Public works departments are responsible for a lot of aspects of a successful community – traffic and road repair, sewer and sign maintenance, parks and recreation and more! How do all of these tasks get accomplished? Well, if an organization takes an efficient and comprehensive approach to work order management, they can see noticeable improvements in their community processes.
Any department will admit that it’s not always easy dealing with work orders and work management, but a robust enterprise asset management system can transform this process into a “wonderful world of work management.”
Let’s take a look at the process of using AssetWorks EAM’s powerful work management portal:
Work Management Portal
Before you can begin to create a work order in the system, you have to know the exact limitations of your software and the correct classifications of your assets. What do you need repaired? Is it linear, like road or water, a storm network, a polygonal asset, such as parks or even a point asset, such as a sign? Good thing your powerful system can add any asset through searching and selecting from the map or the asset chooser feature in the work management portal. Once you have verified the correct classification and the capabilities of your system, you can start creating a work order.
How to Create a New Work Order in EAM
- Locate and press the “New Work Order” button on the portal screen.
- It is wise to create a unique and identifiable title for quick reference later. Don’t worry, an advanced system will possess spellcheck throughout!
- At this point, all aspects of a new work order may be intuitively selected. This includes the ability to post real-time labor and record after the fact transactions by completing posting details. Furthermore, labor transactions may incorporate unique rates by functional group, tasks, departmental assignment, employee specifics or system-wide settings. Finally, you can take into account mark-ups, taxes and time-code multipliers like FEMA or overtime rates.
- Don’t forget to add parts and materials directly to a work order or workflow.
Additional Benefits of the New Work Order Process
The “wonderful world of work management” doesn’t end with a list of steps, however. If you utilize a comprehensive enterprise asset management system, like AssetWorks EAM, then you also get access to these impressive features:
- Predefined task-based parts list
- Commercial postings may include the activity performed, the vendor who performed the activity, contract specifications and all costs and invoice details
- Unlimited files of any file type may be linked to any work order in the system
- All equipment used to perform work may be recorded against work orders, along with all associated costs
Linear Attribute Viewer
Last but not least, take advantage of the work management portal’s linear attribute viewer. Utilizing this powerful feature allows users to visualize asset attributes or condition valuations along segments of road, guardrails, pipes, culverts and any other linear asset. Observing the spatial relationships between assets can be extremely helpful when trying to decide priorities for asset maintenance. For example, when utilizing the linear attribute viewer, you may notice that a large number of assets near each other are sustaining similar types of damage, whether it be because of the weather, traffic accidents or intentional vandalism. As a result, not only can you see which areas need repair the most, but your department’s policies can be adjusted to meet the changing needs of your community.
Do all of these features and options sound like they could help your department? AssetWorks Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) system contains all of the benefits above, and more! For a more in-depth visual demonstration of EAM software, you can watch a pre-recorded video here in the middle of the page.