On the Work Order screen, you will notice the stoplight right there in the center of the screen. This is the Profit Indicator Light. We put this here to give you a quick look at the profitability on the work order and give you the option to look at the profitability on a task level. 

Green means “GO”, that means you are on the right track for your profit margins on the Work Order as a whole. Good Job! 

The Yellow light means, that you are doing a little too good. It means that you might be charging a bit too much for the work, which is perfect for you, but it may scare off some customers, and they might shop around and go to another auto shop to get the work done. So if the light is yellow, consider lowing the price of the job so you can get the light back in the green.

The Red light, uh oh. This means that you are potentially losing money on this job, but no need to panic. Take a deep breath; the traffic light has found the problem. Phew, all you need to do is adjust your pricing on the work order to get your margins back in the green! 

Want to know how to modify the profitability margins? Or See more detail in the traffic light keep reading below

Double clicking on the light will give you a bit more detail of the profit on the work order. It breaks it down into four groups: Labor Margin, Parts Margin, Sublet Margin, and a Combined Margin. You will see below the bars, the actual numbers of profit or loss. At the bottom of this window, you can select the “Entire Work Order, ” or you can choose a particular task on the work order.

To change your profit margin, go to Options> Preferences > Work Order Settings. Change the Low and the High-profit margin to whatever is best for you shop and what is expected for the demographic you are serving, Once this is set up, you are done, and you don’t need to touch it again.