Tutorial 6: Reactive Maintenance Workflow




Now that you’ve setup your company details, users, locations, and assets – you’re ready to start using custodian™. Before you dive in – let’s take a few minutes to understand the Reactive Maintenance workflow.

Workflow Step 1: Submit an ISSUE

The custodian™ CMMS reactive Maintenance workflow starts when a user identifies an issue – what you might also refer to as a breakdown – in their work Area.

They click the SUBMIT ISSUE button in the custodian™ CMMS app.

With the single touch of this button, the custodian™ system creates a database entry – called an “ISSUE” – with a unique ISSUE ID #. The system also captures the date, time, and USER ID of the person submitting the issue.

The User is then prompted to provide details about the issue, including the Area where the issue occurred, the effected Asset, a brief Description of the issue, and the Severity (urgency) of the issue. The User can also upload photos of the issue.

When the User completes this step, the system sends the ISSUE by email – including all details – to the Supervisor responsible for the Site of the issue.

Custodian™ PRO users can also receive these notifications by SMS Text.

Workflow Step 2: Acknowledge and Assign

If the Site Supervisor misses the email (or SMS Text) notification, they will see an alert the next time they login to their custodian™ CMMS dashboard.

When they open the ISSUE in the custodian™ app, the issue is acknowledged and the system logs the date, time, and User ID of the Supervisor who acknowledged it. At this point a Work Order is created. For consistency and ease, the Work Order inherits the original ISSUE ID#.

The Supervisor now has to assign the Work Order to a User. They have three options:

  1. If, based on the details provided, the ISSUE seems within the Supervisor’s capability, they can assign the Work Order to themselves.
  2. If, for whatever reason, the Supervisor cannot take on the ISSUE, they can assign the Work Order to another User within their company .
  3. If the ISSUE is beyond the capabilities of the Company’s staff, the Supervisor can assign the Work Order to a third-party/external repair person. In this case, the Supervisor might have to add this third-party to their Company – as a Tech (see Tutorial 3 – Adding and editing Users for more info on creating users and assigning roles)

The assigned User/Tech will receive an email notification including a copy of the Work Order.

Workflow Step 3: Repair the Issue

With the Work Order in hand, the User/Tech can begin to complete any necessary repairs.

If it is determined that repairs will require additional visits, parts, etc., the assigned User/Tech simply adds their notes to the work order. The Supervisor will receive a notification regarding the status of the work Order.

Otherwise, the User/Tech marks the Work Order as complete – and the Supervisor is notified.

Workflow Step 4: Close the ISSUE

Even though the repairs are done and the Work Order is marked as complete, the ISSUE will remain active in the custodian™ database until verified by the Supervisor.

Once the Supervisor has verified that the repairs are in fact completed, they can then mark the issue as CLOSED.

Business Intelligence

At every step. the custodian™ system is keeping track of:

  • the time it takes for the Supervisor to first acknowledge the ISSUE; an important metric that will help managers measure performance and efficiency.
  • the time it takes for the User/Tech to respond and initiate repairs
  • the time it takes for the User/tech to complete repairs.
  • who the Work Order was assigned to; frequent calls to third-party Techs might indicate the need for somebody with their expertise on staff.
  • the Area and Asset effected; so recurring troubles can be identified and prevented.

By tracking and logging details and data at every step in the workflow, custodian™ CMMS is able to generate reports and provide important business intelligence – helping companies reduce repair costs and improve operational efficiency.