Understanding Work Order Management

You can create work orders for customer requests that cannot be resolved with a phone call. You enter work orders to request work at the customer site or at a repair depot. Work orders provide the central database for all service and repair information and the events associated with an equipment record, inventory item number, or product model. Work orders track requests for depot repairs, and they track shipments of replacement parts. The majority of service calls are initiated through the Case module, but the repair depot might also create them.

A work order enables you to track all of the necessary phases of the work to resolve the customer's issue, from scheduling the technician to the technician's arrival and successful completion of the work.

You can also use work orders to manage the workflow of service tasks and other projects. You can manage all aspects of a service task or project, including:

• Creating work orders for preventive and corrective maintenance.

• Committing inventory to a work order.

• Scheduling multiple tasks, such as mechanical, electrical, and so on, in a work order.

• Tracking the progress of a work order by status.

• Tracking work order costs, such as labor, materials, and so on.

• Recording unlimited detailed information about a work order.

• Completing and closing a work order.