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Besides the Ship Repair 101, there are also numerous threads on the use of the tenders (AD, AG, AKE, etc). Read them, they’re useful - the threads, but even more so, the ships themselves, whether for rearming purposes, or for repairs. The Guadalcanal scenario, and on a smaller scale the Coral Sea, is really limited on repair possibilities. In the campaign, Sydney is a frontline repair shipyard, you don’t conduct any long term repair - this is what the West Coast is for. You would have sent the carriers and battleships to Pearl, and from there to Seattle, Alameda, or any other of the 11 US or Canadian repair shipyards back there.
You’re right that the full campaign is daunting by its scope, but it’s just a matter of organization. My advice would be as follow:
1) start a no-stress, no-goal, no-pressure campaign. Just let the turns roll, only change few things, try to move some TF and units, to get the feel of the initial invasion. You’ll see how fast the IJA/IJN really move, the dangers of reinforcing some places. A lot of people recommend to keep numerous saves, and to go back in time when you realize you’ve made a serious mistake, but this takes a lot of time and effort : if you have to go back two weeks when you need 4 or 6 hours to issue the orders for a turn, it’s a lot of time wasted on fine-tuning a lot of orders, which in the end were rightly done, but that you’ll have to do again because a minority of orders were a bad idea. Take no more than 30 minutes to issue your order, to keep the turns rolling - the focus is on understanding the larger picture, and not on getting the details right.
2) during that time, familiarize yourself with the scenario’s map ; distances between key bases, where your supply & fuel are produced, where you need them, which routes are safer, which bases are hidden gems (undeveloped bases with high SPS for the area, or islands in CenPac with a bigger stacking limit). Where the repairs may be done. How the off-map bases are connected to each other and to the map. Use the keyboard shortcuts to have a good view of the roads & railways, and also for the type of terrain and hex sides (F6).
3) familiarize yourself with your units, what their TOE is, which ones are unrestricted, how much the restricted units would cost (in PP) to be released, find the hidden gems there too (PP cost is reduced when a unit suffers from disablement, and there are a few units useful in the future). Check the databases, in game or in the editor, to compare the devices. Simply checking the Anti-Soft values of different infantry squads will show you why some nationalities are less useful, as they don’t have the better upgrades. Check the upgrade paths of devices, and how many of them you receive as replacements (or in convoys).
4) learn to use SigInt and the OpsReport to gather intelligence, as well as recon and other ways.
And only then, after you’ve let the scenario roll for a couple months of game time, should you start again, and this time in earnest.
Managing the full campaign requires a routine too, a way to keep your focus when reviewing your turn’s result and issue next turn’s orders. Find what works best for you. Not everything has to be checked each day : for example, pilot training may safely be checked only once a week, or even once a month. But others have to be checked daily, like you’re carriers or any ongoing air or land battle. You also need a clear view of your strategy : keep notes of the operations you plan, assign them names, time tables, units, supports, etc.
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RE: Guadalcanal scenario: took Lunga & Tulagi, what now? - 
as well as the tenders guide. 
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