Using Work Orders

Overview

A Work Order is a field task created for an address, an account or a network site. Whatever the job, it is a request for a technician to go to a location and complete work.

This article covers the whole life of a work order: creating it, finding your way around the work order page, changing its status, completing its procedure, and adding or editing notes.

What is a work order?

A work order shows the Work Type, the work location, the linked entity (an account or a network site), the assigned technicians, and any details the technician needs for the job.

The work type decides most of the work order: its default duration and the Procedure the technician follows on site. See Creating a Work Type.

Creating a work order

You can create a work order from any of these places:

• The Workforce homepage.
• The Work orders list in the Workforce module.
• The Work orders tab of a customer account, a business account or a network site.
• The Schedules view, under Create > Work order.

Creating a work order requires the Workforce > Work orders > Edit > Content permission. Without it, the New work order button is disabled.

Click New work order in the top right corner to open the creation form.

Follow the steps below to create your work order:

1. Select the Work type. Nothing else on the form appears until you do, because the work type determines the default duration and the rest of the fields.
2. Set any tags your organization has configured, such as Vendor. These are optional and only appear if tags are set up for your organization.

3. Set the Work order duration. It defaults to the work type's duration. Clear Use work type's default duration to override it. Durations run in 15-minute increments from 15 minutes up to 4 hours, the ceiling set by the drag-and-drop scheduling view.

   Overriding the duration requires the Workforce > Work orders > Edit > Duration permission.

4. Select the Priority. The default is "Medium". "Low", "High" and "Urgent" are also available.
5. Choose what to Link entity to, then search for it:
   1. Account: search for the customer account by name, email, phone number, or account number.
   2. Business account: search the same way. This option only appears if your organization uses business accounts.
   3. Network site: search by network site name or address.
   4. None: leave the work order unlinked if the job isn't tied to an account or a site.

6. Confirm the Search location. gaiia fills in the address of the linked account or network site. The map is interactive, so you can drag the pin to the exact spot.

   If the linked record has no stored coordinates, gaiia approximates the location and warns you. Check the pin before saving.

7. Add any Additional information the technician needs, such as a buzz code or the preferred entrance. Technicians see it in the gaiia Field Service app.

Once it is created, the work order appears in the Work orders list and on the linked account or network site. Click Show map on the list to see your work orders on a map instead.

Navigating a work order

Open a work order to see its page. The page has three parts:

1. The header, with the work type name and the Actions button.
2. A set of tabs in the main area.
3. The Details panel on the right, with the work order number. On smaller screens, this panel is behind a button.

Tabs

The tabs you see depend on where you opened the work order from. From the Workforce module you see every tab. From an account or a network site, the Equipment and Workflows tabs are hidden.

Scroll right to view the whole table on smaller screens.

Details panel

Most of a work order is edited directly in the Details panel. Click a field to change it:

• Status: see Changing the status.
• Priority: pick a new priority from the dropdown.
• Work date: click to reschedule the work order.
• Work duration: click to change the duration.
• Vendor: assign or unassign a vendor.
• Technician: click Assign technician or Assign secondary. Click the X on a technician to unassign them.
• Linked entity: link or unlink an account or network site, and add or edit the service address.

Once a technician is assigned, the duration can no longer be increased, and the vendor and tags are locked. Unassign the technician first to change them. Depending on your organization's settings, users with the Workforce > Work orders > Edit > Duration permission can still shorten the duration, down to the 15-minute minimum.

Actions menu

The Actions button in the top right corner has two options:

• Reschedule: available once a primary technician is assigned and the work order is scheduled. Unassign the secondary technician first if there is one.
• Delete work order: removes the work order after a confirmation.

Actions are unavailable while auto-assignment is in progress.

Changing the status

Users with the Workforce > Work orders > Edit > Content permission can change a work order's status from the Details panel. Other users see the status but cannot change it.

1. Click the Status field in the Details panel.
2. Select the new status. The list includes your organization's custom statuses.
3. Check I understand that this will change the status of the work order.
4. Click Confirm.

To change the status of several work orders at once, select them in the Work orders list and use Edit status. For more on custom statuses, see Using Custom Statuses in Work Orders.

Completing the procedure

The Procedure tab holds the steps defined on the work type. Technicians usually complete them in the gaiia Field Service app, but they can also be completed from the web.

1. Open the Procedure tab. Click Preview steps to see the steps before starting.

2. Click Start service. The work order status changes to "In Progress".

   A primary technician must be assigned before service can start.

3. Fill in each step. Your answers are saved automatically.
4. Click Submit as completed.

The procedure becomes read-only once the work order is closed or unsuccessful, and it shows how long the service took.

Adding and editing notes

Use the Notes tab to leave information for the rest of the team, such as what was found on site or what the customer asked for. Notes are listed newest first, with their author and date.

Below the work order's notes, the History section shows notes from other work orders linked to the same account or network site.

A. Adding a note

1. Open the Notes tab.
2. Type your note in the Add a comment field.

3. Attach files if needed.

   You can attach up to 5 files of 20 MB each: images (JPG, PNG, GIF, HEIC), PDF, audio, video and CSV files.

4. Click the send button.

B. Editing a note

You can edit the text and the attachments of a note you wrote.

Editing notes requires the Workforce > Work orders > Edit > Notes permission. Technicians need this permission in addition to Technician platform. It is not included in the default Field Service Technician role, so an administrator must add it.

1. Open the Notes tab.
2. Click the Ellipsis menu next to your name on the note.
3. Click Edit.
4. Change the text, add attachments, or remove existing ones.
5. Click Update.

Keep the following in mind when editing notes:

1. You can only edit your own notes. The Ellipsis menu doesn't appear on notes written by other users.
2. Notes in the History section can't be edited from this work order.
3. Notes can still be edited after the work order is closed.
4. Edited notes aren't marked as edited, and the previous version isn't shown in gaiia. Note edits don't appear in the Activity tab.
5. Notes can't be deleted. To correct a note, edit it instead.