What Is a Work Order? Complete Guide and Examples
Without work orders, it's impossible to prioritize and execute on your maintenance strategy. But what is a work order? In this comprehensive guide, we'll define these essential forms along with their benefits, creation and execution process, and best practices. You'll also get an example of a concise, effective work order.
What Is a Work Order?
A work order is a formal, structured description of a requested maintenance task, such as an inspection or repair. It's also known as a works order or maintenance job card.
Work orders include all necessary details to perform the task, including a process to follow. This documentation is essential to maintenance management because it ensures all team members have a clear understanding of the work, its priority among other assignments, and how to successfully complete the task. Work orders also enable teams to track and submit updates.
Today, work orders are typically digital. Paper versions still exist, but they're difficult to manage, slow to access, and less secure. Plus, the environmental impact is counter to most modern sustainability initiatives. You can access, view, and update digital work order forms from anywhere, on mobile devices or desktop computers.
What's the Difference Between a Work Order and a Work Request?
A work request is the first step in the larger work order process. A work request form is a formal document that identifies and describes a maintenance issue. Maintenance managers review, authorize, and prioritize work requests before creating work orders.
Work orders are the next formal document in the process. They not only identify the issue but also describe the work, provide instructions, and assign resources and timelines.
What's the Difference Between a PO and a Work Order?
A purchase order (PO) is an official purchasing form used in the supply chain procurement process. POs specify the items you want to purchase, quantities, and prices.
A work order is an official maintenance request form used in maintenance operations. These forms detail the requested maintenance work along with who's responsible, asset information, necessary resources, and deadlines.
Importance and Benefits of Work Orders
Work orders help organizations track maintenance jobs, including inspection, repairs, and other service tasks. The level of detail and structure enables the efficient, effective completion of each assignment, streamlining workflows and improving productivity. Maintenance teams can use work orders to assign tasks, communicate with technicians, and document their progress on each job.
Work orders are valuable because they enable:
- Accountability: These documents detail who's responsible for which maintenance duties as well as any deadlines.
- Clear communication: All team members, from technicians to maintenance managers to executive leadership, can reference work orders to gain a shared understanding of priorities.
- Improved documentation: Work orders create a thorough history of every task, part, and asset, simplifying compliance, audits, and warranty claims.
- Data analysis: These records reveal patterns and trends that can highlight the need for process improvements.
- Reduced downtime: With work orders, teams can work faster thanks to detailed instructions and coordinated schedules.
- Strategic planning: You can see all upcoming needs, including labor, parts, and planned maintenance, by reviewing collective work orders.
- Informed maintenance strategies: With historical records of performance and maintenance history for each asset, you can create the right balance between maintenance strategies with proactive and reactive approaches.
A computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) can help you get the most value from all this data. It's more than just work order management software. With a CMMS, you can create and monitor work orders, analyze data and trends, and make data-driven decisions to improve processes. Learn why eMaint CMMS is the next evolution of work order software.
4 Common Types of Work Orders
All work orders reflect proactive or reactive maintenance needs. But the Society for Maintenance & Reliability Professionals (SMRP) recognizes distinct categories that can help classify maintenance tasks with more specificity. Here are 4 key types of work orders:
1. Inspection Work Orders
An inspection work order is appropriate for a visual inspection, compliance audit, or safety check. During inspection, if the technician identifies an issue that requires service, they can create a new work order.
2. Preventive Maintenance Work Orders
Preventive maintenance work orders request routine duties such as time- or usage-based maintenance. Cleaning, lubrication, and filter replacements are all examples of preventive maintenance tasks.
3. Corrective Maintenance Work Orders
When a maintenance manager or technician notices an issue with a part or asset, they'll create a corrective maintenance work order to address it. Routine inspections and preventive maintenance jobs often reveal larger equipment problems that require corrective maintenance.
4. Emergency Work Orders
Emergency maintenance responds to equipment failure or potential failure that could lead to costly downtime or health and safety issues. Events that could trigger an emergency work order include gas leaks and power outages.
Information To Include in Your Work Order
A successful work order breaks down complex work into manageable steps. Whether for facilities management or regulatory compliance, planned maintenance or unplanned maintenance, an effective work order should always include:
- Clear description: Why you created the work order and necessary details
- Identifiable asset information: Location, equipment ID, and service history
- Priority level: Low, medium, high, or critical priority
- Estimated labor and parts: Time and tools/parts required
- Assigned technician/team: Who you’ve assigned to perform the work
- Scheduled start/due dates: When work starts and the required deadline
- Completion and follow-up notes: Effective documentation of actual hours spent, work completed, and other essential updates
Example of a Work Order
What does a work order look like? While these official documents should contain all the information required to complete a job, they shouldn't be overly wordy or complex. Here's an effective example:
Work Order #: 003587
Type: Preventive Maintenance
Asset: Elevator #3
Location: Building 4 (East Wing)
Requested By: Alicia Green
Priority: Medium
Assigned To: Jim Rodriguez - Elevator Technician
Scheduled Date: April 19, 2027
Estimated Time: 2 hours
Description:
Routine maintenance for Elevator #3 in the East Wing of Building 4. Clean car, lubricate tracks, inspect cables and door mechanisms, check electrical, test comms system, and describe all updates and findings.
Tools/Materials Required:
- Standard tool kit
- Cleaning supplies
- Multimeter
- Gloves
- Safety glasses
- Safety harness
Safety Notes:
Use fall protection during cable inspection. Wear PPE and use caution during electrical system inspection.
Completion Notes:
Jim completed inspection, including lubrication and system testing, in 1.5 hours. Adjusted cable tension. No further action needed until next routine maintenance request.
Lifecycle of a General Work Order: 6 Key Steps
The work order process follows 6 basic steps:
1. Task Identification
What's the driving force behind this work order? What needs to be done and why?
2. Work Request Creation
Before a work order, you must fill out a work order request form, or maintenance request. This allows maintenance managers to review all requests and prioritize appropriately before moving on.
3. Prioritization
Priority ratings factor both urgency (how quickly the work must be done to avoid failure) and importance (how the request impacts operations and safety). The priority of each work request dictates the priority of each work order.
4. Work Order Creation
Collect and organize all required information. Include a thorough explanation of the job, asset, and location. Don't forget to define roles and equipment parts required.
5. Task Completion and Documentation
A maintenance department technician completes the work, logging time spent and parts used along with notes and photos. CMMS software is a valuable way to submit, monitor, and organize documentation.
6. Analysis
Finally, a supervisor looks over the work order to ensure all work is complete. They may add notes and action items before closing it in the work order management system. Valuable historical data can help teams improve maintenance operations and make more cost-effective decisions.
Best Practices for a Scalable Work Order Management Process
A successful work order management process requires cohesive standards and training in combination with effective software. Follow these best practices:
- Use standardized formats for all forms. When technicians and managers know what to expect from each form, they can review and accomplish work more efficiently.
- Include comprehensive documentation. Photos, manuals, diagrams, and technician notes create a clear equipment manifest and help future techs work more efficiently.
- Capture critical data before closing each work order. Submit time spent, parts and materials used, and next steps to simplify asset management, resource management, and inventory management.
- Link forms to equipment history so techs have access to all documentation. Good work order management software does this automatically.
- Automate everything you can! Your preventive maintenance schedule is a great starting point. eMaint creates work orders automatically based on the calendar, usage data, or sensor data.
- Choose software that simplifies your maintenance operations, rather than adding complexity. You should be able to start from where you are today and add features as you scale. This lets you see immediate improvements while you solidify processes and continue to grow.
- Last, but perhaps most important, is training. Adopt a continuous improvement approach to training and education, learning from feedback and enhancing performance.
Manage Work Orders and Maintenance Tasks With CMMS Software
Managing work orders can be complex, but the right CMMS doesn't just help you get by — it simplifies work order creation and management. Your maintenance team gets to focus on inspections, repairs, and replacing equipment, instead of updating paperwork.
With centralized access, assignments, schedules, project tracking, and mobile access, teams can complete and monitor work on the go. Plus, dashboards and reports display performance data that helps you make better decisions.
Curious how eMaint CMMS could simplify your work order process? Try a free demo today.