Work orders & equipment

A work order is one job that needs doing — most often a repair. Anyone on the crew can report a fault from a phone, or by scanning the sticker on the machine. Someone takes it or is given it and fixes it, and a second person checks the fix before the work order closes. The same app keeps your list of equipment, the scheduled maintenance that opens work orders for you, and how each maintenance company performs — so a machine that keeps failing becomes obvious.

A fault, from the kitchen floor to a checked fix
CrewReports a faultPick the machine, say what is wrong, send.
ManagersSomeone takes itManagers are told. One takes it or gives it out.
Whoever fixesMarks it fixedWith a photo of the fix, if they can.
A second personChecks the fixNever the person who did the work.
EveryoneClosedThe work order is done and checked.
Not fixed? Say so with a reason, and it goes back to work.

Find your part

Reporting a fault

Tap Report a fault at the top of your home screen (Overview in the menu). The crew find the same button at the top of Work orders and on a machine’s own page. It takes three taps: the equipment, what is wrong, and Send report.

  1. Pick the branch — only if you have several

    If you work at more than one branch, Mihwar asks Which branch? first. With one branch there is no such question.

  2. Pick the equipment

    Under Which equipment? tap the machine. With a long list, type part of its name in the search box. If it is not there, or you are not sure which one it is, tap Not on this list, or not sure and say what it is in the note.

  3. Say what is wrong

    Under What is wrong? tap one: Not working, Not cooling, Not heating, Leaking, Making a noise, Damaged or Another problem. A fridge is never offered Not heating and a fryer never Not cooling. If it is dangerous or stops service, switch on It is dangerous or stopping service — the report becomes critical at once.

  4. Add more if it helps

    Say more (optional) is for your own words — when it started, what you tried. Add a photo (optional) takes a photo or picks one from your gallery.

  5. Send it

    Tap Send report. If a part is missing, the screen says which and takes you to it. A second tap while it is sending does nothing, so a report is never sent twice.

The next screen says Report sent and how many managers were told. If nobody at the branch handles faults in Mihwar yet, it says that instead — tell your manager in person. Tap See your report to open it, or Report another fault.

How urgent a report is comes from the equipment. Each machine has an importance — low, medium, high or critical — and its work orders start at that priority. A report marked dangerous is critical whatever the machine, even when you picked none.

Scanning a sticker

A QR sticker on a machine is the quickest way. Point your phone camera at it and the report form opens for exactly that machine. You do not sign in and you install nothing.

  • The page shows Scanned and the machine’s name, then asks What's wrong with it? Tap the problem, add a note or a photo if you like, and tap Send report — the same form, without the equipment question.
  • It speaks your organization’s language until you pick another with the language switch at the top.
  • If you are already signed in to your organization, the report is yours and you can follow it in Work orders. Anyone else reports without a name.
  • No signal? Nothing is lost: the page stays filled in and keeps what you typed on your phone. Tap Send report again when the signal is back.
  • If the page says This sticker is no longer in use, the machine was archived or the sticker is not one of ours. Tell your manager.

So that one sticker cannot flood the managers, it takes only a few reports a minute; past that, the page asks you to wait a minute.

After you report

Work orders is a short page for the crew: Report a fault first, then Given to you — the jobs someone gave you — and Reports from your branch, with one plain sentence for each: “Waiting for someone to take it”, “Being fixed by Ahmad”, “Paused: Waiting for a part”, “Fixed — waiting for a manager to check it”. Tap one to see its photos, its notes and what has happened. Your home screen shows the same under Work orders: your open reports and the jobs given to you.

On your own report you can add a note or a photo. While nobody has it, you can take it back with Cancel the work order — it asks why, for example that it was reported by mistake; after someone has it, tell a manager. If it is marked fixed but is still broken, tap Not fixed. A work order that is checked or cancelled is closed for good: if the problem comes back, report it again.

Doing a job that is given to you

When someone gives you a work order you are told, and it appears under Given to you. Open it: the buttons at the bottom of the screen are the ones you can use now.

  1. Start

    Tap Start when you begin. Nobody is told.

  2. Pause, with a reason

    Tap Pause. Tap a quick answer — waiting for a part, for the maintenance company, another visit — or write one. The person who reported it is told why. Tap Carry on to go on.

  3. It is fixed

    Tap It is fixed, say what you did if you like, and add a photo of the fix. Now a manager checks it.

  4. Or hand it back

    If you cannot do it, tap I can't fix this (on a phone it is under More) and give the reason. It goes back to the managers, who give it to someone else.

Taking a fault and giving it out

This is for supervisors, staff and managers. A fault nobody has is Open and waits under Nobody on it. Open it, then:

  1. Take it yourself

    Tap I'll fix it. It is yours and already Being fixed; whoever reported it is told that someone is on it.

  2. Or give it to someone

    Tap Give it to someone and choose a colleague. The list holds the people who can open work orders at that branch — its own people first, then head office — and the one you choose is told at once. Choose when it should be done by — Today, Tomorrow, This week, a date or No due date — change the priority if you wish, and tap Save.

  3. Managers: call in a maintenance company

    Under A maintenance company managers can choose a company instead; the machine’s usual one is marked Usual company. It is e-mailed what is wrong, where, how urgent and who asked — when it has an e-mail address — and the work order’s history says whether the e-mail went. Under the title, Call the company and Message on WhatsApp open your own phone and your own WhatsApp with the job already written; Mihwar sends nothing by WhatsApp itself.

A work order given to someone is Assigned until they start it. While it is not closed you can change who has it, its details (the title, the kind of work, the priority, the day it is due, the equipment) and add notes and photos.

What needs you first

Work orders opens on the lists that need someone, each with its count: Nobody on it, Late, Fixed — check it (managers), Paused and Assigned to me. Tap one to see just those; tap it again to see everything. A work order is late when its due date has passed and it is not fixed — one that is fixed and only waits for its check is not late. A line above the board counts what was fixed in the last 30 days and the average time it took.

  • Board shows the work orders in columns by where they stand: Open, Assigned, Being fixed, Paused, Fixed and Fix checked. List shows them one under another, with search and filters for the kind of work, the priority and the branch.
  • On a card, the “…” button opens Move to with only the places you may move it to — and, on a laptop, you can drag it. A move takes the same step as the work order’s own page and asks for what that step needs: the reason for a pause, the colleague to give it to, a note and a photo for fixed.
  • Each card shows the priority, who has it, the equipment and how long ago it was opened; a paused one shows why; one with a maintenance company that has not started within its response time says Late to respond.

Checking the fix

A work order marked fixed waits as Fixed — check it, and the managers are told. Open it, look at the photo, and if the repair holds tap Check the fix and then Check the fix and close it. The work order is now Fix checked and closed, and the person who did the work is told.

  • Not fixed. If it is still broken, tap Not fixed and say what is still wrong. It goes back to work; the people on it and the managers are told, and the time out of service keeps counting from when it was first reported. A manager, the person on it and whoever reported it can all say so.
  • Cancelling. A manager can tap Cancel the work order — a reason is needed (for example reported by mistake, a duplicate, or it fixed itself). A cancelled work order is closed for good.
  • The cost. A manager can add what the repair cost with Add the cost, even after the check. Only managers see it.

Opening a work order yourself

Supervisors, staff and managers can open a work order for any job — a repair, cleaning, IT, building work — with New work order on Work orders, or Open work order on a machine’s page. Choose the branch, then the equipment (or Not about a piece of equipment), say What needs doing?, the kind of work, the priority (set from the equipment’s importance) and Do it by. Choose a colleague or, for managers, a maintenance company — or nobody yet: it waits under Nobody on it until someone takes it. A high or critical work order also opens a follow-up.

A manager can also open a work order from a follow-up; it stays linked, and the follow-up cannot close until the work order is fixed or cancelled.

Equipment

Equipment is the list of what is worth tracking — fridges, fryers, ovens, air conditioners, the POS. Each item belongs to a branch and has an importance: how much it hurts when it stops. The importance sets the priority of every work order opened for it, so a critical walk-in cooler gets critical work orders. People see only the equipment of their own branches.

  1. Add a piece of equipment

    Managers and head office tap Add equipment. Give it a name, a type and a branch. Importance is suggested from the type — a freezer or a walk-in cooler suggests critical, other cold and hot equipment high, furniture low — and you can change it. The model, serial number, manufacturer, installed and warranty dates, the usual maintenance company and notes are optional; a photo is added on its page. Save with Add equipment, or Save and add another.

  2. Or bring a whole list in from a spreadsheet

    Tap Import from a spreadsheet, then Download the template and fill it in — headings and words can be in Arabic or English. Save it as a CSV file (in Excel: Save As, then CSV UTF-8) and choose it. Mihwar shows every row and what it will do — Ready to add, Need a fix, Already on the list — before anything is added. Name and branch are needed. A type or an importance it cannot read is saved as Other or the default, with a warning, and the row is not lost. One import takes up to 500 rows, and the same name at the same branch is skipped, so uploading a file twice adds nothing twice. You can only import into branches you look after (Import; see also Importing data).

A machine’s own page shows its condition (open work orders, time out of service, last and next scheduled maintenance, warranty), its details and photo, its sticker, its recent work orders, its scheduled maintenance and its care plan. Edit changes its details. Managers can Archive a machine that is retired: its sticker stops working and its scheduled maintenance pauses, but its history stays, open work orders stay open, and Restore brings it back. Equipment can move to another branch only between branches you look after, and not while it has an open work order.

Printing the QR stickers

On a machine’s page tap Print its sticker. Or, on Equipment, tap Print QR stickers to print one page for the whole list or for one branch (the sticker sheet). Tap Print, then choose your printer or “Save as PDF”. Anyone who can see the equipment list can print stickers. Cut them out and stick one on each unit.

  • A sticker shows the machine’s name, its type and branch, its serial number, the QR code and “Scan to report a fault” in English and in Arabic. No web address is written on it; the phone camera reads the code.
  • The code does not change when the machine moves to another branch, and the sticker stops working when the equipment is archived. A torn sticker can be printed again — it carries the same code. A machine cannot be given a new code yet.
  • If Mihwar warns that the app’s public address is not set, ask your administrator to set it before you print: a sticker printed now would not open on a phone.

Scheduled maintenance

Scheduled maintenance keeps equipment serviced before it breaks. On a machine’s page, under Scheduled maintenance, managers tap Add schedule: a name, how often (every week, 2 weeks, month, 3 months, 6 months, year, or a number of days) and, if you like, the first due date. A filter changed every month, a coil cleaned every 3 months.

  • When it is due, a background job (it runs every 30 minutes) opens one work order, named after the schedule and the machine, with the kind of work Maintenance. Its priority is the machine’s importance, and it is due about half the repeat away — at most a week. If the machine has a usual maintenance company that is still active, the work order is given to it; otherwise nobody has it yet.
  • One at a time. If the schedule’s last work order is still open, no new one opens; the date moves on and the branch’s managers are told that the scheduled maintenance is late. A date that already passed opens one work order, not one for every missed round.
  • A heads-up. Three days before, the branch’s managers are told once. Mihwar sends no notice at the moment the work order opens: look for it under Nobody on it and on the calendar, and if nobody takes it the managers get the usual reminder after a while.
  • A checklist each time (optional). On the calendar, Add a checklist to a schedule and a run of that checklist opens at the branch whenever the maintenance is due, so the same steps are followed every time.
  • Pause, resume, delete. A paused schedule opens nothing until you resume it. Deleting one keeps the work orders it already opened. Archiving the equipment pauses its schedules.

The Maintenance calendar lists every schedule you can see in groups — Late, Next 7 days, In 8 to 14 days and Later — each with its next date and the work order that is open for it. Managers also see a warning on it if the background jobs stop (See details opens Background jobs).

Maintenance companies

Maintenance companies are the outside firms and technicians who carry out work orders — air conditioning, refrigeration, plumbing, IT, cleaning. They are not your suppliers. There is one list for every branch.

  • Adding one is head office’s. Head office taps Add a maintenance company: a name, a phone, an e-mail, what it fixes, notes and its Response time (hours) — the hours it agreed to come within, 1 to 720. A branch manager sees the list and gives work orders to a company, but cannot add, change or archive one, because every branch shares them. A company’s phone and e-mail show only to people who give work to companies; its notes only to those who can edit it.
  • Giving it a job. Under Give it to someone, choose a company; the machine’s usual one is marked Usual company. A company has no account in Mihwar, so someone on your team starts, pauses and marks the job fixed for it. It cannot accept or decline from its e-mail yet.
  • Late to respond. The response time counts from the moment the company was given the job. If nobody has started it when the time is up, the card and the work order say Late to respond. Once it has been started — even if it is then paused — the company has responded.
  • How it did. A company’s page shows the last 90 days: a score, the work orders given to it, the average time to fix and the total cost. The score is the share of finished jobs that were started within the response time; it appears only from 3 finished jobs, and not at all when no response time is set.
  • Archiving. An archived company is no longer offered for new work orders; its history and score stay. Equipment that prefers it stops being given its scheduled maintenance until you choose another company.

Reports and settings

Reports is for managers. Choose the last 30, 90 or 180 days (90 is the usual). Four cards show Late work orders, Equipment that keeps breaking, Total time out of service and Scheduled maintenance done on time. Under them: the equipment out of service the longest, the equipment that keeps breaking (three or more work orders in the period), how each maintenance company performs, and the maintenance due in the next 7 days. A branch manager sees the numbers of her own branches. Time out of service counts from when the fault was reported to when it was marked fixed.

  • Settings (head office): How important new equipment is, which fills in the Add equipment form and the spreadsheet import, and How often, by default, which fills in a new schedule. Both can still be changed on each record.
  • Background jobs show whether the three jobs behind scheduled maintenance and the reminders are running: one opens scheduled maintenance, one gives the heads-up three days before, and one reminds the managers of faults nobody has taken and of work orders past their due date. If one has stopped, open work orders are safe but that work is not happening — tell Mihwar support.

Where Work orders connects

  • Checklists and Quality — a critical step that is not met on a piece of equipment opens a work order for it (“Failed check: …”) with the reading, the note and the photo, and the branch’s managers are told. If the machine already has a work order open, the new failure is added to it as a line instead of a second one. A checklist or an inspection is used at several branches, so a step names one example machine and, where it fails, the work order is for that branch’s machine of the same type; with none, or more than one, it opens without equipment, says which type to check, and the work order asks Which equipment is it? When the fix is checked, the checklist run records “Fix checked on the work order” (Checklists, Quality).
  • Follow-ups — a high or critical work order opens a follow-up, “Equipment problem: …”, so the repair gets a cause and not only a fix. When a machine has three or more breakdown work orders in 30 days and one of them is marked fixed, a “Keeps breaking: …” follow-up opens — or, if the machine already has one open, the repeat is written on it and its people are told. Scheduled maintenance does not count. A follow-up cannot be closed while a work order linked to it is still open (Follow-ups).
  • Labels — when a label printer does not answer, Report a fault next to it opens this form at the printer’s branch with its name in the note (Labels).
  • Your home screen and the owner’s overview — the Report a fault card, the Work orders card (your reports and jobs; for managers the branch’s open and late counts) and the overview’s Work orders tile count open and late the same way the lists do, so a number opens the list that shows it. The managers’ morning summary has a Work orders line.

See also How the apps work together.

Who is told what

  • The managers of the branch (branch managers and head office) — when a fault is reported, unless they reported it; when someone hands one back; when a fix is waiting for their check (not the one who fixed it); when a fix turns out not to be one; when a fault is still not taken after a while — an hour if it is critical, four hours if high, a day if medium, two days if low; and when a work order passes its due date without being fixed. For scheduled maintenance they also hear a heads-up three days before, and a notice when it is late.
  • The person it is given to — when it becomes theirs, when someone adds a note, when it passes its due date, and if it is sent back as not fixed.
  • The person who reported it — when someone takes it, when it is paused (with the reason), when it is marked fixed, when it is cancelled and when someone adds a note.
  • The person who did the work — when a manager has checked the fix, and when it is sent back.

Every notice is on the bell, in each person’s own language. Notices about a person’s own work also reach their phone where they have turned phone notifications on, and a high or critical work order comes by e-mail too. Nobody is told what they did themselves, and a person is told only while they can still open the work order. The managers’ morning summary has a Work orders line for each branch: how many have nobody on them and how many are late. Choose what reaches you in Alerts.

Who may do what

  • Crew — report a fault; see the jobs given to them and the reports at their branch; do a job that is given to them (start it, pause it, hand it back, mark it fixed); add notes and photos to their own reports and jobs; take back a report nobody has yet; and say Not fixed when something marked fixed is not. They see their branch’s equipment and can print its stickers.
  • Supervisors and staff — everything crew can do, plus opening a work order, taking one, giving it to a colleague, changing its details, starting, pausing and marking fixed any work order at their branch, and the maintenance calendar. They do not check fixes, cancel, record costs or see the reports.
  • Branch managers — everything above, plus calling in a maintenance company, cancelling a work order (with a reason), recording what it cost, checking the fix, the reports, and looking after the equipment and its scheduled maintenance. Their reach is their own branches.
  • Head office — the same across every branch, plus the settings, and adding, changing and archiving the maintenance companies, which every branch shares.

Branch people see only the work orders and equipment of their own branches. Your administrator can change who may do what under Roles: Crew works on a work order only when someone gives it to them, and Staff can also take work orders, fix them and give them to colleagues.

Questions

How do I report a fault from the floor?

Tap Report a fault at the top of your home screen, or scan the sticker on the machine. Pick the machine, tap what is wrong, add a photo if you can and tap Send report. You do not need to know who fixes it.

I reported something by mistake.

While nobody has taken it, you can cancel your own report with Cancel the work order and a reason. If someone already has it, tell a manager.

Why can’t I check my own fix?

Someone else checks the fix before it closes — that second look is what makes “done” mean something. Ask another manager. If you are the only manager at the branch, you can check it yourself, and it is recorded that way.

I do not see the New work order button.

Opening a work order is for supervisors, staff and managers. If you are on the crew, use Report a fault; a manager gives out the work.

The machine is not on the list when I report a fault.

The list is your branch’s equipment. Tap Not on this list, or not sure and say what it is, and ask your manager to add the machine under Equipment.

It said nobody at my branch handles faults in Mihwar.

No manager or head-office person is set up for your branch yet, so nobody was told. Tell your manager in person and ask your administrator to put it right.

I have no signal. Is my report lost?

No. In the app it is saved on your phone and sent by itself, once, when the signal or your sign-in is back. On a sticker’s page the form stays filled in — tap Send report again later.

The sticker says it is no longer in use.

The machine was archived, or the sticker is not one of ours. Tell your manager; a manager can restore the equipment and the same sticker works again.

I cannot give a work order to my colleague.

The list offers only people who can open work orders at that work order’s branch. Someone from another branch is not offered; ask your administrator to give them access to Work orders there.

Scheduled maintenance did not open a work order.

Check three things: its date has not come yet; the schedule’s last work order is still open (then no new one opens and the managers are told it is late); or the equipment is archived. If the maintenance calendar says scheduled maintenance is not running, the background jobs have stopped — tell Mihwar support.

The import skipped some rows.

The preview tells you why for each row: no name, no branch, a branch that is not yours, the same name already at that branch, or the same as an earlier row. Fix the file and upload it again — rows already added are skipped.

I cannot archive or move a piece of equipment.

Only a manager can archive or restore equipment. Moving it is allowed only between branches you look after, and not while it has an open work order — finish or cancel those first.

The same fridge keeps breaking. Does Mihwar notice?

Yes. Three breakdown work orders on the same equipment within 30 days open a “Keeps breaking” follow-up when one of them is marked fixed, so the recurring breakdown is looked into for a cause rather than patched again.

It says Late, but it is already fixed.

A work order is late when its due date has passed and it is not fixed yet. Once it is marked fixed it stops being late — a fix that only waits for its check is not counted as late.