You probably know at least someone who is eagerly anticipating Season 4 of Downton Abbeyor is so angry that (SPOILER ALERT!!!) theyve killed off Matthew that they dont ever want to see another episode. While you might be wondering what this has to do with work order software, its pretty clear to usthere have been a lot of changes in the way work orders have been transmitted in the past century. For those of you who havent been paying attention, heres a recap:
- Bell pulls. As anyone who has watched Downton Abbey can tell you, those bell pulls ran the lives of the people downstairs. If there was work to be done, a bell was pulled and someone then had to run up however many flights of stairs in order to find out what the job was. Then, perhaps, they had to run back down all those flights of stairs, gather the right tools, run up again and take care of the job. Lots of exercisebut also a lot of wasted time for those servants downstairs. And it certainly seemed as if everything demanded immediate attention in those days, with no regard for the personal life of those servants responding to the bells.
- Telephones. Eventually in-house telephone systems were introduced in great mansions such as Downton Abbey, and also in high rise apartment buildings, where the super could be reached any time of day or night via telephone to address the latest plumbing crisis or radiator casualty. This upgrade did at least allow instantaneous communication of the problem, even if it did wake the super at 3 am. It was not, however, the best method for communicating non-urgent work order requests.
- Email. Email transformed the non-urgent work order into something that could be easily communicated, and received. It was left to the recipient to prioritize and delegate, but at least there was now a traceable record that could be pulled to prove that the message was received, the maintenance was scheduled, and the sender really didnt have to pester the maintenance supervisor with another half-dozen emails before the scheduled service date.
- Work order software. Now we reach the present day, where mobile phones are attached at the hip, or the hand, of just about every person between 10 and 70 years of age in America. By creating work orders via computers and mobile apps, this software has enabled senders to quickly communicate the need, and the details, at any time of day or night, without disturbing the maintenance supervisor's personal life unless the issue is truly urgent. Supervisors, meanwhile, can automatically route certain types of requests to other staff; prioritize, communicate and track progress on projects without making distracting phone calls to staff; and convey status updates to senders with a couple quick taps.
Weve come a long way since the bell pulls of prior centuries. To learn more about the convenience of modern work order software, contact us today.
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