The life cycle of a corrective work order

< Previous section | Table of Contents | Index | Next section >

This section outlines the usual sequence of events in dealing with a problem report received from outside the maintenance department.

Note: This section (and the other sections in this chapter) describe typical ways in which organizations use MainBoss. However, almost everything here is optional; you can choose which MainBoss features fit best with your methods of operation. For example, a MainBoss work order lets you record advance estimates of the labor and materials for a job, plus the actual costs of labor and materials once the job is finished. However, you don't have to use these facilities; if your organization doesn't keep track of labor and/or materials on a per-job basis, you can simply omit this information from your work orders.

Create a work request (see Creating and Editing a New Work Request). This is done by the person who receives the problem report.
In some companies, individuals outside the maintenance department may be authorized to prepare their own work requests. For example, there might be someone in each department who is authorized to create and submit work requests for the maintenance department to deal with.
Create a work order based on the work request (see Creating and Editing Work Orders). This is usually done by someone in maintenance management. The original work request contains a basic description of the problem. The person drawing up the work order may add more information including:
- priority of the job
- date/time the job should be done
- personnel assigned to do the job (possibly including labor costs based on the workers' wages)
- length of time the job is expected to take
- materials expected to be needed for the job
- detailed description of the work to be performed
Print off the work order and give it to the workers assigned to the task (see Printing Work Orders).
Close off the work order when the work is actually completed. This may be done by maintenance management or by the workers who actually did the job. When you close the work order, you record actual information about the job, as opposed to the estimates you made when you originally created the work order. For example, when you create a work order, you can estimate the time required for the job and the materials that will probably be used; when you close the work order, you record the actual time and materials.
You also assign a closing code to each work order. For example, your closing codes may be based on the type of problem (HVAC complaint, plumbing problem, vandalism, etc.) or they might be based on what you did to deal with the problem (repair, replacement, adjustment, etc.). Closing codes provide a way to classify and track the type of work that your maintenance department does.

At any point in the process, you can edit the results of previous stages. For example, when you originally create a work order, you may not have enough information to estimate the expected labor and material costs. When you do get this information, you can go back and add it to the work order. You can even modify a work order after it's closed, if you get additional information or discover that you made an error.

< Previous section | Table of Contents | Index | Next section >