Work order administration tools

The Work Matrix provides a matrix view of open Work Orders, and provides options to act upon the Work Orders summarized in each individual cell.

To access the Work Matrix, navigate to the Home Page and select the Work Matrix tab.

From this tool, you can sort, filter, view, and check current Work Order counts in a number of meaningful ways. It provides two key sections: the summary grid and the sorting rows. The summary grid shows a detailed view of current Work Orders, and the sorting rows lets user define/sort the records that appear.

Users can sort the Work Matrix by using the two dropdown filters at the top of the grid, which allow the user to choose one or two distinct sorting options. One common sorting combination is to use Shop as the primary sort and Labor Assignment as the secondary sort.

Several sorting options include multiple selections that can return a broader view of your Work Orders. One example is the "Categories, Problems, and Procedures" choice that includes all three groups as a sort.

The true power of the Work Matrix can be found in the Matrix Click Action dropdown. From this menu, you can select the action you want to perform when a cell is selected. The choices are to filter the Work Order List by the chosen record (Set Criteria option), filter the Expanded List view by the chosen record (Set Criteria / Expanded option), run a basic Work Order List Report, print the Work Order hard copy via the Work Order Report and Work Order (No Grouping) options, or pass the selected Work Orders as criteria to any other pre-configured report via the Run Report button.

For example, if we set the Matrix Click Action to Work Order Report, and click on the 5 displayed in the screenshot below, the Work Matrix will send the filter information to the standard Work Order Report to print the 5 specific Work Orders in batch.

The Work Manager is a powerful tool for managing and viewing workload. Using the Work Manager, organizations can perform resource planning from a broad perspective (by Shop, Location, Repair Center, etc.), identifying problems areas and making quick adjustments. Once viewing the desired perspective, Administrators can easily modify assignment details and dates.

To access the Work Manager, navigate to the Home Page and select the Work Manager tab.

When viewing the Work Manager, the Asset tree will display in the Module List to the left, allowing you to filter Work Manager results by selecting locations from the displayed Asset Tree.

The filter controls at the top of the window determine which perspective will display.

Work Orders, Assignments, actual time worked, and even scheduled time off can be selected from the View dropdown.

The Format dropdown lets you display the data from a calendar, list or Gantt chart perspective.

The Display Tabs As and Repair Center dropdowns provide multiple options for filtering the data displayed. You will notice that the search field at the far right also adjusts with the Display Tabs As option to display the field to be searched for.

From this perspective we can easily redistribute workloads from one date to another, or access individual Work Order records to make adjustments as needed.

For more information on how to interface with the Work Manager and other MC calendars, check out the Staff Management Expert Features article, under the header, "Using MC Calendars."

Custom Work Order Filters can be defined by Repair Center and displayed on the Home Page and the Work Order List. Up to 10 custom filters can be defined per Repair Center, allowing for single click access to important and/or often-viewed groups of Work Orders.

Follow the steps below to build a Custom Work Order Filter:

• Access the Preferences from the Tools menu.

• Under the List Category of Work Order Preferences, select the next available Custom Filter Name Preference.

• In the dialog that appears, we will type the desired filter name in the Current Value textbox. In this case, we will use the name, "Unassigned High Priority Work Orders".

• Click Apply to save the new Custom Filter and return to the Preferences window, and then select the corresponding Custom Filter Preference.

• In the Set Preference dialog, click the Edit button beneath the Current Value textbox.
• The Criteria dialog will appear. Locate the Priority field and set it to High
• Next, locate the Assigned? field and set it to No.

• Click Apply to save the changes made to the Criteria. The proper SQL statement will appear in the Current Value textbox for the Set Preference dialog, indicating that the Custom Filter will show all unassigned, high priority Work Orders.

• Click Apply. When we return to the Home Page and/or the Work Order List (and click the Refresh button), our new Custom Filter will appear. You can click the filter to view all unassigned high priority work order currently in the system.

The Work Order Rapid Entry tool provides a quick method to add a series of Work Orders through a single screen entry mechanism, rather than having to create multiple Work Order records in the Work Order module itself. Organizations can customize the tool to include the fields that are necessary when establishing a new Work Order. This tool is especially valuable for an Administrator entering requests submitted via email, phone or paper by users without access to Maintenance Connection, or for entering completed Work Orders into the system that were never added previously.

To access the Work Order Rapid Entry tool, click Tools > Work Order > Work Order Rapid Entry.

In the dialog that appears, the Create Work Orders tab will display by default. From this screen, you can enter all the necessary details for a new Work Order. This tool is highly configurable, and will look different from one organization to the next.

The View Work Orders tab displays a report view of all recently closed Work Orders, and provides a feature to "delete" Work Orders created in error. Again, this allows Administrators to quickly locate--and if necessary remove--Work Orders without having to navigate through the records and tabs of the Work Order module. You can also adjust the Setup or Criteria of the report shown in order to meet the needs of your organization.

Finally, the Preferences tab allows you to set Preferences for the Work Order Rapid Entry tool within the tool itself. Because there are so many Preferences available for the tool, this tab saves Administrators from having to navigate back and forth between the tool and the Preferences window in order to customize the tool to meet their needs. Preferences for the tool allow you to include this sampling of options: designating the Asset requiring work, the Reason/Problem/Procedure for the work, Requester information, the individuals (Labor) to be assigned, along with Estimated Hours, Inventory Items required, and additional Work Order details. You can even tailor the tool to allow you to Close-Out the Work Order on the same screen, supporting the entry of completed Work Orders.

The Work Order Priority Manager allows you to set the WO Target Date based on the Priority of the Work Order. For each defined Priority, you can designate the number of days beyond the Requested Date on which the Target Date should be set. Not only does this automate WO Target Dates, it also creates a consistent standard for how long it should take to complete a Work Order based on its Priority.

You can set a value for the Work Order Priority field automatically through a Preference, a Procedure association, a Asset association, a or Preventive Maintenance schedule. Should a Work Order have associations to multiple Priority values (for example, if a Procedure and an Asset with differing Priority values were both associated with a Work Order), preference is given in the following order: (1) Asset (2) PM (3) Procedure (4) manual entry or Preference default.

To access this tool, click Tools > Work Order > Work Order Priority Manager.

The Priority Actions dialog will appear, showing the Priority Code and Description along with fields to designate the number of days beyond the Requested Date for each Priority. In the following example, Work Orders with an Immediately Priority will have same day Target Date, High Priority Work Orders will have a next day Target Date, and so on. Be sure the Enable Priority Actions checkbox is clicked before Applying any changes.

The setting defined in the Work Order Priority Manager only takes affect during the creation of the Work Order. It does not affect Target Date if the Priority is changed on an existing Work Order. As such, the date calculations will only be used in the following circumstances: (1) service requests, (2) corrective Work Orders, and (3) Preventive Maintenance schedules.