Vehicle Lifecycle Stages

Learn how Inventory Hub organizes vehicles into three lifecycle stages — Needs Approval, Active, and Archived

To keep things organized and easy to track, Inventory Hub sorts every vehicle into one of three lifecycle stages: Needs Approval, Active, and Recently Archived. These stages help you understand where each vehicle is in the process and what kind of attention it needs.

Here’s a breakdown of what each one means.

• Vehicles that appear in the Needs Approval stage are new to the system. They’ve just arrived from your inventory feed but haven’t been fully reviewed or “checked in” by an Inventory Manager. At this stage, they’re not yet part of the active inventory workflow. Until they’re approved, these vehicles are not visible in the main inventory list for general users.

• Once approved, vehicles are moved to the Active stage. This is where most of the action happens and includes all vehicles that are in the workflow — whether they’re still being reconditioned or already front-line ready (FLR). Some might be waiting on photos or cleanup; others might be fully completed and just waiting to be sold.

• The Archived stage holds vehicles that are no longer in active circulation. This typically includes units that have been delivered through Delivery Hub or manually archived by a manager. While archived vehicles are removed from the main dashboard, they are still accessible via Search.

Moving Vehicles from Needs Approval to Active

When new vehicles arrive in the Needs Approval stage, an Inventory Manager is responsible for checking them in and approving them before they become part of the active workflow. Here’s how that process works:

1. From the Inventory Dashboard, make sure the Approval Required filter is active to view all vehicles waiting for approval.

2. Click on a vehicle in the list to open its Vehicle Profile.

3. In the sub-menu, click the Approve Vehicle button to begin the check-in.

4. Review important details like Condition, Stock Number, Cost, and Price. If any of these need changes, toggle the Override Fields option and update as necessary.

5. Enter additional information such as Location, Key Count, and Key ID (if applicable), then assign a Budget for reconditioning or other costs.

6. Indicate whether the vehicle is a Rush Unit — but be careful not to mark all vehicles as rush, as this can distort priorities.

7. Finally, select the applicable Task Plans that will apply to this vehicle’s preparation process.

Once approved, the vehicle moves from the Needs Approval stage into the Active stage, making it visible to your team and ready to progress through the inventory workflow.

Moving Vehicles from Active to Archived

Vehicles transition from the Active stage to Archived once they have completed their inventory lifecycle. This can happen in several ways, depending on your dealership’s settings and workflow:

• Automated Delivery Hub Integration:
  If enabled, the system automatically archives a vehicle when it detects a Delivery Hub event marked as delivered that matches the vehicle’s stock number or VIN. This ensures vehicles are archived promptly after delivery without manual intervention.

• Auto-Archive When VIN Disappears from Inventory Feed:
  If a vehicle’s VIN is no longer present in your inventory feed — indicating it’s no longer in stock — the system can be set to auto-archive the vehicle. This setting helps keep your records up to date with minimal manual effort.

• Manual Archiving:
  Managers with the right permissions can also manually mark a vehicle as Archived from the Options menu within the Vehicle Profile. This is useful for exceptions such as wholesale sales, returns, or other special cases.

Once archived, vehicles are removed from the Active workflow but remain searchable within the system for reference or audit purposes.