1. Requests in general
A request system is a tool used to report and address issues or maintenance needs within a facility or office building. The person creating a request provides detailed and essential information about the issue, so that the responsible person or team can handle the issue accordingly and within the specified period. The request process give transparency to the requestor and to the responsible about the progress of the request.
Overall, a request 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: Requests module in the 'Application Managers' section.
3. Why use this module
This module enables employees/users to easily submit work-related requests or report problems. The system automatically assigns these requests to the appropriate team for resolution, eliminating the need for users to find the right person or team themselves. Additionally, the module allows requests to be divided into one or more corrective work orders, which can be sent to preferred suppliers automatically. Users can track the progress of their requests through reports and dashboards, evaluating if requests have been handled within the set SLA times and and work orders completed by suppliers.
3.1 Choices to be made within the module
The most relevant choices that can be made when using this module are the following:
Which service groups are used by the customer? All service group members will be users of the Workplace Management application and will get tasks to handle requests.
Which problemtypes are applicable for the customer? Does the customer want a simple list with only a couple of problemtypes to choose from or a complete hierarchy of problemtypes with multiple levels?
Does the customer want to use corrective work orders? Requests can be handled directly by the responsible service group (member) or via corrective work orders created from the request. Corrective work orders can be assigned to internal users or external suppliers to register relevant costs and handle the problem. If the customer wants to use corrective work orders:
Use corrective work orders in general: corrective work orders can be created in all requests (independent from problemtype)
Use corrective work orders based on the problemtype: Determine per problemtype if corrective work orders can be created.
Are SLAs used to monitor the response and handle times of requests? If so, register the desired response and handle times per priority.
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 requests 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 request, these modules will need to be activated first. Otherwise, it is only possible to register the specific building, area and/or asset in a description field. Insights about the number of requests for a specific building, area or asset will then not be possible.
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
Use SLA times: Enable this option to register the response and handle times desired per priority and being able to report on the reponse and handle times for all requests.
Hide option to send request to contractor: Hide the option to forwarded the request to a contractor instead of working with corrctive work orders. Forwarding requests to a contractor can be used if the customer does not use corrective work orders for this purpose.
Auto close request after workdays: After a request is handled, the requestor can check if the request is handled accordingly. If the requestor does not review the request, the request is automatically closed after X days.
Set update done by requestor flag: Enable this option if the requests needs to be flagged as soon as the requestor adds more information to the request. The service group which handles the request becomes aware of the additional information and can then mark the request to confirm that the requestors update is seen.
Use preferred suppliers: Enable this option to register preferred suppliers in general, per building, per area and/or per asset and let the application automatically assign the preferred supplier to the corrective work orders.
Use Knowledge base: Enable this option to use a knowledge base in requests, where users can add knowledge base items to help other users handling requests faster and more efficient.
Check duplicate problemtype: Enable this option to let the application check for duplicate (open) request with the same problemtype.
Check duplicate property: Enable this option to let the application check for duplicate (open) request with the same property/building.
Check duplicate area: Enable this option to let the application check for duplicate (open) request with the same area.
Check duplicate asset: Enable this option to let the application check for duplicate (open) request with the same asset.
Service groups:
Create the desired service groups directly from the module activations ‘Servicedesk service groups’ include. At least one service group needs to be created to be able to start the module activation.
Workflow emails:
The emails that are automatically send 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
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 requests module is activated, the following default import connectors become available:
Reference | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
FMB-F-031 | Import problemtypes (basic) | This import can be used to import the problemtypes which can be selected in requests. This is a basic variant of the problemtype import without work order or ITIL settings. |
FMB-F-032 | Import problemtypes (advanced) | This import can be used to import the problemtypes which can be selected in requests. This is the advanced variant of the problemtype import with work order and ITIL settings. |
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 Requests module, the following system groups become available:
Reference | Name | Description | License needed |
|---|---|---|---|
GOB-G002 | Create requests | Group gives access to creating requests (object and startboard menu options) | Requestor |
FMB-G151 | View requests | Group gives access to the navigation menu option 'Requests'. | Requestor |
GOB-G013 | Servicedesk employee | Group grants general rights to view and handle requests. Group must be assigned to each service desk employee (in addition to the customer-specific service desk group for handling the specific requests for that service group) | Limited user |
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. | |
FMB-G064 | Manage demarcations | Group gives access to demarcation lists en object demarcations. | Full user |
FMB-G057 | Manage problemtrees | Group gives access to create and edit problem trees and problem types. | Full user |
FMB-G082 | Management dashboards requests | Group gives access to the menu option "Management dashboards" for the requests module, 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 (master data) modules might be of importance, in order to be able to fully use this module.
For Requests, the Master data modules ‘Properties and areas’ and ‘Assets' are often 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 properties and areas | Group gives create and edit rights on properties and areas | Full user |
GOB-G008 | Edit assets | Group gives create and edit rights on assets | Full user |
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: https://spacewell.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/KB/pages/441712705/Authorizing+users#2.2-Navigation-menu-and-Startboard
For the Requests module, the following navigation menu options become available:
Navigation menu option | Available to system groups | Description |
|---|---|---|
Requests |
| The option to search for all existing requests. |
Problem type schemes |
| The option to manage the problemtypes. |
Roles |
| The option to manage the roles which can be linked to problemtypes and preferred suppliers. |
Preferred suppliers |
| The option to manage preferred suppliers in general. Specific object related preferred suppliers can be maaged within the corresponding object (e.g. a building). |
Knowledge Base |
| The option to manage knowledge base items. |
Requests dashboard |
| A management dashboard with overviews and graphs related to requests (New vs Handled, SLA response times, etc) |
For the Requests module, the following starboard tab becomes available:
This tab is available for the following system groups:
Servicedesk employee
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):
Requests for my team, not yet assigned: This overview shows created tickets assigned to your team (service group), which have not yet been assigned to a team member to handle the request.
Requests assgined to me: This overview shows requests assigned to me to handle.
5. Additional reports
For some modules, additional reports can be available via the ‘Reports’ navigation menu option.
For the requests module, there are reports available via:
Navigation menu reports: A long list of reports related to requests available for all service groups.
Management dashboard: A management dashboard for requests is available in the ‘Requests’ navigation menu for the ‘Management dashboards requests’ system group, with overviews and graphs related to requests (New vs handled, SLA response times, etc):
6. Additional settings and options after enabling
For some 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, the module may have more advanced settings available, which can be managed via the Module settings as well.
To navigate to all Requests settings, go to Modules settings → tab Requests. 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: Requests module for (end)users
9. Q&A
Waiting for questions to answer.