A Comprehensive Guide on the Life and Stages of Work Order

What does a work order mean?

Let’s start with the basics. A work order is a document that details a specific task or job to be completed within an organisation. It serves as a directive for technicians, maintenance personnel, or service providers, outlining the scope of work, required resources, and timelines for completion.

Technicians don’t carry a PC when on the field, so they rely on work orders to provide all the information they need to offer effective service. Likewise maintenance personnel and service providers.

We can say a work order acts as a communication tool that facilitates the better coordination of tasks to ensure clarity and accountability among all parties involved. Whether it’s scheduling routine maintenance, addressing equipment malfunctions, or managing service requests.

In facility management, fleet management, and asset management, work orders are the core of day-to-day operations, providing a structured framework for managing tasks and resources. Without proper work order management, organisations may struggle to prioritise tasks, allocate resources effectively, and maintain compliance with regulatory requirements.

What is the Importance of work orders to organisations?

Since a work order is just a document, what makes it so important? Do you even need it in your organisation? These are some of the questions you might have in mind.

Well, Work orders are more than just documents; they are essential tools that drive an organisation’s efficiency and productivity. By effectively managing work orders using a work order management software, your organisation can optimise the process of assigning, tracking, and completing tasks without having to do any heavy lifting.

Let’s look at the importance of work orders.

Organisation:

Work orders help keep all tasks, assignments, and projects organised in a central location. This means no more lost paperwork or missed deadlines because everything is stored digitally and easily accessible.

Efficiency:

With a work order in place, tasks can be assigned, tracked, and completed more efficiently. There is better communication between team members and it ensures everyone knows what needs to be done and when.

Data Collection and Analysis:

Work orders facilitate the collection of data and its analysis. This enables organisations to identify trends, track costs, and make informed decisions regarding best-suiting asset management and maintenance strategies.

Improved communication:

Work orders serve as a communication tool between team members, managers, and clients. Everyone involved can easily access information, provide updates, and ask questions, leading to fewer misunderstandings and delays. This ensures clarity and accountability throughout the work process.

Task Prioritisation:

Work orders allow your team to prioritise tasks based on urgency and importance, ensuring that critical work gets attention first, preventing delays, and improving overall productivity.

Better Resource Management:

By outlining resource requirements and timelines, work orders facilitate effective resource allocation, ensuring tasks are completed on time and within budget.

Resources such as equipment, materials, and manpower can be allocated more effectively. This helps prevent overbooking or underutilisation of resources. Also, the right tasks will be assigned to the right vendors or personnel at the right time, maximising their productivity.
 

Performance Evaluation:

Work orders enable organisations to track performance metrics, monitor key performance indicators (KPIs), and evaluate the effectiveness of maintenance and operational activities.

Compliance and accountability:

Work orders ensure tasks are completed according to established standards and regulations. They provide a clear record of work performed, as well as documentation for regulatory compliance and audit purposes, making it easier to track who did what and when, which is crucial for compliance purposes.

Improved Customer satisfaction:

By improving efficiency, communication, and accountability, work orders ultimately lead to better service delivery and improved customer satisfaction. Customers get to receive timely resolutions to issues and improved service delivery.

They stay updated on important trends and can trust that their requests are handled promptly and professionally. This of course leads to long-term customer loyalty and retention.

Reduced Errors:

Work orders when automated will lead to reduced errors and increased efficiency for your team. We can agree that manually handling any activity always has a higher probability of leading to errors. This has happened in several cases and we are sure you can remember one time when it happened to you as well.

To avoid these errors, your work order process must be automated. Automating the work order management process minimises human errors in data entry and communication. This is possible with a Work Order Management System. Using a work order management system, there’s less chance of misinterpreting handwritten notes or forgetting important details, leading to more accurate and reliable work.

There’s a huge relief that comes with deploying work order management software to take care of work orders. With a work order management system, you’re surely certain everything will go right and you would have little to no worries trying to keep up with tasks.

A reliable work order management system highly recommended by several Industry experts over the years is Instanta work order management software. 

Instanta has been very helpful in tracking our maintenance request from initiation to completion and is a source of history of work done per unit and general maintenance reporting. It is highly recommended for a performance-based result”.

Tayo Oyelaja
Head, facility management | Mixta Africa

With Instanta, you and your facility, fleet, or asset management team can go to sleep rest assured that work orders will be effectively implemented.

Now to the life and stages of a work order.

What is the Life of a Work Order?

The life of a work order is the entire journey or process that a task undergoes from its initiation to its closure. It is the full lifecycle of a task or project within an organisation’s operational framework, and includes all the stages a task progresses through, from start to finish.

Here comes the question. What then are the stages of a work order? And what’s the difference between the life and stages of a work order? Let’s see what we’d find as the difference if at all there’s any.

What are the Stages of a Work Order?

The stages of a work order represent the individual steps or phases within the work order’s lifecycle.  The work order management stages serve as a structured framework for planning, executing, managing tasks, maintenance activities, repairs, and other operational needs effectively.  Each stage represents a specific point in the life of the work order.

From the definition of the life and stage of a work order, we can say that the life of a work order is the entire journey the work order goes through, while the stages are the steps taken through the journey.

Let’s use a practical example. A child is born and brought to life. The child, has to grow through several stages in life to become an adult. In his journey to adulthood, he passes through different stages. First is when he is born, then he learns to walk, and then he goes to school, (primary, secondary and tertiary) or learns a skill. Afterwards, he proceeds to get a job or set up a business, and on and on.

We can see that the child went through different stages in the journey of his life to become an adult. The same applies to a work order. The work order passes through different stages from initiation when it can be likened to a toddler, down to closure when it has become an adult.

Let’s have a look at the different stages of the work order and what they mean.

The Stages of a Work Order

There are typically 8 stages a work order goes through in its journey. We would be examining these different stages and how they impact the life of a work order.

Initiation:

This is the first stage and marks the beginning of the work order process. It begins when a request or work order form is submitted which could come from various sources such as customers, clients, internal departments, or automated systems.

The request for the initiation of a work order could be triggered by several circumstances which could include equipment breakdowns, routine inspections, or preventive maintenance schedules. The requestor submits a work order request detailing the issue, including relevant information such as location, equipment involved, and description of the problem.

Planning:

Once a work order is initiated, it moves into the planning stage. At this stage, the details of the work order are assessed, including the scope of work, resources required to get the work done, estimated time, and budget considerations. Planning involves assigning tasks, scheduling, and determining the necessary materials or equipment.

The Work orders are evaluated and prioritised based on several factors such as their urgency, importance, safety concerns, regulatory requirements, and operational impact.

Approval:

After the planning stage, the work order may require approval from a relevant, authorised personnel, such as facility managers or department heads, before proceeding to the next stage. This stage ensures that the proposed work aligns with the organisation’s goals, budget constraints, and safety regulations.

Execution:

Once approval has been obtained, the work order moves into the execution phase. This is where the actual work earlier outlined in the work order plan is carried out.  It involves deploying allocated resources, assigning tasks to personnel, and executing the necessary activities to complete the job based on the specifications.

During the execution, technicians or maintenance crews carry out the necessary repairs, inspections, or maintenance activities as specified in the work order. They follow the established protocols and safety procedures to ensure work is completed efficiently and any deviations or unforeseen issues encountered are documented for future reference.

Monitoring:

Throughout the execution phase of the, the progress of the work order is continuously monitored. Key performance indicators (KPIs), such as completion status, resource utilisation, and adherence to timelines are tracked.

Monitoring helps identify any issues or deviations from the plan, allowing for timely adjustments if needed to minimise disruptions and maintain project timelines.

Completion:

Once the work outlined in the work order is finished and all tasks are successfully executed, the work order enters the completion stage. Technicians or maintenance personnel verify that all tasks have been satisfactorily completed and that the equipment or asset is functioning as intended.

The work done is then verified to ensure it meets the required standards and specifications outlined in the initial request. This may also include obtaining client or customer sign-off to confirm satisfaction of the task carried out by the technician or maintenance personnel assigned to the work order.

Documentation and Reporting:

Once completion of the work order has been ascertained, the work order process requires thorough documentation and reporting. This includes recording details such as work performed, materials used, labour hours, costs incurred, and any relevant notes or observations.

Comprehensive documentation ensures accountability, traceability, and compliance with regulatory requirements. The documentation also helps the team carry out analysis that helps improve processes, and maintain compliance records for future work orders.

Closure

The final stage of the work order process is closure. Closure signifies the formal end of the work order process. At this stage, all administrative tasks related to the work order are completed.

The work order closure also involves archiving documentation earlier done, updating records, closing out financial accounts, and notifying relevant stakeholders of the work’s successful completion.

Feedback is also gotten from stakeholders involved in the work order process, including requestors, technicians, supervisors, and customers, to identify areas of improvement.

These are the stages the work order undergoes to ensure coordination and accountability from it’s initiation to conclusion. Following these processes your organisation can efficiently organise, assign, and complete tasks, leading to improved productivity and better operations.

This can be a lot to handle, especially when you have to do it manually. But It’s a good thing you do not have to worry about managing these stages yourself or even worse manually when you implement a work order management software. The best work order management software your organisation could benefit from is Instanta work management software. 

The Instanta work management software can be deployed to suit either your fleet management, facility management, or asset management teams and would ensure that the work order management process is properly streamlined to improve your business operations.

We have been able to see the different stages of a work order and the role each stage plays in the life of a work order. However, there are important factors to pay attention to through these stages. Adhering to these factors would determine how successful the work order process will be. Let’s have a quick look at these factors and their effect on ensuring a smooth process.

Key Considerations for Effective Work Order Management

Clear Communication:

According to Nat Turner, “Good communication is the bridge between confusion and clarity”. Effective communication is always crucial at every stage of the work order process.

Clear and concise communication ensures that all stakeholders understand their roles, responsibilities and expectations. This leads to better task execution and fewer misunderstandings.

It is important to always communicate any changes or updates to the work order, so as to give the technicians or vendors enough room to adjust. That way, misunderstandings or delays in the work order process will be avoided.

Accurate Information Gathering:

It’s essential to do your due diligence in gathering accurate and detailed information during the initiation stage. This includes properly documenting the nature of the issue the work order is meant to resolve, location details, equipment involved, cost implications and any relevant historical data.

Accurate information ensures that the work order is properly addressed and resolved. Also, whoever gets assigned the task has enough information to work with and resolve the issue promptly.

Thorough Planning and Scheduling:

We are all aware of the popular saying “he who fails to plan, plans to fail”. The importance of adequate planning and scheduling cannot be stressed enough. Planning and scheduling should be done thoroughly to ensure efficient resource utilisation and minimise disruptions.

Factors such as technician and vendor availability, equipment downtime, and material availability should be taken into consideration when planning and scheduling work orders.

Efficient Resource Allocation:

Proper allocation of resources, including materials, manpower, and equipment, is essential for successful work order execution. Adequate resources should be allocated based on the scope and complexity of the work to prevent delays or interruptions due to resource shortages.

Assigning the right personnel to work orders should also be treated as a priority for ensuring timely and efficient execution. Assigning work orders should be based on factors such as technician skill level, expertise, and workload capacity and not based on favouritism or bias.

Adherence to Protocols and Safety Procedures:

Adhering to established procedures and protocols is vital for maintaining consistency, quality, and safety throughout the work order process.

Technicians and maintenance crews must adhere to established protocols and safety procedures throughout the execution phase. This includes wearing appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE), following safety guidelines, and adhering to regulatory requirements. Safety should always be prioritised to prevent accidents and injuries.

Quality Assurance:

Quality assurance measures should be implemented at every stage of the work order process to ensure that work is performed to the highest standards and meets specified requirements outlined at the initiation and planning stage. Inspections, tests, and quality checks should be conducted to verify the quality and integrity of work performed.

Continuous Monitoring and Feedback:

This is one of the stages of the work order process and an important one. Continuous monitoring of work order progress allows for timely intervention in case of deviations, delays, or issues.

Also, regular feedback from stakeholders is essential as it helps improve the work order process in the future. Regular feedback helps you identify areas that need to be improved upon and those that should be trashed out.

Conclusion

The life and stages of a work order play an important role in ensuring effective facility, fleet, asset, and procurement management. By understanding how the work order life cycle works your organisation can better streamline its operations, maximise resources, and achieve its business goals efficiently.