Work order management that preserves sanity and boosts the bottom line

It’s common for facilities managers, especially those responsible for geographically dispersed portfolios, to process thousands of work orders per year.

Without a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) to automate the many steps between opening and closing work order requests, the facilities management (FM) function breaks down as delays mount and costs spiral.

How a CMMS preserves sanity

The automation, communication, and transaction features of a modern CMMS reduce the chaos of managing hundreds of open work orders per day that would otherwise require the FM team to:

• Manually source and vet qualified service providers
• Verify W9s and certificates of insurance
• Find and review warranties
• Process invoices
• Update asset histories by hand with dates, costs, parts, and vendor information

A chronic headache for facilities managers is determining when service providers are working on-site. A CMMS with GPS check-ins tracks a vendor’s on-site presence, which is essential when reviewing invoices based on hourly labor charges. In fact, an FM industry study of 700 million transactions found that vendor invoices without GPS validation averaged 30% higher than invoices for the same work performed with GPS check-ins.

Another source of FM irritation is the time spent finding and vetting service providers, monitoring work in progress, and verifying work completion. A CMMS that automates vendor-related tasks, triages reactive repairs, and enables easy upload via a mobile device of before- and after-repair photos is a time saver and stress reliever.

Accessing all pertinent work order and asset information in one convenient place, like a CMMS, speeds work order completion and allows for more confident decision-making.

How a CMMS boosts bottom line performance

There are two FM rules of thumb that impact work orders: don’t repair equipment that should be replaced and replace equipment on a schedule, not in an emergency. Following both rules saves money.

The data in your CMMS should inform any work order involving a repair/replace decision. The platform provides all the math for making a case to senior management, if necessary, including a history of repairs, anticipated future costs, and current book value. This optimizes FM spend, informs capital budgets, and streamlines work orders based on CMMS insights.

Enforcing warranties saves money by avoiding unnecessary payments while freeing up the FM team for other tasks. Your CMMS should not only alert you when a warranty covers a work-order request, but it should also notify the responsible service provider.

Setting not-to-exceed (NTE) costs based on invoices for similar work in your specific market, all available inside a professional CMMS, streamlines work order management and saves time and money. Smart NTEs, based on dynamic market data, enable your FM team to strike the optimum balance between automated work-order approvals and those needing manual review.

Lastly, preventative maintenance, which can be scheduled by your CMMS, will be less expensive than reactive repairs and decrease the numbers and costs of future work orders in the long run.

Let your CMMS optimize your work order management

A CMMS helps FM teams manage work orders in real time, at scale, by providing visibility into facilities, assets, warranties, vendors, and every stage of the work order process.

Data-driven insights lead to informed decision-making and better operational and financial performance.

Check out the Best Practices for Heroic Work Order Management eBook to learn more about the hidden power built into your CMMS solution, just waiting to be unlocked.