Next Generation Work Orders

Next generation work orders build upon our previous work orders and offer enhanced features and functionality, including:

  • support for attaching photos and documents
  • tools for creating custom work order types and statuses
  • the ability to save vendor/work order recipient information
  • easier management of work order watchers, to ensure your team is getting email notifications about work order progress

This article will explain what's changed and how to customize, create and send next generation work orders.

What is Included in this Article:

Getting Started

To enable next generation work orders, click on Settings in the top right corner of your screen, then click on Work Orders in the left menu.  Toggle the version to Next Generation, then click Save:

Please note, only Account Administrators can toggle this feature on.

When enabling this feature, we'll create several commonly used Work Order Types for you by default:

  1. Headstone Installation - a work order type for installing headstones at a cemetery plot.
  2. Funeral Preparation - a work order type for preparing gravesites for a funeral.
  3. Maintenance Request - a work order type for common maintenance tasks.

This is just a starting point.  Work Order types are completely customizable.  

Updating & Creating Work Order Types

After you've turned on next generation work orders, creating and updating work order types is easy.  Click on Settings, then click on Work Orders in the left menu.  Under the Types section, you'll see any existing work order types configured for the account.  To edit one of the existing work order types, click on the three dots to the right and click Edit.  To create a new work order type, click on Add Work Order Type.

When editing a Work Order Type, you'll see a few sections:

Title

Give your work order type a title.  This will show up when you first choose a type on a new work order.

Start & Due Date Options

Choose whether you'd like this work order type to have start & due dates.

Status List

Previously, work orders had 3 statuses: Open, Accepted & Complete.  Now, you can use custom statuses for each work order type.  Use statuses to help understand what stage a Work Order is in.  For example, for a headstone installation, you might create the following custom statuses: Open, Received, Foundation Poured, Monument Placed.  Work Orders will default to the first status in your status list.

Custom Property Configuration

Choose what information fields you'll enter on new work orders.  These may be different for different work order types.  For a Funeral Preparation, you may want to collect information like Funeral Time or Funeral Date.  On the other hand, for a maintenance request, you may just need a Maintenance Request Details field.

To add new Properties, click on Add a property.  This will give you several options of fields to add.  To request additional field names or options that aren't available in the list, please contact Cemify support and we'll provision new properties on your behalf.

Toggle on the Required checkbox for any fields that you'd like to be required.  This will force these fields to be entered in order to create or update a work order.  The Category field allows you to group relevant fields into different sections when creating the Work Order.

Updating & Creating Work Order Vendors

Work order vendors allow you to store information for commonly used vendors.  Vendors will show up as options in the Assignee section of a work order.   To manage vendors, click on Settings in the top right, then click on Work Orders in the left menu.  Under the Vendors section, edit, delete and create new cemetery vendors.

Creating & Sending Work Orders

With your work order types and vendors configured, you're ready to begin sending Next Generation Work Orders.  There are two ways to create a work order:

  1. Navigate to a Plot, then click on Work Orders in the left menu of the plot.  Click on New Work Order.  This will pre-associate the Plot with the newly created work order. Or:
  2. Click on Work Orders in the top menu, then click on New.  This will not associate the work order with any plots by default.

After clicking to create a new work order, you'll be prompted to select a work order type, based on your configuration:

Select your work order type and click Next.

Next, you'll be prompted to fill out the work order, based on that Work Order Types configuration as described above.  As mentioned previously, you'll notice any Vendors you've added as possible assignees for the work order.  Fill out the work order and click Save.

After creating the Work Order, you'll notice it defaults to the first status in your status list for that Work Order Type:

At this point, you can either Print the work order and hand deliver to a recipient, or click on Send to send the work order via email.  When clicking Send, the work order will default the send to email based on the assignee of the work order:

Adjust the email if necessary and click on Send Email when you're ready.  This will send the newly created Work Order to the specified recipient.

Receiving Work Orders

When someone receives a work order you've sent through Cemify, they will be able to make changes to the work order's status and add photos or notes.  Recipients don't need a Cemify account to edit the status and add photos or notes.  This allows vendors and ground crews to report status back to work order creators as easily as possible.

When someone receive's a work order, they will simply click on View Work Order in their email to see the details of the work order, including a map to the Plot Location, if available:

On the Work Order, they can adjust the status:

And add photos or notes:

Work Order Watchers

Work Order watchers allow you to get notified of changes to a Work Order.  To add and manage watchers, click on the Watchers link in the left hand menu of a Work Order while logged into Cemify.  Then, click on Edit Watchers to choose who will receive notifications.

Any watchers that you add will receive email notifications any time one of the following happens:

  • a work order is sent
  • a work order's status is changed
  • a photo or note is added to a work order

Account users can also be automatically added to new work orders as watchers, if you'd prefer.  Just have each user go to Settings > Notifications and toggle on "Automatically add me as a watcher on new work orders."  When enabled, these users will automatically be added as watchers on newly created work orders.

Reporting on Work Orders

To run reports on Work Orders, click on Work Orders in the header while logged in to your Cemify account.  Use the Filter button to create a filter.  For example, to filter by Open work orders assigned to Smith Monuments:

Use filters to understand and keep track of where you're at with various work orders.

Questions & Feedback

Next generation work orders are a new feature & we are always looking for feedback.  If you have any questions or would like to request additional enhancements, just send us a support request!