Top Work Order Management Best Practices

For some organizations, work order management can be time-consuming and inefficient. Alternatively, it can become a valuable tool for increasing efficiency and supporting operational excellence. The distinction between these scenarios is in how an organization employs work order management best practices and strives to continuously improve these processes.

Today we will discuss the best practices businesses can implement to optimize and streamline their work order process. We will emphasize the importance of using a powerful, comprehensive computerized maintenance management system (CMMS)  to accomplish this and introduce LLumin’s CMMS+ as the ideal solution for effectively streamlining and optimizing the work order process.

Work Order Management Best Practices

For many organizations, work order management can be inefficient in several ways. This can be partly due to a company’s process structure, and in other parts, due to the use of outdated or inefficient software and tools. Without the right approach, it can be challenging to manage work orders that come in from a variety of sources and that require meticulous coordination between departments to render service.

Organizations can improve the efficiency of their maintenance workflows, decrease downtime, and increase equipment reliability with the following work order management best practices.

We will explore these best practices in further detail below. 

1. Standardize Work Order Formats

Standardizing work orders can help improve workflow efficiency by ensuring all necessary information, such as equipment, location, problem description, priority, and estimated completion time, is included. This process can help ensure that work orders are correctly prioritized and assigned and that technicians are better equipped to perform maintenance tasks—helping to increase machine uptime and reliability.

A CMMS, such as LLumin’s CMMS+, can help automate the work order process, from creating work orders to tracking order status and reporting. Standardization will help streamline work order management while providing valuable data for future optimization processes.

2. Prioritize and Monitor Work Orders

Setting up a system for prioritizing work orders can help you optimize your workflows to account for fluctuations in demand and ensure that maintenance tasks are completed in the order of importance. It is critical to assign priorities at the start of work order creation, even during slower periods when there are no scheduling conflicts. This will allow your team to quickly and easily determine which low-priority tasks can be postponed in the event of an urgent request.

Low-priority tasks, for example, should include any maintenance tasks that will not affect operational performance or have a negative impact on safety if they occur. 

Medium-priority tasks must be completed to keep operations running smoothly and at peak performance but will not cause downtime if they occur. You should assign all business-critical tasks required to keep the company running as a high priority.

In addition to prioritizing tasks, it will be critical to monitor work order progress to ensure that work is completed on time and that any delays or issues are addressed as soon as possible. Using advanced CMMS software, such as LLumin CMMS+, will allow you to prioritize tasks and maintain complete visibility and control over work order management from creation to completion.

3. Assign Work Orders to the Right Technician

Assigning tasks to the right technicians with the appropriate expertise will be critical to optimizing your work order management processes. Once the priority of your work order has been determined, it must be assigned to a technician or team of technicians with the necessary expertise and training to complete the task to the highest possible standard.

This process ensures that work orders are handled by technicians with the necessary skills, experience, and availability to complete the work efficiently and effectively. It will also help to improve your overall operational efficiency, reduce costs, and reduce the risks of equipment failure, safety hazards, and compliance issues.

4. Continuous Improvement

Before making changes to your work order processes, you must establish a baseline against which to measure your progress so that you can track the results of your changes. This process will include tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) such as on-time completion rates, measuring equipment reliability, and uptime impact.

This data and feedback will help you identify areas for further improvement and continuously improve, streamline, and reduce costs in your work order management process. It can also be beneficial to solicit feedback from technicians and team members on your current work order management processes and encourage them to identify areas where you could improve your process structure.

5. Implement a CMMS Solution

Choosing the right solution will be one of the most important work order management best practices on this list if your organization uses outdated software or relies on manual processes prone to human error. Consider how advanced CMMS software can help improve collaboration, reduce miscommunications, and provide greater visibility into all maintenance activities.

A CMMS solution can significantly improve maintenance operations by centralizing your data, automating your work order processes, and providing valuable data analytic tools.

With LLumin’s CMMS+, work orders can be generated automatically, assigned to the appropriate technicians, and tracked throughout the maintenance process until completion. 

Your maintenance team can access LLumin’s cloud-based platform with the convenience of a hand-held mobile device and gain access to valuable work order information, equipment details, and historical data at any time and from any location without delay.

LLumin’s CMMS+ for Optimized Maintenance Workflows

Choosing the right maintenance management solution is one of the most essential steps in optimizing your maintenance workflows and achieving your overall improvement and performance objectives. An advanced CMMS solution can help your organization ensure that all maintenance activities are streamlined, performed to the highest standards, completed on time, and with as little downtime as possible.

LLumin’s CMMS+ software is a complete solution for condition-based monitoring. LLumin’s CMMS+ enables maintenance technicians and managers to stay ahead of machine failures and dramatically reduce unplanned downtime by providing the advanced tools and features required to streamline and improve maintenance operations.

LLumin is different from many other software providers. When you choose to work with us, you will have access to excellent customer service throughout the entire implementation process. Your project will be tailored to your company’s specific goals and requirements. We will provide you with a complete implementation plan, a dedicated implementation consultant and ongoing support throughout your digital transformation and beyond.

So if you are looking for a cutting-edge CMMS+ accompanied by a seamless implementation process and an expert customer support staff, then LLumin is a perfect fit.