Creating Work Orders

Many maintenance organizations rely on work orders to ensure all the necessary work is completed in an efficient, timely manner. Therefore, work orders can be at the core of every successful maintenance management organization. Work orders are the primary means for detailing jobs that are performed in a plant or other company facilities. iMaint uses a Work Order form to link together everything someone would  need to complete their job. This includes the item needing work performed, the necessary people, steps to take to get the job done, parts and tools to use. The Work Order tracks the time and money estimated and actually spent to get the job done. Every detail is covered!

Using iMaint, Work Orders can be created using three different methods, manual work order creation, work requests and scheduled work.  

First, you may create a Work Orders manually using the Work Order and Quick Work Order forms. Both these options are accessed through the Work Order module using either the Work Order form or the Quick Work Order form.  As you would imagine, the Work Order form holds more information and can be more detailed, where the Quick Work Order form can be used to enter unexpected, simple needs for maintenance.

Second, you can set up a system, using iMaint, that will allow users to enter Work Requests. Work Requests give all users the ability ask for a maintenance procedure to be performed and for a supervisor to regulate and approve the requests.  These requests can be quickly converted into a Work Order, and both interested parties can track the evolution of the requested maintenance. For more information regarding Work Requests, please consult the corresponding section in this guide.  

The third method is to use the Scheduling module.  In the Scheduling module, you must define your preventive maintenance practices in detail.  These Schedule records will include when and how the work is to be performed.  iMaint will use the information to generate a work order proof list, which in turn can create Work Orders for the necessary maintenance. For example, set up and define the process of changing air filters in your plant every three months, or define how to perform an oil change on vehicles every 6,000 miles. When the appropriate date or meter value is reached, iMaint will generate a proof to alert users it is time to perform the work.  Using the iMaint Automated Scheduler, your System Administrator can even set up iMaint to look through the schedules, find work due, generate the proof list, turn the proofs into Work Orders and have them print to a designated printer every morning when you arrive for work. For more information about the Scheduling module, see the related section in this guide.  

Before You Begin

Before you create your first Work Order, is some information  to be considered.  iMaint does allow you to create these records on-the-fly, but it helps to be aware of these items beforehand.  The following items include settings that will help define the life of a Work Order and the entire Work Order process.

Work Order Status ID

The Status of a Work Order represents the life cycle of the process.  For example, the status may be Created or Open, then moved to In Process, and finally to Completed. There could be a variety of Work Order Status Codes.  iMaint comes with some predefined Status Codes but you may add your own. Each Status record contains settings or business rules that may or may not allow the Work Order to have specific attributes, such as being read-only, or allow a user to issue parts, or require a user to enter special codes.  Please, see the section on Work Order Status records to make sure you have the appropriate rules defined for each status code you wish to use with your work orders.

Tip: When you first open the Work Order form and filter to Show All records, work orders within a status of Completed or Cancelled will not display.  You may select the create a New Filter, check the box to Show Hidden Data on the filter window, and then click Ok to return all records.  Alternatively, there is a check box, called Hide in Lookups, on the Complete and Cancelled status records that default to true. If you wish to include work orders within these status codes the next time you filter to Show All work order records, un-check the box called Hide in Lookups.

Work Type ID's

When creating a Work Order, the Work Type ID can help determine the difference between Emergency Maintenance, Corrective Maintenance, or Preventive Maintenance.  iMaint comes with predefined Work Type ID's but you may also add your own.  The Work Type ID record contains Priority settings. Having both a Work Type ID and a Priority can help your team determine which Work Order needs to be completed first.

Notifications by Work Type ID and Status ID

For each Work Type ID, you may define who and when employees receive a Work Order Information notification.  On the Work Type form you may set up the notification to be delivered to the Assigned To, Assigned By, one Estimated Resource ID, and the Supervisor listed on the work order.  You may select one or all of these people to receive the notifications. Emails are triggered when the Work Order, with the specific Work Type ID, is set to the defined Status ID.  Each Work Type ID may be set up send notifications at different times, to different people.

For example, if a work order with a Work Type ID of EM (Emergency Maintenance) is generated, you may want to set the Assigned To and one Estimated Resource ID to be aware this work order has been created. You would set the status on the work type as the default of Open.  When the work order is saved upon creation, with the Open status, the Assigned To and the Estimated Resource would receive an email with all the pertinent work order information.  You may also wish to define that when a work order with a Work Type ID of EM is set to a Complete status, the Assigned By and Supervisor receives the notification to reference the work has been performed.  

These notifications will be sent to the Desktop E-mail Address on record for each Resource ID.  Information contained inside these notifications is managed under the Admin module. Use the Request E-mail Templates form to determine the content of the notification.

Remember, to enable any of the iMaint email notifications, your Administrator must have the appropriate email server settings entered into the iMaint Server Administration Tool.

Site Settings

On the Site form you will find a few settings that will define information, such as the Work Order Prefix and Work Order Number generated by iMaint and which Work Order Print format you wish to use. Please, see the Site Master section for more information.

 

Work Order Form Features

Most of the forms in iMaint will have the basic options, such as New, Save, Datasheet view and Undo.  The ribbons on the Work Order form give you quick access to some of the same functions, but also offers Work Order specific tools.

 

If you just want to see a few specific work orders, iMaint also offers a Filter option. Here you are allowed to tell iMaint, which work orders to display by setting up criteria.  For example, you may only wish to view the work orders with a status of Open, or maybe only work order for a specific asset and procedure.  If this is a filter you use quite frequently, iMaint allows you to name and save filters for future use.  Please, see the section regarding filters for more information.  

The Printer icon will launch the ActiveReports window. iMaint has a default Work Order Format and is technically a report found in the Report Module. Your company may have a custom Work Order Format that prints specifically what you need. Through the Work Order Format report, you may use the filter option to print only the desired Work Orders, or all Work Orders.

Under the View ribbon, the Datasheet View will give you a listing of all work orders. From the Datasheet, view simply click on Form View to return to the full work order.  You can even print from the Datasheet View.  

When the work order has an asset attached you may also click on the Asset Tree View icon to view all the parent/child relationships with other assets, parts, resources, ect.  The Tree View is also interactive, which means you can drill down to view the asset record of any parent/child asset attached to the tree.

The Duplicate option will create a duplicate record of the currently displayed work order.  The duplicate will obtain the next available Work Order ID and immediately be saved in the system.  Both the original and duplicate will still be editable. Users can now go and alter the new, duplicated work order and click save again.

Preview the work order printout, complete and cancel work orders using toolbar buttons. The Preview button on the toolbar will automatically display the one single work order on screen.  From the Preview window you can take the option to print and send the Work Order directly to a printer. The Work Order Print Format is actually a report found under the Reports module.

The Print WO button will print one single WO without opening the ActiveReports window.  The Work Order will print using the ActiveReports application but will be directly sent to the ActiveReports Job Monitor.  The Job Monitor icon will appear in your system tray and if you have a designated printer set up, the Work Order will automatically be sent to the printer.  The Job Monitor is, simply, the print queue used to display the jobs printed from ActiveReports.  

On the View ribbon, you also have the ability to access the Quick Work Orders form for fast, less detailed work order entry.  However, Quick Work Orders only allow for one Asset and one Procedure. Please, see the section on Quick Work Orders for more information.  

The Asset History button can be accessed from the Asset form as well as the Work Order form.  Click on the button located on the toolbar to view a report on the work order history of a specific asset.  Before you click the Asset History button you must select and highlight one of the detail lines with an asset from the Asset/Procedure tab.  You may even choose to filter the information displayed on the Asset Work Order History report that will display on your screen.

Complete WO offers you the ability to finish the Work Order, with a window that allows you to reconcile any parts, labor or miscellaneous costs that may have been estimated for use.  Please, see the section regarding the Complete process for further information. When completing a work order, iMaint automatically displays a summary with estimated and actual remaining resources, parts, and miscellaneous costs alerting you to the missing part issues, labor hours, etc.

Should you ever have the need to, simply, Cancel WO that might have been entered by mistake, you may use this ribbon icon. There is also a method to Cancel multiple Work Orders at once, located on the Navigation Tree.  Please, see the section on the Cancel and Completion processes for further information.