Your First Day with WashConsole

Welcome to WashConsole!

Congratulations on taking control of your car wash operations. This guide walks you through everything you need to do on Day 1 to get fully set up.

What you'll accomplish:

• ✅ Complete your account setup
• ✅ Add your location with GPS geofencing
• ✅ Create your first daily tasks
• ✅ Add your equipment for tracking
• ✅ Set up your team with proper roles
• ✅ Understand the AI Coach

---

Phase 1: Initial Setup (5 minutes)

The Setup Wizard

After you complete payment, a setup wizard automatically appears. Don't skip this—it only takes a minute and sets up everything correctly.

Step 1: Your Name

Enter your name as you want it to appear in the system. This shows on completed tasks, work orders, and team communications.

Step 2: Business Name

Enter your company name (e.g., "Smith's Car Wash LLC"). This appears on reports and exports.

Step 3: Site Name

Give your location a friendly name like:

• "Downtown Location"
• "Main Street"
• "Eastside Wash"

If you have multiple sites, you'll add more later.

Step 4: Site Address

Start typing your address and select from the dropdown. This does three important things:

1. Auto-detects your timezone — So task due dates and time clock entries are correct for your location
2. Creates a GPS geofence — So you can verify employees clock in at your location
3. Sets your country — Automatically detected from address (supports US, Canada, UK, Australia, and more)

You can always change your timezone and country later in Directory → Sites.

Click "Start Using WashConsole" and you're in!

---

Phase 2: Take the Guided Tour (5 minutes)

A guided tour automatically starts after setup. Don't skip it! The tour:

• Shows you every feature in 15 quick steps
• Highlights where to click for common actions
• Takes only 5 minutes

Tour Controls

• Next — Go to the next step
• Back — Revisit a previous step
• Skip — End the tour early (you can restart anytime)
• Escape key — Exit the tour

Restart the Tour Anytime

Look for the "Guided Tour" button in the bottom-right corner of your screen. Click it to restart from the beginning.

---

Phase 3: Create Your First Tasks (10 minutes)

Tasks are the heart of daily operations. Start with 5-10 essential tasks.

How to Add a Task

1. Click To-Do in the sidebar
2. Click + Add Task
3. Fill in:

- Task name — Be specific (e.g., "Empty vacuum canisters")

- Shift — When should this be done?

- *Opening* — Before customers arrive

- *During Day* — Anytime during operation

- *Closing* — Before leaving for the night

- Frequency — One-time, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly, or Custom

- *Custom*: Set any interval (1–365) and unit (days, weeks, or months)

- Examples: "Every 3 days", "Every 2 weeks", "Every 6 months"

- Badge displays in teal (e.g., "Every 3 days")

- Next due date automatically advances by the custom interval after completion

- Priority — Low (gray), Medium (blue), or High (red)

- Photo Required — Toggle on if you want proof of completion

- Instructions — Optional details for employees

Starter Tasks by Shift

Opening Tasks (do these first):

Midshift:

Closing Tasks:

Pro Tip: See the "Example To-Do Lists by Wash Type" guide for complete task templates for Self-Serve, Tunnel, and Hand Wash operations.

---

Phase 4: Add Your Equipment (10 minutes)

Tracking equipment lets you:

• Know what's online or broken
• Build maintenance history
• Get AI Coach alerts when something needs attention

How to Add Equipment

1. Click Equipment in the sidebar
2. Click + Add Equipment
3. Fill in:

- Zone — Physical area (e.g., "Self-Serve Bays", "Vacuum Lot")

- Location — Specific spot (e.g., "Bay 1", "Station 3")

- Equipment Type — Category (Vacuum, Pump, Pay Station, etc.)

- Name — Specific identifier (e.g., "Vacuum #1", "HP Pump")

Essential Equipment to Add

Start with revenue-critical items:

Setting Equipment Status

Each item has a status:

• 🟢 Online — Working normally
• 🟡 Maintenance — Being repaired
• 🔴 Offline — Not working

When you create a work order for equipment, the status automatically changes to "Maintenance."

---

Phase 5: Invite Your Team (10 minutes)

Your team needs access based on their role. WashConsole has three permission levels:

Understanding Roles

How to Add Team Members

1. Click Directory in the sidebar
2. Select the People tab
3. Click + Add Team Member
4. Fill in:

- Name — Their display name

- Email — Must be unique (they'll use this to log in)

- Role — Manager, Technician, or Employee

- Location — Which site they work at

1. Click Add

What happens next:

1. They receive an email with login instructions
2. They click the link to create their password
3. They can immediately log in and start working

Setting Up Geofence for Clock-In

Your site address automatically creates a GPS geofence. When employees clock in:

• ✅ At the wash — Clock in succeeds with green confirmation
• ⚠️ Too far away — Warning shown with distance; they can still clock in but it's flagged "Off-Site"

To adjust the boundary:

1. Go to Directory > Sites tab
2. Click your location
3. Adjust Geofence Radius (default is 200m, increase if needed)
4. Save

---

Phase 6: Meet Your AI Coach (5 minutes)

The AI Site Coach is your daily briefing assistant. It reads all your data and tells you what needs attention.

How to Access It

Click AI Site Coach in the sidebar (managers only).

What You'll See

AI Summary: A short, concise overview at the top highlighting only the most important issues.

KPI Sections (all stacked on one page):

• To-Do, Work Orders, Complaints, Reviews, Gauges, Equipment, Orders, Chemicals, Time Clock
• Each section shows its key metrics with a status dot (green/yellow/red)
• Click "View" on any section to jump straight to it

Best Practice

Check the AI Coach first thing every morning. It takes 30 seconds and tells you exactly what needs your attention.

---

Phase 7: Quick Wins for Day 1

Here are a few more things to set up when you have time:

Add Important Gauges

If you track readings like water pressure or TDS levels:

1. Go to Gauges in the sidebar
2. Click + Add Gauge
3. Set the target value and acceptable range

Gauges automatically create work orders when readings are out of range.

Upload Chemical SDS Documents

For OSHA compliance and the AI Safety Officer:

1. Go to SDS Library in the sidebar
2. Click + Add SDS
3. Upload PDFs from your chemical suppliers

Once uploaded, you can ask the AI Safety Officer questions like "What PPE do I need for Tire Shine?"

Add Inventory Items

Track supplies so you never run out:

1. Go to Inventory in the sidebar
2. Click + Add Item
3. Set a reorder point for automatic alerts

---

Your First Week Checklist

Use this checklist to ensure you're fully set up:

---

Troubleshooting Common Questions

"My employee didn't get the invite email"

Check their spam folder. If still missing, you can resend the invite from Directory > People.

"GPS shows employee clocked in off-site but they were there"

Increase your geofence radius in Directory > Sites. Also, ensure they're using their phone (not a laptop) for better GPS accuracy.

"I can't find a feature"

Click the Guided Tour button to restart the tour, or use this Knowledge Base to search for specific features.

"I made a mistake adding something"

Everything in WashConsole can be edited or deleted. Click on any item to see edit options.

---

Need More Help?

• Knowledge Base — You're here! Browse other guides for detailed feature explanations.
• Email Support — contact@washconsole.com
• Guided Tour — Click the button in the bottom-right corner anytime

You've got this! Most owners are fully operational within their first day. The system is designed to be intuitive—just start using it and you'll quickly become a pro.