How to Generate Work Orders Automatically

This page explains how to generate work orders automatically from Service Plans, both on demand and on a recurring schedule using batch jobs.

Prerequisites

• At least one Service Process must exist.
• At least one Service Plan must be linked to one or more assets.
• Maintenance Settings must be configured, particularly:
  • GENERATEWORKORDERSFORWARD -- the look-ahead period in days.
  • GENERATEWORKORDERSTOLERANCE -- the tolerance percentage for consumption-based plans.
• For consumption-based Service Plans (e.g., every 10,000 miles), assets must have up-to-date clock readings.

How Work Order Generation Works

When you run the generation process, xAssets:

1. Examines every active Service Plan in the system.
2. Calculates when each asset's next service is due, based on:
   • Time-based plans -- the last service date plus the interval.
   • Consumption-based plans -- the current clock reading, estimated usage rate, and the service interval.
3. Creates a work order for every service that falls due within the look-ahead period (GENERATEWORKORDERSFORWARD days from today).
4. Assigns each work order to the individual, supplier, or work centre specified in the Service Process.

Generating Work Orders on Demand

1. Navigate to Maintenance > Work Orders > Generate Work Orders.
2. The system runs the generation process immediately.
3. Review the output to see how many work orders were created and for which assets.
4. Navigate to Maintenance > Work Orders > Outstanding Generated Work Orders to see the new work orders.

Setting Up Automatic Generation

To generate work orders on a regular schedule (e.g., weekly or daily), use a batch job.

1. Navigate to Admin > Batch Jobs.
2. Create a new batch job with the following settings:
   • Transformation -- select the work order generation transformation (as specified in the GENERATEWORKORDERS maintenance setting).
   • Schedule -- set the frequency (e.g., every 7 days for weekly generation).
   • Active -- enable the batch job.
3. Save the batch job.

Tip: Set GENERATEWORKORDERSFORWARD to the same number of days as the batch job frequency. For example, if the batch job runs weekly, set the look-ahead to 7 days. This ensures each generation run picks up exactly where the last one left off, with no gaps or duplicate work orders.

Understanding Tolerance

For consumption-based plans, the GENERATEWORKORDERSTOLERANCE setting determines how early a service can be triggered. If an asset's projected usage reaches the service threshold within the tolerance percentage, a work order is generated even though the exact threshold has not been reached.

For example, with a tolerance of 5% and a service interval of 10,000 miles:

• An asset at 9,500 miles (within 5% of 10,000) would trigger a work order.
• An asset at 9,000 miles would not.

See Tolerance in Servicing Plans for full details.

Viewing and Managing Generated Work Orders

After generation, work orders can be viewed and managed from several places:

• Maintenance > Work Orders > Outstanding Generated Work Orders -- all outstanding work orders across all assets.
• Asset Editor > Maintenance section -- work orders for a specific asset.
• Manage Service Plans screen -- work orders generated from a specific plan.

Each work order moves through the lifecycle: Created, Assigned, In Progress, Complete, Closed. See Introduction to Work Orders for details.

Troubleshooting

Related Articles

• Generating Work Orders — Detailed reference for automatic work order generation
• Steps to Generate Work Orders — The steps involved in generating work orders
• Creating a Service Plan — How to create a service plan
• Introduction to Work Orders — Overview of work orders
• Creating Work Orders Manually — Creating work orders by hand as an alternative