Work Management System Workshop Technician FAQ

System: Technical Workshop Work Management System »

General Questions

1. What is the Technical Workshops Work Management System used for?

The Technical Workshop Work Management System will allow all ANU staff and students to submit and track job requests with selected Technical Workshops across the Joint Colleges of Science. The system will initially be used by the ollowing Technical Workshops:

Research School	Technical Workshop Facility
Research School of Physics and Engineering	Mechanical Workshop Electronics Unit
Research School of Earth Sciences	Mechanical Workshop Electronics Group
RSB/RSC Joint Workshop	Mechanical Workshop Electronics / Electrical Workshop Refrigeration
John Curtin School of Medical Research	Mechanical Workshop Electronic Workshop

2. Who can use the Technical Workshops Work Management System?

All staff and students at the ANU can use the System. The System is accessed via Single Sign On. If you are accessing the system using a non ANU network, please enter your ANU ID and password to log in. The first time you login, you will be required to authenticate your ANU ID using Shibboleth. If you are a guest user, please contact the Technical Workshops you wish to engage with, who will be able to set up a client account for you.

Registration and User Details

3. What is the ‘Designation’ Field?

The ‘Designation’ is your ANU role. If you have multiple roles defined in the ANU HR system, there may be more than one designation displayed. If this is the case, please select the designation that is most relevant to your capacity as a Technical Workshop customer. You can update your designation each time you submit a request to the Technical Workshops as well as through the ‘My Profile’ section of the System.

4. What is the ‘Fund Manager’ field?

The Fund Manager is the lead chief investigator, or the business or project manager responsible for the General Ledger Code, or GLC, that will be provided with each request submitted to the Technical Workshops. Please note that the Fund Manager displayed is set by default to your Supervisor. The Fund Manager can be updated each time a new request to the Technical Workshop is submitted. If you are the Fund Manager, please conduct a Fund Manager search to update this field to yourself.

5. Why isn’t my Department Name, Research School or Fund Manager displayed?

There may be two reasons for this:

If you are a student, or have selected a student role as your designation, your Department Name, Research School and Fund Manager might not automatically appear. If they do not, you will need to conduct a Fund Manager search to select the name of your PhD Supervisor or the person who is responsible for the GLC that will be used most often to submit job requests. To search for your Fund Manager, please click on search button (magnifying glass symbol) next to the Fund Manager field. Enter the first and last name and click on search and then select the appropriate role from the designation field. Once the Fund Manager is selected, the Department Name and Research School of the Fund Manager will be auto populated.
The information of your Department Name, Research School or Fund Manager may not be properly recorded in the HR System. If you believe that this is the case, please raise a ticket through the ANU Service Desk using the following steps and someone will be in touch:
1. Select the ‘Get Some Help’ option
2. Chose ‘Report something broken’
3. Under the ‘What best matches the issue?’ question, select Other
4. Fill in details about your issue and select ‘Submit’

6. The Department Name and/or Research School displayed are incorrect?

The information of your Department Name, Research School or Fund Manager may not be properly recorded in the HR System. If you believe that this is the case, please raise a ticket through the ANU Service Desk using the following steps and someone will be in touch:

Select the ‘Get Some Help’ option
Chose ‘Report something broken’
Under the ‘What best matches the issue?’ question, select Other
Fill in details about your issue and select ‘Submit’

Alternatively, if you have updated the Fund Manager field using the search function, the Research School and Department displayed will be that of your Fund Manager, not yours.

7. How can I change the name in the Fund Manager field

Use the search button (magnifying glass symbol) to change the default Fund Manager displayed. Enter the first and last name and click on search and then select the appropriate role from the designation field. The Department Name and Research School displayed will be linked to the Fund Manager role.

Submitting Requests

8. Why can’t I see the “Request Services” tab in the menu bar?

If the ‘Request Services’ tab is not visible, you will have to refresh the system. This is accomplished using the system refresh button which is located at the top right hand side of the screen, next to your name, not the browser refresh button.

9. How do I select which facility to submit my job to?

You can affiliate yourself to one or more facilities. To ensure that your request to routed to the correct facility, when on the ‘Request Services’ webpage, click on the ‘Select Facility’ dropdown on the top right-hand side of the webpage and select the appropriate facility.

10. What is a Facility?

A Facility is a separate service entity within the system. It is usually delineated by Research School and Technical Workshop Group i.e. RSPE – Mechanical Group

11. What is a ‘Related Job ID’?

If you have previously submitted job requests to the Technical Workshops using the system, they will be displayed in the ‘Related Job ID’. If the request that you are submitting is linked to a previous request, select the previous Job ID form the dropdown. This will help the Workshop Technician to better understand your request.

12. What is the Charge Code?

Each request requires a validated Charge Code before being able to submit. The “Charge Code” is the General Ledger Code, or GLC, that will be used to recover the charges for using the Technical Workshop services. Please enter the “Charge Code” in the format: Fund Code, for example, R, Q or S; the “Department ID”; and the “Project ID” if applicable. Click on the search button to validate the Charge Code. If the Charge Code provided is validated, it will display the account name in a green font. If it is an invalid Charge Code, it will display ‘Invalid Charge Code’ in a red font. Please note that you will not be able to submit the request unless a validated Charge Code is provided.

13. I don’t know my charge code, what do I do?

All job requests submitted to the Technical Workshops require a valid Charge Code (ANU General Ledger Code, or GLC). If you do not know your Charge Code, or are uncertain of which Charge Code to use, please speak to the lead chief investigator, or the business or project manager who is likely to be responsible for the Charge Code. This could be your supervisor, PhD supervisor, or the researcher who is ultimately responsible for the research being undertaken.

14. What is the purpose of the search icon for Charge Code and Fund Manager fields?

The Search icon is available for the ‘Fund Manager’ and ‘Charge Code’ fields. A search for the ‘Fund Manager’ field allows the customer to search for a different Fund Manager. The purpose of the search icon for the ‘Charge Code’ field allows the system to validate that the charge code (General Ledger Code – GLC) supplied is valid. If it is valid, it will display the name of the GLC in green. If it is invalid, it will display ‘Invalid Charge Code’ in red.

15. Why is there a Hazards Section in the form?

The hazards section is there for the customer to aid the Workshop technician in identifying any hazards associated with the job and thus completing an appropriate risk assessment. We ask that the customer details any potential hazard(s) involved with any equipment/part or raw material provided by the customer or any site visits required.

16. Where can I find a Safety Data Sheet?

A safety data sheet (SDS) is a document that lists information relating to occupational safety and health for the use of various substances and products. You should check with your local OHS Officer to see if one is available for the equipment, or hazardous materials it may have come into contact with, that you are supplying.

17. What is the Hazards Declaration?

The Hazards Declaration captures the acknowledgement by the customer that all the information provided in the hazard section is true and correct to the best of their knowledge.

18. What is the ‘Information icon’?

If you see an information icon next a field in the request form, hover over it and additional information about the field will be displayed to help the customer in filling out the form correctly.

19. What is a Lab/Group?

The term Lab/Group in the system is used for the sub groups defined under each department. We are not currently using this feature and all users are given a ‘Default’ Lab/Group

20. Why is the submit button disabled?

The Submit button is only enabled when the charge code provided has been validated by clicking on search button next to charge code field. If the charge code is not validated, you will not be able to submit the form.

21. How can I save a request form as a draft for later submission?

You can save the request form as a draft by clicking on the ‘Save as Draft’ button on the bottom of the request form. All Drafts are saved in ‘My Homepage -> My requests’ view.

22. Can jobs be submitted retrospectively i.e. in the past?

Yes, a job can be submitted in the past, only by the workshop staff by selecting a different date from the submitted date field in the Lab and Payment/Account section for the form.

23. How can I submit a job request on behalf of a customer?

Technicians can submit jobs on behalf of any customer, internal or external, through the ‘Client’ field in the request form, which will display a drop down list of registered users in the system when it is selected. The Technician can select any client. After selecting the correct client name, the technician must check the user`s designation (i.e. their ANU role). If they have multiple roles defined in the ANU HR system, there may be more than one designation displayed. If this is the case, please select the designation that is most relevant to their capacity as a client of your Technical Workshop.

24. Why can’t I see the name of the customer that I want to submit a job on behalf of listed?

Technicians can only submit on behalf of customers that already have profiles in the system. If the customer does not have a profile, they will need to register with the system.

Processing a Job

25. Where can I see all the jobs submitted to my workshop?

Technicians can view all jobs submitted to their workshop under Inbox-> Sample Submission/Service Requests view.

26. What is the purpose of the 'ReUse’ button?

The ‘ReUse’ button is used for copying any existing job request. All the fields in the job form will be copied in the new request.

27. What is the ‘Favourites’ field?

Technicians can mark any job request as ‘Favourite’ to make them appear on the top of the page. When the job is unmarked as a favourite, it will automatically return to its original chronological order.

28. What is the ‘Summary’ icon?

When the ‘Summary’ icon is selected, it will display a summary of the job request including all the answers provided by the customer, without having to navigate into the job card.

29. How can I assign a job request to a technician?

Submitted Jobs can be assigned to any technician by clicking on the ‘Assign To’ button on submitted job request view. All the Technicians working in that Workshop will be displayed and the job can be assigned to either yourself or any other person in your team. A job can be assigned to more than one person.

30. Can I request a formal approval from the customer?

Technicians can request a customer approval through using the ‘Communications’ tab. Technicians can update their comments, attach a file and click on the ‘Need user approval’ check box for user`s approval.

31. How can I cancel a job request?

A technician can cancel the job request at any point in the process by clicking on the ‘Cancel Sample Submission’ button under ‘Change Sample Submission Status’ in the Job Card.

32. How can I close a job request?

A technician can close or finish a job request by clicking on the ‘Completed’ button under ‘Change Sample Submission Status’ in the Job Card.

33. How can I ‘Re-open’ a previously closed or completed job request?

A technician can reopen any completed job request by clicking on the ‘Reopen’ button in the 'Actions' field on the submitted job request inbox page.

34. What is the ‘Activity Log’?

The ‘Activity Log’ provides an overview of all activity that happened on the job request, e.g. date of the update, user name and nature of change or activity.

35. How can I share a job request with another workshop?

Technicians can share any job to other workshops by using ‘Secondary Core’ field. They can select the facility name from the drop down list and click on the ‘Share’ button. This will allow the other workshop to process the job request, assign time worked and materials or supplies to it. It will appear in the ‘Shared Requests’ of the other workshop. The customer will be charged the relevant rate applied to them by the other workshop. Note: Before sharing the job to another workshop, the job must have already received an approved quote/estimate from the customer and must be ‘In Progress’.

Processing a job - Providing an estimate or quote

36. How do I know whether to provide an estimate or a quote?

This decision will be dependent upon the policy of each of the Technical Workshops and the customer requirements. Please speak to your Workshop Manager and/or School Manager for guidance.

Processing a Job - capturing tasks and time

37. Why is time recorded in two places i.e. tasks and timesheet?

Technicians can add their time either in the tasks feature on the job card or in the timesheet based on the preference. The system provides flexibility to add time to multiple jobs through timesheet or to individual job through the tasks.

38. What is a task?

A task is undertaken by the workshop staff to complete a job. Each job type has a defined set of tasks displayed as a drop-down list. Technicians can select tasks to add time, comments and attachments relevant to that task.

39. Can a technician enter two tasks of the same type on same day?

No, technicians can add time to only one task of the same type on the same day. But they can update time, comments and attachments of the added milestone by clicking on the edit button.

40. Can I record time to any open job in my workshop using the timesheet tool?

No, only the jobs that are assigned to the technician will appear in the timesheet. If the technician is not assigned to the job then then they can record the time using the tasks feature in the job card.

41. Why can’t I see the Start-Stop timer in the timesheet?

The Start-Stop timer only appears in the ‘Day’ view of the time sheet.

42. How can I add comments for different days in the week view of the timesheet?

Comments can be added each day in the day view. These are collated in the week view.

43. The tasks listed are not relevant to what I would like to record time for, what do I do?

Technicians can select ‘Other’ from the task list and add the relevant task in the comments section of the milestone. Once added the task can be updated with new comments if required.

Service Items – this is used to add ‘Ad Hoc’ costs
Supplies – this can be prepopulated with all materials and consumables that the Technical Workshop might have on hand and would want to cost-recover. This needs to be maintained in the Supplies Setup > Products section
Purchase Record and Materials – if materials, parts or equipment is ordered from an external supplier, it can be recorded in the Supplies Setup > Order Supplies section. When a new supplier order is created, each line item must be linked to a Job ID. This will then appear as a record in the Job Card.