Reference
Glossary
CrankPal vocabulary translated into workshop language: what every word you meet in the app actually means, and where to find the page that covers it.
CrankPal uses precise names for things you call a dozen different ways at the counter. This page lines those names up. If a word appears on a screen and you don't know what it is, it's here.
Entries are in alphabetical order and, where a page goes into detail, there's a link to it.
How to read this page#
Each row is a term and its definition, in one or two sentences. Where two words look alike but mean different things — subscription and maintenance plan, quote and work order — the distinction is in the dedicated section further down.
Some terms are also feature keys or permission names that you see written exactly like that in the app: those live in Features by plan and Permissions and roles.
Terms A to Z#
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Adjustment | The stock movement you use to bring the recorded quantity in line with what you actually counted on the shelf. See Inventory. |
| AI diagnosis | An automatic suggestion of likely jobs, based on what the customer describes. It stays a suggestion: you decide. |
| Booking | An appointment in the calendar, with a time and a duration. It can come from the widget, the portal or the counter. See Bookings. |
| Booking widget | The booking form you paste onto your own website, so customers book without phoning you. See Customer portal and widget. |
| Branded report | The job summary you send the customer carrying your workshop's logo and colours. See Reminders and reports. |
| Build | The set of components fitted to a bike at a given moment: it is what a census produces. See Bikes and census. |
| Census | Recording the components fitted to a bike, guided by a template. It is what makes wear predictions possible. See Bikes and census. |
| Counter sale | Selling an item or a service on the spot, without opening a work order. See Counter sales. |
| Courtesy invoice | A non-fiscal summary document: it lets you get paid, it does not replace an e-invoice. Available on every plan. See Invoices and receipts. |
| Cranky assistant | The chat assistant inside the app. It answers questions and, when needed, hands the conversation to our support team. See Cranky assistant. |
| Credit note | The document that cancels or reduces an invoice you already sent. It is the correct way to fix things: the original invoice is never altered. See Invoices and receipts. |
| Customer portal | The web area where your customer sees their jobs, quotes and bikes. See Customer portal and widget. |
| Customer record | A customer's file: contacts, linked bikes, job history. See Customers. |
| Default location | The workshop's main stock location. There is always exactly one, it cannot be deactivated, and it is where goods land when you drain another location. See Stock locations. |
| E-invoice | The real invoice, transmitted electronically to the tax authority. See Invoices and receipts. |
| E-receipt | The fiscal document for a sale to a private customer, transmitted electronically. See Fiscal receipts and payments. |
| Fiscal verification | The check of your company's details against official sources. Until it completes, e-invoicing won't start. See Fiscal data verification. |
| Frame serial | The number stamped on the frame, unique to that bike. It identifies the bike even without a tag. See Bikes and census. |
| Frame tag | The coded sticker you put on a frame to link a physical bike to its record in CrankPal. See Bikes and census. |
| Groupset | The matched set of derailleurs, crankset, chain, cassette and shifters on a bike. |
| Handover | Giving the bike back to the customer, which closes the work order. See Work orders. |
| Inbox | The single place where customer messages from every connected channel arrive. See Inbox. |
| Internal barcode | A label you print yourself for an item that has no manufacturer barcode. It only means something inside your own workshop. See Inventory. |
| Inventory | The module that handles items, stock levels, goods-in and reordering. See Inventory. |
| Loaner bike | The bike you lend a customer while you work on theirs. The app tracks who has it and since when. |
| Maintenance plan | A recurring servicing plan the workshop sells to a cyclist. It has nothing to do with the workshop's own CrankPal subscription. |
| Part | A physical item you fit to a bike and charge on the work order. |
| Parts approval | The request you send the customer to authorise a part before you fit it. See Parts approvals. |
| Permission | An authorisation granted to an individual user, for example view_invoices. See Permissions and roles. |
| Plan | The workshop's subscription level, which decides which modules are switched on. See Features by plan. |
| Preflight check | The automatic check of the customer's fiscal details before an e-invoice goes out. If a mandatory field is missing it stops you before you send. See Invoices and receipts. |
| Quote | The price proposal you send the customer before working. If they accept, it becomes a work order. See Quotes. |
| Reminder | The automatic message to the customer: service due, bike ready, appointment tomorrow. See Reminders and reports. |
| Role | The label that decides which permissions a user starts with: admin, manager, mechanic, bike_fitter, viewer. See Permissions and roles. |
| Route planner | The tool for organising a mobile mechanic's round: stops, order, timings. |
| Service catalog | The list of jobs you offer, with time and price. It feeds quotes and work orders. See Service catalog. |
| Shifts and time clock | Scheduling your staff's hours and clocking their time. See Team and shifts. |
| SoftPOS | Taking contactless payments with a phone, without a physical card terminal. See Fiscal receipts and payments. |
| Stock | How many units of an item you have, and in which location. See Inventory. |
| Stock location | A physical place where you keep goods: the shop, a van, a store room. Every item has a stock level per location. See Stock locations. |
| Stock movement | The record of every unit that comes in, goes out or moves. It is the real history of your stock: it is never deleted, it is corrected with another movement. See Inventory. |
| Subscription | The plan your workshop pays CrankPal for: Free, Premium, Pro or Enterprise. Managed under Subscription and billing. |
| Supplier offer | The price a supplier gives you for an item. It is always private to your workshop: no other workshop sees it. See Suppliers and reordering. |
| Suspension | The state in which the workshop is not operating: it can be your own choice (a holiday) or the consequence of a pending payment or verification. |
| Transfer | Moving goods from one location to another. The destination must be active. See Stock locations. |
| User | The person logging into the app, with their role and permissions. See Users, roles and permissions. |
| User seat | A slot for a member of staff who logs into the app. Each plan includes a number of them; on Pro you can buy more. See Features by plan. |
| Vacation mode | A planned workshop closure: in the public listing you show as closed until a date, and you take no bookings for that period. |
| Work order | A single job on one bike, from check-in to handover: labour lines, parts, status. See Work orders. |
| Workshop | The business registered on CrankPal: one VAT number, one address, one subscription, one or more users. |
Pairs that get confused#
Subscription and maintenance plan. The subscription is what you pay CrankPal to use the app. The maintenance plan is what you sell a cyclist to keep their bike in order. Same kind of word, money flowing in opposite directions.
Quote and work order. A quote is a proposal: it can be turned down and it commits nobody. A work order is the real job, opened on the bike, with labour and parts that hit your stock and your invoice.
Receipt and invoice. The e-receipt is for the private customer who doesn't ask you for an invoice. The e-invoice is for someone with a VAT number, or who asks for one explicitly, and it needs the customer's fiscal details in full. They are two different fiscal documents, not two formats of the same one.
Location and default location. Locations are all the places you keep goods. The default one is the main one: there is only ever one, it is never deactivated, and it acts as the safety net when the others are frozen by a plan change.