Log maintenance work in the diary

The diary’s Maintenance element tracks works that span several shifts: a work you log here does not disappear at the end of your shift — it carries over into the next diaries until it is closed. So a repair that runs for days or weeks stays as one item, with its history traceable throughout. This article covers how you log a work, what you enter, how it carries over, and where its history is.

Before you start

• Permission: the maintenance-logging right — maintenance:create.
• An open diary: you log the work in the live (editable) diary.
• Your admin decides which fields show. Description, priority, assignee, due date and note can be hidden — your diary shows the ones your organisation turned on. The title and the status are always there.

Steps

The opened logging form. At the top is the work title; among the fields, the description/priority/assignee/due/note appear depending on your organisation’s settings.

1. At the Maintenance element, click Add maintenance work — the form opens.
2. Enter the Work title (required) — what the work is (e.g. “P-15-03 pump bearing replacement”).
3. Choose the Unit if there is more than one.
4. Write the Work description — the details, where it stands (“Work details, where it stands…”).
5. Set the Status. The choice is provided by your organisation (a default set marks one status as the closing one); a new work typically starts at the first status in the list.
6. Set the Priority (Normal / High / Low).
7. Enter the Assignee — who is on it. The roster suggests names, but you can also type one.
8. Add a Due date if there is one.
9. Write a Note for this shift (“Note for this shift…”) — this shift’s entry on the work.
10. Click Log work.

The work carries over to the next diary

This is the heart of maintenance: the work carries over into the next diary(ies) — right up until it gets a “closing” status. Your organisation marks which status counts as closing (by default the “Done”-type one). So:

• while the work’s status is not closing (e.g. In progress), it appears in every new shift’s diary, and its shift counter grows (in Reports: “Carried over (shifts)”);
• as soon as it gets a closing status (e.g. Done), it drops out of the following diaries — the work is closed.

So you do not re-enter the same repair each shift: you log it once, then shift by shift you only update its status and note until it closes.

Updates and history

In the next shift you click the row in the list to edit the work (status, assignee, due date…), or change the status quickly inline. Every such step leaves a trace:

• the Notes added to the work per shift,
• the status changes,
• and other field changes (“Field changes (this shift)”)

are kept in chronological order. This is the history: you can read what happened to it in which shift. The full timeline is on the Reports Maintenance tab, by expanding the row’s Note log — see Maintenance work report.

The status set is yours

Which statuses exist, and which one is the “closing” one, is set by your organisation’s admin in the Maintenance settings. So the notion of closing follows your own statuses — another organisation’s may differ.

The note belongs to THIS shift

The Notes field is the work’s entry for the current shift — that is how the shift-by-shift history builds up. You do not add a new one to a closed work.

If it worked

You get the “Maintenance work logged.” confirmation, and the work appears in the Maintenance list with its status, priority and assignee. It will also be in the next diary (marked as carried over) until you close it.

Common problems

What you see	Why	What to do
“No maintenance work for this diary yet.”	This diary has no (open) maintenance work yet.	Normal; add the first one with the add button.
The work is there again next shift	Deliberate: an unclosed work carries over.	If it is done, set a closing status (e.g. Done) — it then drops out.
I cannot add a note to a work	The note is for an unclosed work; it is inactive for a closed status.	If you are still working on it, set it back to an active status.
I do not see a field (e.g. Assignee)	Your admin hid that field in the Maintenance settings.	Ask your admin to turn the field on if you need it.
I added the wrong work	—	Delete it with the row’s trash button (with a reason). “Deleted work is not lost — it stays searchable in Reports via the ‘Deleted’ filter.”

Related

Maintenance work reportThe management overview: all works, with the Note log (history).

Report a task's statusThe related logic: tasks also carry over until they are closed.