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Overview
Work Orders are used by project leaders to communicate with team members. Work Orders are usually an assignment of work to be accomplished, but can also be requests to internal employees for quotes.
Note - The Work Orders applet is available only to Project Leaders (Project Managers, Principals In Charge and Project Accountants) and is used to assign work orders to individuals, as well as to track and administer those work orders.
Key Concepts
Work Orders provide a number of benefits:
| • | Work Orders allow for time collection without the knowledge of WBS paths. If used extensively, employees do not need to know anything about WBS paths, labor codes, or job titles. This makes time entry far simpler. |
| • | Work Orders also allow project managers to construct project plans that fit the project rather than conforming to some strict generic company-wide coding system. |
| • | Work Orders are proactive when used in place of emails. They alleviate much of the time transfer work that goes on after time collection. |
| • | Small units of work can be managed without changing the project plan. Work Orders can be set to demand that Estimates to Complete be provided by the employee when citing the work order during time sheet collection. |
| • | Budgets can be assigned to work orders so that the project manager can analyze performance when maintaining the plan. |
Field Descriptions
Work Order Navigator (Left Window)
| • | Description - The left part of the Work Order applet is the Work Order Navigator. It lists the work order for projects of which the user is the project leader. At the top of the list are Incomplete/Completed buttons. Clicking these alters the list between completed and incomplete work orders. Work orders are built into the list and grouped by date periods, such as two weeks old, more than a month, today, etc. |
| • | Incomplete - When selected, the grid only shows Work Orders that have not been completed. |
| • | Completed - When selected, the grid only shows Work Orders that have been completed. A Work Order is Completed by clicking the "Complete" link located under the Description window. |
| • | Speech Bubble - The speech bubble indicates that communications exist for the work order. If the bubble icon is grayed out, it indicates that all existing communications have been read. |
| • | Question Mark - The question mark icon indicates that the work order is actually a request for a quote. This is activated by checking the "Quote Request" box in the Work Order Detail. More on Work Order Detail |
| • | Red Flag - The red flag icon indicates that the work order has been marked as high priority. This is activated by checking the "High Priority" box in the Work Order Detail. More on Work Order Detail |
| • | ID - The Unique Identifier of the Work Order. |
Work Order Navigator (Left Window - Visual Indicators)
| • | Red - Work orders in red indicate that the work order has not been assigned to an employee. |
| • | Green - Work orders in green indicate that the work order has been closed by employee. |
| • | Bold - Work orders that appear in bold have time entered against them. |
Work Order Window (Right Window)
| • | Description - The right hand portion of the screen serves two purposes. First, it shows a quote (if one exists). Second, it provides a running dialogue between project leaders and the work order assigner. |
| • | Work ID - Work Order ID Number. |
| • | Description/Quote - When "Quote Request" box is checked, the comment box is labeled "Quote" and a quote can be added. When "Quote Request" box is un-checked, the comment box is labeled "Description" and a description can be added. Both are stored so that you can go between the two. |
| • | Send Back Link - Allows the Project Leader to send back the Work Order to a client who has closed a Work Order. |
| • | Complete Link - Closes the Work Order. |
Comments (Right Window)
| • | Comments - Allows the Project Leaders to have conversations with the Employee assigned to the Work Orders. |
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