Functional roles in Work Order Management

Work Order Management includes two functional roles — work order manager and work order assignee. Functional Roles provide additional capability to the users, not based on permission group, but in the context of the support group to which it is related.

Work order manager

The work order manager is responsible for the quality and integrity of the work order management process.

Work order managers are usually the heads of the functional (user) groups that deliver a particular service. For example, the manager in charge of facilities would be the work order manager for all facility work orders, while the manager in charge of telecommunications would be the work order manager for phone work orders. As a result, when a user creates a service request for a new employee who needs office space and a phone, the request creates a work order for a new office and another work order for a new phone. The first work order is assigned to the facilities department, and the second work order is assigned to the telecommunications department.

Responsibilities and activities

In large companies, the work order manager's main responsibilities usually involve planning and oversight. However, in small companies the work order manager might also function as the work order assignee who performs the tasks for the work order. In the Work Order Management application, users with either the Work Order Manager or Work Order Assignee functional role can be assigned to individual work orders, so you can choose how to apply these roles in your organization.

The work order manager's activities and responsibilities can include the following:

• Synchronizing work orders with service requests
• Creating tasks to use with work orders
• Handling work assignments
• Monitoring support staff activity involved in implementing the work order
• Planning work orders, which includes identifying, creating, and sequencing the tasks that must be performed to accomplish the work order
• Scheduling people and resources to implement each task
• Tracking work orders and tasks

When a work order is created, according the specified criteria, it is automatically assigned to the appropriate work order assignee. The supervisor, group, or individual can be notified of assigned work orders by email or pager. Using the assignment engine, related tasks are automatically assigned to the appropriate work order assignee.

Permissions and functional roles associated with work order managers

The work order manager can have the following permissions and functional roles:

• Work Order Master or Work Order User permission—Provides access to the Work Order Console, individual work orders, and the Overview Console. Users with Work Order Master permissions must belong to a support group to modify work orders belonging to that support group. For more information, see Roles and permission groups in BMC Service Request Management.
• Work Order Manager functional role—Allows the user to be assigned to individual work orders. For more information, see Application Functional roles.

To work with tasks, the user needs Task User permissions. For information about other levels of task permissions required, for example, to create task templates, see the Task Management System permissions .

Using the Task Management System (TMS) functionality is optional with work orders. You can create work orders that do not use TMS tasks.

Work order assignee

Work order assignees are responsible for planning and implementing assigned work orders. They are usually people with specialized abilities in the support department of larger organizations. The work order assignee might be working actively on the work order, or coordinating the efforts of other groups or individuals working on tasks, if necessary.

Assignee activities and responsibilities include the following:

• Gathering appropriate information based on the work order assigned
• Providing status updates to requesters on request
• Plan the task schedule
• Executing the tasks that make up a work order
• Reviewing all completed tasks, if more than one work order assignee helped complete the overall work order
• Determining requester satisfaction with the overall work order