We are new to using MaintainX, and we have a question about start dates vs due dates.
We are under the impression that the due date would be the date the requestor wants the repair completed, and the start date is the date that our mechanics actually start the repair.
We’ve noticed that when we put our maintenance plan together, the calendar automatically schedules the work for the due date.
If we want to start the repair earlier than the due date, how do we get the calendar to reflect that?
+2Hi
In the To-Do View of the Work Orders module, work orders will appear in the queue on their start date. In that respect, the start date that you input on the work order is functioning correctly, as the date that you intend for your mechanics to start the repair.
You are right in that the Calendar View of the Work Orders module displays work orders based on their due date (not their start date). The best option for visualizing work orders based on their start date is through the Workload View (available on our Enterprise account plan).
If you’re not on the Enterprise plan, as a workaround you could use the due date field to hold the planned date (i.e the date on which you intend the repair to start), and add a custom field to your work orders to hold the actual due date. If you did it this way, the Calendar View would show work orders based on their planned start date (because it is actually the due date in disguise). However, I’d advise against this if you regularly have repairs that span multiple days. The reason being, work orders will get flagged as overdue when the planned date (i.e. the due date in disguise) passes. So for example, if you want a repair job to start on Monday and have a due date of Wednesday, the work order would be flagged as overdue starting 12:00 AM on Tuesday (even though it's not expected to be done until Wednesday). This would also make your On-Time vs. Overdue report very messy.
The Workload View would be my recommendation here. If you’re not on Enterprise, you could submit a product feature request (via your Account Manager or our Support team) for the option to organize work orders by start date in the Calendar View.
Good luck!
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