Work Order System Case Study
Client & Project Overview
The client needed a robust Work Order System to manage and track work orders / jobs across teams, departments or field workers. The goal was to move from manual or uncoordinated task tracking (paper forms, spreadsheets) to a system that provides visibility, accountability, timely completion, and reporting.
Challenges / Needs
- Multiple departments or teams handling tasks without centralized tracking → tasks get lost, delayed, miscommunicated.
- Difficulty in assigning work orders, scheduling, dispatching, and tracking progress.
- No real-time updates: supervisors don’t know status unless manually asked.
- Poor visibility into team performance, task backlogs, overdue work.
- Inconsistent documentation of completion, incomplete reporting, difficulty in auditing work.
- Inefficient communications: updates / changes not communicated promptly, field workers rely on phone calls / messages.
- Need for mobile / field access (for technicians) to view/accept work orders, update status on the go.
Goals & Objectives
- Build a system to create, assign, schedule, monitor, and close work orders in a transparent way.
- Enable supervisors / managers to track status, progress, and performance in real time.
- Provide mobile / remote access for field staff so they can receive, update, and close orders from site.
- Send notifications / alerts for new orders, delays, overdue tasks.
- Generate reports & analytics: outstanding work orders, average completion time, departmental performance.
- Ensure role-based access: admin, supervisor, worker, etc.
Our Role & Scope
- Requirement gathering: mapping how work orders are initiated, assigned, tracked, escalated.
- System architecture & backend: order database, status flows, user roles, scheduling logic.
- UI/UX design: charts / dashboards for managers, task lists, mobile forms for field updates.
- Feature development: work order creation, assignment, scheduling, progress updates, closure.
- Mobile / field module: ability for field workers to view assigned tasks, accept, update progress, upload notes/photos.
- Notifications & alerts: for supervisors when orders assigned / delayed / overdue.
- Reporting & analytics: tracking of completion rates, time taken per order, bottlenecks etc.
- Testing & QA: functional tests, usability tests for field usage, data synchronization.
Solution & Key Features
- Work Order Creation & Assignment: admins or supervisors log work orders with details (description, priority, due date, department).
- Scheduling & Dispatch: assign work to appropriate team or field worker, schedule start / due times, map or location based dispatch (if necessary).
- Progress Tracking & Status Updates: field workers update the status (not started, in progress, completed), upload photos / notes.
- Mobile / Field Worker Access: mobile-friendly interface or app so workers can access orders, update status, etc.
- Notifications & Alerts: automated alerts for new assignments, upcoming due date, overdue tasks.
- Dashboard & Reports: for admin—view backlog, work order completion metrics, department or worker performance.
- Role-Based Permissions: different roles (admin, supervisor, worker) with access to respective views.
Challenges & How We Overcame Them
- Field connectivity issues: allowed for offline caching for status updates; automatic sync when connection restored.
- Ensuring accurate updates: workers might forget to update status; introduced required fields / photo evidence or supervisor verification.
- Handling change / reassignment: built workflows to manage reassigning orders if needed due to absence or overload.
- Managing workload balance: dashboards to see workload per worker, avoid overloading individuals.
- Data consistency: validation of input in field, standardized status values, timestamps.
Design & UX Approach
- Dashboard for supervisors: at-a-glance view of pending / in-progress / overdue work orders.
- Clean task card/list view for workers: easy to see what tasks are pending, details of each, ability to update.
- Mobile responsive or native app interface: simple and reliable in field conditions (poor connectivity, etc.).
- Visual cues: color coded status (e.g. red for overdue), priority indicators, progress bars.
Results & Impact
- Task completion time reduced by X% compared to before system.
- Overdue work orders dropped by Y% after implementing alerts & dashboards.
- Field worker update lag reduced: updates live instead of days later.
- Increase in work orders completed per day / per worker.
- Manager visibility improved: fewer surprises, better planning.
- Reduction in missed tasks or customer complaints due to delayed work.
Key Learnings & Future Enhancements
- User training especially field users is very important; usability of mobile interface impacts adoption.
- Notifications & alerts need to be highly visible; missing overdue work often due to lack of visibility.
- Performance & reliability in field settings matters (battery, offline, minimal data entry).
- Future phases could include: geolocation tracking, routing optimization, predictive scheduling, analytics for cost/time forecasting, integration with inventory for parts management.
Visuals / Assets Ideas
- Screenshots of supervisor dashboard showing pending / overdue work orders.
- Mobile or field worker interface showing task list and status update.
- Flow diagrams: how a work order moves from creation → assignment → progress → completion.
- Before/after graphs: overdue orders, average completion time etc.