How to Complete and Close Maintenance Work

How to complete and close maintenance work

Finishing a job in UniAsset is two steps, not one: complete it, then close it. Closing is the step that makes the cost count.

When to use this

Use this whenever work on a work order is finished — a preventive service, a repair, or an inspection.

Requirements

• Available on: Orbit, Odyssey, Cosmos
• Roles: Owner, Admin, Manager, Employee can complete work assigned to them. Closing needs Manager or above.

Steps

1. Complete the checklist, if there is one

If the work order carries an inspection checklist, fill it in before completing.

Record a response for each item — pass/fail, a numeric reading, text, or a photo — and add a failure note where one is required.

Important A failed checklist item raises a corrective work order automatically. That is the point of the checklist: a failed check produces a repair task without anyone having to remember.

2. Log materials used

Add each part consumed with its quantity, unit cost, and vendor. Parts recorded only in the notes are not costed.

3. Add the after photos

Photos are tagged before, during, and after. The after photo is the evidence the work was done.

4. Complete the work order

1. Open the work order at Dashboard → Work Orders.
2. Choose Complete.
3. Fill in:

1. Save. The order moves to Completed.

5. Close it

A Manager or above reviews and closes the order.

What happens next

Closing the order:

1. Writes a service record against the asset, carrying the cost across.
2. Adds the cost to total cost of ownership, feeding the Asset Costs, Category Costs and Department Costs reports.
3. Records the event on the asset timeline, permanently.
4. Resets the schedule if the order came from a PM rule.

Until the order is closed, none of that has happened.

Common mistakes

Stopping at Completed. This is the single most common one. Completed work orders have not written a service record, have not moved any cost into reporting, and have not reset any PM schedule.

Resolution notes that say "done". In a year that tells nobody whether the fix held or what was replaced.

Recording labour cost but not materials. The asset then looks cheaper to maintain than it is, and it never surfaces in cost-risk analysis.

Skipping checklist items to finish faster. Required items exist because someone decided they mattered. Skipping the ones that would have failed removes the automatic repair task.

Troubleshooting

There is no Close button. Closing needs Manager or above. Employees complete; managers close.

The order jumped to Awaiting Approval. Its cost crossed the approval threshold on the order. A Manager or above needs to approve it before it can complete.

The PM schedule didn't reset. The order must be Closed. Completed is not enough.

The cost isn't showing in reports. Check the order is closed, and that your plan includes cost analytics — Orbit or above.

I can't complete a checklist item. Some items require a photo or a failure note before they can be saved.

I can't edit the work order any more. Closed work orders are a finished record. If the same fault returns, use Reopen — it creates a linked child order and keeps the chain traceable.

Related articles

• Work order lifecycle
• Assigning work orders
• Checklist templates
• How to record a service record
• Preventive maintenance work orders
• Maintenance cost tracking