From job to closed work order

This guide follows one job through TrakIT, in the order the work is done: creating the job and its work orders, finding them again, recording events and data, handling documents, watching KPIs and delays, keeping people informed, and finally closing the work orders. It is for operations users. Each step links the page that describes it in full, and explains what TrakIT does on its own between the steps.

The running example is an import job with the reference EXBL2610045, for the customer Example Trading Co, carried by Example Shipping Co, with two containers, ABCU1234560 and ABCU2345677. TrakIT makes it one job with two work orders, one per container.

Almost everything here depends on the job’s workflow: which fields the forms show, which events and data fields each work order gets, which of them are required, which tabs the work orders have, and what TrakIT does automatically. Administrators set this up: see Designing a workflow. The menus you see depend on your role and on how your company has set TrakIT up. The paths on this page are those of the standard menu; see Navigating TrakIT.

Work order statuses

Each work order has its own status, shown at the top right of the work order page. The job itself has none; only its finance has a status of its own.

Status	Means	Changes when
Active	Open and in progress.	It becomes Abandoned when it has had no new event for a number of days, Closed when its required events and data are complete or someone closes it, and Cancelled when someone cancels it.
Abandoned	Still open, but its latest event is older than the workflow’s Abandoned After days, or your installation’s default. Events that are for information only do not count; a work order with no events counts from its creation. TrakIT checks every six hours.	If it has required events or data fields, it becomes Active again when an event dated within those days is recorded. It closes or is cancelled like an active one.
Closed	Complete. Its events, data, header and remarks can no longer be changed.	It becomes Active when someone re-opens it.
Cancelled	Will not go ahead, with a reason.	It becomes Active when someone re-opens it.

Active and abandoned work orders are the open ones: almost everything in this guide works only on them. The Jobs page shows them by default.

1. Create the job and its work orders

Select Operations > Jobs, then Create. The Create New Job page opens.
Choose the workflow, for example your sea import workflow.
Fill in the job header: the job reference EXBL2610045 (or the number the workflow generates), the customer, the carrier and so on.
Choose the Job Types and Services, and fill in the job data you already know.
Under Work Orders, enter one row per container, in the form or pasted from Excel.
Select Create.

Other ways to create work orders:

From a bill of lading PDF: AI PDF Extraction… fills in the form for you, if your company has set it up.
Many jobs from an Excel file: Operations > Bulk Operations > Bulk Create. TrakIT imports the file in the background and emails you the results.
More work orders on the same job: on Create New Job, enter the job reference and select Add To Existing, or use Duplicate Work Order on one of its work orders.

When TrakIT creates a work order, it gives it:

the workflow’s active events and data fields that apply to its services, its customer and its job types, with their default values. The job data you entered is recorded on all the job’s work orders;
the workflow’s active KPIs that apply to its services;
a responsible person: you, the person you chose, or the workflow’s responsible person, depending on the workflow’s WO Responsible setting.

The job’s document checklist is the workflow’s checklist. Users who follow the workflow’s new work orders receive a New Work Orders Created email, and those who subscribed to Create Job a notification (see step 7). The job’s finance, its estimates, invoices and bills, is a separate track: see From quotation to payment.

Who: Create in the Work Orders section, and Update Events & Data to enter job data. You can choose only the workflows you have access to. Bulk create also needs the permissions listed on its page.

2. Find the job again

Operations > Jobs finds jobs and work orders. Type the job reference or a container number in Number, and select By Job or By Work Order. Special Conditions finds work orders with gaps, such as Empty/TBA Required Events or Missing Data; KPI Alert Status finds those with With Alerts.
Operations > Events & Data is a to-do list: it lists the events and data fields of open work orders, and can show only those owned by your roles (My Roles) or due soon (Event/Data Due Date).
Quick Search finds a work order by its container number, or by a data value, from any page.

If a work order seems to be missing, check WO Status in the filters: it may be closed or cancelled. See also Why can’t I find a work order or job?

3. Work on the job and its work orders

The job page shows what belongs to the whole job: its header, the list of its work orders, its documents and comments. From its Work Orders tab, Action… changes several work orders at once, for example their transporter or their container numbers.

The work order page shows one container: its header, its tasks menu and the tabs the workflow gives it. To change the header, select Modify Header (Edit work order); Apply to Job copies a change to the job’s other work orders.

Some details belong to the job and are the same on all its work orders: the customer, shipper and receiver, the job type, the Remarks For Job, the documents for the job, the document checklist and the comments. Events and data fields that apply to the job are recorded on all its open work orders at once. Everything else, such as the container, the seal number, the other events and data, the KPIs and the status, belongs to each work order.

4. Record events and data

Events are the steps of the workflow, recorded with a date and time, for example Discharged or Delivered. Data fields hold values such as a customs entry number. Use the way that suits the amount of work:

Way	Best for
The work order’s Events tab and Data tab	One work order. Apply To Job records the same value on all the job’s open work orders, and the Edit Multiple WO icon gives each work order its own value.
Operations > Events & Data	Many fields across work orders and workflows, for example everything overdue for your role.
Bulk update	Many work orders from an Excel file.
Email	Event dates, or a bulk update file, sent by email: see Updating TrakIT by email.
Mobile app and other systems	Field staff record events, data and photos in the mobile app or the separate TrakIT app; other systems use the integration API, for example `SaveSeqData`.

In the example, the two containers are discharged together: on either work order, record Discharged with Apply To Job selected. Each container is delivered on its own day, so record Delivered on each work order separately.

The same rules apply whichever way you use: events in the workflow’s order, no future dates for steps that are done, values from the field’s list, remarks where required, and so on. When a value is refused, the row says why: see When a value is not saved. Use TBA (to be advised) for a step that will happen but has no date yet, and NA (not applicable) for one that will not happen: NA counts as a value, TBA does not.

Some events also fill in by themselves: from yard moves, from carrier tracking, when a form with a trigger event is generated, or from a workflow action.

What saving starts

Saving an event or data field can start several things, all set up in the workflow (see also What happens after you save):

Actions. The field’s actions run: an email to the customer, a message, another field filled in, a form sent, a service added, or the work order closed. On Change actions run as you save; On Date/Time actions run up to about 30 minutes after their time. More Info in the event and data details shows what ran.
Calculations. Computed data fields and the job’s KPIs are worked out again.
Status. An abandoned work order that has required events or data fields becomes active again with a recent new event, and a work order whose required events and data are now complete closes (see step 8).
People. Users who follow the field receive an Event/Data Update Notification, and users named in its workflow instructions an email with what to do next. When the latest event that external users can see changes, the customer can receive a status update email, if their entity has Status Updates turned on.
Delay tracking. An event that starts or stops tracking adds the container to the Delay Tracking list, or takes it off, within about 5 minutes.
Finance. The workflow’s revenue and expense recognition event sets the recognition date of the job’s finance.

Every change is recorded on the work order’s Audit Log tab, or the job’s for changes applied to the whole job.

Who: Update Events & Data in the Work Orders section. Each event and data field can also be hidden or view only for your role. Bulk updates need Upload in the Bulk Updates section.

5. Handle documents

On a work order’s Documents tab:

Upload the documents you receive with Add Documents. Choose the job reference as the scope for a document of the whole job, such as the bill of lading, or This Work Order Only. Choose Allow Access in External Access for a document the customer may see.
Track what the job still needs on the Document Checklist: link each document to its checklist item and set the item’s status. The checklist is the same on all the job’s work orders.
Ask for missing documents with Request Documents. With upload links, the recipient can upload each document without signing in. It is added to the job, its checklist item gets the status Requires Validation, and you receive an email: check it and set the final status.
Generate documents, such as a delivery order, from the Forms tab. The PDF is added to the documents, unless the workflow says otherwise, and the workflow can record an event when it is generated.

If the workflow sends document reminders, customers receive a daily reminder while checklist items are in an outstanding status such as Pending. To find documents across all jobs, use Operations > Documents. How forms are designed is covered in Setting up document templates.

Who: the document permissions in the Work Orders section, such as Upload Document, Update Document Checklist and Generate Form: see the work order page.

6. Watch KPIs and delays

A KPI measures the time between two events of a work order against a target, for example from Discharged to Delivered in 72 hours. TrakIT keeps the KPIs of open work orders up to date in the background.

The work order’s KPIs tab shows each KPI’s target and actual time. A red alert icon means it is over its target. If the delay is understood, snooze the alert with Snooze Till.
On Jobs, KPI Alert Status set to With Alerts lists the work orders with active alerts.
Users who subscribe to a KPI receive a daily Work Order Alerts email, shortly after 05:00 UTC, listing the work orders over target.
For KPIs across many work orders, see KPI reports.

For containers, the workflow can also track how long they stay out, for demurrage or detention. In the example, Discharged could start tracking and Empty Returned stop it. The Delay Tracking page then shows each container’s free days, days used and charges, and users can receive a daily Delay Notification before the free days run out. Closing the work order does not stop the tracking: only the stop event does, or an exit entered by hand on that page. Cancelling the work order removes its containers that have not exited.

7. Keep people informed

Comments are the job’s conversation: the same comments appear on the job and on all its work orders. On the Comments tab, Visible externally is selected by default: the customer then sees the comment in the portal, and it is emailed to the customer’s address and to the customer’s portal users. Clear it for an internal comment. Internal users are told only if they are among the Comment Recipients and have subscribed to comments.

Remarks in the work order’s header (Remarks) are for notes that stay with the work order: Internal Remarks, Remarks For Customer and Remarks For Job. Notify Users emails a change to the users you choose.

Most other emails are subscriptions that each user chooses under System > Notifications:

To be told about	Subscribe on	Sent
New work orders of a workflow	Workflow tab, WO Header	Every 30 minutes, or daily at 05:05 UTC
Changes to events and data fields	Workflow tab, Events & Data	About 30 minutes after the change
KPI alerts	Workflow tab, KPIs	Daily, shortly after 05:00 UTC
Free days running out	Workflow tab, Free Days	Daily at 05:05 UTC
Work orders created, header saved, closed, cancelled or reset	General tab, Job group	When it happens
Comments	Finance tab, Comments row of the Jobs group	When it happens

Administrators can also subscribe users to new work orders and free days on the workflow. If your installation sends them, the responsible person also receives a daily list of their abandoned work orders.

8. Close the work orders

A work order closes in one of four ways:

By itself, once every required event and data field (marked with a star) has a value other than TBA. NA counts as a value. TrakIT checks this when events are saved, and once a day, at 05:05 UTC, for every open work order. On the work order page, saving events or data checks all the job’s work orders at once; when the work order you are on closes, the save message ends with and Work Order Closed.
By a user: in the tasks menu, Close or Cancel Work Order, then Close Work Order. Apply to all open WO in Job closes the job’s other open work orders too. On the job page, Action… > Close Workorders closes the work orders you select, and Bulk actions closes a list of work orders.
By a workflow action that closes the work order when an event is recorded.
When abandoned too long, if your installation closes abandoned work orders: every Sunday, those whose last event is older than a set number of days, at least 90.

A user cannot close a work order whose warehouse items are not committed: commit or delete them first. Your company can also have checks of its own that refuse to close a work order and show their own message.

Once closed, the work order’s events, data, header and remarks are locked, and most tasks are grey. The Audit Log tab says when and how it was closed. Users subscribed to Close WO are told, except when the work order closes by itself or for being abandoned. Closing the work orders does not close the job’s finance: see From quotation to payment.

Who: Close/Cancel in the Work Orders section to close by hand. Closing by itself needs no permission.

9. Cancel or re-open

Cancel a work order that will not go ahead, for example a container taken off the booking:

In the tasks menu, select Close or Cancel Work Order, then Cancel Work Order.
Choose the Reason for Cancellation and enter the details.
Select Apply to all open WO in Job to cancel the whole job.
Select Yes.

A cancelled work order leaves delay tracking, its yard moves are unlinked from it, and the job page counts it apart, for example 1 (+1 cancelled). When you cancel it on its own page, its responsible person is emailed, unless that is you. A work order with committed warehouse items cannot be cancelled. A work order created by mistake can instead be deleted within 96 hours, if it has no documents and no committed items.

Re-open a closed or cancelled work order to work on it again: select Re-open Work Order in the tasks menu, and Reopen all closed WO in Job (or cancelled) to re-open the job’s other ones too. It becomes Active. It cannot be re-opened while its container is in another active work order of the workflow.

If all its required events and data still have values, a re-opened work order closes again at TrakIT’s next check (see step 8), at the latest at the daily check. That is what you want when you re-open only to correct a value. To keep it open, leave one of its required events or data fields empty or set to TBA.

Who: Close/Cancel to cancel and Re-open to re-open, in the Work Orders section.

Troubleshooting

Problem	What to check
A work order closed by itself	Its required events and data were complete, an action closed it, or it was abandoned too long. See Why did my work order close by itself?
A work order is Abandoned	Record its next event. See Why did my work order become Abandoned?
An event or value is not saved	The row gives the reason: see When a value is not saved and Why does an event say Out of sequence?
A field is missing or greyed out on a work order	It may not apply to the work order’s services, customer or job type, or your role may only view it. See Why is a field mandatory? for the rules the workflow sets.
Items not committed when closing	Commit the work order’s warehouse items, or delete them.
A container is not on Delay Tracking	See Why isn’t a container on the Delay Tracking list?

Where to go next

Designing a workflow: how administrators set up what this guide relies on.
From quotation to payment: the finance side of the job.
Updating TrakIT by email: recording events and sending documents by email.
Operations reports and KPI reports: how the work orders are doing as a whole.