Work orders are raised either reactively, when somebody reports a fault, or automatically from a planned preventative maintenance schedule. Each one carries a status through to completion, which is what makes workload and response times measurable.
The quality of the data depends almost entirely on how easy it is to raise one. Where reporting a fault means finding the right form, people tell the office manager instead, and the work still happens but never appears in the numbers.
Common questions
What does Work Order mean in simple terms?+
A work order is the record that authorises a specific piece of work: what needs doing, where, who is responsible, the priority and the deadline. It is the unit of work that facilities and maintenance teams plan, assign and report on.
How is Work Order measured and reported?+
Work orders are raised either reactively, when somebody reports a fault, or automatically from a planned preventative maintenance schedule. Each one carries a status through to completion, which is what makes workload and response times measurable.
What else should you know about Work Order?+
The quality of the data depends almost entirely on how easy it is to raise one. Where reporting a fault means finding the right form, people tell the office manager instead, and the work still happens but never appears in the numbers.