Work orders capture one-off, reactive, or project maintenance — anything that isn't already a recurring task. This guide walks through creating a work order, choosing a sensible priority, and assigning it to the right person.
When to create a work order (vs a daily task)
- Daily task: the work repeats on a known cadence (daily, weekly, monthly).
- Work order: the work has a definite start, end, and outcome ("Replace bearing on pump P-204", "Install new label printer in shipping").
If you find yourself opening the same work order every Tuesday, convert it into a Weekly task.
Open the work-order form
From the left navigation click Work Orders → New. The form is intentionally short:
- Title — what needs to happen, in plain language.
- Facility — defaults to your current Facility; change it if needed.
- Asset / equipment — optional but recommended for reporting.
- Priority — Critical, High, Normal, Low.
- Assignee — a teammate or "Unassigned".
- Due date — optional, but Insights uses it for on-time metrics.
- Description — long-form context, links to SOPs, vendor info.
- Attachments — photos, PDFs, vendor quotes.
Click Create. The work order gets a sequential ID (WO-1284) and lands in the Open queue.
Choosing a priority
A consistent priority scheme is more valuable than a clever one. Most teams converge on:
| Priority | Meaning | Response target |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | Safety, environmental, or full line down | Start within 1 hour |
| High | Equipment down, workaround exists | Start within 24 hours |
| Normal | Degraded performance, no downtime | Within the week |
| Low | Cosmetic or convenience | Next planned outage |
Document your team's definitions in an SOP and link it from the work-order form description so new techs don't have to guess.
Assigning a technician
The assignee dropdown is filtered to people with access to the selected Facility. You can:
- Assign to a single person.
- Leave as Unassigned so the next available tech can claim it.
- Assign to a role (e.g. "Electrical") — anyone on the team with that tag sees it in their queue.
The assignee receives an in-app notification and (if enabled) an email digest the same day.
Linking SOPs and daily tasks
A work order can reference one or many SOPs ("Follow SOP: LOTO-204") and the daily task that triggered it ("Logged from Daily Task: Boiler walk-around"). Links are bi-directional — the SOP page shows every work order that used it, which is gold for spotting equipment that keeps regressing.
Tips for healthy work-order hygiene
- Short, verb-led titles. "Replace bearing P-204" beats "P-204 issue".
- Always set a Facility. Cross-Facility work orders confuse Insights and ownership.
- Use comments instead of editing the description. The description is the spec; comments are the history.
- Close work orders the day work finishes. Open WOs more than 30 days old skew Insights.
FAQ
Can multiple techs work the same WO? Yes — additional techs can be added as collaborators. The primary assignee owns closure.
Can a vendor receive a work order? Vendor management is on the roadmap. For now, attach the vendor quote and use Comments to track communications.
Do work orders count toward completion rate? Yes, when a due date is set. WOs without a due date are excluded from on-time metrics.