How to save hours with smarter jobcard workflows

Most fleets don’t have a shortage of tools or people, they have a shortage of time. Mechanics, supervisors, and operations teams are often spending too many hours each week chasing paperwork, repeating admin tasks, and trying to piece together maintenance history. The biggest time sink? Poor jobcard workflows.

When jobcards are inconsistent, incomplete, or handled manually, things slip. Service history becomes hard to trust. Costs get lost. Time gets wasted on follow-ups that shouldn’t be necessary.

Gearbox solves this problem by turning jobcards into smart, connected workflows. Instead of writing the same notes again and again or chasing people for updates, your team gets a streamlined, digital process that saves time at every step.

What slows down most fleets

In a lot of fleets, jobcards are still being printed, hand-written, or passed around in folders. Even when systems are partially digital, mechanics often end up entering the same information in multiple places. Notes go missing. Completed jobs sit unsigned. Open repairs don’t get carried over to the next service.

It’s also common to see jobs logged after the fact. Someone scribbles notes on a notepad, then tries to enter it into a spreadsheet or maintenance system at the end of the day—or the end of the week. That delay causes a lag in visibility, and it’s easy to miss things like unresolved faults, incorrect parts usage, or incomplete inspections.

Gearbox changes how jobcards work

In Gearbox, jobcards are tied to assets, workflows, and the people actually doing the work. That means everything is linked: service schedules, fault reports, checklists, inspections, and parts. No more disconnected systems or guesswork.

You can generate a jobcard directly from a service alert, a reported fault, or a scheduled inspection. Once the jobcard is live, it’s fully digital. Mechanics can view it on a desktop, tablet, or mobile. As they work, they log parts used, time taken, and notes—on the spot.

The result? Less duplication, fewer errors, and faster turnaround from open to closed.

Carrying forward open items

One of the most powerful features in Gearbox jobcard workflows is the ability to carry forward open items. If a job couldn’t be completed—maybe a part wasn’t available or a contractor was delayed—those unresolved items aren’t lost. They automatically appear on the next service jobcard for that asset.

This means your team isn’t relying on memory or scattered notes. You’ll never forget to fix that cracked mudguard or replace that overdue fire extinguisher. The system remembers, and it prompts you.

Pre-filling checklists and tasks

When you set up a jobcard in Gearbox, you can apply a checklist that fits the task—whether it’s a standard 10,000 km service, a pre-season inspection, or a repair job from a fault report. These checklists are fully customisable and ensure your mechanics aren’t starting from a blank page.

Pre-filled jobcards reduce time spent writing out tasks, help standardise your processes, and ensure that nothing important gets missed. It’s also easier to train new team members when the job steps are already mapped out.

Real-time visibility for supervisors

While the mechanic is completing the jobcard, workshop managers and operations leads can see progress in real time. You’ll know what’s in progress, what’s waiting on parts, and what’s been signed off.

This kind of live visibility means you don’t need to chase people for status updates. It also helps with planning—because if you know a truck’s service is nearly done, you can get it back into rotation faster.

Signing off and recording completion

Once a job is finished, it’s digitally signed off and logged in the asset’s maintenance history. That includes:

• Who did the work
• What was done
• What parts were used
• How long it took
• What remains outstanding (if anything)

That service history is instantly accessible—no delays, no scanning, no misplaced paperwork.

Integrating faults and inspections

If a fault is flagged in the Prestart app, that fault report can be reviewed and turned into a jobcard. When the work is done, the fault is closed. Everything links together.

The same applies to inspection items. Whether it’s a workshop inspection or a compliance-driven annual check, Gearbox lets you assign actions and follow them through to completion using jobcards.

This is where fleets save serious time. No more double handling of faults. No more wondering whether someone followed up. It’s all in the system.

Better reporting without the admin

Because everything is recorded as part of the jobcard process, reporting becomes automatic. You can run reports by asset, mechanic, task type, location, or status. You can see how long jobs are taking, what parts are being used most often, and where bottlenecks are happening.

For compliance or management reporting, this saves hours every month. Instead of pulling together numbers from multiple spreadsheets, the data is already there.

Managing internal and external work

Gearbox also supports both in-house and outsourced maintenance. You can assign jobcards to internal mechanics or link them to third-party providers. When the job is done, you can upload external invoices, add notes, and close it off like any other task.

This means your workflow doesn’t change depending on who’s doing the work. The process is consistent, and the records stay clean.

How real fleets are saving time

Across North America and Australia, we see Gearbox customers saving 10 to 15 hours a week just by digitising and standardising jobcards. Instead of spending time transcribing, re-checking, or chasing down updates, their teams are focused on actually getting the work done.

One workshop supervisor in BC told us they used to spend every Friday afternoon trying to reconcile handwritten jobcards and update spreadsheets. Now, the whole process runs through Gearbox in real time. What used to take four or five hours is down to 30 minutes.

Making the job easier for the people doing the work

Ultimately, smarter jobcard workflows aren’t just about saving time. They make the work itself smoother. Mechanics aren’t bogged down with extra admin. Supervisors aren’t chasing paper. Managers have accurate, timely information.

When systems get out of the way and support the job, everyone benefits. Gearbox jobcards turn messy workflows into structured processes. The system takes care of the admin, so your team can focus on doing the work. Everything gets logged. Nothing gets missed. And you get your time back.

If you want to see how smarter jobcard workflows could work in your fleet, we’re happy to show you around. Book a free demo.