What are Work Orders (WOs)?
A Work Order (WO) refers to a task or set of tasks, which are part of an initial requirement (Incident or Service Request or Problem Record) that are created where the Incident or Service Request or Problem Record involves different Workgroups/Analysts. All the Work Orders created for the Incident or Service Request or Problem Record should be Resolved before resolving the Incident or Service Request or Problem Record. The Work Orders should meet the OLAs, otherwise, there is an OLA violation.
Example 1: An Incident, 789, is created for a Slow System issue. Analyst A of Global IT Service Desk troubleshoots the Incident. On troubleshooting, it is found that the RAM of the system needs to be increased. Analyst A creates a Work Order, 123, and assigns it to the Asset Management team. Analyst B of Asset Management team installs the RAM in the user’s system and resolves the Work Order 123. Analyst A validates the performance of the system and resolves the Incident 789.
Example 2: The HR creates a Service Request (SR) 1025 for a new employee joining the organization at Grade 3. After the Project Manager approves the SR, the SR is assigned to the Global IT Service Desk. Multiple Work Orders are created for different activities and assigned to different Workgroups: Work Order 223 for Windows team to create a Windows login id and e-mail id, Work Order 224 for Asset Management team to allocate a laptop, Work Order 225 for SAM team to install appropriate software, and Work Order 226 to Facilities team to provide a cubicle. WO 223, 224, and 226 can run in parallel and can be Resolved independently. WO 225 can start only after the completion of WO 224. After all the WOs are completed, the SR 1025 gets closed automatically (based on configuration) or Resolved by the Service Desk manually.
Example 3: An Incident, 789, is created for a Slow System issue. Analyst A of Global IT Service Desk troubleshoots the Incident. Similarly, an Incident 790, 791, 792,793, 794 and 795 is created for the same Slow System issue. All these multiple incidents are reported under single Problem Record 1091.
On troubleshooting, it is found that the RAM of the system needs to be increased. Analyst A creates a Work Order, 123, and assigns it to the Asset Management team. Analyst B of Asset Management team installs the RAM in the user’s system and resolves the Work Order 123. Analyst A validates the performance of the system and resolves the Incident 789. Once the incident 789 is resolved, other similar incidents 790, 791,792,793 and 795 can be resolved and hence the Problem Record.
Work Orders can be created for Incidents and Service Catalogs or Problem Records. Analyst can create a Work Order for Problem Record from the Problem > User > Problem Record List option. Analyst can create a Work Order for Incident from the LOG NEW WORK ORDER option. For Service Catalogs, after a Service Request is created for the Service Catalog for which Work Order is configured, the Work Order becomes active automatically and needs to be resolved before resolving the Service Request.
Advantages
- If a user's request cannot be fulfilled by one Workgroup, a Work Order can be created for the concerned Workgroup to fulfill the user's requirement.
- The End User or Analysts do not need to create multiple Incidents or Service Requests for related issues. Especially, for the End User, it is just one Incident or Service Request, which fulfills their requirements (although it may involve multiple Work Orders for the support teams).
How to Create Work Orders?
Analysts can create Work Orders for Incidents, Service Requests, Change Records and Problem Records from the RELATIONSHIP tab (see: Creating Work Orders, Viewing/Updating Service Request Details, and Creating Change Records (CRs)).
The Administrators can create Work Orders for Incidents on the AUTO WORK ORDER CONFIGURATION page for the Incident Management module, see Configuring Auto Work Orders.
The Administrators can configure Work Orders for Service Catalogs on the WORK ORDER CATALOG MAPPING page for the Request Fulfillment module, see Configuring Work Order- Catalog Mapping.