The work order is the basic unit of any organized maintenance. It answers the essential questions: what to do, on which asset, by whom, by when, with which parts — and what was actually done. Managed well, it turns a team that fights fires into a team that runs its operation. This guide covers work order management end to end.
What is a work order?
A work order (WO) is a formal instruction describing a maintenance job to be carried out. Whether it is reactive (fixing a breakdown) or preventive (planned upkeep), every job deserves its own work order: that is what makes work traceable, measurable and shareable. Without a WO, information lives in people’s heads and chat threads; with one, it lives in a history you can look up.
The work order lifecycle
A WO moves through a clear set of states. In Maint Vision the statuses are Open → In progress → On hold → Completed. Moving to “In progress” and then “Completed” automatically time-stamps the start and end of the job — you get the real duration with no double entry. This simple cycle is enough to know, at any moment, what is to do, what is moving, and what is done.
Create and assign a work order
A good WO is precise without being heavy. On creation you set a title and description, a priority (none, low, medium, high) and a type (reactive, preventive…). You attach it to an asset and a location, then assign it to a technician or a team with a due date and an estimated duration. Finally you can attach a procedure (the checklist to run) and the parts needed. The assignee finds the WO in their list, on the web and on mobile.
Carry it out in the field
This is where a mobile CMMS changes everything. The technician opens the WO — or scans the QR code stuck on the asset to reach it directly — and moves the status to “In progress”. They run the procedure (checkboxes, measurements, photos, signature), consume the parts used and log the time spent, all from their phone. One important detail about stock: consuming a part on an open WO reserves it; physical stock is only decremented at completion. Removing the consumption restores the part.
Where work orders come from
Not every WO is created by hand. Three sources feed your queue:
- Reactive: a problem occurs, someone creates a WO.
- Preventive: a preventive maintenance plan automatically generates the WO at the calendar due date or when a meter crosses a threshold.
- Approved request: a maintenance request approved by a manager converts into a WO, copying over its details.
This automation prevents oversights and smooths the team’s workload.
Track, measure, improve
Each WO keeps a time-stamped activity log: every change of status, priority, assignment or date is recorded with the old and new values. The parts consumed and the time logged feed the job’s cost. Aggregated, these WOs feed your metrics: completion rate, preventive ratio, on-time compliance, backlog, mean time to repair (MTTR) and cost per asset. That is the raw material of fact-based management, with no spreadsheet to keep by hand.
In short
Managing work orders well means adopting a clear lifecycle, creating precise WOs, executing them on mobile close to the field, and letting preventive plans and requests feed the queue automatically. The rest — history, costs, metrics — builds itself.
To go further, read what a CMMS is or explore Maint Vision’s features.