Closing Requests
Every request ends up closed, but a case and a work order close for different reasons, so they ask you different questions.
A case came in to the OMC. Somebody is waiting to hear that it has been dealt with, so closing one writes your note into the conversation and emails everyone following the request.
A work order went out from the OMC. You placed it, so there is nobody to tell. Closing one keeps your note as a completed action on the work order instead, sends nothing, and asks the question that actually matters for outgoing work: has the invoice arrived yet?
A case is closed against the full set of close statuses — Complete, Cancelled, Duplicate and No Action. A work order is closed against a shorter list of its own. Both kinds have to have their planned actions ticked off before they can be closed at all.
Closing a case
Section titled “Closing a case”Closing a case records how it was dealt with and confirms how it is classified. The topic and class you confirm here are what the request analysis reports on, so it is worth getting them right rather than accepting whatever was guessed when the request came in.
Whatever you write under What was done? goes two places: onto the request’s conversation, and into the email every follower receives. A closed case sits at Resolved for a week, giving the person who raised it time to come back if it is not right, and then becomes Accepted automatically.
- Open the request you are ready to close
- Click Close to record how the request was dealt with
- Choose Complete - the work asked for has been done
- Confirm the topic the request belongs to
- Confirm the class within that topic
- Write what was done - everyone following the request is sent this
- Click Close Request to resolve it and tell the followers
Reopening a case
Section titled “Reopening a case”While a case is Resolved it can still be reopened — and often should be, if the person who raised it says the problem is back. Reopening asks for a reason and tells the followers, so the reopen is as visible as the close was.
Once a case reaches Accepted it is final and cannot be reopened.
- Open the resolved request
- Click Reopen when the work turns out not to be finished after all
- Say why the request is being reopened - followers are told
- Click Reopen to put the request back on the open list
Closing with No Action
Section titled “Closing with No Action”No Action is the one close that skips Resolved entirely and goes straight to Accepted. Nothing is written to the conversation, nothing is emailed, and the request can never be reopened.
Use it only when you are certain no work is needed and that the person who raised the request has no interest in hearing any more about it. For anything else, Complete or Cancelled is the honest choice — both of those tell the followers what happened.
- Open the request again
- Click Close to deal with the request
- Choose No Action - nothing needs doing and nobody needs telling
- Confirm the topic
- Confirm the class
- Click Close Request - it goes straight to accepted and cannot be reopened
Closing a work order
Section titled “Closing a work order”A work order closes in two steps, because two different things have to be true before it is finished with:
- Resolved — the supplier has told you the work is complete.
- Accepted — the charge for it has been entered: the supplier’s invoice, or an accrual.
Those two steps are often two different people. Whoever is managing the work resolves it; the invoice is entered later by whoever does the books. Nothing moves a work order from Resolved to Accepted on its own — cases are accepted automatically after a week, work orders are not.
The Close Status you pick when you close a work order settles both things at once — what happened, and which of the two steps it lands on. There are three:
| Close Status | Where it lands | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Work Complete — Charge Coming | Resolved | The normal case. The work is done and an invoice or accrual is still to be entered against it. |
| The work order will stay in status resolved unitl a purchase invoice or accrual is created | ||
| Work Complete — No Charge | Accepted | The work is done and nothing will ever be charged for it, so there is no invoice coming to accept it later. |
| Cancelled | Accepted | The work was called off before it was carried out. Nothing was done and nothing is owed. |
- Open the work order the supplier has finished
- Click Close - a work order asks a different set of questions from a case
- Confirm the topic the work belongs to
- Confirm the class
- Record what was done - this is kept as an action on the work order, not emailed to anyone
- Choose Work Complete - Charge Coming when the supplier has still to invoice for it
- Click Close Work Order
- The completion note is kept as a completed action on the work order
Reopening a work order
Section titled “Reopening a work order”A Resolved work order can be reopened in exactly the same way as a case — useful when the supplier says they are finished and the work turns out not to be.
- Open the resolved work order
- Click Reopen if the work turns out to be unfinished
- Say why the work order is being reopened
- Click Reopen
Accepting when the charge arrives
Section titled “Accepting when the charge arrives”You do not accept a work order by hand when a charge is coming. The charge does it: on the purchases page, the person entering it links it to the work order it settles and answers Link & Accept Work Order, which moves the work order to Accepted as the transaction is saved.
That is why the two steps can belong to two people. The manager resolves the work order and leaves it; the invoice turns up in the office days later and the accounts side finishes the job, without either of them having to go looking for the other.
An accrual counts the same way. Where the cost belongs to this period but the invoice has not come, the accrual is entered on the same page, linked to the work order and accepted with it — the work is priced and in the accounts, which is all Accepted claims. Link Only is there for the case where the transaction settles part of the work and more is still to be charged.
When there is nothing to pay
Section titled “When there is nothing to pay”Warranty visits and work covered by a service contract never produce a charge, so nothing will ever accept them. Say so instead: Work Complete — No Charge at close time takes the work order straight to Accepted.
- Open a work order there will be no charge for
- Click Close
- Confirm the topic
- Confirm the class
- Record what was done
- Choose Work Complete - No Charge when there is no charge to come
- Click Close Work Order - it goes straight to accepted
If the work order is already Resolved when you find out there is no charge — the supplier says to forget it, or the cost is being absorbed elsewhere — use the Accept button on the work order itself. It asks you to confirm, because accepting by hand says nothing is coming and an accepted work order cannot be reopened.
- Open the resolved work order
- Click Accept - the supplier has confirmed there is nothing to charge after all
- Confirm that no charge is coming - an invoice or accrual entered against the work order would accept it on its own
Calling off work that was never done
Section titled “Calling off work that was never done”A work order that is called off before the supplier starts is closed as Cancelled. It goes straight to Accepted for the same reason as a no-charge close — nothing was done, so no invoice is coming that could ever accept it. Record why it was called off in the note; it is kept as the closing action on the work order.
- Open the work order that is being called off
- Click Close
- Choose Cancelled when the work was called off before it was carried out
- Confirm the topic
- Confirm the class
- Record why the work was called off
- Click Close Work Order - a cancelled work order is accepted outright
Estimate against actual
Section titled “Estimate against actual”Once an invoice or accrual has been linked to a work order it is listed on the Work Order panel of the request, under the budget lines. The budget lines are what the work was estimated to cost; the transactions below them are what it actually cost, and each one links through to the full purchase.
The link runs both ways — the purchase itself shows which work order it settles.
Where the statuses fit
Section titled “Where the statuses fit”The full picture of what each status and action status means, for both kinds of request, is in the Request Status Reference.