Jobs, workstreams and statuses

Jobs are the core operational record in Maliru. Everything else — shifts, forms, evidence, issues, authorisations, measures and invoices — attaches to them.

Workstreams: your job types

Every job belongs to exactly one workstream, and each workstream is a tab above the Jobs table with its live job count. An All tab shows every workstream's jobs together.

To manage them, choose Manage workstreams (the gear icon in the Jobs header). The Workstreams dialog reads "Configure your job types." and lists each one's Workstream, Type and Jobs, with Move up, Move down, Edit, Archive and Delete.

Under Add a workstream you choose:

• Workstream name and a colour.
• Workstream type — Standard — one job per record, or Route — jobs carry a route breakdown. "Route workstreams also track route progress." The type can't be changed later.
• Status palette — Use the default statuses, or Copy from another workstream.

Your plan sets how many workstreams you can have, and the dialog shows how many you have used. A workstream that still has jobs can't be deleted — move them first, or archive it instead.

Route workstreams add route features: the importer gains a Route column that groups jobs into routes, and the Schedule can give a whole route to a worker or crew (see Allocating routes to a worker or crew).

Edit opens the workstream's settings: its title column label, description, evidence and authorisation requirements, managers, report columns, what measures show the client and the Binder documents pinned to it. See Workstream settings.

Statuses: your pipeline, per workstream

Open Jobs set-up (the tune icon) and choose Statuses. The Job statuses dialog reads "Set the labels, colours and categories for this workstream." Pick the Workstream at the top, then edit each status's Colour, Status name and Category, or Add status.

• The name and colour are yours (Awaiting permit, Reinstated, Spanned).
• The category is one of Open, In progress, On hold, Done or Cancelled. "Category controls how jobs count and sort." Open-job counts, completion figures and route progress all read the category, so Done means the same thing whatever each workstream calls its closing status.

A new workstream starts with seven: To Do, Planned, In progress, On hold, Awaiting sign-off, Completed and Cancelled. A workstream can have up to 40 statuses and must keep at least one. Importing a spreadsheet creates any status your sheet introduces.

When a visit is reported

When field staff clock out, they say how each visit went: Works complete, Further works required or Visit aborted (see Clocking in and out). Under When a visit is reported, at the bottom of the Job statuses dialog, choose the status each answer moves the job to, or Leave the status. Each answer moves the job to one status.

A standard workstream starts with:

• Works complete → Awaiting sign-off, an in-progress status. The job waits there for the office to check it and close it, so it is never closed on one person's answer.
• Further works required → In progress (or your workstream's first in-progress status).
• Visit aborted → Leave the status.

You can send Works complete straight to a done status instead. The job then moves only once its required evidence is in; until then it stays where it was.

The job does not move when:

• it is already done or cancelled. A visit never reopens a closed job.
• a later visit to the job has already been reported. Correcting an older visit's outcome leaves the job alone.
• someone changed its status after the worker answered, when the answer was sent later from a phone with no signal.

Each move goes on the job's Activity, and so does the reason when one of these holds a move back. Route workstreams don't have this section: their jobs move through route statuses.

Reading the table

The built-in columns are the title, Workstream (on the All tab), Client, Site, Status, Billing, Spent, Notes, Scheduled, Team, Assignee and Created, with the workstream's custom fields among them. Click a header to sort; drag its edge to resize.

Group by offers State, Status category, Billing, Client, Assignee, and Workstream on the All tab. When grouped by state, drag a job onto another state's group heading to move it there.

The All tab is a combined list. Custom field columns, the Statuses set-up and saved views live on the individual workstream tabs.

Assignee and Team are different questions

• Assignee is the one office person accountable for the job. Set it on the job, from the table, or for many jobs at once with Assign. The person is told "A job was assigned to you". Anyone who manages jobs can be the assignee; a supervisor limited to their own workstreams is only offered for those.
• Team is who is on site, taken from published shifts and routes in the Schedule. Nobody types it.

Billing

The Billing column says where the job stands on the money trail: Not measured, Awaiting approval, Ready to invoice, Invoice drafted, Invoiced or Paid. Spent shows what the job has cost so far; see What a job has spent, committed and invoiced.

Finding jobs

Search, Dates, Client, Quick filters, Filter and Sort narrow the table, and Save view keeps a combination — just for you, or for the office — and can make it the view the workstream opens on. See Finding jobs: filters, quick filters and shared views.

Tip: the title column can be renamed per workstream (for example Permit ref) — use Rename column in its header menu, or set Title column label in the workstream's settings.

See also Custom fields and columns and Job evidence and completion requirements.

In a route workstream, one piece of work with several parts can be a parent with sub-jobs. See Parents and sub-jobs in route workstreams.