Service Categories are one of the most important settings and are the foundation of Work Order & Asset Management. They are used to differentiate your work orders based on the type of work to be accomplished, as well as assigning the right group of users/vendors to the work order.
Only admins will have access to Service Categories under Settings > Basic in their eSPACE account.
In order for users and sub-admins to be able to see/be assigned a work order
- They must have access to the same service category under their user permissions as the service category chosen on the work order
- They must have access to the same location under their user permissions as the location chosen on the work order
- They must have the option to "perform work" enabled under their user permissions
- If the account has departments added, the user or sub-admin must have access to the same department under their user permissions as the department that is chosen on the work order
- Example: If a pipe bursts in your wall and you submit a work order that has Plumbing as the service category and Main Campus as the location, only users and sub-admin that have access to plumbing and the main campus under their user permissions and the ability to "perform work" will be able to be assigned that work order.
- Assigning/Approving a Work Order to a User, Department, or External Vendor
Equipment that has specific service categories assigned to it can only be assigned to a work order if the work order also has that same service category chosen on it. The same is true for spaces, if a piece of equipment has been assigned to a space, then it will only be able to be assigned to a work that also has that same space assigned to it.
Managing Service Categories
When starting out Admins will notice that several default service categories have been added to help you get started. Navigate to Settings > Basic > Service Categories to add, edit or delete categories as desired.
- If you've added user defined fields to a piece of equipment it will show next to the Service Category the equipment is attached within.
To add a Service Category, navigate to Settings > Basic > Service Categories. Select "Add New Service Category". On this page, you can associate a background color or text color to each service category (optional), associate a Form (optional), associate location(s) or keep ALL locations (by default) and SAVE.
If needed, under Settings > Basic > Departments, you can add a department and associate one or multiple Service Categories and add Location(s), then SAVE.
- One a work order is assigned to a department it is up to the individuals in that department to work as a team and keep up with self-assigning work orders so that the work gets done.
When adding Equipment (Settings>Basic>Equipment), you can associate one or multiple Service Categories based on the location selected.
You can run a report (Reports>Report Builder) based on a specific service category or multiple service categories and by location, if desired.