This article is about activating this module as an implementation consultant. For more detailed information on how to manage or use the concepts in this module as an application manager or a user (for instance, details on how to create an object), see the related module in the Application managers and/or Users part of this knowledge base: Application Managers / Users
1. Preventive work orders in general
Preventive work orders are in general similar to corrective work orders. The difference between corrective- and preventive work orders is that corrective work orders are created as a result of a request, which needs to be handled by the supplier. Preventive work orders are usually generated periodically upfront (for example, every 2 months) to do preventive maintenance on objects to prevent the object from breaking, stop functioning or becoming too dirty.
Preventive work orders for suppliers are specific requests issued by a company to its (external) suppliers to maintain related to products, services, or equipment. These work orders are used to prevent important objects from stop functioning correctly and ensure that day-to-day work is not disrupted.
The work order process gives transparency to the service teams about the progress of the work orders being handled by suppliers. Overall, a work order system in facility management streamlines the process of reporting and resolving issues, leading to improved efficiency, better communication, and enhanced facility maintenance. It helps ensure that the facility remains safe, functional, and comfortable for its occupants.
2. What is this module about
For more information on the content of this module, including detailed descriptions of some of the core components, see: Preventive work orders module in the 'Application Managers' section.
3. Why use this module
This module enables service teams to forward maintenance related work to (mostly external) suppliers. Without proper maintenance on buildings and assets, the companies processes and day-to-day work can be disrupted, which could result in financial consequences. Generate preventive work orders upfront to keep your buildings and assets maintained on monthly, quarterly or yearly basis.
In preventive work orders the expected/planned costs can be registered, they can be manually or automatically submitted and manually or automatically assign/forward to the supplier.
3.1 Choices to be made within the module
The most relevant choices that can be made when using this module are the following:
Approve the handled preventive work order: The internal responsible needs to review the executed work and can approve or reject the work order. This is a general setting applicable to all work order processes.
Financial processing step in the workflow: If this option is enabled, the workflow task to financially handle the work order becomes applicable for the internal responsible after the work order is handled and the work is approved. This is a general setting applicable to all work order processes.
Auto submit preventive work orders: If a service group is linked to the work order template which is used to generate all preventive work orders, the preventive work orders can be automatically submitted and assigned to the service group.
Auto assign preventive work orders: If a service group and pre defined contratcor is linked to the work order template which is used to generate all preventive work orders, the preventive work orders can be automatically assigned/forwarded to the contractor after the work order is submitted.
Use catalog items in preventive work orders. By default only generic cost items can be used, where the name, quantity, price, VAT percentage, etc. can be manually registered. It is also possible to enable pre defined cost items via catalog items. Relevant information (like the name and purchase price) from the catalog item is automatically transferred to the work order as a cost item. For example, if specific work has a fixed price, then these work activities can be pre defined via a catalog item and can be added to a work order without the need to add a generic cost item and having to add the name, price, etc. manually for every similar work order.
4. How to activate this module
As for every new module, use the ‘Module activation’ option on the administrator startboard (only available for level 2 and level 3 admins). For more general information about these 'Module activation' options, see Module activation
4.1 Prerequisites before enabling this module
The preventive work orders module does not require any other modules to be activated before. However, if you want to be able to link a specific building, area and/or asset to a preventive work order, these modules will need to be activated first. Linking objects (buildings, areas and/or assets) to a preventive work order can be used to be able to keep track of the work orders executed for those objects and the corresponding costs.
For more information about these modules see:
4.2 Module activation
For this specific module activation, multiple settings and options apply:
Settings to be determined
Approve work orders
Financial processing work orders
Auto submit preventive work order
Auto assign preventive work order
Use catalog items in preventive work orders
More information about these settings is described above: Choices to be made within the module
4.2.1 Workflow emails
The emails that are automatically sent via the workflow (e.g., the confirmation email to the requestor after the new request is submitted) are also generated and shown in the include on the module activation after the module activation is started. If the customer does not want to use one or more workflow emails, the emails can directly be deleted from the overview. For more information on workflow emails, Workflow emails
For a detailed description of the emails sent via the workflow, see: Preventive work orders module in the 'Application Managers' section.
4.3 Data imports
When activating this module, some data imports become available, which can be used to quickly import relevant data into the system (as opposed to manually entering this data, which is also possible).
Relevant data imports become available in the module activation after the activation has been started. Default data imports can also be found on the admins startboard (only for level 2 and level 3 administrators).
For more information on data imports in general, see: Data imports
If the preventive work orders module is activated, the following default import connectors become available:
Reference | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
FMB-F-003 | Import suppliers | This import can be used to import suppliers who can be selected as contractors to handle the work orders. |
FMB-F-004 | Import supplier contacts | This import can be used to import supplier`s contacts (specific employees of the supplier) who can be selected as contractors to handle the work orders. |
FMB-F-083 | Import cost centers | This import can be used to import cost centers which can be selected in the work order items to assign the costs to. |
FMB-F-091 | Import work order catalog items | This import can be used to import catalog items, which can be added to work orders. |
4.4 System groups
When a module is activated, system groups become available that can be assigned to user profiles. These system groups will give users access to (a subset of) navigation menu options, startboard tabs, and tasks in the relevant workflow(s).
For more general information on user profiles, system groups, users, and the user profile dashboard, see: User management
For the preventive work orders module, the following system groups become available:
Reference | Name | Description | License needed |
|---|---|---|---|
FMB-G121 | View work orders | Group gives access to the navigation menu option 'Work orders' | Limited user |
FMB-G127 | Create workorder schedulers | Group gives access to create and edit the work order schedulers (with which automatically, periodically, work orders can be generated from the different maintenance schedules). | |
FMB-G024 | Preventive workorder manager | Group has the rights to create and edit preventative maintenance plans as well as the preventive work orders generated out of these plans | Full user |
FMB-G124 | Planner via planboard | Group gives rights to the work order planboard. | Full user |
FMB-G126 | Supplier work orders | This group can be assigned to external suppliers who handle work orders in Workplace Management. | Full user |
FMB-G147 | Work order executor | This group can be manually assigned to users who handle work orders. This group gives access to the 'Work order executor dashboard' on the start board. | Full user |
FMB-G128 | Management dashboards work orders | Group gives access to the menu option ‘Management dashboards’ for the work orders, as well as access to the relevant objects to view this content of the dashboards. | Limited user |
Via the 'User profile management' option on the administrator startboard, these system groups can be assigned to existing user profiles or add them to newly created user profiles.
4.4.1 Relevant system groups from other modules:
For some modules, other modules might be of importance, to be able to use this module fully.
For Preventive work orders, the Master data modules ‘Buildings and areas’ and ‘Assets' are relevant therefore, the following system groups could also need to be assigned to users (if not already done in the past), to be able to create and edit the relevant master data objects.
Reference | Name | Description | License needed |
|---|---|---|---|
GOB-G007 | Edit buildings and areas | Group gives create and edit rights on buildings and areas | Full user |
GOB-G008 | Edit assets | Group gives create and edit rights on assets | Full user |
Reference | Name | Description | License needed |
|---|---|---|---|
GOB-G033 | Service groups | Parent group under which al client-specific ServiceDesk groups are created. Access rights and filter pages use this group and all child groups in lots of places to provide the client-specific ServiceDesk groups with the correct access rights and the possibility to select them. |
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When generating the user profiles, it is advised to also include these groups in the profiles or have dedicated profiles (and users) for these modules.
4.5 Navigation menu and startboard options
When a module is activated, the relevant navigation menu options become available to users with the correct authorizations (based on the system groups). Next to that, a module-specific key user startboard tab becomes available for that particular module and is visible depending on the user's authorizations. This tab gives users insights and day-to-day work overviews relevant to the specific module.
For more general information on the navigation menu and startboard, see: Navigation menu and Startboard
For the Preventive work orders module, the following navigation menu options become available:
Navigation menu option | Available to system groups | Description |
|---|---|---|
Work orders |
| The option to search for all work orders. |
Maintenance schedules |
| |
Planboard |
| The option to view already forwarded work orders and plan not yet forwarded work orders via drag and drop on a calendar view. |
Work orders dashboard |
| A management dashboard with overviews and graphs related to preventive work orders (Planned vs actual costs, Costs per building, etc.) |
For the Preventive work orders module, the following starboard tab becomes available:
This tab is available for the following system groups:
Preventive workorder manager
Management dashboards requests
This startboard tab has some buttons that are similar to the navigation menu options with the same names. Next to that, this tab has the following includes (most are only visible if they contain data):
Preventive work orders not yet submitted (planned until next month)
Preventive work orders in progress without an internal responsible (planned until next month)
Preventive work orders for my team, not assigned and not yet forwarded (planned until next month)
Preventive work orders assigned to me and not yet forwarded (planned until next month)
Preventive work orders assigned to me and in progress
Preventive work orders to be reviewed by me
Preventive work orders assigned to me, financial administration
Preventive work orders for my team and not assigned to me
5. Additional reports
Additional reports can be available for some modules via the ‘Reports’ navigation menu option.
For the (preventive) work order module(s), there are reports available via:
Navigation menu reports: A long list of reports related to work orders available for all service groups and the corrective-, preventive- and LTMP work order manager.
Management dashboard: A management dashboard for work orders is available in the ‘Maintenance’ navigation menu for the ‘Management dashboards work orders’ system group, with overviews and graphs related to work orders (Planned versus actual, Costs per building, etc.):
6. Additional settings and options after enabling
For most modules, additional settings can be configured after the initial module activation via the 'Module settings' option on the administrator startboard. A module is always activated with the most used settings pre-defined. After the module is activated, it may have more advanced settings available, which can also be managed via the module settings.
To navigate to all Preventive work order settings, go to Modules settings → tab Preventive maintenance work orders. Hover over the available settings to get more information.
7. Additional information
No additional information currently.
8. User manual
For the user manual with a more step-by-step explanation of the process itself, see: Preventive maintenance work orders for (end) users
9. Q&A
Q: Is it also possible start a tendering process to select the applicable supplier for the preventive work order?
A: No, preventive work orders are used to register maintenance work, which needs to be executed periodically in the future. The supplier who needs to execute this preventive work is usually already known and assigned to the work order template, so that every generated preventive work order is already assigned to that applicable supplier. This makes a tendering process per preventive work order not necesarry and also time consuming.
Q: Is it possible to do a mandate approval on preventive work orders?
A: No, there is no mandate approval step in the preventive work order workflow. This is because the preventive work orders are generated for the future, there are usually price agreements with the applicable supplier and mandate is already provided. Also the work to be done is also already known.