again at the end of the day into whatever produces the invoice.
Autolly generates the invoice from the job itself. The work, the parts, the discounts and the VAT are already on the record. That removes the second capture entirely, which is usually the better part of an hour a day, and it closes the gap where money leaks: the extra work written on a card at the bench does not always survive the trip to the invoice, and if it never reaches the invoice it never gets paid for.
It keeps working when the power goes off
Most business software is a website. The connection drops and your front counter stops with it.
Autolly is built to work offline, and not just for looking at yesterday's jobs. You can create a job card with no internet at all. Book the work in, add the details, take a signature. When the connection returns it syncs on its own, and it is engineered so a job created offline does not come back as a duplicate when the queue retries.
Two hours of load-shedding stops the machines. It should not also cost you the afternoon's admin and leave everyone recapturing paper the next morning.
Signatures that settle arguments
Most counter disputes are not dishonesty. They are two people remembering a phone call differently three weeks later, and whoever has no record loses.
Autolly captures a signature at the three moments that get argued about: when the job is opened, when extra work is approved partway through, and when the vehicle or component is collected. You send a link, the customer signs on his own phone wherever he is, and it is stored against the job. The link is single use, it expires, you can revoke it, and you can see whether it was opened.
The approval one is the one that changes your week. The alternative is doing the work and arguing later, or stopping the job until somebody can drive in.
Numbering, VAT and getting paid
Job numbers and invoice numbers run as proper sequences generated by the system, so two jobs can never end up sharing a number and there is an audit trail behind the numbering.
VAT is handled on the job, and the rate is fixed on each job when it is created. A rate change later does not quietly rewrite what an old job was quoted at. Payments are captured against the job so the outstanding balance sits on the record instead of being worked out at month end, and there is a cash-up at the end of the day.
For the workshops and dealers who send you work on account, Autolly stores their payment terms and produces statements with the balance aged, so you can chase what is ninety days out before it turns into a bad debt. There is an Excel export when your accountant wants the numbers.
Roles, and who can see what
Autolly has separate roles for admins, the front desk, workers, and a locked shop-floor screen for the workshop. The shop-floor screen is a permanently signed-in display, so customer phone numbers sit behind an access log rather than being readable by anyone walking past it.
That means you can answer questions about your own data later, which matters the first time something needs explaining.
Common questions
Is this full workshop management software, or just digital job cards? Both. The job card is where it starts, but quoting, invoicing, payments, parts, statements and worker assignment all run off it.
Does it work offline? Yes, including creating job cards. It syncs when the connection returns.
Can I use it on a tablet? Yes. It runs in the browser and installs to the home screen on a tablet or phone. Most shops run a tablet at the counter and a screen in the workshop.
Does it do VAT invoices? Yes, with sequential invoice numbers generated by the system rather than typed in by hand.
Have a look
If you run a workshop or a machine shop in South Africa and any of this matches how your week goes, request early access and we will set it up with your own job types on it. There is more on how it handles the front counter in bringing order to the everyday workshop rush, and on engine work in engine reconditioning workshop software.