The article provides an overview of what is Work Order in Salesforce Service cloud and then share a case study of how Work orders are used by a client
Work Order Overview
- Definition: A Work Order is a standard object in Service Cloud representing a service task that needs to be executed, including details such as customer information, product specifics, and issue descriptions.
- Example: If a customer purchases a product that requires repair, a Work Order is created detailing the customer, product, and type of issue.
Accessing Work Orders
Work Orders can be viewed:
- Directly through the Work Orders tab.
- From related lists on linked records, such as Accounts, Cases, Assets, and Service Appointments.
Customization
Work Orders can be customized to meet specific business needs through:
- Custom Fields: Add specific information required for your organization.
- Validation Rules: Ensure data integrity and correctness.
- Flows: Automate processes related to Work Orders.
- Triggers and Apex Logic: Implement business logic as per requirement.
Lifecycle of a Work Order
A Work Order typically progresses through various stages:
- New
- In Progress
- Completed
- Invoice
- Closed
Child Objects
Work Orders can have several associated child objects, enhancing their functionality:
Work Order Line Items
- Purpose: Break down a Work Order into manageable subtasks.
- Example: For a repair, line items may include parts needed and associated charges (e.g., service, transport).
Service Appointment
- Purpose: Organize appointments with customers related to a Work Order.
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Features:
- Scheduling: Set and manage appointments effectively.
- Integration: Work with other objects.
- Tracking: Monitor the status of appointments.
- Time Slots: Allocate specific times for service.
- Location Management: Manage service locations efficiently.
- Resource Management: Optimize resource allocation for service delivery.
To summarize Work Orders in Service Cloud streamline service processes, providing a structured way to manage tasks, track progress, and ensure customer satisfaction. Customization options allow businesses to customize workflows to their unique needs, while child objects enhance the capability to manage detailed tasks and appointments effectively.
Client case study
The client typically has two types of users. Let's call these Division 1 and Division 2
Division 1 has service centers owned by the client, and Division 2 has service centers managed by client’s partners. Division 1 includes the clients’ employees. Division 2 uses Experience Cloud licenses
Now, if a customer buys a product, and if that product requires servicing, repair, etc. that customer can call the client or visit offices of Division 1 or 2.
Once they call or visit Service Center, the user present there will check if an asset is already present for that product and customer or not, if not, that user creates an asset, and creates a case if required. From Case, or directly they create Work orders.
Work orders have lookups on many different standard and custom object records, some of them are:
- Customer: Person Account record for which Work Order is Created.
- Asset: Asset Record containing the details of customer and Product that require repair or maintenance, it also has information of Warranty and extended warranty, which is used to check if we need to give warranty on the work order or not.
- Work type: Type of issue like Repair, Maintenance, Service etc.
Work Order also has many different details like Amount, Charges, In Warranty or not, different types of Repair and Defect Type etc.
Work Order is created with Default New Status, now if the work order type is Home Service, then Service Appointment is created and assigned to technicians based on skills, time slots, availability, location.
Now, the technician updated the work order status to Repair Started,
1. Techinician can check the work order, where details of issue/repair are present and accordingly add/request parts in the form of work order line items, and put the status of work order on Hold. Data is sent to ERP using Mulesoft where stock is maintained, once the Part is delivered the status of work order line items are updated to Delivered. Technicians use those parts to repair the product, and mark it as consumed. Technicians can also return parts.
2. Charges can be added as per requirement on the basis of work order in the form of Work order line items, example service charge, transport charge.
And mark the Work Order status to Repair Completed, and assign back the to their manager.
Once all the repairs are completed and details are verified, the Status of work order is changed to “Completed”, and Invoice is generated.
The above description just explains the basic flow. The client also uses additional features, validations, and processes based on business requirements of different countries. Also, internationalization is supported as well.
To summarize the client uses Work Order and other objects to manage complex business processes related to handling customer service requests. Work Order provides extensive flexibility to enhance based on business requirements.
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