Legend
Every color means something.
What each color, chip and state stands for.
Topic colors
Each topic owns one color. In an email it is the top band, the tag, the button and the footer key.
#0177A4
#D74C10
#029220
#7B4FD9
#B08D57
#0A7F7A
#626876
#B00000
The invert filter is a stress test. Mail apps treat color in their own ways, so a real test send is the check.
Chips
Status is a chip, never a sentence. Six tones, each with one meaning wherever it appears.
GreenDone or confirmed
BronzePending, or worth a look
AutoProsso RedStop: overdue, blocked or overridden
ChromePermanent or final
DimNot started, or not applicable
NeutralInformation only
Icons
One icon per idea, the same one wherever that idea appears: in the rail, on a panel's name, in a sheet. Line icons in the bronze tile.
Home
Dashboard
Sales
Vehicles
Keys
Inspections
Transportation
My Garage
Weather
Owner’s manual
Emails
Brand
Legend
Settings
Activity
Alerts on your phone
Weather alerts
Away for work
On loan
The cabinet reader
Checklists
Connections
Connection lights
This device
Driver
Your setup
Setting it up
The gate
Release
Inbound
Receiving
Logs
People
Who may do what
Photos
The VIN scanner
How a scan reads
Paperwork
Timeline
Stages
Interest
What can be done
This tool
The working day
The end of the day
Preview
Keyboard
Color
Chips
Type
The mark
Components
Footers
The flows
The words
Key facts
Inspection results
New inspection
The light
The cluster
Moisture
Air and dust
The reading
The days ahead
By the hour
Nightly report
Vehicle stages
One permanent record per VIN, from arrival to release.
InboundPaid for, dispatch sheet on file, on the way to the lot.
IntakeSigned for at drop-off and on record, what came with the car counted. Waiting on its keys tagged and its inspection, whichever comes last.
ReconKeys tagged and inspected. Repairs, the detail and the final parking before it can be listed.
ListedReady for sale: keys, inspection, detail and parking all done.
SoldSold. The gate wants funds approved and a pickup record before it can go.
ReleasedLeft the lot on two proofs, with every line on its tag answered for and the tag itself retired. A status on the record, never a closed file.
On hold, J. ReyesHeld for a named customer by a named person, at a time the record carries. What an employee does instead of marking a car sold. It can be lifted by whoever put it on, or by a manager, and lifting it is on the record too.
Who may do what
Every other option on the vehicle menu is anyone's. Naming one more person is a line in the roster, not a change to a screen.
Lift holdA manager: R. Patel, Hans, Fred or Hooman. The person who put the hold on may lift their own, whichever seat they sit in.
Mark soldA super admin: Hans, Fred or Hooman.
Approve fundsA manager: R. Patel, Hans, Fred or Hooman.
Builder onPaddock20's builder access is on. It stays on until the handover is signed off; after that, Hans (Owner), Fred (Owner) and Hooman (Director of IT) can revoke it.
Builder offBuilder access has been revoked. Hans or Hooman can grant it back.
Off in VercelBUILDER_ACCESS=off is set in Vercel, which holds builder access off whatever the app or the admin API says.
NamedNamed by a super admin, so this person may check out executive demo and sponsor cars.
Tag keys
The seven steps between keys in a hand and keys in the cabinet, and what stood in for hardware the lot does not have yet.
No keysA car on the lot whose keys are not tagged yet. It is on the Dashboard until they are, Tag keys is its next step, and it cannot be listed without them.
PrintedThe label pair came off the printer: one for the windshield, one for the keys.
RFID …3F4A21The RFID key tag on the ring, by the end of the number it reads as. A reader in the cabinet sees the keys by this tag, and a tag already on another car is refused.
Written by this phoneThe windshield tag carries this car’s address. An Android phone writes it from the app; an iPhone copies the address for an NFC writer, and the chip then says an NFC writer wrote it.
Opens AP-2617 · checked with a tapThe windshield tag was read back, by a tap or by scanning the label’s square, and it opened this car. The keys cannot go in until it has.
Demo readerThe key tag number came from the Demo reader, because there is no RFID reader at the desk. Only in a demonstration.
Demo · nothing printedA demonstration pressed Printed without sending anything to a printer, and the record says so.
Written by the Demo writerA demonstration wrote and checked the windshield tag with the Demo writer and a Demo tap. No tag was touched.
The journey
On a vehicle record: off the truck to transport out.
- Done
- Waiting
- To come
Parked at Row C 12Where the car stands, in the lot’s own words, and who parked it. On the record, the Key station and the at-the-car sheet, so whoever takes the keys knows where to walk. Two cars are never written into one spot.
Keys
No keysNo keys are tagged to this VIN: a vehicle still inbound, one whose tag has been retired, one that has left with its tag retired at the gate, or a record reopened for intake, which carries no tag until somebody has the keys.
Keys inAll the keys are in the cabinet, under the padlock. One tag carries every key for the car, so they move together.
Out 47mChecked out with a name and a reason. The record says which of the three ways the code was reached: in the app, at the car, or at the Key station. One code can cover several cars, and each car still gets its own line.
Overdue 6h 20mOut past the time it is due back: the key limit, 4 hours unless Settings says otherwise, or the extended time where somebody extended it. Checking the keys in clears it, and so does an extension.
Extended, out 4h 30mKept out past the limit on purpose. Extending adds the key limit again from that minute, to the same person and the same car, and the record says who extended it and when. Every screen that calls keys overdue reads the extended time.
Out for repairs, back ThursdayA maintenance release: the car has left the lot for repairs and is expected back. It is read against that day, never against the key limit.
Back overdueA maintenance release that has passed the day it was due back.
Executive demo, back MondayAn executive demo: a super admin, or somebody they named, has the car. It is read against the day it is due back, never against the key limit, and it is never chased at close.
With the sponsor, back MondayA sponsor vehicle. The chip names the sponsor who has the car, and it reads Back overdue once the day has passed.
Windshield tag readThat car’s own tag opened this record in the last five minutes, so a code asked for now is recorded as taken at the car.
Cabinet readThe cabinet’s printed code or NFC tag was read in the last five minutes, which is what says a person was standing at it. It is the last step before a station code is minted, not a way into the flow, and it lapses on its own. It says a person was there and that it was recent. It does not say who, and nothing here measures how far away a phone is.
Inspections and repair orders
PassedEvery check passed.
Needs attentionAt least one check needs a person.
FlaggedAt least one check failed.
OpenA repair order written and not started.
In progressA repair order being worked on.
CompleteA repair order finished.
What the cabinet reports
A second opinion on the record, and what it means when the two disagree.
Left without a check outThe keys are checked in and the reader cannot see the tag. It is the headline on the Dashboard and on the Key station, because it is the one a dealer has to chase.
Back without a check inThe keys are checked out and the reader can see the tag in the cabinet. Either the wrong tag left, or none did.
Tag on no carThe reader sees a tag no car carries. A tag is printed for one car and retired with it, so this one should have been retired.
Waiting on the readerCheck out was pressed and the reader has not reported since. A press is a claim; the reading is the movement.
Confirmed by the readerThe reader no longer sees this car’s tag, which is what confirms the check out. A tag coming back is the check in, whether or not anybody pressed anything.
Demo readerThere is no RFID reader in the cabinet yet, and none is on order. Every reader count on screen comes from the demo reader, the same way the keypad is a demo of the padlock.
Demo padlockThe keypad on screen stands in for a padlock that is not paired yet. Its codes are demo codes.
The end of the day
An hour before the lot closes, and after it has.
OpenMore than an hour before the lot closes. Nothing is being chased.
An hour to closeEverybody holding keys is told to check them in, with their own cars named.
ClosedThe lot is shut. Whatever was still out went to Hans (Owner), Fred (Owner) and Hooman (Director of IT) in one message, never one per key.
Past the time it is due backChased first, and first in the night’s message.
Kept on deliberatelySomebody added to the limit at the car. It is listed at close and marked, and it is never chased: an extension is a decision a manager made.
Away for workOutside the key alerts altogether: never overdue, never chased an hour before close, and listed at close only to be counted. It has its own reminders instead.
Closed todayA day the lot does not open, set under Closed on. Nobody is chased and no list goes out.
EmailedA notice left once, whichever phone asked for it first: the close list, a cabinet left open, a car at a shop.
Sample data, not emailedWorked out from sample data, so it shows on the screens and never reaches an inbox or a phone.
Not emailedNo email service is connected, or it refused the send. The reason is written beside it.
A car away for work
Counted in days, never in key limits.
Under five daysAway and counted, and nobody is told. The first reminder is at five days.
5 daysCall the shop and get a date. The notice names the car, the shop, the work and the manager who approved it.
7 daysA week. The shop owes a date and a reason.
14 daysTwo weeks. Long enough to be costing money. Nothing on screen says how much: the app does not hold the labor rate, the floor plan or the holding cost.
30 daysA month with a customer’s car at a shop. Each reminder goes out once, and getting the car back is what clears it.
Estimate approvedThe shop’s estimate was approved. The record names the shop and who approved it.
The release gate
Two proofs clear it, never one.
1 of 2 proofsOne proof is in and the gate is closed. The panel names the one still missing.
Both proofs inThe money, and a record that the vehicle is being collected: a dispatch sheet on the record, or the pickup written down with a name and a time.
Override, HansLet out on one proof. Only Hans, Fred or Hooman can do it, or Gavin with Hans or Hooman approving while builder access is on, and the record and the email both carry the name, the reason and what was missing.
Proof twoThe pickup record is still missing: a dispatch sheet on the record, or the pickup written down with a name and a time.
Dispatch sheet filedProof two, by the dispatch sheet photographed at the gate. Pickup recorded is the same proof written down by hand.
Not approvedSold, and funds are not approved yet, so proof one is missing. Funds pending on a My Garage tile says the same.
AwaitingAn inbound car that is not paid for yet. It turns to Paid when it is.
Sold releaseSold and leaving with a carrier. Funds approved is the first proof.
Transfer releaseMoving to another dealer. Funds approved is the first proof.
Maintenance releaseOut for work and expected back, so it keeps its tag: the keys go to the shop with the car and are read against the day they are due back, never against the key limit. The shop and that day stand in for funds.
With the carWent with the vehicle. What came with the car goes with the car, so this is the common answer, and the tag is retired with it.
Kept at the lotThe car left without it. Keys are checked in and the rest stays at the lot, and the tag is retired at the gate rather than with the car.
MissingNobody could produce it. The record says it was never checked in, and names whoever had it last and the minute it went out.
2 of 3Lines on the tag answered so far. The car cannot be released until every line is.
All 3 answeredEvery line on the tag is answered, so the tag no longer holds the car.
Tag 340118 stays on this VINA maintenance release keeps its tag: the same car is expected back on it.
Off the ringThe RFID key tag came off the ring before the keys went. It belongs to the lot, and Tag keys pairs it to the next car. Until it is off, the car cannot be released.
Missing with the keysThe keys did not come back, so neither did the RFID key tag on their ring.
Stays on the keysA maintenance release: the RFID key tag goes to the shop on the keys and comes back paired to the same car.
Email readyAfter a release with no email service connected: the front desk letter was written and not sent.
Email not sentAfter a release: the email service refused the front desk letter.
Signature not filedAfter a release: file storage did not take the signature. The release itself is recorded.
Walk-around photos
One camera session, position by position. Every photograph goes to storage as it is taken.
No photo yetA dashed tile. Nothing in the walk-around is required, so a tile can stay like this.
FilingTaken, and on its way to storage. The tile shows the photograph at once and the lap carries on; a phone on lot wifi takes a second or two per picture.
On the recordA solid bronze tile. File storage has the photograph and the record points at it by an address that opens anywhere, rather than one that dies with this tab.
Not storedStorage would not take it, and the page says why in storage’s own words. The photograph is on this device only until the tab closes, and it is never counted as filed.
SkippedPassed over during the lap. The panel and the record name every position left without a photograph.
BlurryThe photograph read soft the moment it was taken. The lap holds on that position: retake it, or keep it and go on. It is filed either way, and a retake replaces it.
Too darkThe same, for a photograph too dark to show the car. Find more light, then retake.
The VIN scanner
Beside every field that names a car, from the finder to the Key station. The window is AutoPro's; the maker's mark on the instrument reads Paddock20 VIN Scanner. The same window reads a key cabinet square and a license block, and the mark names whichever of the three it is.
The beam moves down and up the guide box, about two seconds for the round trip. It says the instrument is looking, and it only ever travels the band that is actually being decoded.
ConfirmingA value has been read once. One frame is a guess, so it is held until a second frame agrees, unless it is a VIN whose own check digit already proves it.
ReadAccepted. The beam stops where it was, the reticle turns green, the phone sounds a tone and buzzes, and the measured time stands on the glass.
Sample readThe walkthrough put a VIN in without the camera reading it. The frame holds and the phone answers exactly as it does for a read, and the reticle goes bronze instead of green so the glass never takes credit for a scan that did not happen.
Lamp onThe frame has been dark for most of a second, so the lamp came on by itself. There is a manual toggle beside it either way.
Matched a carA stock number, a key tag or the square on a label has no check digit to prove it, so what proves it is that it named a car on the lot. The strip says exactly that, and never calls it a check digit.
ValidThe VIN’s own check digit agrees with the other sixteen characters.
ReviewThe check digit does not agree, so a character is probably misread. Check it against the car.
VIN matchIn the finder: the car was found by its VIN rather than its stock number or name.
Not on recordA VIN with no record here yet. Decode it and start the intake.
Sample scanA car picked by the walkthrough’s sample scan. Nothing was read.
How the scanner reads
Three steps, tried in order. The record of a vehicle says which one answered, what proved it and how long it took.
Live barcodeThe camera reads the guide box on this device. Instant, free, and it works with no signal, which is most of what a lot has. Almost every VIN stops here.
Sharper stillA photograph is sharper than any preview frame, so the same engines get a second look at full resolution. Still on the phone, still free, still offline.
Cloud readerGoogle Cloud Vision reads the printed characters, for a plate or a jamb label with no barcode left to read. It costs money and needs a connection, so it is last and never first.
WaitingThe step has not run. It says nothing about itself until it has.
Read, 266 msThe step answered, and how long it took. The vehicle record says which step answered and what proved the VIN.
Nothing foundThat step was actually tried and came up empty.
FailedThe step could not do its job, which is not the same as finding nothing: the photo was not judged.
Not connectedThe cloud reader has no key on this deployment. The strip says so rather than offering a step that would fail.
Sample readA VIN off the walkthrough fleet, for a demonstration with no label in the room. It sounds and feels exactly like a read, because a person watching cannot tell the two apart, and the strip says Sample read so nobody mistakes it for one. The vehicle record says the same.
Drop-off paperwork
On the Receiving tab, in Paperwork and on the vehicle record. Nothing reads a load board: what is kept is the photograph.
Dispatch sheet 2Pages photographed at the truck, filed on the vehicle record.
Bill of lading noneNothing was photographed for that document. It is not a failure, it is a gap somebody can close.
SignedThe receiver signed for the car. The ink is on the record with their name and the minute.
Not storedThe page is on this record for now: file storage did not take it. It is never counted as filed.
No signatureNobody has signed for this drop-off yet.
Signed, not storedSigned at the truck, and file storage did not take the ink.
Sales floor
On the sales page. Chart series are neutrals, so AutoProsso Red stays the alert color: only a quiet stretch or a quiet rep is red.
CallA logged call, connected or not. Bronze, the first series color.
EmailAn email to a customer. Chrome, the second series color.
Review requestA request for a review. Light bronze, the third series color.
Quiet stretchNo call, email or review request for the quiet limit or longer (Settings, Site bank). Shaded in the red wash.
ActiveTouched a customer within the quiet limit.
Quiet 46mNothing logged for longer than the quiet limit, and still counting.
Floor closedOutside the sales floor hours.
Customer nameA link wherever it appears. It opens that customer: their rep, the vehicle they bought or are asking about, and every call, email and review request. A sold vehicle names the same customer and the same rep on its own record.
Not in yetThe rep has not sent tonight’s report.
New customerA customer being added while a drive or an interest is recorded.
New wordOn a customer in My Garage: the last touch was an email or a text, so somebody owes an answer.
Weather
On the weather tiles and at /weather. Alerts take the grade the National Weather Service gave them; the light windows are bronze wherever they appear.
Tornado WarningAn active alert the National Weather Service graded Extreme or Severe, for this forecast zone. Red, the same as an overdue key: it stops work.
Heat AdvisoryAn active alert graded Moderate or Minor. Bronze: plan around it. The weather page carries every word of it, including what the office says to do.
Morning goldGolden hour after sunrise: the sun between 4 degrees below the horizon and 6 above. On every weather tile, at every size, and shaded bronze behind the hourly chart.
Golden hour nowThe window the clock is standing in, lifted to the brightest bronze on the tile and on the page. A small tile carries only this one window, running or next; medium, large and the page carry both.
Evening goldThe same window before sunset. Both are worked out from the coordinates and the date, not fetched, so they are there even when a forecast call fails.
Blue hourThe two degrees below golden hour, either side of the day. Shown on the medium and large tiles and on the weather page.
Cars dryMore than 4°F between the air and its dew point all night. Nothing should settle.
Damp by dawnWithin 4°F of the dew point at the coldest hour. Expect damp glass and panels.
Wet by dawnThe air meets its dew point. Anything standing out needs toweling before it is photographed or delivered.
Frost possibleDown to 33°F and within 4°F of the dew point. Frost, not dew, and never scraped off paint.
The cluster
On the weather page and the medium and large tiles. A cell nothing measured says so on its face, and grip is a category because nothing in the feed supports a number.
EstimateOn a cell nothing measured: the pavement temperature and the tire warm-up band. Both are models, and both name their inputs underneath. A measured cell never carries this tag, and a model whose inputs are missing is not drawn at all.
DryGrip, as a category rather than a number. Nothing in the feed supports a coefficient of friction, so none is offered. Dry, Damp, Wet and Standing water, each with the field that put it there printed under it.
Wet, ice riskRed on the cluster means the same as red everywhere: it stops work. Grip goes red when the pavement estimate is at or below freezing, and the words say which of ice, frost or freezing fired.
The working day
The band across the weather page. Two facts kept apart: how hard the hour is, and whether the light is good in it.
Good goingNothing in the way. Graphite: the band only takes a color when an hour asks for something.
WorkableBronze, the same as everywhere else: plan around it. Heat index in the caution band, freezing, a 30% rain chance, gusts over 25 mph or wind over 20.
Hard goingRed: it stops work. A heat index at the NWS Heat Advisory level, 20 degF or colder, a 60% rain chance, or gusts over 35 mph.
Golden hourDrawn under the hours it covers rather than replacing their color, because a 95 degF golden hour is still the best light of the day and still hard on whoever is standing in it.
NowThe hour the clock is in, outlined in chrome. At rest it is the only mark on the strip.
Picked hourA hairline on the hour chosen by a finger, a click or the arrow keys. It stands at full strength under the readout and stays at half once the readout has gone, while the line above the strip reads that hour.
Keyboard
What a person tabbing through sees. One ring, one shape, on every control on every page.
FocusedKeyboard focus, on every control on every page. AutoProsso Red over a chrome hairline, because red on its own measures 2.4:1 against glass the photograph lights from behind, and red only ever goes darker. Both tones together clear 3:1 on glass, on ink and over a photograph.
FieldA field being typed in warms its edge in bronze. Reached by the keyboard it takes the ring as well, so the two states never look alike.
Skip to contentThe first stop on every page, hidden until it takes focus. It clears the rail and the bar in one press and puts focus in the page.
Connection lights
In the Settings cockpit. The shift-light bar and the Systems chip (Systems 3/10) show how many connections are answering or ready, in the color of the worst one.
AnsweringThe service was pinged and answered. Its time is shown in milliseconds.
ReadyConfigured and waiting to be used. Nothing is pinged until it is needed.
IdleConnected, or standing in with sample data, and not driving anything yet.
OffNot configured.
DownPinged and did not answer within four seconds.
An email, part by part
Every email is built from the same ten parts, in the same order.
- Topic bandThe top edge is the topic color.
- HeaderThe AutoPro mark on graphite. It carries its own ground, so dark mode and inversion cannot hide it.
- Topic tagSays what the email is about in words as well as color.
- Event and vehicleWhat happened, then the vehicle: model, stock number and a masked VIN.
- Alert bannerOnly when needed. AutoProsso Red for overdue and overrides, the topic color for a locked gate.
- FactsTwo columns on a phone, one only on the narrowest screens.
- ButtonOne action, in the topic color, that opens the record.
- Fine printSpecific to this email: what it is, and what is and is not in it.
- Company footerThe lot, phone and site, then the color code with this email’s topic in bold, then the privacy and receipt lines.
- Developed by Paddock20The mark, the tagline and paddock20.com. Always last.
Sent from the release gateWhat sends this email, named the way the app names it.
Sample data, not emailedA notice worked out from sample data. It shows on the screens and is never sent until the lot’s own data is connected.
Template, no trigger yetDesigned and ready, and nothing in the app sends it yet.
A notice on a phone
The same four alerts the screens raise, with a way out to a phone that is not looking at the app. Nothing is sent that is not already on a screen.
A cabinet left openSeven minutes after a code is accepted with nobody confirming the cabinet shut. Hans, Fred and Hooman, and Gavin while builder access is on. A tap opens Key station.
Your keys, an hour before closeAn hour before the lot closes, for the keys you are still holding. The person holding the keys. A tap opens Key station.
What is still out at closeAt closing time, when anything is still checked out. Hans, Fred and Hooman, and Gavin while builder access is on. A tap opens Key station.
A car still at a shopAt five days away, then seven, then fourteen, then thirty. Hans, Fred and Hooman, and Gavin while builder access is on. A tap opens that car's own record.
OnThis phone gets the alerts it has chosen.
OffNothing is sent to this phone.
CheckingFinding out what this phone can do.
Add to Home Screen firstAn iPhone or iPad: alerts reach the app from the Home Screen only.
Blocked in this browserNotifications were blocked for this site in the browser’s own settings, the only place to undo it.
Not on this browserThis browser cannot receive notices. The alerts are still on the screens.
Not set upThe signing pair for alerts is not set on this deployment.
Turned on by a person for themselves, one phone at a time, in the Settings cockpit. On an iPhone or iPad a notice only reaches the app once it is on the Home Screen, which is Apple's rule and not a setting here. While the data is sample, no alert is sent.
Setting it up
On the owner's manual. A step answers for this dealership, never for the tool.
ReadyEverything this step needs is set, and every job on the lot has been ticked by somebody. A reading about the phone in somebody’s hand is shown and never holds a step open: the dealership’s progress cannot turn on which device happens to be reading the page.
Needs youSomething is still missing. The line under the step names it, and the step opens onto the job.
Beside a reading, a tick means the tool can see it, a bronze box means it is not set, and a rule means a plain fact with no verdict in it.
The flows, as they are
On the owner's manual. A chip answers for the tool, never for this dealership.
In the toolThe tool makes this movement today.
DemoOn screen in place of hardware that is not on the cabinet yet. The padlock keypad is the one that wears it.
Not yetNot a movement the tool makes here. Where something else happens instead, the step says what.
Footers
Two parts, always: the company block, then the developer credit.
Company footerAutoPro Nashville
Developed by Paddock20 · Digest. Develop. Deliver.Last in every footerSupplied artwork, used as isDark ground onlyMinimum width 150 px