Setting up work orders and tasks
Summarize
Summary of Setting up work orders and tasks
In ServiceNow Field Service Management, work orders are used to communicate the details of requested work to Field Service agents. Work orders contain essential information such as customer details, work locations, and related configuration items. To manage complex jobs effectively, work orders can be broken down into multiple work order tasks, each specifying particular work requirements like required skills or parts. This task-driven approach provides structure and clarity for agents in completing their assignments.
Show less
Key Features
- Work Orders and Tasks Configuration: Work orders automatically generate corresponding task records, enabling detailed tracking and management of the work to be performed.
- Task Categorization: Tasks can be categorized by type to ensure consistency, such as assigning a specific group to a certain task type. Questionnaires can be attached to tasks to enforce completion of checklists or forms before, during, or after task completion.
- Time Tracking: Work order tasks support automatic time recording that updates time cards based on agent activity.
- Custom Work Configurations (Optional): Customize task information capture to suit different workflows, such as maintenance, installations, or break-fix tasks, to capture relevant cost and duration data.
- Planned Work Management (Optional): Schedule recurring maintenance, inspections, or audits by installing the Planned Work Management application.
- Access Hours Auto-Population (Optional): Set default access hours for work order tasks based on customer preferences like location or asset, ensuring tasks are assigned only during valid access times.
- Linear Assets Support (Optional): Manage linear assets such as roads, telephone lines, or cables by enabling the Enterprise Asset Management plugin.
- Playbooks for Guided Task Management (Optional): Use playbooks to guide agents through detailed workflows and required activities for specific task types.
- Customer Experience Enhancements (Optional): Provide customers with real-time updates on their issues, agent locations, and feedback options via the Customer Experience plugin.
- Request Task Management (Optional): Split requests into separate tasks to assign parts of a job to different people, locations, or schedules.
- Quality Management (Optional): Add a Reviewer role to review tasks and provide feedback through the Quality Management plugin.
Security and Access Controls
Field Service Management access is role-driven, with the wmagent role allowing users to interact with operational records and perform key actions unless restricted by Access Control Lists (ACLs) or query rules. For stricter control, administrators can enforce ACLs, pre-query filtering, dynamic filtering, and UI-level restrictions. To isolate departments or sensitive data, domain separation is recommended to ensure secure and controlled data sharing.
Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers
- Efficiently manage field service work by structuring jobs into clear, manageable tasks.
- Ensure consistency and compliance through task categorization and mandatory questionnaires.
- Capture accurate time and cost information relevant to different types of work.
- Automate scheduling and access controls to improve operational efficiency and security.
- Enhance customer satisfaction with real-time updates and feedback mechanisms.
- Improve quality and oversight with reviewer roles and playbook-guided workflows.
- Maintain robust security and data isolation tailored to organizational needs.
When work is required, create a work order to provide information for the Field Service agents to fulfill the request. Create work order tasks to break down the tasks required to complete the work order.
You can use Field Service Management and only set up work orders and work order tasks to start work. Or you can set up additional configurations to automate some of the process around creating and managing work orders and work order tasks.
Configuration overview
The steps for setting up work orders and tasks are:
- Configuring work orders
Configure Field Service Management to use a task-driven process, wherein each work order encapsulates a list of essential tasks. Upon the creation of a work order, a corresponding task record is instantly generated. Task-driven processing can provide structure and clarity for intricate projects.
Work orders in Field Service Management store information about requested work, including customer names and addresses, locations where work is to be performed, and any associated configuration items. Work orders can include one or more tasks that contain specific details about the work to be performed, such as required agent skills or part requirements. Work orders are the driving force behind Field Service Management. They define what Field Service agents must do to complete their jobs.
- Configuring work order tasks
Categorize work orders are comprised of at least one, but usually multiple, work order tasks. You can categorize work order tasks by type so that work order tasks of the same type are consistent, like if a certain type of task always requires a specific assignment group. Additionally, you can require agents to complete questionnaires before, during, or after completing a task. For example, if you want agents to complete a safety checklist before starting a task, you can use questionnaires. Work order tasks also allow for automatic time recording that tracks and translates time worked on a task into a time card.
- (Optional) Configuring Field Service Work Configurations
Customize the information captured on a work order task to better suite similar but different workflows. For example, maintenance and installations can have a fixed cost associated with them, but break-fix tasks may need to capture additional information related to the cost and duration of the task. With Field Service work configurations, you can set up these task types to capture specific information.
- (Optional) Configuring Planned Work Management
Manage flexible work plans for any recurring activity that requires regular maintenance. For example, you can use planned Work management to schedule maintenance, inspections, or audits. You can install the Planned Work Management application (com.snc.fsm_planned_work_management) if you have the admin role.
- (Optional) Configuring the auto-population of access hours in a work order task
Define default access hours for a work order task based on customer preferences such as account, location, or asset, enables the auto-population of the access hours for the task. For example, you can set the access hours for a business to guarantee that work order tasks are only assigned to the location when it’s open. You can activate the Field Service Management Access Hours Management plugin (com.snc.fsm_access_hours) for Field Service Management if you have the admin role.
- (Optional) Activate linear assets support in Field Service Management
Enable effective management of assets like roads, telephone lines, or fiber cables. You can enable the Field Service Management application to support linear assets by activating the Enterprise Asset Management plugin (com.sn_eam) if you have the admin role.
- (Optional) Configuring Playbooks for Field Service Management
Enable agents to manage the life cycle of work order tasks by guiding them through sequences of activities. Playbooks show detailed workflows associated with a specific type of work order task and the activities that must be completed to resolve that task.
- (Optional) Configuring Field Service Management Customer Experience
Provide customers with timely updates about their reported issues, enabling them to track the location of agents and provide agent feedback. You can install the Field Service Management Customer Experience plugin (com.snc.fsm_customer_experience) if you have the wm_admin role.
- (Optional) Request task management
Split requests into separate tasks. This can be helpful if you want to assign different parts of a task to different people, assign parts of a task to people in different locations, or schedule parts of a task to be completed at different times.
- (Optional) Configuring Field Service Quality Management
Add the "Reviewer" role to Field Service Management. The reviewer can review tasks and provide feedback. You can install the Field Service Management plugin (com.sn_fsm_quality) if you have the wm_admin role.
- Enforce access control at record and field levels. For more information, see Configure an ACL rule.
- Apply pre-query filtering. For more information, see CSM Query Rules.
- Apply dynamic filtering. For more information, see Before Query business rules.
- Apply restrictions at the UI level. For more information, see Using UI policies.
To enforce strict separation between different departments or to separate sensitive data, domain separation is recommended. It ensures data isolation, domain-specific access controls, and controlled data sharing.