Maintenance tracks the repair and servicing work carried out against an asset, a marketing resource (such as a billboard), a workstation, or general shop work with no origin record at all. A work order is one piece of maintenance work, moved through a status lifecycle from start to completion. A schedule records that a record or category of asset needs maintenance on a recurring interval.
Before you start
In an organization that uses permission groups, Maintenance has three permissions: Overview › View, Work Orders (View all or own, Create, Edit) and Schedules (View all or own, Create, Edit, Delete). With View (own) you see the work orders and schedules you created or are assigned to. Starting, putting on hold, completing and cancelling a work order needs Work Orders › Edit on it. The Overview shows only the work orders your Work Orders permission lets you see. To raise or edit a work order against an asset you also need to be able to see that asset: Asset Management › Registry › View (all, or own for assets you own), and Asset Management must be enabled for your organization. In an organization without permission groups, every member can use every Maintenance screen.
Overview in the left navigation currently shows the same list as Work Orders — there is no separate Maintenance dashboard yet.
The Work Orders list
Open Maintenance > Work Orders (or Maintenance > Overview, which shows the same list).
| Column | Notes |
|---|---|
| Ref | The work order's reference number, or "—". Links to its profile. |
| Name | The work order's name. |
| Origin | The record the work order is for (an asset, marketing resource, or workstation), or "No origin". |
| Work type | Preventive, Corrective, Calibration, or "—". |
| Status | Scheduled, In Progress, On Hold, Completed, or Cancelled. |
| Due | The work order's due date, or "—". |
| Business unit | The work order's business unit, or your main business. Shown only when your organization has business units. |
A status filter above the table lets you narrow the list to one status, or show all statuses. Sort defaults to the Ref column, descending.
When your organization has business units, the list starts with the unit chosen in the header; the funnel icon opens a filter with Business unit. The Ref shows the legal entity's prefix when there is one (PH-7). Overview shows the same list.
The toolbar shows a New work order button.
Create a work order
- From the Work Orders list, select New work order.
- Complete the fields below.
- Select Create work order.
| Field | Required | What to enter |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Yes | The work order's name. |
| Work type | No | Preventive, Corrective, Calibration, or leave as "—". |
| Due date | No | When the work is due. |
| Origin type | No | The kind of record this work order is for: an asset, a marketing resource, a workstation, a Fleet vehicle (Fleet Vehicles), or "No origin (shop work)". |
| Origin record | Only if an origin type is chosen | The specific record. This field is disabled until you choose an origin type, then loads every record of that type — a warning toast "Could not load records for that origin type." appears if that lookup fails. |
| Business unit | No | Shown only with business units. Starts with the unit chosen in the header, and follows the chosen asset's owning unit when the origin is an asset, until you choose a unit yourself. |
| Description | No | Free text. |
What happens when you save
- A toast confirms "Work order created successfully" and you're taken to the new work order's profile.
- A validation error shows inline under Name or Origin record; any other error shows a warning toast "Could not create the work order."
- With business units, a work order of a unit that is, or sits under, a separate legal entity is numbered in that entity's own sequence (PH-7).
The work order lifecycle
A work order moves through Scheduled → In Progress → Completed, with On Hold and Cancelled available as alternate states. Each transition is guarded — you can only move a work order into a state its current status allows.
Open the work order's profile to see the Actions card, which only shows the buttons valid for the work order's current status:
- Start — available when the work order is Scheduled or On Hold. Records the start time (only on the very first start).
- Put on hold — available when the work order is In Progress.
- Complete work order — available when the work order is In Progress or On Hold. Choose an Outcome condition, and optionally a Cost and Notes, then select Complete work order.
- Cancel — available whenever the work order is not already Completed or Cancelled.
Notes typed in the Outcome condition section's Notes field are sent with whichever of these actions you select next.
On success, a toast confirms "Work order updated successfully" and the page refreshes. If the action isn't valid for the work order's current status, OCTO Ops refuses it with a message such as "A work order in status "Completed" cannot be started." naming the current status and the action you tried.
There is no edit screen for a work order — every change happens through these actions.
Effect on the origin record
When a work order's origin is an asset, starting and completing it can change the asset's status:
- Start moves the asset to Under repair, unless the asset is already in a disposed or terminal status (retired, scrapped, sold, lost), in which case it cannot be force-started.
- Put on hold does not change the asset's status — it stays Under repair while downtime keeps accruing.
- Complete sets the asset's new status from the Outcome condition you recorded: a Damaged or Unusable outcome sets the asset to Damaged; a Lost outcome sets it to Lost; any other outcome (or none) sets it to Available.
- Cancel restores the asset to whatever status it had before the work order was started — unless the asset has since moved on to a terminal status, in which case the cancel does not resurrect it.
Fleet vehicles
A work order can be for a vehicle in Fleet Management. Choose Fleet Vehicles as the origin type; vehicles are listed as "name (registration)" and only those you may view (Fleet Management › Vehicles › View). Work orders are also created from Fleet, from an issue or a due service.
- Start sets the vehicle to In shop; Complete or Cancel returns it to the status it had (unless another started work order still holds it).
- Complete work order shows two extra fields, Odometer at completion and Hours at completion (both optional). They are recorded as meter readings on the vehicle and restart any service on the work order. The Cost is posted as a vehicle cost under Maintenance.
- Fleet issues on the work order are resolved on completion and reopened on cancel.
- A work order linked to Fleet issues or services, or one that has started, cannot be moved to another record: "This work order is linked to its origin and cannot be moved to another record."
This origin coupling otherwise only applies to asset and Fleet vehicle origins. A marketing resource or workstation origin is recorded and shown, but starting, holding, completing, or cancelling its work order does not change the origin record's own status.
With business units, the profile shows the work order's Business unit. A work order's business unit is set when it is created, and the work order screens do not change it afterwards. Schedules have no business unit.
Maintenance schedules
A schedule records that a specific record, or a whole asset category, needs maintenance on a recurring interval. Schedules do not create work orders on their own — see Current limitations.
Open Maintenance > Schedules.
| Column | Notes |
|---|---|
| Name | The schedule's name. Links to its profile. |
| Target | The record or asset category the schedule covers, or "—". |
| Work type | Preventive, Corrective, Calibration, or "—". |
| Next due | The schedule's next due date. |
| Every | The interval, in days. |
| Active | Yes or No. |
The toolbar shows a New schedule button.
Create or edit a schedule
- Select New schedule from the Schedules list, or open a schedule and select Edit.
- Complete the fields below.
- Select Create schedule (or the equivalent Save action on Edit).
| Field | Required | What to enter |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Yes | The schedule's name. |
| Work type | No | Preventive, Corrective, Calibration, or leave as "—". |
| Active | No | Yes or No. Defaults to Yes. |
| This schedule covers | Yes | Choose One specific record or A whole asset category. |
| Origin type and Record | Only if covering one specific record | The kind of record and the specific record, loaded the same way as a work order's origin fields. |
| Asset category | Only if covering a whole category | The asset category this schedule applies to. |
| Interval (days) | Yes | How often the maintenance recurs. Defaults to 90 on create. |
| Lead time (days) | No | How many days ahead of the due date to flag the maintenance. Defaults to 0. |
| Next due | No | The next date this maintenance is due. |
| Description | No | Free text. |
A schedule must target exactly one of a specific record or an asset category — never both, never neither. If you switch between the two on Edit, the previous choice is cleared automatically. Trying to save with both or neither set is refused with: "A schedule must target either one record or one asset category, not both and not neither."
The schedule profile
Opening a schedule shows an Active/Inactive badge, an Edit button, and a detail grid: Covers (the origin record or asset category), Work type, Interval ("Every N days"), Lead time, Next due, Last generated ("Never" if a work order has not yet been generated from it), and Description.
There is no "Generate now" action on this page — see Current limitations.
Errors you may see
| Message | Why | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| 403 — You don't have permission (page), or "Could not update the work order." / "Could not create the work order." / "Could not create the schedule." (action) | Your permission groups don't include the Maintenance permission this action needs, the record isn't one of yours, or the work order names an asset you can't see. | Ask an administrator for the permission. |
| A work order in status "…" cannot be started / be put on hold / be completed / be cancelled. | You tried an action that isn't valid for the work order's current status. | Check the work order's current status and use one of the actions offered on its profile. |
| Choose an active business unit. | The chosen unit was deactivated, or is not one of yours. | Choose another unit, or your main business. |
| Business units are not set up for this organization. | A business unit was sent, but your organization has no active business units. | Leave the field empty, or set up business units first. |
| Could not load records for that origin type. | The list of records for the chosen origin type failed to load. | Try choosing the origin type again. |
| A schedule must target either one record or one asset category, not both and not neither. | The schedule form was saved without exactly one target chosen. | Choose either One specific record or A whole asset category, not both, and fill in the matching field. |
Current limitations
- There is no dedicated Maintenance dashboard yet — Overview currently shows the same list as Work Orders.
- Schedules do not automatically generate work orders. Even when a schedule's Next due date arrives, no work order is created for it — every work order must be created manually, and a schedule's Next due and Last generated dates do not advance on their own.
- There are no Maintenance reports in this version.
- There is no Maintenance panel on an asset's own profile page yet.
- The Origin record picker on both the work order and schedule forms loads every record of the chosen type at once, with no search — this can be slow if your organization has a large number of assets, marketing resources, or workstations of that type.
- Billboards still has its own, separate maintenance screens alongside this module; the two are not yet merged. Saving a billboard maintenance record needs Maintenance › Work Orders › Create (or Edit) in an organization that uses permission groups.