Maintenance Orders

A maintenance order is the working document for servicing a rental unit. It lists the tasks, takes the unit out of service while the work is done, records the labour and parts cost, and on completion is posted to a permanent record. This guide covers raising, working, and closing orders, plus the registers that show what is due and what has been done.

How an order is raised

Automatically on return

When a unit comes back off hire and its Auto Maintenance on Return setting is on, the system checks the unit's maintenance rules. If any rules are due, it raises an order (or appends tasks to an existing open order) and puts the unit straight into Maintenance status. If nothing is due, the unit returns to Available as normal with no order created.

→
Whether the automatic check runs is controlled by the Auto Maintenance on Return toggle on the rental item. You can turn it on or off per unit from the rental item card. See Maintenance Setup for details on configuring the rules that drive the check.

By hand from the unit

Use Raise Maintenance Order on the rental item card's Maintenance ribbon group to start an order on demand at any time. If the unit is currently Available, it moves into Maintenance immediately when the order is created. If the unit is still out on hire, the order is created but the unit only enters Maintenance when it is returned.

From a blank order

You can also open the Maintenance Orders list and create a new order directly. Pick the unit from the Rental Item No. field, then use Get Maintenance Tasks on the order ribbon to pull in the unit's due tasks (see below). This path is useful when you want to group tasks from multiple visits into one planned order before a unit comes back.

The maintenance order

The maintenance order card shows the full picture of a service visit in one place.

Order header fields
No.
The order number, assigned automatically from the number series.
Rental Item No.
The unit being serviced. Sets the context for Get Maintenance Tasks and determines which rules apply.
Status
The current stage of the order (see below).
Order Date
The date the order was raised. Defaults to the work date; you can change it before the order is started.
Total Cost
The sum of all task cost amounts on the order, updated as task lines are filled in.
Follow-up of Posted Order No.
Shown only when this order was raised as a follow-up after an earlier order closed with a failed task. It holds the number of that posted maintenance order, so you can trace the follow-up back to the visit that triggered it. Click through to open the original posted order.

Below the header is the Tasks subform, which lists each piece of work to be done or inspected during the visit.

Order Status
Open
The order has been created but work has not yet started. Tasks can be added or removed freely. The unit may or may not be in Maintenance at this stage (it enters Maintenance when Start Maintenance is used, or automatically on return if Auto Maintenance on Return is on and the order was raised at return time).
In Progress
Start Maintenance has been used. The unit is in Maintenance status and cannot be shipped. Work is under way and task lines are being filled in.
Completed/Closed
The order has been posted via Complete & Close. A permanent Posted Maintenance Order has been created; the original order is no longer editable.

The order ribbon has three key actions: Get Maintenance Tasks, Start Maintenance, and Complete & Close.

→
An Attachments FactBox sits alongside the order card. Use it to attach supporting documents to the order, such as a photo of a fault, a parts quote, or a subcontractor report, so the paperwork for the visit stays with the order.

Get Maintenance Tasks

Get Maintenance Tasks looks at the unit's maintenance rules and appends any due tasks to the order's task list, skipping any rule that already has a line on this order. It covers calendar rules (where the due date has arrived or passed), meter rules (where the due reading has been reached), and event rules flagged as due.

The action only builds the task list. It does not start the maintenance, does not change the unit's status, and does not move the order from Open to In Progress. Use it to build up the order before you are ready to commit the unit to the workshop.

→
You can run Get Maintenance Tasks more than once on the same order. Each run adds only tasks that are newly due and not already listed, so it is safe to use it again after a few days if more rules have come due in the meantime.

Start Maintenance

Start Maintenance officially puts the unit into Maintenance status and moves the order to In Progress. From this point, the unit cannot be shipped against a rental order until the maintenance is complete.

If the unit is still out on hire when you click Start Maintenance, the action is blocked with a clear message. In that situation the unit will enter Maintenance automatically when it is returned (provided Auto Maintenance on Return is on, or you manually start maintenance after return).

→
You can still allocate an in-maintenance unit to a rental order ahead of time to hold the booking. It will not ship until the maintenance order is posted and the unit is back in Available status.

Recording the work

As the work progresses, fill in each task line on the order. Task lines are grouped by the rule that generated them (for example, a "500hr Service" group or a "Annual Inspection" group), plus a Manual Tasks group for any ad-hoc lines you type in.

To add an ad-hoc task, type a task code on a new blank line in the Tasks subform. It will be placed in the Manual Tasks group.

Task line fields
Task Code / Task Type / Description
Identifies what the task is and how its cost is measured. Task Type determines which cost fields are active: Inspection (Result and Result Note), Labour (Work Type and Hours), Parts (Item No., Quantity, Unit Cost), or External (External Cost).
Instructions
The work instructions for this task, copied onto the line from the catalogue task (its Default Instructions) when the line was created. They tell the technician what to do and can be edited on the line if the visit calls for it.
Result
For inspection tasks: Pass or Fail. Required before Complete & Close will proceed. Use the Result Note field for any supporting detail (for example, "minor crack noted on frame").
Est. Time (Hours)
The expected labour hours for the task, carried over from the catalogue task. It is the planned figure against which the Actual Time recorded on the line can be compared.
Work Type Code / Actual Time (Hours)
For labour tasks: the work type sets the labour rate, and Actual Time records how long the job took. Labour cost is the work type rate multiplied by the hours entered.
Item No. / Quantity / Unit Cost
For parts tasks: the stock item consumed, the quantity used, and the unit cost. Parts cost is quantity multiplied by unit cost.
External Cost
For external tasks: the third-party charge entered directly (for example, a subcontractor invoice amount).
Cost Amount
The total cost for this task line, calculated from labour, parts, or external cost depending on the task type. Read-only.

The order's Total Cost header field is the sum of all task line Cost Amounts and updates as you fill in each line.

Completing and closing

Complete & Close marks every task complete, posts the order, and returns the unit to Available status. Once posted, the order becomes a read-only Posted Maintenance Order that you can view but not change.

Posting writes the cost to the maintenance cost ledger (one entry per cost component across all task lines) and records the maintenance visit on the unit's rental ledger. The unit's maintenance rule due dates and meter readings are updated at this point so the rules correctly calculate when the next service falls due.

!
You cannot Complete & Close an order while any task line still has a blank Result. Record a result on every task first. The system will name the offending task so you know exactly which line to fill in.

You cannot delete a maintenance order unless it is still in Open status. Once the order moves to In Progress, delete is blocked; you must post it via Complete & Close to close it out.

Cost capture

On posting, each costed task line writes one or more maintenance ledger entries carrying the unit, posting date, task code, work type (for labour), quantity, and amount, with financial dimensions inherited from the order. The entries are split by cost component: labour entries, parts entries, and external cost entries are kept separate so you can analyse where the money goes.

The order's total cost also lands on the unit's rental ledger as the maintenance cost for that visit, so the overall cost history of the unit stays in one place.

You can review the cost ledger from the posted order using the Maintenance Ledger Entries action, or directly from the unit card via Related.

Shipment protection

A unit whose status is Maintenance (or Service) cannot be shipped. If a member of staff tries to post a shipment for that unit, it is blocked with a clear message identifying the unit and its current status. The block stays in place until the maintenance order is posted and the unit returns to Available.

Allocating an in-maintenance unit to a rental order ahead of time is allowed, giving you a way to hold the booking while the work is under way. The allocation is confirmed and the line is reserved, but the physical shipment will not post until maintenance is done.

The maintenance registers

Maintenance Due

Maintenance Due is a fleet-wide list of what is coming due or already overdue across all your units. Calendar rules show the next due date and are banded as Due Soon (within the Maintenance Due Notice window set in Maintenance Setup) or Overdue (past the due date). Meter rules show the due reading against the current reading on the unit, so you can see at a glance how many hours or kilometres remain.

From any row you can raise a maintenance order directly without navigating to the unit card. A flag on each row shows when the unit already has an open or in-progress order, so you do not create duplicates.

Event rules are not listed in Maintenance Due because they have no fixed schedule. They are raised manually from the unit card or order list when the event occurs.

Maintenance History

Maintenance History shows a per-unit (or fleet-wide) list of all posted maintenance orders. Each row shows the unit, posting date, how many days the unit was in maintenance, and the total cost for that visit. Drill into any row to open the posted order and see the individual task lines and cost detail.

Role centre cues

The rental role centre carries four activity tiles for maintenance at a glance:

Maintenance cues
Open Maintenance Orders
Count of orders in Open status. Drills into the filtered Maintenance Orders list.
In Progress Maintenance Orders
Count of orders in In Progress status, i.e. units currently in the workshop. Drills into the filtered list.
Maintenance Due Soon
Count of units where a rule falls due within the notice window. Drills into the Maintenance Due list filtered to Due Soon.
Maintenance Overdue
Count of units where a rule is past its due date or reading. Drills into the Maintenance Due list filtered to Overdue.

Finding maintenance from a unit

Everything maintenance-related for a unit is reachable directly from the rental item card without going to the Maintenance Orders list first.

Rental item card - maintenance access points
Raise Maintenance Order
Creates a new order for this unit on demand. Found in the Maintenance action group on the card ribbon.
Maintenance Rules
Opens the list of rules assigned to this unit: calendar, meter, and event rules that drive when servicing is triggered.
Meters
Opens the meter list for this unit. Register a new reading here to keep meter-based rules accurate.
Maintenance Ledger Entries
Shows every posted maintenance cost entry for this unit, broken down by cost component, date, and task.
Posted Maintenance Orders
The full history of completed maintenance visits for this unit, in read-only form.
On Maintenance Order
A header field on the unit card that shows the number of the current open maintenance order, if one exists. Click through to open the order directly.