Work Order Management
Work order management is the controlled process and software functionality used to create, approve, prioritize, plan, assign, execute, complete, and review maintenance work.
What this term means in maintenance
Work order management is the controlled process and software functionality used to create, approve, prioritize, plan, assign, execute, complete, and review maintenance work.
Work-order lifecycle
A complete process may include:
- Report the need
- Review and approve
- Prioritize
- Plan
- Schedule
- Assign
- Execute
- Record evidence
- Complete
- Close and review
Practical example
A leaking valve request becomes an approved corrective work order with parts, permit, assignment, testing, and completion evidence.
Information controlled
Work-order management preserves asset, scope, priority, labor, parts, downtime, status, failure details, documents, and approvals.
Visibility
Supervisors can see open, overdue, on-hold, completed, and cancelled work.
Common mistake
Using work orders only as final repair records misses approval, planning, scheduling, and execution control.
How this term differs
Work Order Management is the work-order-focused capability used to control individual jobs. It is related to Work Order, Maintenance Work Management, and Maintenance Workflow, but these terms describe different records, measures, roles, strategies, or decisions and should not be used interchangeably.
Related concepts
Related maintenance terms
Keep exploring connected CMMS, reliability, and maintenance planning terms.
Work Order
A work order is an authorized record that defines maintenance work to be performed, including the asset, priority, scope, assignee, instructions, labor, parts, status, and completion evidence.
Maintenance Work Management
Maintenance work management is the end-to-end process for identifying, approving, planning, scheduling, executing, completing, and reviewing maintenance work.
Work Order Status
Work order status shows the current stage of maintenance work, such as open, in progress, on hold, completed, closed, or cancelled.
Glossary FAQs
- What is work-order management?
The process of creating, approving, planning, assigning, executing, completing, and reviewing maintenance work.
- What information should it preserve?
Asset, scope, priority, labor, parts, downtime, status, failures, evidence, and approvals.
- Is work-order management only a software function?
No. It requires clear business rules, roles, and disciplined execution.