Work order lifecycle

WorkOrder V3 gives operations teams a shared way to track work from intake through resolution. Its visible lifecycle distinguishes active work from retained records without adding a separate approval stage.

Overview

A work order’s status shows whether it’s ready to act on and who owns it. The active display status is derived from assignment: open work is New without an assignee and Assigned when an assignee is set.

flowchart LR
    P["Pending draft"]
    N["New"]
    A["Assigned"]
    R["Resolved"]
    H["Archived"]

    N -->|Assign| A
    A -->|Clear assignee| N
    N -->|Resolve| R
    A -->|Resolve| R
    N -->|Archive| H
    A -->|Archive| H
    R -->|Archive| H
    H -->|Unarchive| N
    H -.->|If prior display status was Assigned| A

Pending is shown separately because Save Draft creates a draft that cannot be assigned, resolved, or archived through the normal workflow.

Why it matters

Each status answers a different operational question:

New — What work needs ownership? Unassigned work is visible to the team, so anyone can see what’s waiting.
Assigned — Who owns this? Makes operational ownership explicit for accountability and follow-up.
Resolved — Is it done? Records the finished outcome without requiring a separate approval step.
Archived — Where did it go? Removes resolved or old records from the active list while keeping them readable for reference.

A shared status model also supports backlog, aging, duration, and throughput reporting — so supervisors can see at a glance how the team is doing.

How it works in SolarSENS

Active work

New: the work order is open and has no assignee.
Assigned: the work order is open and has an assignee. Clearing the assignee returns it to New.
Resolved: execution has been recorded and the work is no longer assignable or resolvable again. It can still be archived.

Draft limitation

⚠️ Save Draft creates a work order shown as Pending. Use it only when retaining incomplete input is useful, since the draft has no path back into active work from the interface. If you accidentally save a draft, the only way forward is to re-create the record properly.

Archive and restore

Archive removes a record from the default active list while keeping its detail available. Unarchive opens it again as New, except when archive history identifies Assigned as the prior display status — in that case, it restores to Assigned. It does not restore a formerly resolved record to Resolved.

💡 Archive is for queue management, not deletion. If you’re unsure whether a record should be removed entirely, archive it first — you can always unarchive later.