The Start and Stop Labor Tracking feature allows organizations to more accurately track the time of their laborers. More accurate time can be useful for a variety of reasons but the most commons one we see are for:
- Organizations with a lot of staff, especially if some are seasonal
- Organizations that bill their time
- Organizations that frequently outsource their work
Follow the instructions below to see how this feature works.
Please note that this is a paid feature. If you would like to purchase this feature, please contact your account manager and they will assist you with this.
How to enable it
Once you have purchased this feature, you will be able to enable it through your Module settings. Navigate to your General Admin Settings and check the Track work box for the modules you'd like it to be enabled for:
*Most sites will want worker time to NOT be required. If worker time is required, users will be prompted to record traditional worker time hours when resolving and executing.
Next, edit your user type permissions according to the desired set up:
Can work on multiple requests at once: This permission allows the user to work on multiple requests at once, either within the same module or from different modules (i.e. users can work on Maintenance and Technology requests at the same time):
Can view work: This is the gatekeeper permission for the rest of the permissions related to this feature. The permission allows you to view work time events:
Start and stop own work: This permission allows you to start and stop your own work. The vast majority of users will only have this permission along with can view work.
Edit own work: This permission allows you to edit your own work but not others' work.
Delete own work: This permission allows you to delete your own work events.
Start and stop others' work: This permission allows you to start and stop the work of other users. This is likely to only be utilized by supervisors.
Edit others' work and Delete others' work: This permission allows you to edit and delete the work of other users.
Can set work times and duration: This permission is similar to being able to edit the created time of a request. It essentially allows you to start a work event that is set in the past and edit the amount of time you or others' (assuming you have the permissions above) worked. This is likely also to only be utilized by supervisors.
Notifications
There is a user type permission for work time notifications. Navigate to Admin Settings > User Types to update this access:
There are also subscription settings for both my and all for each work request module for "has started work" and "has stopped work":
Thus, you will be notified if you or another user starts work on your maintenance requests or all maintenance requests:
Please note that although work can be started on requests that are pending details, you will not receive a notification that work has been started until the details are added.
How to use this feature
Starting and stopping own work (most users)
Navigate to a request and select "Start Work" from the list of actions at the top of the screen:
Then select the "Start Work" button at the bottom of the screen:
FMX will then show a timestamp of when you started work:
FMX will display a banner message at the top of the screen displaying what request you're currently working on:
When the user has completed their work for this period of time they will navigate to the top of the request to the actions menu and select "Stop work":
After stopping work, FMX will calculate the duration of that work and apply it to the labor hours associated with that request:
The worker can repeat this process as often as necessary to complete the work on the request.
Setting work times and duration/Editing own work
If you have the set work times and duration option enabled and you are starting work, you will be able to select your start date and time:
When you stop work you'll be able to set your stop time which impacts your duration:
If you have the permission to edit, as well as the permission to set times and duration, then you can edit your own work to change start and stop times:
Deleting own work
With the correct permissions you can delete work events. Deleting a stop after a start will restart the counter for that work event. Deleting a start will make it as if the work never occurred. Deleting a start that has a stop after it will also make it as if the work never occurred.
Starting and stopping work for others
Managers may want to start and stop work for their technicians. This is done similarly to starting and stopping work for yourself:
Editing and deleting others' work
This is done similarly to editing and deleting work for yourself. You'll see edit and delete options on each work event.
Resolving tasks with work started but not stopped
You will be prevented from resolving a task if work has been started but not stopped. If you do not have the permission to start and stop work for others, you will receive the validation error below and will not be able to continue resolving:
If you have permission to start and stop work for others you will see the option (or a variation of it depending on whether you have permission to set duration) below. This option will allow you to stop work for all those who have currently started work:
Viewing requests and tasks in progress
It can be advantageous for supervisors to be able to view what requests and Planned Maintenance occurrences are currently being worked on. You can do this from the user grid view:
Planned Maintenance
Starting and stopping work on Planned Maintenance (PM) occurrences is very similar to starting and stopping work on work requests. The major differences are highlighted below.
If a user has started work on a PM occurrence and then goes to execute it and save it instead of executing it, work is NOT stopped:
Additionally, when looking at the open work column on the user grid, Planned Maintenance tasks will be distinguished by the icon for that module:
If you have any questions or need assisting setting up or using this feature, please contact our Customer Success team at support@gofmx.com.