The Work Order Workflow

This article describes how the work order process occurs. The flow chart at the bottom will define the work order process flow from beginning to end.

Remember that the beginning of all work flow is the need for maintenance services of any kind. This can happen because of a failure, change over, or design difference from the existing status of a machine, process or facility.

Step 1: Submitting Work Requests (Optional)

Work requests can be submitted by standard users and are commonly made by maintenance personnel. The requests include the same information as orders, such as tasks, photos, assets, and more, but they are not truly orders and therefore cannot be scheduled or assigned until approved by a manager. 

See Submitting a Work Request for more help.

Step 2: Approving/Denying Requests and Creating Work Orders

Work orders can come from approved sanitation requests or can be directly created by managers or administrators. They also include information on required tasks, labor, tools, and more for the job and can be scheduled directly from the approval workbench.

If a request is denied, it will return to the requestor with a reason for denial, and the work request's status will change to Denied.

See Approving/Denying Work Requests or Creating a Work Order for more help.

Step 3: Scheduling Work Orders

Once a work order is created, it is ready for scheduling. The SOMAX system provides 3 methods for scheduling or assigning: directly in the work order's information, through the Labor Scheduling Forecast, and through the Daily Labor Scheduling module. 

See About Labor Scheduling for more help.

Step 4: Completing Work Orders

While the work order is still under maintenance, all materials must be issued and all labor should be entered. Work orders are then marked as completed by the technician / maintenance personnel as a way to check off tasks and signal to supervisors that the job is finished. 

See Completing a Work Order for more help.

Step 5: Follow Up Work Orders (Optional)

If additional work is required, a follow up work order will be entered by the technician. The new work order will return to the beginning of this process as an approved work order since it was generated by the maintenance personnel. 

See Submitting a Follow Up Work Order for more help.