Maintenance work order apps can greatly impact the efficiency and organization of your maintenance operations. However, finding the right one can be daunting, with so many options available. To make the right call, it helps to do a deep dive into what a typical maintenance work order app can do, what differentiates the numerous work order apps out there, and what your own needs are in a solution.
We’ll cover many of those details here and share some key tips for finding the right software for your team.
What is a maintenance work order app?
A maintenance work order app is a centralized software platform designed to help teams manage and track maintenance tasks throughout their entire workflow. It ensures all maintenance tasks — preventive maintenance, repairs, inspections, and equipment installations — are systematically organized, assigned, tracked, and documented.
Work order apps are typically used by commercial facilities, manufacturing plants, and property management companies. In other words, any business that manages valuable physical assets or provides on-site services like plumbing or landscaping can benefit from using a work order app.
Key features of a good maintenance work order app
While work order apps on the market vary widely in their focus and functions, they generally have the same core features.
- Work order management: Apps provide a standardized template for creating, customizing, scheduling, and dispatching work orders. Each work order can include details such as task description, priority level, required materials, and estimated completion time. Tasks can then be assigned to specific team members based on their skills, location, and availability.
- Work progress tracking: Tracking features provide real-time updates on the status of work orders to impacted stakeholders, enhancing transparency and communication.
- Mobile access: Remote access to the app enables field workers to receive assignments, update work order statuses, and communicate with the team from anywhere.
- Reporting: Using data from work orders generates reports that provide insight into performance, productivity, common issues, and areas for improvement.
- Notifications and alerts: Automatic notifications about work order updates, due dates, and any other changes keep relevant parties informed.
- Work request portal: A platform for customers or internal employees to submit work requests, track progress, and communicate with the service team is a critical component of a good maintenance work order system.
More robust work order apps may include additional features such as the ability to track and manage inventory, report on department costs, and automate scheduling of repetitive work orders.
Benefits of mobile work orders
Implementing a mobile work order system brings a multitude of benefits that streamline workflows, enhance efficiency, and improve overall maintenance operations. Here are some key advantages:
Enhance workflows and reduce downtime
Mobile work orders optimize workflows by allowing maintenance teams to access, update, and complete tasks in real-time from anywhere. This immediate access to work order notifications and repair information reduces downtime as technicians can receive and act on maintenance requests promptly without needing to return to a central location.
Seamless integrations
Work order management software often integrates with other systems such as asset tracking, inventory management, and ERP systems. These integrations ensure all maintenance activities are coordinated efficiently, leading to better resource management and fewer operational disruptions.
Efficient handling of work order requests
With a mobile app, maintenance teams can submit, track, and prioritize work order requests on the go. This immediate handling ensures critical issues are addressed quickly before they escalate into bigger problems, improving asset reliability and performance. This improved responsiveness also reinforces trust in maintenance protocols and personnel.
Prioritization and task management
Mobile work order systems allow for easy task prioritization, ensuring that the most critical maintenance activities are attended to first. This prioritization helps manage workloads effectively and maintains optimal performance levels.
Use of templates for consistency
Templates within work order management software standardize maintenance activities and work requests, ensuring that all tasks are performed consistently and according to best practices. This consistency improves the quality and speed of maintenance work, simplifies audits, and improves compliance.
Improved KPI tracking
Mobile work orders facilitate the collection and analysis of key performance indicators (KPIs) and other metrics. This data-driven approach helps teams monitor maintenance efficiency, identify bottlenecks, and implement continuous improvements.
User-friendly interface
A user-friendly mobile app enhances the adoption and effective use of work order systems by the maintenance team. Simple and intuitive interfaces reduce the learning curve and increase productivity.
Comprehensive asset management
Mobile work orders enable detailed tracking of asset maintenance history and current status and make it all available at the click of a button. This visibility helps streamline nearly all asset-related activities and proactive maintenance plans, ensuring assets are maintained in optimal condition, and extending their lifespan.
Real-time audits and compliance tracking
Mobile work orders support compliance by ensuring task execution according to established protocols and checklists and simplify audits by providing immediate access to maintenance records and activity logs. This real-time capability ensures all maintenance work complies with regulatory standards and internal policies.
Integration with maintenance history
Access to complete maintenance history through mobile work orders allows technicians to make informed decisions. Understanding previous maintenance activities helps maintenance teams diagnose issues faster, resulting in shorter and more effective repairs.
Flexibility and Mobility
The flexibility of mobile apps allows maintenance teams to work from any location, whether on-site, in the field, or remote. This mobility ensures technicians can access necessary information, update work orders, and communicate with their team without being tied to a specific workstation. This flexibility leads to increased productivity and quicker response times to maintenance issues.
The adoption of mobile work orders significantly enhances the efficiency and effectiveness of maintenance operations. By leveraging modern work order management software, organizations can improve their task management, reduce downtime, and achieve better maintenance outcomes.
Which type of maintenance work order app is right for you?
There are various work order apps on the market with a wide range of intended applications. There are barebones solutions that function solely to manage work requests and work orders. On the other end of the spectrum are robust enterprise management solutions that offer work order modules as just one small part of an extensive set of features. Most fall somewhere in between.
To simplify your decision-making process, it is important to not only understand your needs but also the advantages and limitations of each type of maintenance work order app.
Basic work order apps
Basic work order apps are designed solely to coordinate a simple task workflow. They help create, assign, track, and close work orders. Simple features such as task assignment and status updates allow users to submit service requests and perform basic reporting.
While they are great for managing work orders, basic WO systems often lack more sophisticated features such as inventory management, preventive maintenance scheduling, automation, or advanced analytics.
They can be a great solution for businesses that manage a limited number of maintenance tasks or assets on a daily basis and want to move away from spreadsheets and paper forms. They can also be used by larger teams and organizations that need a simple system to track incoming service requests and ensure work is done on time. This option has a very broad range of use cases, however, more complex organizations are likely to require additional solutions to supplement a basic work order app.
It is becoming increasingly hard to find solutions that focus exclusively on managing work orders. With time, most software providers add new features, turning their basic WO system into a CMMS.
Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS)
CMMS solutions are built to help organizations automate, streamline, and simplify all of their maintenance operations. In addition to work order management, a CMMS often includes features like asset management, preventive maintenance scheduling, inventory control, vendor management, cost tracking, and detailed reporting and analytics.
Accessing all of your maintenance information in a centralized platform via a mobile device helps maintenance and facility managers skyrocket productivity, cut operational costs, and boost asset performance and longevity well beyond what a basic work order system can do.
While you can find industry-specific solutions like fleet management systems, typical CMMS software is flexible and can cover a wide range of different use cases:
- Can be used by businesses of all sizes (although some CMMSs cater to enterprises specifically).
- Tracks and manages all types of physical assets and maintenance work.
- Flexible for use in virtually any industry. The most popular industries include manufacturing, construction, hospitality, commercial facilities, energy & utilities, and government organizations.
Field service management software (FSM)
FSM software is designed to manage and coordinate field operations through a mobile workforce. While it doesn’t have all the broad asset management functions included in a CMMS, it provides tools for scheduling and dispatching tasks, inventory management, customer information management, work order management, billing and invoicing, and more. The software often comes with a mobile application that allows field technicians to access all necessary information, communicate effectively, and update job status from the field.
Field Service Management Software (FSM) is typically used by businesses that provide on-site services.
- Businesses providing repair and maintenance services, such as HVAC, plumbing, janitorial, or electrical repair services, use FSM to schedule service appointments, assign them to staff, track time and materials used, and handle invoicing and billing.
- Telecommunications and cable companies use FSM software to manage equipment installation, service, and repair at customer locations.
- The oil and gas industry uses FSM software to help schedule and manage maintenance and repairs of complex machinery and equipment in the field.
- Companies doing project-based on-site work, such as construction and landscaping, use FSM software to schedule and dispatch teams, manage materials and equipment, track project progress, and manage costs and billing.
Finding the best solution
Choosing the right maintenance software takes time and requires a clear understanding of your organization’s needs. Careful consideration of each solution based on ease of use, features, and price will help solve your organization’s most pressing challenges and set your team up for success.
If you would like to learn more about how Limble’s mobile work order app has served thousands of maintenance professionals across a variety of industries, schedule a personalized product demo or contact us today!
