Your Ultimate Guide to Work Order Tracking

When it comes to maintenance management, the role of efficient work order systems shouldn’t be underestimated. You step into your new office on the first day at your new maintenance department. Papers are strewn across desks, Excel sheets are scattered haphazardly and sticky notes adorn every available surface. This disorganized mess represents the current “system” for tracking maintenance tasks. 

As you navigate through the maze of scattered papers and Excel sheets to grasp the backlog of maintenance tasks, you quickly realize you need a centralized system to streamline your operations. You can’t find information on which maintenance technician was sent out to inspect the HVAC system last Friday or the last time the conveyor belt was serviced. 

Maintaining equipment and facilities relies on your ability to track work orders effectively, ensuring smooth task execution, proper documentation and proactively preventing equipment failures. Work orders are the backbone of maintenance operations. Each work order holds crucial information: from equipment details to specific tasks, deadlines and maintenance histories. Here’s the thing, work orders are a lot of work. You need specific software to track work orders effectively. 

In this article, we’ll decode what work order tracking really is, why it’s essential and how to do it using work order tracking software.

Let’s begin.

What Is Work Order Tracking?

Work order tracking is the process of monitoring and managing work orders in an organization. On the surface, it might seem self-explanatory, “track work orders,” but it’s more than that. It’s an end-to end process. 

At every stage of the work order life cycle, something (an action, status or even costs) is being documented and tracked — from the moment a work order request is received, to the conversion of the request to a formal work order, to closing out the work order.

You’re tracking:

• Work order status: Has the work order been assigned to a technician? Is it in progress or overdue?
• Time spent: How much time was spent on the work order?
• Labor costs: How much did it cost to fix this piece of equipment?
• Affected inventory: What inventory was affected? Was it the molding machine or was it the piping machine?
• Work performed: What work did the technician perform? Did they replace the pipes or just seal them?

Work order tracking ensures accountability, efficiency and accuracy in managing maintenance requests and activities in an organization.

How to Track Work Orders 

Tracking work orders can either be done physically or digitally.

Physical Tracking

Physical tracking methods, such as using pen and paper, whiteboards, binders and folders, are commonly used to manage work orders in many organizations. While these methods are straightforward, they do come with limitations.

In facilities management, for example, tenants typically visit the front desk to report issues and fill out request forms. The property manager then manually records the work order information, contacts a technician and dispatches them to address the problem.

• Limited accessibility: With physical tracking methods, work order information is often confined to a single location, such as a front desk or maintenance office. This restricts access to important details for those who may need them elsewhere in the facility or remotely.
• Prone to errors: Manual data entry is susceptible to human error. Mistakes such as illegible handwriting, typos or incorrect data entry can occur. These errors can lead to misunderstandings, delays and inefficient use of resources. Imagine servicing the HVAC in Apartment 425 when really it’s supposed to be Apartment 428. What a waste of time and money.
• No real-time updates: Physical tracking methods often lack real-time status updates. This means that tenants, property managers and technicians may not have immediate visibility into the progress of repairs or maintenance tasks. As a result, communication gaps and delays in addressing issues may arise.
• Inefficient communication: Communicating work order details and updates relies heavily on manual methods such as phone calls, written notes or face-to-face interactions. This can be ineffective, especially in situations where multiple parties are involved or when emergency work orders arise outside of regular office hours.
• Unscalable: As the volume of work orders increases, relying solely on manual tracking methods becomes impractical. The administrative burden of managing a large number of work orders manually can overwhelm staff and hinder overall efficiency, and customer satisfaction can decrease.

Digital Tracking

Digital work order tracking is done in the following ways, through traditional software solutions (think Google Sheets, JIRA, etc.) or work order management software. 

Overall, digital solutions offer a better work order management system than physical tracking methods, and they’re a more scalable solution when handling the work order process. However, not all digital solutions are created equal.

Traditional software solutions such as Google Sheets or JIRA were not designed for work order tracking, so you have limited ability to adapt and customize the software to your specific workflows or industry requirements. Relying on traditional software for work order tracking may lead to inefficiencies and missed opportunities for optimizing maintenance processes.

Why Work Order Tracking Is Essential

Work order tracking is essential, as it provides a bird’s eye view of your maintenance activities. When you track different types of work orders, you know exactly what’s going on in your organization. You know what assets are breaking down and need fixing, leading to effective asset management.

You know which work orders are in progress, so you can accurately communicate to your customers or supervisors on the status of each maintenance work order. No one wants to be told their service request will be completed in 24 hours when it ends up taking three days.

Plus, you’ll be able to create routine maintenance schedules for your technicians. When you track work orders, you’ll be able to see what each technician is working on and see who is available to work on a new work order or who needs a work order reassigned. Work order tracking also has the following benefits:

Greater Transparency 

Tracking work orders gives you greater transparency into your maintenance operations, internally (with your assets and inventory) and externally (dealing with technicians and contractors). You become aware of the exact asset downtime and can assess your equipment maintenance activities. For instance, you’re able to see that the PCP drilling machine was down on the East Wing for 72 hours, and it took 13 hours and six spare parts to fix it.

If you’re working with external maintenance contractors, you’ll find that tracking work orders enables you to ensure your billing is accurate and that you stay in line with your maintenance budget. By documenting the details of each task, including the scope of work, labor hours, materials used and any additional expenses, you can verify the accuracy of invoices.

Also, tracking labor hours and costs associated with each work order, enables you to proactively manage expenses, identify cost-saving opportunities and prevent overspending.

Performance Tracking 

When you track your work orders you can also track your maintenance team’s performance. You’ll see how many complete work orders each team member has, how many work orders were assigned and the average time it takes to carry out repairs. You can use this information to optimize scheduled work and identify training or improvement metrics.

Performance tracking within your maintenance software allows you to make data-driven decisions, enhancing the overall effectiveness and efficiency of your maintenance operations.

Increasing Operational Efficiency  

Tracking work orders can significantly increase operational efficiency in the following ways:

• Insight into maintenance spend: By accurately tracking work orders, organizations gain a clear insight into their routine maintenance expenditure. You can use this information for better budgeting and allocation of funds.
• Preventive and predictive maintenance planning: Tracking work orders provides valuable data on equipment maintenance history, including repair frequency, downtime and costs. This information can be used to develop predictive or preventive maintenance plans, to improve your current maintenance plans.
• Resource allocation: When tracking work orders, you gain a clear picture of your resource allocation, in terms of labor, costs and spare parts. You can use the information to allocate resources more effectively. By automating workflows, tasks can be assigned, prioritized and scheduled automatically, which will streamline your maintenance operations.
• Improved profitability: By tracking work orders, organizations can identify and address maintenance issues proactively before they escalate into costly equipment failures or breakdowns. With fewer disruptions to operations, productivity increases and revenue streams remain uninterrupted, contributing to higher profitability.

Using Work Order Tracking Software  

Physical paper based methods aren’t a sustainable solution for tracking work orders if your maintenance needs scale, and traditional software solutions have their limitations. They’re not designed to manage work orders, they lack customization and personalization abilities and most solutions do not have mobile app functionality.

Tracking work orders efficiently and effectively requires the use of specialized work order software. Work order software is designed for maintenance professionals to track and manage work orders from end-to-end, you can also customize your software to fit your maintenance needs.

How Do Software-Based Solutions Work? 

Work order software allows you to do the following:

• Create work orders: Create new work orders for maintenance tasks, specifying details such as task description, priority level, asset location information and even a due date. You can also upload pictures to your work orders for further context.
• Assign tasks: Maintenance managers can assign tasks to specific technicians or maintenance teams based on availability and the amount of requests.
• Schedule maintenance: Schedule maintenance tasks immediately when issues occur, or schedule preventive maintenance work orders in advance to ensure minimal disruption to operations. You can even create recurring tasks according to your preventive maintenance schedule.
• Prioritize work orders: By prioritizing work orders based on urgency, you ensure that the most important tasks are addressed promptly.
• Track progress: Maintenance supervisors can track the progress of work orders in real-time, update work order status and monitor task completion dates as well as any delays or issues that arise.
• Receive notifications: Send and receive automated notifications and alerts for new work orders, task assignments, overdue tasks or updates.
• Inventory management: View detailed records of equipment, track maintenance history and schedule preventive maintenance tasks based on asset condition or usage.
• Generate reports: Generate custom reports and analytics on maintenance activities, technician performance and total spend to keep in line with your maintenance budget.

Benefits of Software Solutions 

Using maintenance work order software offers a range of benefits:

• A centralized platform for all your maintenance operations: Instead of bouncing around between various documents or spreadsheets, everything is located in one place, including chat functions.
• Customizable checklists: Standardize procedures and enhance accuracy during routine tasks inspections. You can also customize checklists to suit your needs as well as add and delete fields that are unique to your organization.
• Pre-built work order templates: Streamline the work order creation process with consistent work order forms. Edit and change fields as you deem fit.
• Communication features: Communicate with your team directly from the app, or make and review comments on work orders and inventory items.

Looking for the Right Work Order Software

When you’re looking to implement a work order software at your organization, here’s a few things you need to look out for:

• Mobile app functionality: Your software needs to be compatible with all mobile device operating systems, with an intuitive UX so your technicians can close out work orders and review all the information.
• Push notifications: Most digital solutions have notification features that typically include email notifications when someone has been mentioned in the app. But push notifications offer real-time updates directly to users’ devices, ensuring timely communication and follow-ups.
• Customization capabilities: Customization options allow you to tailor the system to your organization’s specific needs and workflows. This includes the ability to add attachments, set varying permission levels and customize access levels for different users.
• Expense tracking: Expense tracking features allow you to monitor and manage maintenance-related expenses more effectively, helping you stay within budget.
• Competitive pricing: Consider factors such as scalability — how much will the software cost when your team grows? Or maybe you don’t plan to scale and need a less expensive work order software for small businesses.

Track Work Orders With Coast

Overcome the challenges posed by manual tracking methods or traditional software solutions by using a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS software) like Coast, which can help you streamline your operations and reporting with customizable work order templates.

Having the right software in place, you can optimize your maintenance operations and drive efficiency in your organization. Switch today and experience the transformative power of work order tracking software.