Service Work Order Lifecycle

Content was last updated in 06.22.06-00

Revision History

Every process has a definitive lifecycle, which must be followed to see the process through. The transition between two steps/phases of the lifecycle always happens based on a pre-defined criteria, which must be adhered to.

In case of a SWO, it has 6 Status in its lifecycle: Estimate, Scheduled, Open, Done, Invoiced, and Cancelled.

Also every SWO is followed through 4 Dates fields (Scheduled, Start, Due, and End) and Est. Duration field.

The following table explains how the four dates are set based on the status of the SWO, and how they behave when status is changed.

At the beginning of the Workflow all the four date fields and the Est. Duration field are disabled.

However, once a date is added in any of the four date fields, it cannot be cleared to blank.

Though, modifications are allowed as per the SWO's status:

• If status = Scheduled, system allows to modify Scheduled Date.

• If status = Open, system allows to modify Start Date.

• Also, Start Date ³ Scheduled Date

Due Date must be entered manually only when the Status = Open.

• Due Date must always be on or after the Schedule Date and Start Date

End Date field will always be disabled. System will allow to enter date only while changing the SWO status to 'Done'.  

• The rule for selecting the End Date will be: End Date > Start Date and <= Current date

SWO's status can be changed only

• By selecting the Status from the drop-down list.

• Click the appropriate action button.

If the SWO is Re-opened, system clears the Due Date and End Date values and sets the status to 'Open'. 

How does a SWO transitions through different statuses in its Lifecycle?

Status: Estimate

This is the default status for all SWO, when they are created. At this status, you are expected to add the following details.

• Customer Details

• Asset Information

• Service Type

• Site information

Once you have added the required details, and you change the status of the SWO from Estimate > Scheduled.

At this point the system prompts you to provide the 'Scheduled Date'. By-default, the system displays current date-time.

Status: Scheduled

Once the 'Scheduled Date' is added, the Ship and Ship-all buttons become enabled.'

The 'Scheduled Date' is when you expected the repair/maintenance to begin. And once this date is added, the system blocks the availability of the selected equipment from this Date-time onwards. However, no prompt message is displayed about this.

Also, based on the customer selected, if required the system might prompt you for certain approvals, such as - Customer's credit limit etc..

Now that you are ready to proceed with repair/maintenance of the equipment, you change the status of the SWO from Scheduled > Open, the system prompts you to provide the 'Start Date'. The 'Start Date' is when you begin doing the repair/maintenance of the equipment. Also, you are expected to enter the probable 'Due Date'.

Status: Open

At this point you must also provide the 'Mechanic(s)' name, else the system will show a prompt.

Also now, the Work Order buttons are enabled. You can add the Due date as well

Based on the 'Start Date' and 'Due Date' entered, the system calculates Est. Duration. This is the number of hours/days which is required to carry out the repair/maintenance of the equipment. For example - See image.

Est. Duration = Due Date - Start Date

Let's say, if Start Date is 01-June-2022, 09:00 AM and the Due Date is 03-June-2020 5:00 PM.

Then the Est. Duration becomes 2.33d.

Once the repair/maintenance of the equipment is progress, there can be two possibilities how the workflow would end.

1. The mechanic confirms that Equipment is 'Successfully Repaired' and thus the SWO can be Closed (Done and Invoiced).

2. The mechanic confirms that Equipment is 'Not Repairable', so the SWO must be Cancelled.

• There can be other business reasons to Cancel an SWO.

Status: Done

Once the repair/maintenance of the equipment is completed successfully, change the status of the SWO from Open  > Done, the system prompts you for a confirmation.

Upon Confirmation in affirmative, the system prompts to enter the End Date, and the same is populated in the End Date field.

Status: Invoiced

Now the Invoicing icon is enabled, so you can proceed to Invoice the Order. A prompt will ask for confirmation to start the Invoicing.

Upon Confirmation in affirmative, the system prompts to enter the Invoice Date.

System will prompt you to pick a date to Invoice the SWO.

• Only User Date is available to be entered manually. Rest all dates are system populated.

Once the date is selected and entered, the system prompts the following message for confirmation..

Status: Cancelled

if SWO needs to be aborted for any reason, it can be cancelled.

While cancelling a SWO, the system prompts you to add a reason with remarks for cancelling.

To know more see SWO Cancelled

Upon changing the 'Dates' and/or 'Status' for a SWO, the system will re-calculate the availability of the Asset at the click 'Save' action.

This is progressively better than the system merely blocking the availability based on the 'SWO's Dates' once it is saved.

• When multiple user attempt to update/modify a SWO of the Asset of the same product at the same time, both the users might experience some latency in the system performance.

• Additionally, the 'latency in the system performance' is directly proportional to the number of SWOs created on the Asset of the same product; and the count of concurrent users attempting to modify the SWOs.