Understanding work order statuses

Overview

Statuses are the quickest way for advisors, dispatchers, and technicians to understand what needs attention. They should match the job state right now, not where the job started this morning.

Before you begin

• Agree on what each status means for your team before training everyone on the workflow.
• Identify which statuses should appear on the schedule board, dispatch views, or management reports.

Steps

1. List the statuses your team currently uses and define the trigger that moves a job into each one.
2. Train staff to change the status during real handoff moments such as check-in, diagnosis, waiting for approval, in progress, and complete.
3. Audit a few active work orders and confirm the status reflects the actual shop floor state.
4. Use queue or waiting statuses intentionally so front-office staff know whether the blocker is parts, approval, staffing, or scheduling.

Tips

• Keep the list short. Too many similar statuses create noise rather than clarity.
• Use notes for nuance and statuses for broad operational state.

Troubleshooting

• If completed jobs still show as active, your board and workload reports will look inaccurate.
• If staff are unsure which status to use, refine the definitions instead of adding more status options.
• If no one trusts the board, review ten random active work orders and compare the status to reality.

Related articles

• Creating your first work order
• Using the schedule board

Need more help

If you need help mapping LedgerDo statuses to your shop process, share the statuses you use today and what each one is supposed to signal.