A practical breakdown of what belongs in a modern Work Order Management system — the core areas, the process from request to sign-off, how to keep only compliant contractors on the job, and how recurring preventive maintenance fits in.
A Work Order system will commonly be made up of the following.
A centralized place to access all the work order information and resources.
A calendar view of scheduled work orders that can be used to plan and manage resources.
The ability to quickly search and filter through work orders.
Alerts for upcoming work orders, changes in status, or any other custom notifications.
Generate detailed reports for individual work orders or for broader trends across the system.
Create custom fields to capture additional information about work orders.
Assign and manage resources, such as technicians and equipment, to work orders.
Integrate with other systems, such as accounting, inventory, or CRM platforms.
Control who can view and update work orders.
For the work order process itself, you might see a workflow similar to these steps.
The first step in the process is for the maintenance department to create the work order. This involves gathering the necessary information about the task, such as the type of work that needs to be done, the estimated time for completion, and any special instructions or requirements.
After the work order is created, the maintenance department will select a suitable contractor for the task. This involves researching potential contractors, determining their availability, and reviewing their qualifications.
The selected contractor is notified of the work order and all the details associated with it. The contractor can then decide whether or not to accept the job.
If the contractor accepts the job, they sign the contract and provide any necessary documentation. At this point, the maintenance department provides the contractor with any tools or materials needed for the job.
Once the job is completed, the contractor submits any necessary paperwork and invoices to the maintenance department, which reviews the work to make sure it meets all the requirements specified in the work order.
It's important to have the tools and processes in place to ensure that only approved and compliant contractors receive a maintenance work order. This starts with creating a list of approved contractors and requiring them to provide proof of compliance with any relevant regulations before they're allowed to perform the work.
This list should be regularly updated to ensure that only the most qualified and compliant contractors are performing the maintenance work. It's also important to ensure that any contractors hired to perform maintenance work are properly insured and bonded, so that only compliant contractors are carrying out the work.
Another area of a work order system is a recurring maintenance work order, where a work order is issued on a regularly scheduled basis to ensure preventive maintenance is completed on a regular basis. This type of work order is typically used for equipment or machinery that requires frequent maintenance, such as HVAC systems, vehicles, or machinery — scheduling routine tasks like oil changes, filter changes, or other regular maintenance activities.
See how requests, scheduling, contractor compliance, and reporting all come together in Work Metrics.