In many work situations, the relationship between a company and its clients goes far beyond the direct purchase of a product and it is necessary to specify certain conditions that will establish the service that a company is going to offer.
When that happens, it is necessary to formalize a series of details that will guide the actions of the company, so a document is used that records that information. This document is called a Work Order and, both in its paper and digital versions, is essential for the correct execution of the work associated with it.
What is a work order?
As we saw, a work order is a document that contains all the specifications a company requires to perform a specific service to its customers. Normally, it is printed on paper with a copy for each of the parties involved. However, with the advent of digitization, they are now widely used in that format.
What is the importance of a work order?
The objective of a work order is to grant the company and the client a legal endorsement or a guarantee, against any claim or inconvenience that arises as a result of the service provided.
Under this assumption, every detail that a work order contains is of fundamental importance to avoid misunderstandings or any other type of conflict between the parties.
Moving on from paper to digital
Given the current conditions in which business management is carried out, many processes have left paper and have moved to the digital world. And within that logic, there are a series of conditions by which paper work orders generate what are known as operational inconveniences. Among the most striking is the fact that completing them requires a lot of time, their cost is high because they are paper documents, they are susceptible to typing and transcription errors, in addition to being easily lost.
Faced with this reality, work orders have evolved to become a digital element. This migration has made it possible to create these documents digitally, allowing them to control their entire operating process from software that can be controlled from a computer or any mobile device, either in the company itself or in the field. Thus, the workers involved in the process can complete the data, entering it into a management system immediately, avoiding all the risk of loss or mishandling of data that used to occur during the process, ensuring greater productivity and security, both for the company and customers.
Advantages of digital work orders
Digital work orders do not have major differences in form compared to their paper counterparts. However, at the operational level, we highlight the following advantages:
- Having digital work orders also allows you to have total freedom to create your own forms, customizing fields and other details according to the specific needs of each company. Depending on the software chosen, it is also possible to complete these forms without being connected to the internet, opening up enormous possibilities for improvements for companies that must operate in the field, where internet connectivity tends to present instability.
- companies that have migrated to the use of digital work orders have also seen how their processes are streamlined, since they allow quick access to information, receiving data instantly, with greater efficiency. All the basic information of the registers is stored in a clear and accessible way. Not to mention that work orders can be created and adapted to any type of business quickly and easily.
- They are fully customizable, being able to add logos, colors and the name of the company.
Additionally, digital work orders enable managers to meet a variety of organizational goals related to better maintenance service and greater operational efficiency, such as:
- Agility in response times – by allowing a work order to be completed more quickly, providing greater transparency to detect and address potential problems related to the process.
- Reduction of downtime – avoiding situations that threaten efficiency and productivity, with situations such as overlapping demands for equipment and labor, or the inactivity of resources. Good management of digital work orders allows you to manage resources clearly and easily, ensuring optimal use of resources.
- Increases the shelf life of assets – By being tied to software, digital work orders open the possibility of scheduling asset use and resource allocation to keep the load shared among all resources. This prevents overuse of a particular resource, thus extending its overall shelf life and reducing additional overhead costs as a result of wear.
- Increased quality control – provided by the ease of a program that generates clearer, easily accessible instructions, received and executed on time. In addition, it has monitoring tools for constant monitoring of key performance areas, providing a mechanism for compliance with quality standards and an increase in the responsibility of workers.
- Constant improvement – By maintaining industry benchmarks in maintenance operations, it provides a valuable means for key decision makers to analyze completed work to detect process inefficiencies and identify potential improvements. That allows the general maintenance process to be extremely efficient. Ultimately, a work order management software achieves two primary business goals: completing work quickly and cost-effectively without compromising on quality.
