Create Request

The Create Request page is used to define, prioritize, and assign work to be completed. For example, you could create a work request to report a broken window, to install a software upgrade on your laptop, or to perform routine maintenance on a boiler. The system can simplify the request entry process by defaulting many of the required work request values for you. For example, the type of work may cause the request to be assigned to a particular user.

When you create a request, you define it by entering basic information, such as the property where the work should be done, the type of work to be done, or when the work should be completed. Once created, you can define additional information on the Request Details page, such as required procedures or file attachments.

The Logbook is highly configurable. Some of the options displayed below may not be enabled due to your system configuration or the permissions granted to your account.

In addition, some fields are displayed only if you are utilizing the optional Healthcare Functionality. These features are marked as Healthcare Functionality Only.

To create a request:

1. Under Logbook, select Create Request.

   The Create Request page opens. Fields that are required to create the work request are marked with a small red square. Many of the fields have default values supplied by the system. You can change these values, if needed.

2. Define the Request Details.

   1. In the Property field, select the property where the work will be performed.

      The system defaults this value to the default property associated with your user account. If you have access to more than 200 properties, a Select link is displayed instead of a drop-down menu so that you can locate and select a property.

      Some installations may be set up to allow you to select an asset and have the location of the asset to drive the property location.

   2. Specify a Location within the property to further define where the work will be performed.

      Location is highly configurable. Your system may display one or more of the following fields:

      • Space/Floor – Select a value to indicate that the work should be done on a particular space or floor. Some systems group spaces and floors together and some use separate space and floor values.
      • Zone – Select a value to indicate that the work should be done in a particular zone within the property.
      • Tower/Wing – Select a value to indicate that the work should be done in a particular tower or wing within the property.
      • Floor – Select a value to indicate that the work should be done on a particular floor within the property
      • Space – Select a value to indicate that the work should be done in a particular space within the property. You cannot select a space until after you select a floor.
      • Sub-Space – Select a value to indicate that the work should be done in a particular subSpace within the property. You cannot select a subSpace until after you select a space.

   3. In the Type field, select the type of work to be done.

   4. In the SubType, field, further define the type of work to be done.

      The subTypes displayed depend on the Type selected.

   5. In the Priority field, select the priority of the work.

      This value can be used to indicate whether this request is urgent or routine.

   6. In the Describe your Request field, enter a value indicating the type of work to be done.

      You should enter the specific details about what needs to be done. These instructions are passed on to the user the request will be assigned to. The more detail that can be provided, the better the chance that the work will be accurately performed. The description you enter will became part of the permanent request history.

   7. Click the View Procedure link to examine the procedure associated with this request Type and Subtype.

      A separate window opens to display the procedure. Not all request types and subTypes have associated procedures.

   8. In the Authorized to Enter field, select Yes to indicate that the workers are authorized to enter the property and perform the work even if the owner/manager is not present.

   9. In the Auth. Remarks field, enter any required authorization comments.

      For example, you may need to include a phone number to call to gain entry to a property if the manager is unavailable.

3. Define Who is making this request.

   These values indicate the name and contact information of the user who needs the work done. By default, the currently logged-in user's information is displayed. However, you may be entering this request on another user's behalf, or you may want someone else to be the main point of contact for this request. Therefore, you can select a different user by doing any of the following:

   • Click the Get Default Contact link to select the default property contact as the requestor.

   • Click the Find A Contact button to open a dialog box allowing you to select another user ad the requestor.

   • Click the Clear Contact Info button to clear all of the requestor contact information fields. You can then enter new contact information by typing into the fields. The requestor does not need to be a system user.

   Define values for the following fields.

   1. In the First Name field, enter the first name of the user making the request.

   2. In the Last Name field, enter the last name of the user making the request.

   3. In the Company Name field, enter the name of the company where the user making the request works.

   4. In the Email Address field, enter the email address of the user making the request.

      This is the email address that request notifications will be sent to.

   5. In the Phone field, enter the phone number of the user making the request.

   6. In the Fax field, enter the Fax phone number of the user making the request.

   7. In the Department field, select the department that the user making the request works in.

   8. Select the Notify Requestor check box if you want notification updates sent to the requestor and any users whose email addresses were entered in the Email CC field.

   9. Enter an External Cost Center if required. This value usually specifies a cost center code from a third-party system used for billing and reporting purposes. If Healthcare Functionality is enabled, this value must be specified by clicking the Select link and selecting a validated external cost center.

   10. In the Email CC field, enter the email addresses of any other people you want to receive request notification emails.

       You can enter one or more email addresses, separated by commas. These people do not have to have system user accounts to be notified. CC users will receive update notification emails, if the requestor user has confirmation emails enabled. CC users will receive email updates when updates occur, including updates where the Notify Requestor check box is selected, but will not receive the completion email.

4. Select Watchers.

   1. Click Add Watcher.

      The Select User dialog opens.

   2. Enter search criteria and click Find.

   3. Select the name of the watcher.

      The dialog closes and the Current Watchers list updates.

   4. Select Notification if you want this watcher to be notified when changes are made to the request.

5. Define the Internal Information.

   1. Assign the work request.

      • Specify the Assigned To user. If you click the Automatic link, a dialog box opens indicating the name of the user this request will be assigned to by default. This assignment is based upon a set of rules defined by your system administrator. If you want to override the automatic assignment, you can click the Select link and select a different user.

        If the user you want to assign the request to is not displayed, contact your system administrator. That user may not have the appropriate security rights to the activity group containing the request type, or to the appropriate inspection class, if an inspection is associated with the request.

      • If Crews functionality is enabled, you can select a Crew (for example, Janitorial Staff or Electricians) to assign the request to. When you select a crew, the request is assigned to the crew leader, by default. You can either accept this assignment or click the Assigned To Select link and select a different member of the crew. Only crew members that have the appropriate security rights to the property and the request type and subType are displayed.

        Note:

        Once you assign a work request to a crew, it cannot be reassigned to an individual, only to another member of this or another crew. Some systems are configured to require a Crew assignment for all work requests. If this is the case, you cannot create the request unless you select a crew assignment.

   2. In the Send Notifications field, select Yes to have email notifications sent when the request is created/scheduled to start and updated.

   3. In the Follow-Up alert field, select a value to indicate when follow-up alerts should be sent.

      Follow-up alerts are sent to remind the assignee and escalate the request if it is not acknowledged promptly. You can either have follow-up alerts sent automatically based on the time frame associated with the selected work priority, or you can select a particular time frame.

   4. In the Complete By fields, select the date and time you want the work completed by.

      If you leave this field blank and a Service Level Agreement (SLA) is in place for this request type and subType, the Complete By date is calculated by the system. Otherwise, no Complete By date is used.

      If you enter a value, the system validates it to ensure it does not conflict with the SLA target dates. You cannot specify a Complete By date that is later than the Complete By date calculated by the SLA.

   5. In the Asset field, click the Select link to search for and associate an asset with this work request.

      You can search for assets by asset name, asset number, asset barcode number, or the employee the asset is assigned to.

      Some installations allow you to use the property location of the selected asset to drive the location of the work order. If this functionality is enabled, the Select Asset dialog box will contain a Property field that allows you to search for assets at your default property, another property, or all properties (that you have security rights to). When you select an asset, the location fields will update to reflect the location of the asset. The request Type and Subtype fields may also update to reflect the work types and subTypes available at the selected property.

      If Healthcare Functionality is enabled, you can search for and select assets that are tied to properties other than the property the request has been created for. This accounts for "movable" assets, such as mobile ultrasound devices, which are used in multiple physical locations.

   6. In the Internal Comments field, enter an additional internal-only comment about this work request.

      Only users with the proper security rights can see internal comments. This field can be used when a request is being assigned to a vendor to display comments to internal users that the vendor cannot see.

   7. In the Schedule For fields, select the date and time you want the work to start.

      This field allows you to specify that work should be done in the future, for example, having equipment set up in a conference room for a meeting that takes place next week. If a value is defined, notifications will not be sent until the Schedule For date. If a value is not defined, the Schedule For date defaults to the date the request is created.

   8. In the Requested Completion Date field, enter the date and time you would like the work to be completed by.

      This field allows you to specify a date by which you would like the work to be completed. This value is used to specify a completion date/time preference, but is not used in SLA calculations.

6. Define Accounts.

   If the NPFA (Non-Profit Fund Accounting) module is enabled, an Accounts pane is displayed, allowing you to define the accounts that work requests use to classify revenues and expenditures.

   1. Click Add Another Account Group.

   2. In the Billing Type field, select the type of billing you want to use for this entity.

      The billing type defines whether actual costs, estimated costs, or no costs will be used when billing for this entity. It also determines the percentage of markup applied to charges.

      Depending on the configuration of the account group selected, the Billing Type field may be disabled.

   3. In the Accounting Hold field, select Yes if you do not want the costs from this request to be included in the next journal entry extract.

   4. In the Reason field, enter a reason for the accounting hold if you set Accounting Hold to Yes.

   5. Configure the accounts you want to associate with this entity.

      You can associate one or more accounts.

      1. Click the Add New Link.

         The Add Account String dialog box is opens.

      2. In the Chart of Accounts field, select the chart of accounts that contains the account strings you want to add.

         Depending on the configuration of the account group selected, the Chart of Accounts field may not appear. If it is not displayed, the default chart of accounts will be used.

      3. In the Account Index field, select the account index containing the segment values that you want to use to populate the segment fields.

         An account index provides a named shortcut for populating the segment values. If you select an index, values will automatically fill-in for all of the displayed segments. You can manually override a particular segment value, if needed.

         Depending on the configuration of the account group selected, the Account Index field may not appear. If it is not displayed, you can manually enter segment values in the fields.

      4. Enter a value for each segment.

         If you used an account index, these fields are automatically populated for you. You can modify them, if needed.

         As you click into each field, a list of valid values may appear. You can pick a value from the list instead of typing a value. Some account groups may not have this feature enabled.

      5. Click ADD.

      The account string and the Percentage of the costs that will be allocated to this account string is displayed. You can add additional account strings, if needed and modify the percentage values to allocate the costs appropriately. All account string percentages must add up to 100%. If you click Reset, all accounts are removed.

7. Define Parent/Child Work Orders.

   Creating parent and child work orders creates hierarchical relationships between multiple work orders. A work order can have only one parent, but can have multiple children.

   1. Set Top Level WO to Yes to places this work request at the top of the parent/child hierarchy.

      This means that you cannot select a parent work order for this work request and no other work request can select this work request as a child.

   2. Select Show Details to show more information about the selected parent and child work orders.

   3. Click Select Parent to open a window and select an existing work request to serve as the parent of this request. You can specify search criteria to locate the appropriate work request. For more information about these criteria, see the Find Request page. The system ensures that only work requests that are eligible to be a parent (are of an appropriate type) are available for selection.

   4. Click Select Parent to open a window and select an existing work request to serve as a child of this request. You can specify search criteria to locate the appropriate work request. For more information about these criteria, see the Find Request page. The system ensures that only work requests that are eligible to be a child (are of an appropriate type, are not defined as top-level work orders) are available for selection.

8. Define the Other Options.

   1. In the External WO# field, enter a value to link this request to a request from a third-party system.

      In most cases, you will not enter a value in this field. If you are integrating with a third-party system, this field is usually populated by that system.

   2. In the Originated From field, to indicate where that this request originated from a particular source, for example, a phone call or a fax request.

   3. In the Estimated Labor Hours, enter a value to indicate the number of hours of labor this request will take to complete.

      This value is primarily used when the request is associated with a project for budgeting purposes.

   4. In the Estimated Amount field, enter the estimated costs for the work.

      This value is primarily used when the request is associated with a project for budgeting purposes.

   5. In the Budgeted field select Yes to indicate that any costs or labor hours entered should be taken against the project budget.

      This value is primarily used when the request is associated with a project.

   6. In the Billable field, select a value to indicate whether the costs associated with this work request will be billed to an external party.

      If you select Automatic, the system will determine whether the request should be billable based on the configuration established by your system administrator.

   7. In the Project field, click the Select link to associate this request with a Project.

      This field is not displayed if the Projects module is not enabled.

   8. (Healthcare Functionality Only) In the Charge Type field, select the billing charge type for the costs associated with this work request.

9. Click any of the following links, if needed.

   Your security rights will determine whether any of these links are displayed.

   • Create Guest User – Clicking this link opens the Property Guest Users page, allowing you to create a guest user who has limited access to the system. Then, you can select this guest user as the requestor so that he or she can sign in to check the status of the work request.

   • Create Asset – Clicking this link opens the Create Asset page, allowing you to create an asset. This link is useful if the asset you want to associate with the request has not yet been entered into the system.

   • Look for Duplicates – Clicking this link opens the Find Request page, checking for similar requests to prevent you from entering a duplicate request.

10. Once you have all of the request parameters defined, click OK to create the work request.

    The system will validate the information you entered and will display an error message if there are any conflicts.

    If there were no errors in the information you entered, the request is created and a confirmation page opens.

    • The Request ID number is displayed as a link. Click this link to open the Request Details page.
    • Click the REPEAT link to create another, similar work request. The Create Request page opens, copying all of the original request's information. You can change any of the values. For more information, see Repeat.
    • Click Print Work Order to print a copy of the work order.
    • To attach a file to the work order, click the Browse button to locate the file and then click the Upload File button.