Work Order System: Management Planning Systems

Work Order System
EQUIPMENT
MATERIALS
LABOR
LABOR
Management Planning Systems

MPS
Work Order System
© 2003, ACR
Updated 1/1/2003
ACR Publications
1298 Elm St. SW
Albany, OR 97321
541-928-6199
www.acrp.com
skeet@acrp.com
Contents
Description...................................................................................................................... 1
Installing the Work Order System ................................................................................ 2
Setup............................................................................................................................... 3
Support Files and Code Tables ...................................................................................... 5
Personnel Table...................................................................................................... 8
Crew Table ............................................................................................................. 8
Facility Table........................................................................................................ 10
Equipment Table.................................................................................................. 10
Meter Data........................................................................................................... 11
Contractors Table................................................................................................ 12
Materials Table .................................................................................................... 12
Kits ....................................................................................................................... 13
Other Cost Table.................................................................................................. 16
Customer Data............................................................................................................. 16
Code Tables................................................................................................................... 19
Activity Codes ...................................................................................................... 19
Priority Codes...................................................................................................... 19
Status Codes........................................................................................................ 20
Account Codes..................................................................................................... 20
Problem Codes..................................................................................................... 20
Develop a Work Order .................................................................................................. 21
Standard Functions............................................................................................ 21
New Work Order - Data Input ............................................................................ 23
Create a New Work Order - Example ................................................................. 24
Work Order Types......................................................................................................... 30
How to Setup a Customer Work Order....................................................................... 38
Reports.......................................................................................................................... 42
Blank WO Forms.......................................................................................................... 45
Working with the Data................................................................................................. 46
Viewing in a Different Format ............................................................................ 46
Change Work Order Type ................................................................................... 47
Finding Data........................................................................................................ 48
Sorting Data........................................................................................................ 51
Making Changes to Work Orders....................................................................... 54
How to Use the Work Order System
Description
Stand Alone System This Work Order System is an integrated system
containing information for work orders, equipment,
facilities, personnel, materials, and customers. The
system does not require nor is it in anyway dependent
upon the Asset Management System or MPS Scheduler.
FileMaker Solution This Work Order System is a shareware product
produced using FileMaker Pro. Products developed with
FileMaker Pro are called solutions.
Function This solution was designed to provide a means of
producing work orders and maintaining a history of
the results. This solution provides the opportunity to
utilize one or all of fifteen different work order formats.
This work order system includes files for equipment,
facilities, personnel, crews, materials, and customers. In
addition, considerable customizing is built into the
solution.
Copyright The Work Order System was developed by Management
Planning Systems of Eugene, Oregon, who own the
rights to the system. The files may be copied and used
for up to 30 days on a trial basis demo to determine if
you would like to purchase this system. However, the
system may not be routinely used without the written
permission of Management Planning Systems. The
system is distributed and used in accord with the
standard MPS Software License as shareware for
$39.95.
Management Planning Systems
PO Box 1968
Eugene, OR 97440
541-484-1004
103231.3345@compuserve.com
December 24, 2002 1

Installing the Work Order System
Be Familiar with FileMaker To be effective with the use of this data base the user
should be familiar with functions of FileMaker Pro.
Install The program is installed following the install procedure
found in the How to Install.pdf document on the CD.
Files and Folders The install places a folder on the computer titled mps.
Inside this folder are four additional folders. The data
files are placed inside of the data folder. A copy of this
manual is placed in the Documentation folder.
Start the Program The work order program may be opened from the Start
Menu. Go to MPS Shareware, select MPS Shareware
and then chose Work Orders. The MPS Shareware
menu will appear. Once the MPS Menu is on the screen,
select Work Orders and the screen below will appear.
June 10, 2003 2

Setup
Select Work Order Type After opening the file go to the Setup screen. Notice that
there are 15 types of work order forms: Work Request,
Repair Order, Service Installation, PM Work Order,
Estimates, Actuals, Service Order, Construction,
Automotive, Spa Service, Irrigation, Pumps, Water
Conditioners, Backflow, and Customer Trouble Calls.
Identify which work order(s) you want to use by clicking
on Yes or No under the activates column. Up to nine
work orders can appear on the main menu.
Preview Work Order A work order form can be viewed by clicking on the
Preview button on the right.
Set Number Prefix After deciding which work orders are to be used, set the
Prefix, Fill, Length of the next number and select the
type of year, if any, to be included in the number. An
example of the number appears under the Sample Work
Order Number column.
Installation Fee In the lower right corner of the screen is a field for the
base fee collected for new service installations. This fee is
used in the New Installation report to calculate profit or
loss from new installations. This field is for those
organizations that charge a base fee rather than actual
time and materials.
December 24, 2002 3

Changing Title If you want the title of the work order changed, for
example some utilities identify the Service Order as a
Trouble Call, simply click on the button and type in the
new name.
Company Name Type in the Company Name and Division. They will
appear on the top of the work orders, input screens,
and reports.
Screen #2 Setup screen on page 2 allows formatting of the work
order reports. The top portion of the screen allows the
selection of the status for the work orders which are to
be included in the report. The bottom portion of the
screen allows the selection of fields to appear in the
report. Select the status codes and report fields by
clicking on the radio button or check box.
Change Report Names The names of these three reports can be changed by
typing a new name into the appropriate box. The new
name will appear on the appropriate button in the
report menu and on the top of the report.
December 24, 2002 4

Support Files and Code Tables
After initial setup the next step is the input of data into
the tables. Click on the “Tables” button at the bottom
right of the Work Order Main Men.
Fourteen Tables There are fifteen tables. With exception of the kits, crews
and equipment tables, all tables can be filled in any
order. The kits table should be filled after the materials
table is completed. The equipment table should be filled
after the facilities table has been completed. The crew
table should be filled in after the personnel table has
been completed.
Table Layout The layout of all of the tables is nearly identical, except
for meters, Personnel, Crews, Contractors, Materials,
Kits, Activity Codes, and customers. The row of buttons
just under the title bar (Return, New Record, etc.)
perform the functions described. The next row of
buttons, when clicked sort the column. Not all columns
are “sortable”. For example in the personnel table only
name and rate can be sorted.
Print Tables Each table contains a print button. Clicking on this

button will print the contents of the information
showing on the screen. The print layout is similar to
the screen layout.
When print is selected a print screen will appear. To the
left of the print screen is a “Continue” button. Clicking
on this button will bring up the print menu. Select
print to print the data as seen on the screen, or cancel
to return to the table.
December 24, 2002 5

Spell Check Information The data input into any of the tables or work orders can
be spell checked using the built-in spell checker. Select
Spelling from the Edit menu. Then either select check
record or check all.
Once selected a second spell checking dialog box will

appear allowing the option of skipping the word,
checking the word, or replacing the word. The learn
button will only work after you establish a user defined
dictionary.
User Dictionary A user defined dictionary can be developed by selecting

Spelling from the Edit menu and then selecting Select
Dictionaries. A new dialog box will appear. Select New,
set the location of the dictionary and give it a name.
You can now enter special words in the dictionary.
December 24, 2002 6

December 24, 2002 7
Personnel Table
Type in the persons name and billing rate in the
personnel table shown below. If the work order is used
to track internal costs be sure to include all payroll
costs (salary and benefits). The five sets of radio buttons
to the right are used to select which pop-up menus this
person will appear on. When general is selected this
person's name will appear on the labor pop-up menu in
all work orders.
Crew Table
New Crew To develop a crew click on the new record button and a
blank crew record will appear. Give the crew a name
and select a crew leader from the pop-up menu of
personnel.
Assign Crew Members Assign crew members by clicking in the crew member
column. A pop-up menu of the personnel will appear.
Select the individual and their rate will automatically be
entered into the rate field.
Place on Pop up Menu When the Assigned To, Yes button is selected this crew
will appear in the assigned to pop-up menu. The
selection allows you to add or remove crews from the
December 24, 2002 8

pop-up menu without removing them from the
database.
Sorting This table can be sorted by Crew ID and by Crew
Leader.
Deleting A Crew To delete a crew, place the cursor in the crew name field.
Note that a black line will appear along the left side of
the screen. This indicates the record has been selected.
Now click on the Delete button in the menu bar. A new

dialog box will appear asking if you want to
Permanently delete this ENTIRE record? Select either
Delete or Cancel.
Deleting or Changing Personnel To change a crew member, delete the old member and
then add a new member from the pop-up list. To delete
a crew member, place the cursor in the small space to
the right of the rate field and click. This will turn the
record black, indicating it has been selected.
Select Delete from the Menu Bar. A new dialog box will
appear asking if you want to Permanently delete this
one related record? Select either Delete or Cancel.
Deleting a crew member does not remove the record
from the personnel table. It only deletes the association
of the person with this crew.
December 24, 2002 9

Facility Table
Description The facility table is a simple two column table
containing the facility ID and description. For the
purposes of this work order system, a facility is defined
as any type of area or physical structure. For example a
facility could be a plant, business, type of asset (rolling
stock, portable pumps, etc.), lift station, and so on.
Equipment Table
Description The equipment table contains the equipment ID and
equipment description. In addition, if a piece of
equipment is related to or part of a facility, this
relationship can be established by clicking in the
Facility field and the pop-up list of facilities from the
facility table will appear.
Select Facility Select the appropriate facility and the facility ID and
description will be automatically filled in.
Remaining Fields The Rate field is used to indicate the charge rate when
this piece of equipment is used on a job, such as a
backhoe or dump truck. The “Work On” and “Work
With” fields are used to select which pop-up menus the
equipment will appear on. When the “Work With” is
selected as “Yes,” this equipment will appear in the
Equipment Use pop-up menu.
Without Facility Equipment may be entered into this table without
selecting an associated facility. For example you may
want to place a backhoe into the equipment field but it
is not part of a facility.
December 24, 2002 10

Meter Data
Description Meter data entry is accomplished by first selecting
“Meters” from the Work Order Tables Menu and then
selecting “New Record”. When “New Record” is selected a
blank record will appear with an identical number in
the Service ID and Number fields. These are default
numbers and can be changed to reflect actual
conditions.
Select Meter Type Next, place the cursor in the Class field and select either
the Water or Electric meter form the pop-up menu.
Go to Meter Layout Then click on the small green icon to the left and the
meter data screen will appear.
Service & Meter Numbers In this screen or on the list view the customer service
number and the true meter ID number can be entered.
The program design assumed the service number to
represent the physical location of the meter not the
customer account. In addition, the design assumed the
June 10, 2003 11

meter number was the serial number of the meter. The
meter data card is referenced to the customer with the
service number not the meter number. This allows the
exchange of meters without making major changes to
the program data.
Equipment List When entering work order data, the meters will appear
in the pop-up equipment list. This allows the selection of
a specific meter in a work order.
Contractors Table
Description Contractors are often a vital part of an organization.
This Table allows you to enter basic contractor
information to be used in making estimates or tracking
actual cost. The table can be sorted by contractor name,
contact, and phone.
Materials Table
Description The materials table is used to store information on
consumable materials associated with assets or used in
the work orders. The “On WO pop-up” column located
on the far right allows the user to add or remove
materials from the work order pop-up material lists.
This table file can be sorted by part number,
description, or price.
June 10, 2003 12

Kits
Unique Feature One of the many unique features of this work order
system is the ability to develop kits of repair materials.
To develop a kit, enter the kit ID and description. Then
click on the detail button at the right of the screen.
Details When the detail button is selected the following screen

will appear.
Optional Fields The Notes, Date Released, and Date issued for
Construction are optional fields and are designed for
situations where the kits become construction
specifications.

Drawings Drawings can be entered into the Picture field using the
import function under the File menu. Click in the
picture field to select it before clicking on the file menu
and then clicking on “Import/Export” followed by
“Import Picture.”
Drawing Formats Drawing formats that can be imported include, PCT

(PICT), BMP, GIF, EPS, CGM, PCX, WMF, DRW, PLT,
MAC (MacPaint), PIC (Lotus Picture), SLD (AutoCAD
Slide) and TIFF.
Enter Materials The kit parts are selected from the materials file using a
pop-up menu. Click in the Part Number field and the
pop-up menu will appear. Select the part, the part
number, description, and price fields will be filled in
automatically. The Item ID refers to the item in the
drawing, enter quantity and the cost is automatically
calculated.
Labor and Equipment Cost The labor and equipment costs are estimates for
making a new installation using this kit.

Print Kit The print button on the kit screen produces another
screen showing an 8.5 X 11 inch page of the contents of
the kit, including the drawing, ID number, and
description.

Other Cost Table
Descriptions The other cost table is used to maintain a file of
additional costs that do not fit into the personnel,
equipment, contractor, or materials tables. This may
include shipping, phone charges, and purchase of
materials not in the materials file. Click the ID code field
to sort the table by code.
Customer Data
Description The customer screen contains detailed information
about the customer and the owner of the property or
building and thus the owner of the service connection.
There are three different customer screens, utility,
business, and tribal. Management Planning can assist
you in selecting the correct screen.
Customer Screen Access The customer screen can be accessed from the tables
menu or by clicking on the Customer button at the
bottom of the main menu.
Form View There are two views of the customer data, form view and
list view. The screen shown below is in the form view
and provides access to all of the customer data.
Selecting the List button from the menu will bring up
the list view.

List View Below is an example of the list view. This is a good
screen to use to view a group of customers. The
Equipment count field to the right is automatically filled
in for the business customer screen.
Clicking on the small green icon on the far left brings
up the form view of that record. In addition, placing the
cursor into one of the fields and then clicking on the
Return button in the menu bar will do the same thing.
Two Key Numbers There are two key numbers used in the screen, the
Account ID number - found in the upper left corner of
the Customer Information section, and the Service
number located in the upper right corner of the Owner
Information section. The account number is obtained
from the customer billing system. The service number is
assigned to the service connection.
Account No. and Service No. It is assumed the Account Number references a
customer and the Service No. references a location.
When a customer moves they keep their account
number and obtain a new service number. This allows a
history to be developed for the customer and for the
meter location. Clicking on the buttons in the middle of
the screen selects the appropriate work orders for
viewing in the list at the bottom of the screen.
Viewing Existing Work Orders Clicking on the Detail button to the right of the work
order will take you to the work order screen showing all
available detail.

New Customer Work Orders New service installation work orders can be created
from the main menu or from the customer screen. If in
the Customer Data screen, the “New WO” button
located to the right of the meter is selected the new
service installation work order will appear with all of the
customer data in place. This method should only be
used when developing work orders associated with the
meter or the service connection.
New Work Orders When in any of the work orders that show customer
information, (Repair Order, Service Installation, Trouble
Call, Customer TC, Spa, Irrigation, Pumps, Water
Cond., and Backflow), the customer data can be selected
either from the account or from the service number.
When placing the cursor in either field a pop-up menu
will appear providing a list of the appropriate data.

Code Tables
Activity Codes
Description The activity codes are used in the PM, Automotive,
Construction, Pumps, Irrigation, and Spa work orders.
Routine maintenance activities are developed in order to
standardize work and speed the production of PM work
orders. Activities can only be sorted by the activity ID
code field.
Priority Codes
Description The priority codes table allows the user to customize
priorities used to schedule work orders. The
information typed into this table will be observed in a
pop-up menu in the work order. Priority codes are
sorted by code ID only.

Status Codes
Description The status codes are used to identify the status of the
work order. In addition, these same codes are used to
select which work orders appear in the backlog,
scheduled, and completed reports. Eight status codes
are provided as a default. These can be changed,
reduced or new codes added. Status codes in this table
will appear in a pop-up menu in the work order. Status
codes can be sorted by Code ID.
Account Codes
Description Account codes provide a means of classifying cost. These
codes can be typed directly into the table or imported
from a text or Excel file. The account codes in this table
will appear in a pop-up menu in the work order.
Account codes can be sorted by code ID and/or
description.
Problem Codes
Description Problem codes are used to classify work by type of
problems. Problem codes typed into this table will
appear in a pop-up menu in the work order. This table
can be sorted by code.

Develop a Work Order
Standard Functions
New Work Orders To develop a new work order or view an existing work
order, select the type of work order you want from the
main menu. When a work order type has been selected
it will open to the last work order produced of that type.
Navigation Buttons Along the right hand side of each work order is a
column of buttons. The top row of buttons moves you
back and the second row of buttons moves forward
through the work order records. The button on the top
right takes you to the first WO of this type. The button
on the second row at the right takes you to the record.
The center two buttons move forward and back in 10
work order steps.
The two buttons on the left move forward and back one
work order at a time.
Record Information The text at the top right of the screen provides
information on the number of records found, which
record is being viewed, the date the record was entered
and the last date it was changed.

Remainder of the Buttons There are ten remaining buttons that provide the
following actions:
• Return - Returns to the Work Order main menu.
• Print Kit Desc. - This is a toggle switch to turn on and
off the printing of the kit description - specifications
page.
• Print Parts List - This toggle switch turns on and off
the printing of the complete parts list.
• Print - Clicking on this button sends the work order
directly to the printer. No intermediate screen will
appear.
• New - This allows you to create a new work order with
a new WO number.
• Change To - This allows you to change this work
order to any of the other work order types.
• View As - This allows you to view the work order in
any one of the selected work order layouts.
• Sort - The sort button provides eight different sorts
plus a cancel sort option.
• Find - The find button allows the use of all of the
standard FileMaker Pro find functions. These are
explained in the Using the Data section of this
manual.
• Help - The help button does not provide any functions
at this time.
Field Limitation As you view the various work orders notice the number
of viewable entries in the labor, materials, equipment,
and contractor fields is limited. The limitation is only
what is viewed on the first page of the printed work
order. All additional labor, materials, equipment, and
contractor cost will be printed on additional pages.
Scroll Bar As the viewable area is filled, the scroll bar to the right
of the entry will become highlighted showing a
navigation box. The data below the viewable area can be
seen by either clicking on the bottom arrow or moving
the navigation box to the bottom of the scroll bar.
When the last piece of data in the viewable area is input,

a new blank data entry line will appear at the bottom
on the window.

New Work Order - Data Input
New Work Order Button To generate a new Work Order, go to the work order
type you want and click on the New button. The
buttons will change giving you an opportunity to select
any of the work orders (a maximum of nine) you have
identified during the setup procedure.
Select Type Select the work order type you want and a screen will
appear with the next work order number displayed in
the upper right corner of the work order form. The
work order is now ready for data input.
Place the Cursor Place the cursor in the “Requested by” field and start
entering the required data. Many of the fields contain
pop-up menus. These menus reflect the data that was
input in the codes and tables.
Pop-up Menus The following fields contain pop-up menus:
• Requested By - the menu reflects the individuals
selected by a “Yes” in the Requested by field in the
personnel table.
• Equipment (worked on) - the menu reflects the
equipment placed in the equipment table.
• Problem - the menu reflects the problem codes and
problem descriptions from the Problem Code table.
• Account # - the menu reflects the accounts from the
account table.
• Facility ID - the facility menu reflects the data from
the facility table.
• Priority - the priority menu reflects the priority codes.
• Status - the status menu reflects the status codes.

• Assigned To - the menu reflects the individuals and
crews with a “Yes” in the “Assigned to” selection in the
personnel or crew table.
• Customer - the customer menu reflects the customers
listed in the customer database.
• Crew - the crew menu reflects the crews listed in the
crew table.
• Labor - the labor reflects the individuals with a “Yes”
in the General selection field in the personnel table.
• Equipment (worked on) - the equipment menu reflects
only the equipment that was marked a “Work With” in
the equipment table.
• Materials - the materials menu reflects the material
listed in the materials table.
Create a New Work Order - Example
Work Request Selected The work request form is used for this example. This
form is designed to be used when the job is large
enough to require an estimate prior to work. The form
allows the user to compare the estimate for labor,
materials, and equipment with the actual labor,
materials, and equipment.
New Work Order Select New from the menu to the right of the work
order form.
The button names will change reflecting the types of

work orders selected in the setup. Notice you can select
any one of the work order types that were designated in
the setup. Select Work Request. While all work order
types can be selected, only nine (9) will appear on this
set of buttons. If a type other than the work request is
selected the screen will automatically change to the type
selected.
A blank work request form will appear with a new work

request number in the upper right corner of the form.
Requested By Place the cursor in the “Requested by” field and the
personnel list will appear. Select the individual from the
list and press enter. If the individual is not on the list
you can either go back to the personnel table and enter
the person, click “Yes” on “Requested by” for a person in
the personnel table or clear the pop-up menu by
clicking again the “requested by” field and typing in the
name of the person who requested the work. (Typing
the person’s name into the work request will not place
the person on the pop-up menu or into the personnel
table.)

Tab Order After selecting the “requested by” person, the cursor will
move to the equipment field. The cursor may be placed
in any field using the mouse or move from field to field
by pressing tab. (Shift Tab will back the cursor up to the
previous field.) The tab order set in the work orders is
from the top down starting with the requested by field.
Then through the estimated fields and finally the actual
fields.
Moving through the Pop-up Menu To move down a pop-up menu, either use the box
and/or arrows to the right or type the first letter of the
desired item. For example the typing the letter “C” will
move the cursor down the list to the first item that
begins with the letter “C.”
Clearing the Pop-up In any field, the pop-up menu may be cleared by double
clicking in the field. This will allow you to type any item
in the field you wish.
Equipment Pop-up With the cursor in the equipment filed, select the
desired equipment from the list and press enter.
Typing the Equipment Number The equipment may also be selected by clearing the pop-
up menu and typing the equipment number directly
into the equipment field. If the equipment is in the
equipment table, the equipment name, facility number,
and facility name will automatically be entered in the
proper fields.
Selecting a Facility The facility field will be entered automatically as a result
of selecting the equipment. However, there are times
when you may wish to select a facility rather than the
equipment in the facility. To do this, just place the
cursor in the facility field and select the facility from the
pop-up menu or type in the facility number and the
facility name will appear. Once selected the cursor will

move to the problem code field. You are not required to
enter an equipment item.
Problem If typical problems have been entered into the problem
codes table they can be selected from the pop-up menu.
Edit Problem Description Once selected, the problem code will appear in the small
box just under the word problem and the description
will appear to the right. The description can be
expanded by placing the cursor into the description
box. (This edit does not change the description found in
the problem code table.)
Dates, Priority , Status, etc. The requested completion date, priority, status,
assigned to, and account numbers are entered next.
The assigned to field has a pop-up menu of the
personnel table and the account number field has a
pop-up of the account code table. Notes are used to
supply any additional information that may be useful
to the crew.
Scheduled Data The scheduled start, scheduled completion, and actual

completion dates are entered at the appropriate time.
When the work is scheduled, the status should be
changed from Requested to Scheduled.
Account Numbers The account Number pop-up list contains the account
number and account name or description. However,
only the account number will be entered into the work
order.

Crews The labor information can be input using one of three
methods.
1. Select the crew by placing the cursor in the crew field
and then selecting the desired crew. This selection will
only place the crew name in the field and will not place
the crew members in the labor fields.
To place the crews and their rates into the labor fields
click on “Get Crew Member.”
Then type in the estimated (or actual) hours and the

total labor cost will be calculated.
2. The individual crew members may be selected by placing

the cursor into the labor field and selecting from the
pop-up menu.
3. The labor field may be cleared of the pop-up menu by

double clicking. The name of any individual or crew can
then be typed into the field.
After the crew personnel are entered into the labor fields
the hours can be entered for each person and the
program will automatically calculate the cost for each

individual as well as provide a total estimated and
actual labor cost.
Materials Materials can be entered using the pop-up menu, which
will display the materials with a “Yes” checked for “On
WO Pop-up” in the materials table. Materials not on the
list may be entered directly into the work order.
However, this will not place them into the materials
table.
After selection, the quantity can be entered and the

program will automatically calculate the cost and
provide a total for the estimated and actual materials.
Equipment Equipment can be entered using the pop-up menu,

which will display the equipment with a “Yes” selected
for “Work With” in the equipment table.
Select the equipment using the same technique used for

labor and materials.
If the equipment you wish to enter is not on the list you

can either go back to the equipment table and add the
equipment or clear the pop-up menu and type in the
equipment. (This will not place the equipment into the
equipment table.) The number of hours the equipment
is to be used can now be entered and the program will

calculate the equipment use cost as well as a total of the
estimated and actual equipment cost.
Totals The total estimated and actual cost are automatically
calculated and placed at the bottom of the work order.
Approval and Completion The field for “approved by” contains a pop-up menu of
those individuals with a “Yes” selected in the “Approved
By” column in the personnel table. The completed by
field contains a pop-up menu of those individuals with a
“Yes” selected in the “Completed By” column in the
personnel table.
Dates for the approval and completion must be entered
manually.
Print the Work Request The Work Request can be printed by selecting “Print”
from the menu bar column at the right of the screen.
When this button is selected the work request will print

automatically.

Work Order Types
There are 15 different work order types. Most are
designed for general utility work. Five: Spa, Irrigation,
Pumps, Water Conditioners, and Backflow, were
designed for a service company providing contract
service on this type of equipment. Below are examples
from 15 work orders with a brief description for each.
Work Request The work request was designed for jobs large enough to
require an estimate prior to performing the work. The
work request does not provide fields for a description of
the solution, customer information, or contractor cost.

Repair Order The repair order was designed to be used when no
estimate of cost is required. The repair order also
contains customer information fields.
Service Installation The service installation is very similar to the Work

Request except it contains customer information. In
addition, the New Installation report uses information
only from this form.

PM Work Order The PM work order is designed to work with the activity
table and the events defined in the MPS Scheduler
program.
Estimates The estimate work order was designed to obtain

estimated cost. It includes fields for a description of the
solution and contractor cost. An estimate can be
converted to a work request.

Actuals The actual work order is the companion to the estimate.
Trouble Call The trouble call work order was designed to catalog
customer trouble call information. The trouble call does
not provide a field for cost.

Construction The construction work order provides fields for
estimates and actual cost. This is the only work order
that provides contractor cost fields.
Automotive The automotive work order provides additional fields for

entering materials. In addition, this work order utilizes
the customer and activity tables.

Spa, Irrigation, etc. The spa service, irrigation, pumps, water conditioner,
and backflow work orders were designed for a service
company and all contain detailed equipment data as
well as customer information.

Customer TC The customer TC or trouble call was designed to provide
cost information related to problems identified by a
customer and thus contains customer data. The fields
are similar to the Repair Order and thus allow
calculation of cost.

How to Setup a Customer Work Order
1. Start by making a meter card – either electric or water.
This is accomplished by going to the Tables menu and
selecting meters
2. Select “New Record” and a new record will appear with a

number inserted in the Service ID and Number fields.
This is the same number. You can change these
numbers to anything you want just as long as there
are numbers or text in both fields.

3. From the “Class” field select a water or power meter.
5. If a power and water meter are both to be installed at

the same service location, just make two records, select
the electric meter for one and the water meter for the
second and change the service ID number so it is the
same for both records.
Write down this number as you will need it later.

6. If there is additional information on the power or water
meter. Click on the green icon to the left and the
appropriate card will appear. Fill in the available data.

7. Go to the customer screen and select “New Record”. A
blank screen will appear with a number in the “Account
number” field. This field can be changed to any name or
number.
8. Place the customers name in the “Occupant/Customer”

field. This field must have at least one word or number
in it or the record will be lost.
9. Fill in the service #. When finished the meter
information will appear in the meter fields in the middle
of the screen.
10. The last step is the development of the work order. Click
on the “New WO” button to the right and the service
work order will appear with the customer information
in the appropriate fields.

11. If a customer billing and information system is being
utilized, new service applications usually are initiated
through this system. If so a number such as a
customer service order or service order will be issued.
The new service work order has a field (Service Order #
to allow the input of this number. This provides a
means of tracking and tying the two systems together.
If this number is part of the process, then fill in the
Service Order # in the upper left along with any other
appropriate data.

Reports
Selecting The Work Order Reports menu can be selected from the
main menu. When selected the screen below will appear.
Nine Selections Nine reports can be automatically run by clicking on

the appropriate button. The List Equipment and List
Customer reports allow you to select and print in a list
format. The list reports can be used to select a specific
set of records for other reporting. In addition, when
these reports are selected only the records found by the
action completed prior to coming to this screen are
viewed.
Backlog, Scheduled, Completed Reports for backlog, completed work, and scheduled
work are obtained by selecting the identified status
codes. The status codes used to develop each report are
identified in the Setup menu. The contents of each of
these reports can also be customized by using the find
function when viewing the report.

Field Names Go Blank in Find When performing a find in the Backlog, Scheduled, or
Completed reports the titles of most of the columns will
go blank. The fields are still active. The titles just go
blank. This is a FileMaker problem. While this does
make it difficult to identify which field is which, it does
not interfere with the find process.
Current Found Set The Cost by Account, Work History, Work Status, and
Work by Problem reports can be altered by adding or
removing fields from the report using the radio buttons
shown below the report. The contents of these reports
is determined by using the find functions in the List,
Backlog Report, Completed Work, and Scheduled Work
reports.
All records Selected All other reports select the entire contents of the data
file. To develop a report that includes specific data, use
the find function by selecting Find from the menu bar.
Develop Understanding To develop an understanding of the various reports and
work order formats, we suggest you enter data and
experiment.
Samples Here are some samples of typical reports.

Blank WO Forms
To print any of the work order, work request, trouble
call, etc. forms; select “Print” from the File menu. When
the print dialog box appears, select Blank Record,
“Showing Fields”. Click on Continue and the form will
be printed.

Working with the Data
There are four common actions utilized in working with
existing work order data:
• Viewing a work order as a different type
• Changing the work order type
• Finding data
• Sorting data
Viewing in a Different Format
There are times it may be desirable to change a work
order from one type to another. For example a repair
order may have been issued but, after viewing the job, a
decision is made to obtain estimates before performing
the work. Because there are 14 other work order types
to chose from, it may be desirable to view the data in
another format before actually making the change. This
can be accomplished by selecting “View As” from the
menu bar to the right of the work order.
When selected, the menu bar will change to show all of

the work order styles selected in the setup menu. (In the
example below only five work orders have been selected
in the Setup menu.)
Select the desired type and the data will appear as that
type. Special Note: The original work order number is
not changed, even though you are viewing the data in a
different format. This preserves the identity of the work
order which was assigned when the work order was
created.

Change Work Order Type
To change a work order from one type to another, select
the “Change To” button and the menu bar will change
to show all of the selected work order types.
From this new set of buttons select the work order type
you wish to change to. The data will be transferred to
the new type but the work order number will not be
changed.

Finding Data
From the Work Order
A find button is included in the work order menu to the
right of each work order.
When this button is selected, the menu bar changes to

give three options, Cancel Find, Also Find, and Find All.
In addition the status bar along the left side of the work
order is opened.
Perform a Find To perform a find, type the information you want to

find into the field that contains the information and
then press Continue, Return, or Enter. Notice all of the
pop-up menus are available to assist in the find.
Words or Letters It is not necessary to type in all of the information. For
example, if you wanted to find a name starting with a
“C” you would only need to type “C” and the program
will find all of the work orders that were assigned to a
crew with a name that started with a “C.”
Multiple Fields To clarify a find, type information into as many of the
fields as is necessary to clarify the find. For example
you can select the name of a crew, requested completion
date, and equipment ID or name.
Multiple Finds There are times when you may want to find items with
more than one value in the same field. For example,
you may want to find work orders performed by two
different crews. To do this select the first crew. Then
press “Also Find” and select the second crew. Then press
the Continue button, or press the return, or enter keys.
Notice the request number in the upper left changed
from “1” to “2” and the top of the book has changed to

indicate more than one page. The previous request can
be viewed by clicking on the upper portion of the book.
This allows you to go back and forth through the
various requests to determine if they are correct before
you press Continue.
Status Bar The status bar located to the left of the screen, can be
displayed at any time by selecting the status bar icon
located at the bottom left of the screen.
Omit Data To omit work orders with specific information from a
find, click in the Omit box, located in the status area to
the left of the screen, after setting up the find. The result
will be all of the work orders that do not match the omit
criteria. To view the omitted use “Find Omitted” from
the Select menu at the top of the screen.
Find Symbols Once the find function has been selected, the status bar
will open. Clicking on the small arrow next to the word
“Symbols” will bring up an additional dialog box
providing various symbols used to clarify finds.
Two Most Common Symbols Two of the most commonly used symbols are the Range
(...) and Exact Match (=).
Range The range symbol can be used to select a set of work
orders performed between any two dates. Type in the
first date followed by three periods (...) or select that
symbol from the status area at the left of the screen and
then type the second date; then, press the continue
button, return or enter keys.
Exact Match The exact match symbol is useful for finding work
orders where a specific field is blank. To find work
orders with no information in a specific field, type a “=”
into a field or select “=” from the symbol menu. Then
press the continue button, return or enter keys.

From the Reports
Which Reports The list by equipment, list by customer, backlog,
completed and scheduled reports all contain two find
buttons located at the top of the screen.
Selecting the Find button will open the status bar

allowing the use of the symbols and omit functions as
described above.
Multiple Finds To perform multiple finds press “Control N” for New
Find. Notice a second row appears in the list. The first
find is shown on the first row and the second find in the
second row. Below is an example where the user is
finding all work orders charged to two different
accounts.
Find All When the “Find All” button is selected, all of the work
orders will be displayed. They can be sorted using the
sort buttons located at the top of the page.
From the Menus
The find function can be invoked from the Mode menu,
from the keyboard by typing “Control F”, or from the
Mode Pop-up menu located at the bottom left of the
screen.

Sorting Data
From the Work Orders
Sort Button Several predefined sorts sequences are available when
viewing a work order. To sort, start by selecting the sort
button from the menu to the right of the work order.
Select the Sort When the sort button is selected, the buttons change to
a new set showing eight different sorts. Select one of the
sorts by clicking on the appropriate button.
From the Reports

The title bars at the top of each report are buttons that
provide sorting by the name on the title bar. Below is
an example of the buttons from the Equipment List
report.

Advanced Sorts
The sort function can be obtained from the keyboard by
typing “Control S” or selecting “sort” from the Mode
menu. This procedure should only be used by those
who have knowledge of FileMaker Pro.
Dialog Box When the sort command is invoked, a dialog box will
appear allowing you to select fields and the order of
fields for a sort.
Select Fields Select the field from the list on the left and then either
double click or click “Move” to move the field to the
right.

Rearrange Fields Once the fields have been moved to the right, they can
be rearranged. Place the cursor on the double arrow to
the left of the field and the cursor changes to two lines
with arrows. When this occurs click, hold, and drag the
field to the new position. When completed click the
“Sort” button.

Making Changes to Work Orders
Changing Data Making changes to most of the fields within a work
order can be accomplished by placing the cursor into
the field, backspacing the old data out and typing in the
new data. In addition, the data in most of the pop-up
fields can be changed by placing the cursor in the field
and selecting the new data from the pop-up list. The
exceptions to this process are the following fields with
pop-up fields:
• The material name and number fields
• Labor names field
• Equipment number filed
The quantity field can be changed at any time using the

standard backspace and retype method. To change the
data that would appear in the pop-up list, the old data
should be deleted and then the new data selected from
the pop-up list.
To Delete Old Data To delete old data, place the cursor to the far right of
the field and click. The field will turn black when the
cursor has been placed in the correct location.
Press the delete key from the keyboard. A dialog box will
appear asking if you want to Permanently delete this
one related record.? Either delete or cancel to return to
the work order


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Work Order System

Management Planning Systems

December 24, 2002 1

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Print Tables Each table contains a print button. Clicking on this

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Once selected a second spell checking dialog box will

User Dictionary A user defined dictionary can be developed by selecting

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Now click on the Delete button in the menu bar. A new

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Details When the detail button is selected the following screen

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Drawing Formats Drawing formats that can be imported include, PCT

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When the last piece of data in the viewable area is input,

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The button names will change reflecting the types of

A blank work request form will appear with a new work

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Scheduled Data The scheduled start, scheduled completion, and actual

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Then type in the estimated (or actual) hours and the

2. The individual crew members may be selected by placing

3. The labor field may be cleared of the pop-up menu by

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After selection, the quantity can be entered and the

Equipment Equipment can be entered using the pop-up menu,

Select the equipment using the same technique used for

If the equipment you wish to enter is not on the list you

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When this button is selected the work request will print

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Service Installation The service installation is very similar to the Work

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Estimates The estimate work order was designed to obtain

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Automotive The automotive work order provides additional fields for

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2. Select “New Record” and a new record will appear with a

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5. If a power and water meter are both to be installed at

Write down this number as you will need it later.