Asset-intensive or field service organizations cannot operate efficiently, relying on manual work order management. When you’re receiving a ton of work order requests every day, pen and paper is a complex and time-consuming way to track, approve, and execute as needed. Organizations are turning to work order automation to save money and time in handling requests and tracking processes.
With cloud-based solutions, you can automate approvals, set priorities, and provide task transparency for all stakeholders, including customers and technicians. Computerizing the work order process from task identification and creation to execution and review enhances service efficiency, customer satisfaction, and productivity.
Automating Approvals
This action is the next important step to setting things in motion after a task has been identified, and a request filed. The work order requests can arrive in high numbers for a dynamic organization and be overwhelming to manage appropriately. Whether it’s a conveyor belt breaking, leaks happening, or equipment malfunctions—someone needs to approve the orders. Plus, there’s a lot of asset and customer information to track and evaluate before approving any request.
For a single work order to go smoothly at the approval stage, you’ll need a proper system in place to keep asset data like maintenance history before you can schedule a technician. If you’re also servicing customers’ assets, you’ll need to track contact details and have any service agreement or warranties in sync with your work order management system.
Getting all that information in one place for easy access, including in real-time, is a tall order if you’re using a spreadsheet program or manual tools. That’s where Work Order Management software comes in, with your approval and data fed from operations: it can automatically approve recurring order requests without eating up or wasting anyone’s time.
Have the System Prioritize For You
Automation supports routine preventive maintenance, but some tasks are more critical than others and should be prioritized. An emergency malfunction for a critical piece of machinery takes precedence over simple smaller tasks (like leaks or minor wear and tear issues). Where there’s an issue that can’t wait another day to fix, you may have to quickly schedule an unplanned maintenance work order to avert disaster or loss.
But you need a comprehensive view of asset/facility data to set your priorities right. With work order management software, you have information on asset criticality and can quickly see technicians and resources available to solve the problem at hand. The system lets facility managers quickly decide and flag which tasks are priorities, allocating the right staff to the right issue at the right time.
Specifying Work Order Tasks
Tasks encompass many different machinery and processes. A work order must specify the problem in as much detail as possible to enable the assigned technician to do a great job the first time. Sometimes a work order demands just one part of a long process—it may be a break-fix, preventive replacement job, or ongoing maintenance work.
With work order management software, you can flag and even dig down and specify what exactly your workers need to do to get things up and running again. You should specify the nature of the identified defect, the broken equipment, and the location where the fault occurred in the task specifications. Automating the process means creating items saved over time and made into a custom work order that can be repeated when needed.
Notify Your Staff Automatically
Work order management software can automatically notify your staff of what needs to be done without going out of your way to draft an email or send word. The system has enough data on available personnel and their skillset, so it’s easy to automatically send the work order to the right team and let them know via their mobile devices.
With improved communication comes better schedule compliance and reduced lags/downtime. As technicians receive work order notifications in time, they can act faster to address the problem on hand. Also, less time spent notifying your workplace is more time for doing other imperative tasks. Automating work orders through software is here; don’t let your workplace go without it. It can enhance the efficiency of your maintenance operation with impressive productivity outcomes.
Work Order Automation
It isn’t easy to efficiently achieve the objectives of a work order with a manual process. Schedules are not followed too often, deadlines are missed, or task specification documents are misplaced or not promptly sent to the right technical support team. Work order automation software can address these and other critical issues to enhance maintenance transparency and efficiency, be it at your facility or customer’s site.
