Work Order Management

In the DPS, service technicians can manage Work Orders to organize their maintenance activities (Actions).

A Work Order is a digital record used to define, schedule, track, and document maintenance activities on a specific machine.
It serves as the central entity for organizing and managing maintenance operations, ensuring that tasks are carried out efficiently and correctly.

A Work Order is described by:

Code: A unique identifier referencing the work order in the DPS or in your legacy system.
Status: The workflow stage, which can be DRAFT, APPROVED, EXECUTION, or DISCARDED.
Work Time: Approximate time required for completion.
Spare Parts: Any spare parts needed to carry out the activities in the work order.
Work start date: Planned/Actual start date for the maintenance activities.
Work end date: Planned/Actual completion date for the maintenance activities.
Actions: The list of actions (e.g., activities, tasks) the technician must perform on the machine.

Each work order, once created, enters a process that involves several actors and phases.

Technicians: The DPS user who knows how to define a Work Order in terms of actions to be performed and execute them.
This user requires the following permissions: READ_WORK_ORDER, WRITE_WORK_ORDER, WORK_ORDER_EXECUTOR.
Service Manager: The DPS user with the privileges to approve, discard, or revert a Work Order status.
This user requires the following permissions: READ_WORK_ORDER, WRITE_WORK_ORDER, WORK_ORDER_MANAGER.

The following picture describes the process a work order passes through since its creation to completion or discardation.

The entire Work Order management workflow takes place directly in the Action List widget, which includes a dedicated panel to manage Work Orders.
This panel is available only when the widget is placed in a thing context, and the user has the READ_WORK_ORDER permission.

To add Work Orders to your DPS, you can refer to the Configuring Work Order article.

Creating a Work Order

From time to time, new actions can be created for a specific machine:

Actions that are automatically created periodically.
E.g., Check and clean every month
Actions that are created according to how the machine is used.
E.g., Lubricate moving parts every 100 hours
Actions that are automatically created in response to an Event.
E.g., High temperature → Check the ventilation fan
Actions created manually by the DPS users (e.g., technicians) or via API integrations.
E.g., Update the firmware

When maintenance must be performed on the machine (planned or unplanned), the Technician can group upcoming actions into Work Orders to be executed on the customer site.
From the Action List widget, the Technician can create a new Work Order by selecting the actions that must be carried out.
It is possible to create multiple Work Orders for the same machine, for example, if a single intervention takes too long, or some resources (e.g., Technicians, Spare Parts) are not available.

By selecting actions through checkboxes, a floating menu allows the Technician to add them to an existing work order or create a new one from scratch.

If new, a Work Order is created in the DRAFT status with all the selected actions.

In the Action List, the Work Order column reports the Code of the Work Order that includes every single action.
Until the work order is not COMPLETED or DISCARDED, the included actions will remain visible in the list of upcoming actions with a temporary execution status, in case they have already been executed.

Editing a Work Order

Above the list of actions, the widget displays a section with the work orders that are still open for the current machine.
By clicking on a work order card, the widget switches to the details of the selected Work Order.

The upper part shows the Work Order's main information:

Status: The current status.
By clicking the Change link, a dialog allows the DPS user to select another status.
The status can be updated only according to the user permissions and the current status.
Actions: The number of actions included in the Work Order.
Work Time: The total estimated time needed to execute all actions in the Work Order.
Spare Parts: The number of spare parts required by all actions in the Work Order.
By clicking the See list link, a dialog displays the complete list of required spare parts, which is also exportable.

By clicking the Edit icon, the user can edit other information, like the Start/End Work Time.
By clicking on the Add Action button, the Technician can add additional actions that are not included in the list.
It is possible to select one of the Actions based on an Action Definition (CODED) or create a new action from scratch (UNCODED).

When the technician completes the work order configuration, the Service Manager can review the Work Order and mark it as APPROVED.

To approve a Work Order, the user can optionally provide additional information, like the start date and date/time.

Once approved, you will no longer be able to modify the tasks included in the work order.
If needed, the Service Manager can turn back to DRAFT (e.g., to add missing actions), or move the Work Order to DISCARDED (Work Order no longer needed).
When approved, it is up to the Technician to move to the next phase, which is the operational phase called EXECUTION.

Executing a Work Order

The technician, when it is on site with the customer, can change the work Order status to EXECUTION.
At this point, it can start working on activities and change their status (Done, Done with Issues, Discarded).

Marking a task as Done is quick and easy, while when an action is marked as Done with Issue, the user is prompted to provide a note.

In addition to a text note, it is possible to select an Issue from a list of issues (if defined in the Console).
An action may also be discarded because it is no longer necessary or because it is impossible to be performed.

In addition to a text note, it is possible to select a Discard Reason from a list of reasons (if defined in the Console).
For each Action, the Technician can attach images or other resources, giving visual evidence of the work done or encountered problems.

The Technician can select multiple actions and mark all as Discarded. The selected Reason and Note are set to all the selected actions.

Completing a Work Order

If all actions in the Work Order have been updated with an execution status, the Work Order can be moved to COMPLETED.
When done:

The Status is updated to COMPLETED.
The End Date and Time are updated with the timestamp when the Technician completes the Work Order.
The Work Order’s Actions are moved from UPCOMING to HISTORICAL.
Any Automation listening to On Work Order Completion is triggered.

Please note that marking a Work Order as COMPLETED cannot be undone.

Discarding a Work Order

The work order may no longer be needed; in this case, the Service Manager can mark it as DISCARDED.

When done:

The Status is updated to DISCARDED.
The Work Order’s Actions are moved from UPCOMING to HISTORICAL.
The status of already processed actions is preserved, while the others are marked as DISCARDED with the reason wo_discarded.

Please note that marking a Work Order as DISCARDED cannot be undone.