Read the Board
The board is the live picture of your workshop floor. This guide is about reading it fast — knowing where to look, and knowing what you can safely ignore.
Who can do this: everyone. Read Only users can see the board; what they can do on it is limited.
The thirty-second morning check
You do not need to read the whole plan. Look at three things, in this order.
The urgent count on the action centre
The rail on the right shows a count even when collapsed. Zero means the day is planned and nothing needs you yet.
The free count in the toolbar
The toolbar reads n bays · n zones · n free. That is your genuinely uncommitted capacity right now — including any bay freed by moving a paused vehicle out of it.
Anything under “Could not schedule”
Open the action centre and check the last lens. These are vehicles the day could not fit — your morning phone calls, and far better made at 08:00 than at 16:00.
That is the check. Everything else on the board is there for when you need it.
Reading a bay card
An occupied card carries six things worth knowing:
| On the card | Tells you |
|---|---|
| Plate and service | Which vehicle and what work |
| Technician | Who is on it |
| Stage n of m | How far through the vehicle’s stages it is |
| Countdown | Time left on the stage running now |
| Promise chip | When the vehicle is due back with the customer, and whether that is safe |
| Time elapsed | How much of the planned time has been used |
The countdown and the promise are different clocks. The countdown is about the stage in this bay; the promise is about the customer. A stage can run over while the promise stays perfectly safe. If you only look at one, look at the promise.
An empty card tells you whether the bay is Free, in Changeover, Reserved for a vehicle, under Maintenance, or Not yet scheduled.
→ Board States & Signals has every state.
Vehicles with no bay card
Not every open job is in a bay. A vehicle paused and moved out to free its bay has no card on the floor, because it is not on the floor — it is in your yard or holding area.
It has not disappeared. It is in the action centre under In progress, marked In storage, with its pause reason and a note saying where it was parked. The same is true of vehicles that could not be placed at all, which wait under Could not schedule.
The rule worth remembering: the floor shows where work is happening; the action centre shows everything else that is still open. A quiet floor with a busy rail is a real state, and usually means you are waiting on parts or approvals rather than on capacity.
What the colours are telling you
You do not have to memorise them. Three patterns cover almost everything:
- Nothing standing out — the vehicle is on track. Move on.
- Amber — something is going to be late, and has not been yet. This is where your attention is worth most.
- Red — a promise has passed. Somebody needs to be called.
A card that shows Running behind plan is saying the vehicle will finish later in this bay than first planned — usually because the job before it overran, not because the current job is slow. Worth reading before you go and ask a technician why they are behind.
Filtering a big floor
On a floor of more than about twelve bays, filter rather than scroll.
Open Filter in the toolbar
Choose zones
Tick the zones you are responsible for. A body-shop supervisor watching only body and paint sees a five-card screen instead of a twenty-two-card one.
Choose a status
Due soon, Delayed, Paused, or Yet to start. Filtering to Delayed is the fastest way to see everything that needs a conversation.
Clear when you are done
Clear all returns the full floor. Filters change what you are looking at, never the plan.
Card density
The Card density control switches between Full and Compact.
Compact fits far more bays on a screen and is what most wall displays run. Full is better on a tablet you are holding, where you want the detail without tapping in.
Three views of the same day
| View | Shows | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Cards | The floor as bays | Running the day |
| Bays | A calendar, one row per bay | Seeing how tightly the day is packed, and where the gaps are |
| Techs | A calendar, one row per technician | Workload balance and who is free when |
The two calendar views are read-only pictures of the plan. Work is changed from the cards and the action centre, not by dragging on the calendar.
Finding one vehicle
The toolbar search finds any vehicle that has ever been through your workshop, including ones already handed over. Type part of a plate.
Matches are counted as you type. A vehicle no longer on the floor is shown as Off floor, and you can still open its record.
→ Find a vehicle and its history
Seeing what changed while you were out
The Updated control in the toolbar lists what has changed since the board last refreshed: cars in, cars out, work started, stages advanced, promises moved, things re-planned to a new time.
This is what makes it safe to leave the board and come back — you do not need to have watched it.
Looking at another day
The date control moves the board to another day. Yesterday shows what actually happened; tomorrow shows the current plan for tomorrow, which will keep changing until tomorrow arrives.
You cannot check a vehicle in on a past day, and live alerts are suppressed on past days — a vehicle that was late last Tuesday is history, not an emergency.
Common questions
Why is a bay showing “Not yet scheduled” rather than “Free”? No plan has been produced for it yet — usually because an earlier day has not been closed, or the board has only just loaded. An empty shop that has not been planned and an empty shop with nothing to do need different responses, so BayWise distinguishes them.
The board looks empty and we are busy. Check the date control is on today, check your filters are cleared, and check whether an unclosed day is stopping scheduling.
How often does the board update? On its own, continuously, without being reloaded. The countdowns tick every second.
Can I leave this on a screen on the wall? Yes — that is what compact density is for. It keeps itself current.
A card has a number I do not recognise. Tap it. The detail pane explains every stage, its planned and actual times, and anything reported against it.