About the EM Work Order Edit Form

Use this form to create and edit work orders for equipment maintenance.

You can open this form from the EM module Programs folder or by clicking Edit WO on the EM Work Order Update form.

Work orders provide a way to cost equipment repair activities. You can post all costs associated with performing a work order to items on the work order, either in AP (for outside repairs and directly purchased parts), EM Cost Adjustments (for parts from inventory), or EM or PR timecard entry (for labor). Work orders also provide a convenient way to track the status of repair jobs in progress.

Work orders fall into two categories: scheduled and unscheduled. You can create work orders for scheduled work based on the scheduled maintenance information already in the system. If you need to set up a work order for unscheduled repairs, you must enter the work order manually.

Work Order Display

The Show All Work Orders option (Options > Show All Work Orders) controls the display of work orders in this form

  • If checked, the system will load and display all work orders—open and complete—each time you open this form.
  • If unchecked, only open work orders (those with one or more 'open' items) will be loaded and displayed. Large numbers of work orders can affect the load and display time, so if you typically have large numbers of work orders, it may be beneficial to set this option to ‘No’ (unchecked) so that only open work orders are loaded and displayed.
Note: It is important to note that when the Show All Work Order option is unchecked, the form load and F4 will exclude completed work orders. Therefore, when entering new work orders, you should not use the F4 or grid display to determine the next number to use because the list of existing work orders may be incomplete.

The Show All Work Orders checkbox in EM Company Parameters determines the default setting for this option here. If you override the setting in the EM Work Order form, be aware that the override will apply only as long as the form is open. Once you close the form, it resets to the default value defined in EM Company Parameters.

Work Order Numbers

If you enter work orders manually and are using the 'auto sequence' feature (i.e. you checked the Auto Sequence Work Order # box in EM Company Parameters), entering N, New or + in the Work Order field will cause the system to automatically assign the work order number for you, based on the Last Work Order Option you have specified to use.

  • If using the EM Company option, the system assigns the next sequential number based on the Last Company W.O. # in EM Company Parameters.
  • If using the Shop option, you must specify the equipment and shop to which the work order applies (in the Equipment and Shop fields in the Auto Seq Work Order by Shop section). Once you specify the equipment, the shop will automatically default as defined for the equipment in EM Equipment (which you can override). The system then assigns the next available sequential work order number based on the Last WO # specified for the shop (in EM Shops).
Note: When using this option, you will only be able to enter work orders using the Header Info tab. Grid entry is not supported when using this option and is therefore disabled.

Work Order Header

The work order header identifies the equipment on which maintenance is to be performed. If there are components of the equipment that are in need of repair, you must set them up as items on the work order.

Note: If you initialize work orders, components set up with a maintenance group will automatically be set up as items on a work order for the primary equipment. This enables all work to be done on a piece of equipment to be pulled together on a single work order rather than having to set up separate work orders for every component.

Once you have entered the equipment number, if warranties exist for the equipment, a message displays in red (above the Warranties button) indicating that active or inactive (as applicable) warranties exist. Clicking on the Warranties button will open the EM Warranties form, allowing you to review and/or modifying existing warranty information. For more information about the EM Warranties form, see EM Warranties.

Also, if other work orders exist for the specified equipment, a message displays below the Work Orders button alerting you that information. Clicking on the Work Orders button opens the EM Work Order Display form, allowing you to show work orders based on a set of criteria. For more information, see EM Work Order Display.

Note: There are two Notes tabs in the header: Std Maint Group Notes and Notes. The Std Maint Group Notes tab contains any header notes initialized to the work order from the standard maintenance group header. You can modify or add to these notes manually by double-clicking the Notes column in the desired row; however, no system updates will occur (i.e. if additional notes are entered for a standard maintenance group header, they will not be added here when additional items are initialized to an existing work order). The Notes tab contains notes entered directly in this form and specific to the work order.

Work Order Items

A work order identifies all of the tasks scheduled for a piece of equipment.

Each task is set up as a separate item on the work order, and defines the cost code charged with the associated labor costs. You must indicate whether you will handle the work in-house or at an outside facility. This allows you to track your own work separately from the equipment you have out for repair.

You can set up both scheduled and unscheduled items on a work order. Unscheduled items are always entered manually. However, you can pull scheduled items into a work order either through initialization (File > Initialize WO Item from Std Maint Group) or by manual entry. If entering items manually, you will need to specify the maintenance group and item, which will then automatically pull in the item’s information. For information about initializing work order items, see EM WO Item Init.

If a task fulfills the requirements of a standard maintenance item, it is important that you cross-reference it correctly. In addition to saving your work when setting up the work order, the cross-reference provides a way to pass information back to the scheduling data when the work is complete, so the schedule is reset.

A work order can contain items from more than one standard maintenance group. The system maintains scheduling information for each item separately. This allows for situations where not all required items in a group are completed. For example, if a needed part is unavailable, you could close out the work order and send the equipment back out to the field. The one item would continue to show on scheduled maintenance reports until the equipment is brought back in to have it done.

Details

This tab is used to store additional information about the work order item. If the work order item is for a component of the equipment, that data is entered here. Additionally, if the work order is for a specific serialized part on the equipment, the part code and serial number may be entered here. If an active warranty exists for the part code/serial number, a message is displayed to indicate this.

Parts

Use this tab to enter the all of the parts needed to complete the maintenance tasks for each work order item. You will typically only need to enter parts information for items being handled in-house. Initialized items will automatically include all parts set up for the standard maintenance item.

Note: When posting parts to the work order, the system does not require that you use the exact parts indicated or that you modify the work order if it turns out that more or different parts are required.

If you are validating parts (flag in EM Company Parameters), the parts must exist in EM Equipment Parts, IN Location Materials, or HQ Materials. If you are not validating parts, you can specify any part; however, if you specify a stocked part (an IN location is entered), the material must exist at the specified location, regardless of how the flag is set.

Parts information will print on the work order. If using the Inventory module, the system compares parts ‘on-hand’ to the parts needed and indicate the part not in stock.

Note: The information entered here is only used for planning purposes. In order to actually post the parts to a work order and enter quantities and pricing, you must use the EM WO Parts Posting program.