Task Templates and Schedules
Helpdesk staff need to be able to create task tickets with the minimum amount of typing while recurring tasks such as Planned Preventative Maintenance (PPM) need pre-defined task specifications. General staff need a simple way of making maintenance task requests that provide as much information as possible to the Helpdesk staff, and ultimately the operative who will carry out the task.
Templates and schedules can apply to both physical hardware (assets), and to “situations”, such as cleaning of specific locations, portering tasks, etc.
Task Templates
Eclipse-fm ® task Templates allow you to define tasks in great detail, from basics such as location / accountability, options such as associated documents and notes through to who should do the task, and to recurrence and priority.
Task Schedules
Task Schedules recognise that variation may be needed when it comes to applying a common Template to a particular situation. A piece of equipment that is used particularly heavily may need servicing at a decreased interval, with all the rest of the Template detail being unchanged. In that case, a Schedule is created to apply to that specific piece of equipment, while all the others of the same model use the standard Template.
Populating a helpdesk Ticket with the information from a commonly used template makes creating the helpdesk ticket, or scheduled PPM task much quicker, with the added advantage of the task being pre-timed, assigned to the correct occupation, with an accurate Task Description and relevant extra documentation.
A completely templated task Ticket can be created with no more than two looked up pieces of information – the person reporting the problem, and the Task Template appropriate to the problem. For complete flexibility, any template derived information can be changed to meet the needs of a particular task when the task is created, or the PPM task scheduled.
When necessary, HelpDesk staff can build a complete new Task ticket from scratch. This combines simplicity of entry for known tasks, with the full flexibility needed to handle all circumstances.
Task Templates are used in both Windows and Web versions of Eclipse-fm®. Their availability via the Task Request page of Web Eclipse allows non specialist general staff to create properly filled in task requests very easily.
Multiple Frequencies
Some tasks will imply that another task also occurs depending on the frequencies of each. Think of an annual service that also includes a quarterly and weekly service. A powerful feature of Eclipse-fm® is that you have the facility to create multiple frequencies for Tasks that will be executed in relation to each other. Each Task will be generated on the appropriate date, and the multiple tasks will be printed out in the appropriate order. Frequencies may be changed or added when creating a variation Schedule for specific equipment or situations.