Glossary · workflow
Canned job
A canned job is a saved template in a shop management system that carries the shop's own labor time, parts and customer-facing wording for work the shop quotes often.
Also called
- At the counter
- job template, saved job, canned service, job package
A canned job is a saved template in the shop management system holding the shop's own labor time, parts and wording for work the shop quotes often. It exists so repeat work gets quoted the same way every time without anybody looking anything up.
What is stored inside one?
A name and a labor time. Usually a parts list too, plus the description the customer reads on the estimate. Some shops store a price as well. The name does double duty as the thing an advisor searches for and the line printed on a customer-facing document, which is why internal shorthand in the name causes trouble at both ends.
The description travels further than most shops expect. Florida makes the invoice carry "a statement indicating what was done to correct the problem or a description of the service provided", and on a repeat job that sentence is whatever somebody typed into the template two years ago. Nobody rewrites it at delivery. Whatever the service writer inherited is what the customer reads and what sits on the invoice if anyone comes back to look.
Why does a shop reach for it first?
Because it carries more than the hours. A canned job brings the shop's markup and the shop's wording, along with a price the customer may have seen on an earlier visit. Book time gives you hours and nothing else, so it fills the gap rather than leading. The comparison of a canned job against labor guide time sets out where each one wins.
What does a stale entry cost?
Whatever the gap is, multiplied by every ticket it goes out on before somebody catches it. An entry that stored a dollar figure instead of a rate keeps quoting the old money after the door rate moves, and nothing in the software flags it, because from the system's point of view the number is what somebody told it to charge. The entries that hurt are the ones the shop sells every week, since those are the ones repeating the gap.
That gap is not recoverable at invoicing. California's repair act says "no charge shall be made for work done or parts supplied in excess of the estimated price" without the customer's consent, and Florida requires a written estimate before the work starts once it will "exceed $150 to the customer". So the low number a stale template produced sets the ceiling for that visit, and the shop either absorbs the difference or goes back to somebody who already said yes.
How does the library go wrong?
Two ways on the labor side. Entries priced under a rate the shop no longer charges keep quoting that rate silently. Entries named in internal shorthand never come up in the search box and sit unused. The guide on auditing your canned jobs walks through finding both, column by column.
The parts side rots on its own schedule. A stored part number that has since gone through a supersession still carries the old cost until somebody re-prices it. A stored kit the manufacturer repackaged now covers different kit contents than the labor line assumes. Both surface the same way, as a short parts list on a job the shop has done a hundred times.
What does a canned job look like on a diesel?
Longer, and worth more when it is right. A fuel filter service on a 6.7 Power Stroke means two filters plus the seals that come in the box, and a drain of the separator bowl while the truck is up. Saving that as one entry with both part numbers, the correct labor and a note about the water drain takes four lookups out of every visit.
The jobs worth building are the ones the shop sees weekly. Store the operation and the part numbers, then let the parts matrix price them on the day, because parts cost on a diesel moves and a stored dollar figure does not.
Who keeps the library honest?
One person, and a date on the calendar. After any move in the door rate, the effective labor rate is the first place the damage shows, because a shelf of entries quoting last year's rate pulls it down without a single argument at the counter.
The pass itself is short. Sort the library by how often each entry was used in the last twelve months and re-price from the top down, because that ordering puts the hour where the money is. Everything below the line the shop runs out of time on can wait for the repair order that surfaces it.
Back to the glossary, or see how an estimate gets priced.
Questions shops ask
- What goes inside a canned job?
- A name, the shop's own labor time, and usually a parts list and a customer-facing description. Some shops store a price as well, which is what makes an entry go stale when the labor rate moves. The name doubles as the search key an advisor types and the line a customer reads.
- How is a canned job different from book time?
- A canned job carries the shop's own number for work it does often. Book time is a published operation time for a specific vehicle, used when the shop has no entry of its own. Shops reach for the canned job first because it also carries the wording and the markup.
- Do canned jobs go out of date?
- Yes, quietly. An entry priced under an old labor rate keeps quoting that rate until somebody looks, and nothing in the system flags it. The only way to find them is to re-price the library on purpose, on a date somebody put in a calendar.
- Should every job in a shop have a canned job?
- No. Building entries for work the shop sees once a year creates stale entries that quote old prices for years. Cover the work you see week to week and let a published labor guide handle the tail.
- What happens if a canned job quotes less than the work costs?
- The shop is held to it for that visit. California's repair act bars a charge in excess of the estimated price without the customer's consent, so a template that quotes short leaves two options: absorb the difference or go back to a customer who already approved once. Neither is free, and the second one costs a phone call and some goodwill.