Work Order vs Work Request: What’s the Difference?
In my over two decades of experience, I have often seen maintenance teams use the terms work request and work order interchangeably, even though they serve different roles in daily operations.
This confusion usually comes from informal processes, mixed terminology, and systems where requests and orders look similar on the surface. Over time, teams stop treating them as separate stages and handle both the same way.
When the difference is unclear, teams face delays, duplicate work, poor tracking, and gaps in accountability. Technicians may start work before approval or prioritization happens. The same issue may be reported multiple times because the first request was never closed or converted. Maintenance history becomes unreliable when requests and completed work are mixed together.
This article clarifies what a work request is, what a work order is, who owns each, how they flow, and when each should be used.
What Is a Work Request?
A work request is a notification that something needs attention, not a confirmation that work will happen. It is a critical element in work order management and captures a problem, need, or observation reported by someone outside the maintenance team or without approval authority.
Who Typically Submits Work Requests
Work requests usually come from people who notice problems but do not perform maintenance work themselves. In different settings, they could be employees, tenants, machine operators, or general facility users.
Key Characteristics of a Work Request
A work request:
- Serves as an initial notification for maintenance needs.
- Is generally submitted without formal approval but requires validation before proceeding.
- Captures basic details such as the issue description, location, and urgency.
- Includes the requester’s contact details for follow-up if needed.
- Identifies the urgency of the issue to help prioritize tasks.
- Is used as a reference for tracking progress and for future auditing purposes.
- Provides a record that may be tied to the budget or to allocate resources.
Common Examples of Work Requests
Followed are some examples of work requests-
- A facility user reports a malfunctioning air conditioning unit.
- A technician reports oil leakage in power generator
- A manufacturing worker reports a malfunction in the conveyor belt.
- A maintenance team is reports excessive wear on a production line machine
All these are requests and not work in itself. They need to be validated, sometimes approved and then only can become a work order.
Types of Work Request
Work requests are usually grouped by the nature of the reported issue rather than the type of work required as it helps in root cause analysis and other KPIs. Followed are some of the types of work requests used in day to day operations:
- Routine Maintenance Requests: These are regular tasks such as repair requests for broken HVAC.
- Emergency Requests: Require immediate attention due to their urgent nature. Examples include addressing water leaks, power outages, or equipment breakdowns that disrupt operations.
- Preventive Maintenance Requests: Tasks that align with preventive maintenance schedules designed to prevent future issues, such as equipment inspections, lubrication, or filter changes.
- Corrective Maintenance Requests: Made after a failure has been detected and seek to restore equipment or systems to their operational state.
- Project-Based Maintenance Requests: Requests related to long-term improvements or new installations, like upgrading a production line, installing new machinery.
- Compliance-Driven Requests: Maintenance tasks prompted by regulatory requirements or safety inspections, such as equipment calibration or the installation of safety features to meet legal standards.
What Is a Work Order?
A work order represents a formal, approved task created after reviewing a work request or identifying a maintenance need. Once issued, it becomes an actionable assignment for maintenance personnel and moves through a defined work order lifecycle and is tracked through a system such as work order management software or a CMMS.
Key Characteristics of a Work Order
Following are the characteristics that define a work order and make it a formal document for the work to be performed:
- Has official approval and is ready for execution
- Includes detailed instructions, materials needed, and has been assigned to a technicians
- Tied to specific assets for tracking maintenance history
- Contains estimated time and cost for completion
- Specifies the priority and urgency of the task
- Provides a clear completion and feedback process
- Linked to compliance and safety requirements
- Acts as a record for reporting and analysis
Common Examples of Work Orders
Work orders are typically created to address specific maintenance tasks that require skilled attention. Common examples include:
- A technician scheduled to replace an air conditioning unit filter.
- A team assigned to repair a broken elevator system.
- A crew assigned to replace faulty bearings in a production line machine.
- A team scheduled to replace worn-out belts in an assembly line system.
Types of Work Order
Work orders can be classified into different categories based on the nature of the task and its urgency. Followed are some common types of work order:
- Corrective Work Orders: Created to address specific issues or failures that have occurred, such as fixing broken machinery or repairing malfunctioning parts within an asset or system.
- Preventive Maintenance Work Orders: Scheduled works that are carried out periodically to prevent future breakdowns or failures and may include routine inspections, lubrication, part replacements, or other maintenance activities.
- Emergency Work Orders: Unplanned tasks that require immediate attention due to urgent and critical problems, such as machine breakdowns that disrupt production, hazardous situations
- Project-Based Work Orders: Used for larger, non-routine tasks or projects that require significant resources, such as equipment upgrades, system overhauls, or the installation of new machinery or infrastructure.
- Compliance Work Orders: Issued to address tasks that are required to meet safety regulations, legal standards, or industry-specific compliance requirements.
- Condition-Based Work Orders: These are triggered based on real-time conditions or monitoring, such as a machine reaching a certain temperature or a vibration sensor alerting to potential equipment failure.
While work orders are designed to move tasks smoothly through a structured lifecycle, mistakes such as vague instructions, missing asset details, incorrect priority levels, or incomplete material requirements can disrupt execution. These errors can cause delays, rework, safety risks, and unnecessary back-and-forth with technicians. Paying attention to accuracy and completeness at the time of creation helps prevent these common work order mistakes and keeps maintenance operations running as planned.
Work Request vs Work Order: Key Differences
A work request is a formal request for a task or service, while a work order is an instruction to carry out that task. Following table explains the comparison:
| Aspect | Work Request | Work Order |
|---|---|---|
Purpose | Serves as an initial notification of a maintenance need or issue. | Serves as a formal authorization to execute a maintenance task. |
Who Creates Them | Employees, tenants, or anyone identifying a need for maintenance. | Supervisor, manager, or maintenance coordinator after a request is validated. |
Approval Requirements | Does not always require formal approval to be submitted, but must be validated before execution. | Requires official approval before execution, ensuring alignment with operational priorities and available resources. |
Asset Linkage | May or may not be tied to specific assets; often describes a general issue. | Always linked to specific assets or equipment to track maintenance history and performance. |
Scheduling and Assignment | No specific scheduling or technician assignment, but indicates urgency for follow-up. | Includes detailed scheduling, assignment of technicians, and materials required for task completion. |
Tracking and Closure | Typically not tracked post-submission unless it transitions into a work order. | Tracked through completion, providing records for future reference, audits, and analysis. |
How a Work Request Becomes a Work Order
Submission of the work request
A work request is submitted by an individual noticing a maintenance need.
Review and validation
?The submitted request is reviewed by a supervisor or manager to verify its validity and determine whether it requires further action.
Priority assignment
Once validated, the request is prioritized based on urgency and impact on operations.
Conversion into a work order
If the request meets the necessary criteria, it is formally converted into a work order, assigned to the appropriate technician, and scheduled for completion.
When Requests Don’t Become Work Orders
Not every work request results in a work order. If a request is deemed unnecessary, outside the scope of available resources, or redundant, it may not progress further.
When to Use a Work Request vs a Work Order
Scenarios where a work request should be used
Following are the scenarios when it is right to use work requests:
- When maintenance needs are reported informally by non-maintenance personnel.
- When an issue is identified, but does not require immediate action.
- When a maintenance task is part of a larger plan and needs initial approval.
Scenarios where a work order should be used
Work orders are built in scenarios such as:
- When a task is confirmed to be urgent and requires immediate attention.
- When the task is formalized and linked to asset management systems.
- When a task is assigned to a technician for execution.
Some Common Mistakes that Lead to Confusion Between Work Requests and Work Orders
I have seen most times issues pop up when teams are under pressure. They end up making following mistakes that lead to various challenges:
Treating work requests as approved work
Never treat work requests as completed tasks. Ensure they go through the necessary review and prioritization before conversion.
Assigning technicians directly to requests
This is a big problem that I have observed. Avoid assigning technicians to work requests before they’ve been validated as work orders. Direct assignment could lead to confusion about task status and priority.
Not tracking request KPIs and historical records
Most businesses don’t track KPIs related to requests and don’t preserve the history and context of work requests. The outcome is felt in experience and cost.
Skipping review and prioritization
Never skip reviewing and assigning priority to work requests. Also, always prioritize work orders before creating them.
Why Clear Separation Improves Maintenance Operations
Organizations that are able to distinguish the two and run separate KPIs, and processes observe numerous benefits such as-
Better workload control
By maintaining clear distinctions between work requests and work orders, supervisors can more easily assign and prioritize tasks based on available resources.
Clear accountability
With clear ownership of tasks at each stage, accountability is maintained, reducing the chances of errors or missed work.
Improved maintenance records
A system that clearly tracks work requests and their conversion into work orders ensures better record-keeping, helping teams to learn from past maintenance issues.
Reduced rework and delays
By avoiding confusion between requests and orders, teams can work more efficiently, resulting in fewer mistakes, less rework, and timely completion of tasks.
Wrapping up
Work requests and work orders exist for different reasons and sit at different points in the maintenance workflow. A work request captures a reported need. A work order authorizes and controls the work that follows.
When teams treat them as the same, approvals get bypassed, priorities blur, and maintenance records lose value and in the end, these factors impact operational agility and the cost. Keeping a clear separation helps maintenance teams control workload, assign responsibility properly, and maintain records that reflect what actually happened on the floor.