What Is a Work Order?
Work orders are among the most dependable tools in facility management. While they still form the core of effective facility management operations, they’ve changed a lot over the years, adapting to modern practices, automation, and computerization.
What is a work order in modern facility management, and how do work orders fit in with other property management tools? How does work order software help property managers streamline communications, prioritize essential tasks, and ensure that no critical maintenance is overlooked? You have questions: we have answers.
Work Order Basics
What is a work order at its core? It’s a formal request to perform a repair or maintenance activity at a property. The property could be anything from a large factory to a small apartment building or local school.
Standard features of a work order include:
- Details of the work to be performed.
- The priority of the job.
- The location of the work.
- The person or department requesting the work.
Types of Work Orders
When learning what is a work order, it’s important to know that different scenarios require different approaches:
- Emergency work orders address critical issues that could present safety risks or significant work disruptions. These requests require immediate response and may bypass normal approval processes.
- Corrective work orders are for equipment failures or problems that need repair but aren’t immediately dangerous. These work orders represent the majority of maintenance requests in most facilities.
- Preventive maintenance work orders are scheduled based on time intervals, usage, or manufacturer recommendations. These proactive work orders help prevent equipment failures and temporary work stoppages and extend the life of valuable assets.
- Routine maintenance work orders cover regular tasks like cleaning, inspections, and minor adjustments that keep everything running smoothly and safely.
What Is Work Order Management Software
Although many workplaces continue to rely on paper and telephone work order requests, they can lead to problems such as:
- Lost orders.
- Duplicate requests.
- Confusion about the status of outstanding orders.
- Mix-ups around accountability for delays or incomplete work.
Modern software solutions have eliminated many of these issues, making facility management considerably more efficient.
Work order management software organizes and tracks work orders, facilitating accountability and making follow-up more effective. The right software gets everyone on the same page with complete information in a consistent format while providing management with a clear overview of the repair and maintenance status of the facility.
What Are the Advantages of Work Order Management Software?
Work order management software has numerous benefits, especially over a paper tracking system. Here’s how work order management software can help:
Improved Communication and Faster Response Times
People requesting service communicate directly with the teams responsible for repairs and maintenance. Request forms can include explicit instructions, details about specific issues, and even attachments that can help crews diagnose and address issues. Teams doing the service get the requests directly through mobile apps or on-site screens wherever they are, and can act on them immediately.
Accurate Record Keeping
Each request is stored and organized with all the actions taken, including notes and follow-up communications. This facilitates reporting and compliance while maintaining complete records for warranty and insurance purposes.
Enhanced Planning
Having accurate and complete records of inspections, scheduled maintenance, and emergency repairs makes it easier to plan for upcoming work. Facilities managers can more accurately anticipate when tasks will need to be performed, and how they can best schedule crews to handle them. These records can also help determine when replacement equipment will be needed, and when supplies and parts should be ordered.
Better Accountability
Requests and reports are directed to the responsible parties, who must make note of the actions they took and who the tasks were assigned to. Errors and oversights can easily be spotted and corrected.
What Is a Work Order’s Typical Progress Through the System?
In work order management software, a work order flows through these steps:
- A work order is submitted using a custom web form, desktop computer or mobile device. The work order can include due dates, comments, and attachments such as floor plans, diagrams, manuals, and regulatory guidelines.
- The appropriate maintenance team gets an alert as soon as the request comes in, and the work is assigned to specific people or teams.
- Technicians complete the work and add notes as necessary, marking the job as completed.
- Managers run reports to analyze the efficiency of the work, note any recurring issues, and plan preventative maintenance, parts ordering, or equipment replacement if necessary.
Industries That Use Work Orders
Work orders are commonly used in manufacturing to reduce downtime, enhance productivity, facilitate compliance, and ensure safety, but what is a work order’s role in contexts other than manufacturing? Work orders are critical to the functioning of many industries, including:
Property Management and Real Estate
Apartment complexes, office buildings, and retail spaces all have property managers who must answer to both tenants and owners. Work orders entered into work order management software allow them to coordinate maintenance across facilities and make data-based decisions about preventative maintenance and capital expenditures.
Healthcare Facilities
Hospitals, clinics, and medical offices use critical equipment that is subject to extensive compliance requirements, as well as patient safety needs. When properly managed, work orders ensure that nothing slips through the cracks and that essential maintenance and repairs are attended to immediately.
Educational Institutions
Offices, classrooms, labs, and campus facilities are diverse workplaces and learning spaces that have a wide variety of repair and maintenance needs. Facilities on school campuses have compressed periods that are extremely busy, and significant slow periods. Work order management software helps maintenance crews schedule work efficiently to match facility usage and prepare them for times when they will be in heavy use.
Hospitality
Hotels, resorts, and restaurants need to be in peak condition at all times. Guest experience is paramount, and repair and maintenance activities need to be invisible to them. Work orders allow management to schedule needed service for off-peak times so that guests can enjoy uninterrupted leisure time.
Government Facilities
Like educational institutions, government facilities include a wide range of assets, including public buildings, vehicles, parks, roads, and works yards. In addition, they have extensive compliance requirements, strict budgets, and regular inspections. Work orders coordinate repairs and maintenance to all of these sites. Work order management software facilitates the assignment of resources and prioritization of tasks.
Transportation and Aviation
Work orders in the transportation and aviation industries address vehicle maintenance as well as storage facilities and logistics centres. Safety is a priority in this industry, where compliance requirements are very strict. Prompt order completion and documentation tracking are essential in this sector.
What Is a Work Order in Practice?
In practical terms, a work order is a coordination mechanism that ensures safety, smooth workflows, minimal downtime, compliance with regulations, and enhanced productivity. However, traditional paper-based work order systems have significant shortcomings. Improvements in work order management software continue to enhance the basic functionality of work order systems to make task assignment and completion more efficient and reporting easier.
Maintenance Care’s work order management software offers the most advanced solutions on the market. As part of our comprehensive facility maintenance software, our specialized work order management system allows you to quickly create, manage, and organize work orders. The software can be configured to deliver notifications to mobile devices and check for duplicate orders, so nothing is missed and no time or effort is wasted.
Contact Maintenance Care today for a no-obligation demo of what our software solutions can do for your business.
About Maintenance Care
With Maintenance Care’s powerful CMMS platform, setting up and managing your preventative maintenance program has never been easier. From automated scheduling and mobile access to custom task views and real-time reporting, our software helps you stay ahead of facility-related issues to keep operations running smoothly and safely.
As your preventive maintenance program adapts to new standards and technologies, count on Maintenance Care to grow along with you. At the forefront of preventative maintenance software, we offer solutions that are scalable and designed to interface cleanly with predictive maintenance tools.
Whether you’re managing a recreational facility, a government complex, a transportation hub, or you’re a small business owner, Maintenance Care gives you the tools to coordinate your technicians, get the most out of your assets over the long term, and reduce unplanned downtime.
Contact us to request a demo or learn more about how Maintenance Care can work for your facility.
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