Welcome to our ML Work Orders Summer 2024 Guide! During the Summer months, many districts take advantage of Students and Staff not being at the district to take care of maintenance related projects. In order to make those projects go smoothly inside of ML Work Orders, many districts take the time to do a clean up of their system to make sure that the Summer, and eventual new School Year go as planned within MLW. In this comprehensive resource, we have put together a list of common areas within ML Work Orders that could benefit from a little Summer clean up. These tips and suggestions will also be discussed in further detail at our June ML Work Orders Webinar that will be taking place on Tuesday June 18th, 2024 (you can register for that session here - https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_41khObGhSDuVY7Yo00AKVA).
We hope that you have an enjoyable and safe Summer!
The topics/areas of ML Schedules that will be covered include:
- Cleaning Up Users
- Cleaning Up Approval Paths
- Getting Summer Orientated PMs Ready
- Managing the Work Order Status Page
Cleaning Up Users
With another school year coming to a close, there's a good chance that personnel changes are happening at the district. With retirements, building reassignments for staff, etc. it is important to take a look at your Users within the program to make sure that the Manage Users page is up to date and reflects these changes.
You may be looking to add a new staff member to your ML Work Orders program - you can do so by following these steps:
1. Select Users > Manage Users
2. In the top right corner, select Actions > Add User to add a new user. If you would like to edit an existing user, you can click the Pencil Icon next to the name of the individual that you wish to edit.
3. Enter the User's First Name, Last Name, Phone Number, and Email Address. A labor rate can be added for those users that will be entering labor hours on the work orders. A default Building and Space for submitting work order requests can also be added.
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The External ID field for a user is a field that can be manually entered or it can be synced over from the following single sign on options
- Google SSO - EmployeeID field from Google
- SAML Google - EmployeeID field from SAML Google
- SAML Azure - EmployeeID field from SAML Azure
- SAML Okta - EmployeeNumber from SAML Okta
4. To add a Role to the user, select the Add Role button within the Roles section. To edit the user's role, you can click the Pencil Icon next to the role name.
5. Select the Role, Building, and Request Type, Systems/Types, and Inventory Categories/Types, then select the Checkmark button to add the role.
6. To grant the user Administrative Permissions, check off the necessary checkboxes for:
- Manage Site Settings - Allows the user to add/edit buildings and spaces
- Manage User and Permission - Allows users to add/edit user roles and permissions
- Mass Update - Allows the user to mass edit work order records
7. Select the Save button and repeat steps 1-6 for any new users, or other users that you want to edit. Note: The following message may appear if you use both MLW and MLD. "Please note that this change will also impact the settings on ML Drawings”
Cleaning Up Approval Paths
With all of the changes that can happen with staff during the summer months, as well as the abundance of maintenance orientated tasks going on, you'll want to make sure that your approval paths are updated to avoid any hold ups on those work orders getting approved and assigned out. The last thing you want happening is time sensitive work orders being held up along the approval process.
To update approval paths, you can follow these steps:
1. Select Settings > Manage Approval Paths
2. To add an approval path, select the Plus icon (). To edit an existing approval path, select the Pencil icon. If editing an existing path, you can see the steps of the path on the second half of the page.
Note: Hovering/selecting the "i" next to the Roles field indicates when role(s) are selected for approval step(s), all users within that role will be included in this approval path step. This will allow anyone with the role listed to be notified of approval for the request, and anyone with that role can approve that step.
3. Enter a Name for the approval path, or edit the name of an existing path. We recommend using specific names so that it is easier to troubleshoot in the future.
4. Enter a Description for the approval path. This can help with identifying the purpose or location of the approval path, giving more context to what was selected for the name.
5. Next select the Request Type(s) (i.e. maintenance, IT.)
6. Select the Building(s) for the approval path.
7. Select the Space(s) for the approval path.
8. Select the Problem Type(s) associated with the approval path. For example, you may want all of your work orders with the "Electrical" Note: A Problem type will need to be selected when filling out a work order in order for the approval path to take place.
9. Select the Add Step button to add each approval step as needed and select the individual responsible for that specific step of approval. Note: If multiple users are selected for one approval step, only one of those users has to act upon the work order in order to keep it moving in the process.
10. Select the Save button.
Getting Summer Orientated Work Orders and PMs Ready
Between the weather being nice, and students and faculty not being in your buildings, you may want to get some specific work orders, or preventative maintenance schedules generated. Some work orders and PMs that could be beneficial for this time of the year could include:
- Work Order to deep clean each building at the district before class resumes in the fall
- Preventative Maintenance on Grounds Equipment
- Preventative Maintenance for mowing
- Work Order for athletic field prep for Fall sports
- Work Order to deep clean busses
- Work Order to stock classrooms with supplies
- Work Order to Wax the Gym Floors
This list can of course go on and on, but hopefully this will get you thinking in the right mindset and save your district some time this summer. If you need assistance creating PMs, feel free to follow the steps detailed out in this article.
Managing the Work Order Status Page
The Manage Work Order Status page can be very useful during this time of year, and can be crucial to your workflow if implemented. On this page, you can make it so that a note is required when changing a work order to a certain status, set automatic reminders based on a status, and even give context behind on hold work orders (waiting for parts, contracted services out, etc.).
To implement some of these ideas, you can follow these steps:
1. Select Settings > Setup > Items Manage Work Order Status from the left-side navigation menu
2. Select the pencil icon () next to one of the statuses
3. Check off the Notes Required checkbox and click Save.
Now when you change the Work Order status with the setting enabled this will appear.
Setting up an automation reminder based on a status
1. Select Settings > Setup Items > Manage Work Order Status from the left-side navigation menu
2. Select the pencil icon () next to one of the statuses
3. Select the Add New Record option ()
4. Enter the following information
- The number of Days the notification needs to be sent out if the Work Order remains in that status
- Notify specific roles
- Notify Assigned User checkbox
- Notify Pending User checkbox
5. Click the checkmark when the record is completed ()
Customizing the On Hold status
1. Select Settings > Setup Items > Manage Work Order Status from the left-side navigation menu
2. Once you are on the Manage Work Order Status Screen, you will have the ability to edit the On Hold Status.
Once you are editing the On Hold Status you will be able to add customized reasons.
We at MasterLibrary hope that this guide was helpful to you. We hope to see you at our June ML Work Orders Webinar that will be taking place on Tuesday June 18th, 2024 where we go into these items in more detail. Have a happy and safe summer!
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