What belongs on a maintenance work order
A maintenance work order is the unit of record for everything your team touches. The non-negotiable fields: a unique WO number, who requested it, who it's assigned to, priority, the location and the specific asset (an asset ID, not "the fan upstairs"), a clear description of the problem and the work performed, parts consumed, labor hours, and a sign-off with the completion date. Skip any of these and you lose the thing work orders exist for — the history. Six months from now, the question is never "did we fix it," it's "how many times have we fixed it, at what cost, and is this asset worth keeping."
Write the description in two parts: symptom as reported, then work as performed. "Bearing noise reported" is the request; "replaced bearings and belts, aligned, vibration verified" is the record. Techs who write both give the next tech a running start.
Corrective vs. preventive: same form, different discipline
Corrective work orders respond to failures; preventive maintenance (PM) work orders are generated on a schedule — weekly, monthly, by runtime hours, or by season. Use the same form for both so costs roll up in one place, but treat the description differently: a PM work order should carry the checklist (lube points, filter sizes, torque specs, readings to record), because a PM without a checklist quietly becomes a walk-past. If a PM uncovers a defect, close the PM and open a new corrective WO rather than letting one document swallow two jobs — your failure data stays clean that way.
Priority discipline matters more than the labels. Whatever scale you use (this form ships with Low / Medium / High / Emergency), define each level in writing — Emergency means safety or production stoppage now; High means it fails within days. Teams that let requesters set every job to High end up triaging by phone call, which is how emergencies get missed.
Parts and labor: capture the true cost
Log every part against the work order at the cost you paid, including consumables pulled from stock — grease, belts, filters, fasteners. Asset repair-versus-replace decisions are made from this data, and stockroom shrinkage hides in unlogged consumables. Labor lines should list each distinct task with its hours rather than one "labor: 4h" blob: diagnosis, repair, and testing are different skills and often different rates. When the total cost of ownership question comes — and it always comes — you'll have the answer in the file instead of in someone's memory.
Maintenance work order FAQ
What's the difference between a work order and a work request?
A work request is what anyone can submit — "the door won't close." A work order is the approved, numbered, assigned job the maintenance team executes. Requests become work orders when someone with authority triages, prioritizes, and assigns them.
Should preventive maintenance use the same work order form?
Yes — same form, same numbering, so costs and history live in one system. The difference is content: PM work orders carry the task checklist, and defects found during a PM get their own corrective work order.
Who should be allowed to close a maintenance work order?
The assigned tech records the work; the supervisor (or the requester, for customer-facing jobs) signs it closed. The authorization line on this template exists so that closing is a decision, not an autocomplete.