OverviewThis help page explains the nuts and bolts of searching and editing work orders, including closing completed maintenance requests, adding comments, adding charges, and printing invoices. |
Note: Click on the images to enlarge them.
Table of Contents
- Searching Maintenance Requests
- Editing/Changing the Status of a Maintenance Request
- Printing Maintenance Requests
- Printing Invoices for Maintenance Requests
- Viewing Chargeback Reports and Inputting Paid Charges
Searching Maintenance Requests
To view a list of the open maintenance requests for your property, click on the Maintenance tab and select Search Requests. You'll be taken to a screen that will show all open maintenance requests for your property. If you'd like to view requests that are currently on hold or that have been closed out, be sure to check the appropriate filters under the "Status" option.
By clicking the Advanced tab, you can also select a specific date range, include requests from units that have been deactivated, show all notes associated with each maintenance requests, or choose to display recurring tasks only.
Editing/Changing the Status of a Maintenance Request
Click on the Maintenance tab and select Search Requests. Next, click on the request you wish to edit or update.
When you click on the Maintenance Request you would like to view or edit, and you will see a page like the one below. To edit the information on a Maintenance Request, such as the unit number or maintenance issue, click Edit located in the first section on the bottom right side. To edit the assigned vendor or assigned employee, look in the section called "Assignments" and make updates from the drop-down menus.
You may also edit the assigned employee, assigned vendor, and maintenance category for more than one request at a time. To do this, check the box next to the requests you would like to update, then click Edit
A pop-up will appear, and you can update the category, status, assigned employee, and vendor for all of those requests at once. When done, click the Update button at the bottom.
To change the status of a maintenance request (or multiple maintenance requests), select the appropriate Status option:
Choose Closed by clicking on it for completed requests.
Choose the On Hold option for requests that cannot be completed because of insufficient parts or some other extenuating circumstance. This will also allow you to select a date on which the maintenance request will once again show up in your list of Open requests as a little reminder that it still needs to be handled. (Otherwise, it may stay in the "On Hold" folder indefinitely!)
If you choose the Closed option, depending on your building's settings, the resident may receive a "Status Changed to Closed" email notification. Regardless of your building's settings, changing the status to On Hold will not trigger an email notification to the resident. However, you may add an "On Hold" comment to the maintenance request that - depending on your building's settings - will be emailed to the resident.
To add an attachment/photo to a maintenance request, scroll down to the bottom of the request and look for the upload areas just below the "Assignments" section. Next, click either the Add Images or the Add Documents button. The photo and document upload options will prompt you to select the desired photos or documents from your computer (4MB limit).
To add a comment to a maintenance request (or to add the same comment to multiple maintenance requests through our Update Multiple Maintenance Requests feature), simply click in the Comment box and start typing. If you prefer, you can also choose from one of your property's Predefined Maintenance Responses by selecting the appropriate response and then clicking Insert Response. To add to the list of predefined responses that appear, see Predefined Maintenance Responses Settings.
Once the predefined response appears in the Comment field, you will still have the ability to edit the text or add additional text as needed. If you wish to add a private comment - one that will not be displayed to the resident - be sure to mark the checkbox next to Hide from Resident. All saved comments will appear in the Activity Log for that maintenance request, and all non-private comments –– depending on your building's settings –– may also be emailed to the resident.
To record how much time was spent on a maintenance request, or to add charges to a maintenance request, click on either Add Charges or Add Time Spent.These buttons are located under the Predefined response field.
When you click on the Add Charges button, an area to add charges will appear below it. Next add the amount being charged into the Charge Amount field and choose who is being charged (Building or Resident). Once you have filled out these fields click the green Save button. You will see the added charge appear in the Activity log below when done.
If you bill hourly, or need to track time spent on a maintenance request, you can also Add Time Spent to the request. To add this, click on the Time Spent button and another section will appear where you can add a start and end time, or enter in the time manually. You can also add who performed the work if needed. Once done adding the time, click Save.
Printing Maintenance Requests
While there is no real need to print out your maintenance requests (you will always have a searchable record of every request generated through BuildingLink) some buildings like to print out the maintenance requests to hand over to their maintenance staff. (Note: A more efficient way to get your maintenance requests to maintenance staff who will not have access to email or a computer is to have them use our GEO app, which runs off an iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, or Android device. This will allow them to receive the requests in real time, without the need for paper or ink!)
To print a maintenance request - or several - click on the Maintenance tab and select Search Requests. Each maintenance request will have a little picture of a printer next to it which you can click to print an individual maintenance request. You can also click the Print List button to print the entire list of open requests.
Clicking on a singular maintenance request to print will show you a preview of the request being printed. You can also decide whether or not you'd like to include photos, comments and/or private comments with the printed maintenance request. Next, click the blue Print button.
Printing Invoices for Maintenance Requests
If you've added a charge to a maintenance request, you may also want to print an invoice for the resident. To do this, click on the Maintenance tab and select Search Requests. Click on the request that you'd like to print an invoice for. Next, click on the Create Invoice button.
Next, click either Generate PDF or Print & Generate PDF. You can also use the filters at the top to control how the invoice looks: you can choose to include comments, resident charges, and/or building charges.
Viewing Chargeback Reports and Inputting Paid Charges
To indicate that a maintenance charge has been paid, click on the Maintenance tab, and select Search Requests. Select the appropriate maintenance request and click on it.
To indicate that a charge has been paid, click on the Add Charges section of the maintenance request and input a negative charge for the amount that has been paid. For example, if there is a $10.00 charge on the request and that $10.00 has now been paid, enter a charge of -10.00. If you wish to indicate a check number or additional information about the payment, you can use the Comment field for that purpose. Be sure to click Save when done.
To view a report of the outstanding and paid maintenance charges for your property, click on the Maintenance tab, select Maint Reports, and then select Charge-Back Report. For more information, please see our Maintenance Reports help page.