Once you have added at least one General Inventory Item to a Property, and added a Tradesperson to perform the Maintenance, you can create Maintenance Tasks in Chintaro and send Work Orders to contractors.
This solution covers:
- Step 1: Create a new Maintenance Task
- Step 2. Enter the Maintenance Task Instruction Fields
- Step 3: Check the Dates, Order Numbers & Related Links
- Step 4: Send the Maintenance Task to a Tradesperson
Step 1: Create a new Maintenance Task
You can create a Maintenance Task in several ways, but the quickest and easiest way to way to add a new task is to click Add Maintenance Task in the Toolbar:
A new Maintenance Task screen opens, where you fill in the details as required. The mandatory fields that Chintaro recommend you enter for every Maintenance Task are highlighted below, but your organisation may have more fields that they deem mandatory also:
| Field | Screenshot | Description |
| Property Name |  | Mandatory field The first thing you'll need to do is select the Property that the Item is located in from the Property drop down list. Once you have selected a Property, other fields will become Active. Clicking the Property Details button will take you straight to the Property. |
| Inventory Item |  | Mandatory field Select an Inventory Item that requires the Maintenance. If your Organisation does not have detailed records of each item, select General from the drop down list. (Your System Administrator is able to set the Inventory Item to default to General, and the Maintenance Type to Responsive in System Maintenance> Preferences> Maintenance) |
| Maintenance Type |  | Should be selected Used to record the type of maintenance that the item requires. Usually, this will be Responsive (when something breaks, and you need to get it fixed). If you are entering cyclical items such as Smoke Alarm Checks, select Cyclical from the drop down list. |
| Location |  | Select the Location of the Maintenance from the drop down list. |
| Room |  | Select the Room that the Maintenance is in, ONLY if the Maintenance required is in a Room of a Rooming/Boarding House. |
| Item Type |  | Select the type of Item that requires Maintenance (EG Washing Machine). |
| Item Group |  | Select the group of appliances the Item belongs to (EG Whitegoods). |
| Works Type |  | Used to classify the item for Forecast Maintenance or long-term scheduled upgrades, generally either Install, Repair, Replace, Service. |
| Trade Type |  | Should be selected Select the type of Tradesperson that will complete the maintenance (EG Plumbing). This will determine which Tradespeople you will be able to select from your list of contractors (for example, if you select 'Plumbing', only the Tradespeople with a Trade Type of 'Plumbing' will appear). |
| Tradesperson Details |  | Mandatory field Select the Tradesperson that you will assign the Maintenance Task to from the drop down list. Only those Tradespeople with the Trade Type selected (above) will appear (for example, if you select 'Plumbing', only the Tradespeople with a Trade Type of 'Plumbing' will appear). When selecting a Tradesperson, the Email field will default if you have entered an email address for the Tradesperson. Tradesperson details can be viewed by clicking Tradesperson button. |
| Email CC |  | Enter the Email address of anyone else that you would like to CC in to the Email for the Maintenance Task. |
| Urgent? |  | Mandatory field The Urgency drop down list is used to indicate the urgency of the maintenance required, and is linked to the number of days to resolve. This is linked by the Scheduled Completion Date on the right hand side of the Maintenance Task. In Chintaro, the default Urgency Categories are Urgent (1 day to resolve), Priority (7 days to resolve) and Standard (30 days to resolve). Urgency Categories (Priority, Standard, Urgent) can be customised to suit your Organisation, through System Maintenance> Reference Tables> Urgent Types. |
| Created By |  | Defaults to the User Name that you are logged in to Chintaro as. You are able to type over this field if you are creating the Work Order for a colleague. |
| Housing Worker |  | Defaults to the Property Manager. These details will appear when you create the Work Order as the Housing Worker is the logical contact for the Organisation. If this is incorrect, select the relevant contact person from the drop down list. |
| Tenants Permission? |  | Indicates if you have received the Tenants Permission to access the Property to complete the Maintenance Request. |
| Tenants Damage? |  | Used to record the types of damage that Tenants are causing to Properties, and can be used in reporting to track how much Tenant Damage is costing your Organisation. |
| Vacant? |  | Indicates the Property is vacant at the time of requesting maintenance. |
| Damage Type |  | Used to record the types of damage that Tenants are causing to Properties, and can be used in reporting to track how much Tenant Damage is costing your Organisation. |
| Tenant Charged |  | Used to indicate if the Tenant has been charged for the damaged caused. |
| Tenant Invoice |  | After the Tenant has been charged for the damage caused, enter the Invoice number to link the invoice to the Tenant, to the Maintenance Task. |
| Tenant's Name, Phone, Availability |  | Used to indicate the Tenant that will be contacted for the Maintenance Task. To remove the Tenant Name and Phone Number(s), highlight the field, and press <DELETE>. To add other Tenants to contact, click Copy Tenant Details. Select the Tenant(s) you want to have as the contact for the Maintenance Task, if you want the Tradespeople to call the Tenant directly. If you want the Tradesperson to contact your Organisation and not the Tenant, leave these fields blank. If you are organising Tradespeople to contact Tenants directly, you can enter the Tenants Availability in this section. |
Step 2. Enter the Maintenance Task Instruction Fields
The instructions fields are where you communicate the details of the job to the tradesperson:
| Field | Screenshot | Description |
| Instructions |  | Mandatory field The Instructions section is where you enter the details that will tell the Tradesperson what the issue(s) is(are). You can make this as detailed as you would like, and hold down <CTRL> & <Enter> for a new line. |
| Access Instructions |  | Should be entered, if relevant The Access Instructions section is where you will add any specific instructions related to accessing the Property. If there are no specific Access Instructions leave this field blank. |
| Tradesperson Alert/Instructions | Should be entered, if relevant The Tradesperson Alerts/Instructions field is where you are able to enter any information that you need to alert the Tradesperson to, about the Tenant or the Property. The Property Alerts and Client Alerts displayed on this screen will only be automatically be shown on the Work Order if you have selected Auto-Add to each Alert. Click this link for Client Alert Auto Add (same principle for Property Alerts). If you are required to alert the Tradesperson to potential dangers but do not have Auto-Add on your alerts, manually enter the information in this field. |
Step 3: Check the Dates, Order Numbers & Related Links
| Field | Screenshot | Description |
| Reported |  | The date that the Maintenance Request was reported to you. |
| Scheduled Start |  | Enter the date that the Maintenance has been scheduled for. |
| Actual Start |  | Enter the date the Tradesperson starts on the Maintenance Task |
| Order # |  | Your Organisation’s reference number for the Maintenance Task. This numbering system for your Maintenance Tasks can be modified by adding/removing prefixes and selecting a number to begin with in System Maintenance> Preferences> Maintenance> Work Order Prefix Number. |
| Tradesman's (SC) Order Number |  | The Tradesman/Sub Contractor’s Order Number will be entered when the Maintenance Request has been completed. |
| Related Link and Attach to email? |  | The Related Links section allows you to keep information that is stored on your computer network and link it to a Maintenance Task. If an attachment is added and you want to add that attachment to the email to the tradesperson, tick the Attach to Email box (SMTP. |
COVID19 Questions
Chintaro SQL has the ability to answer a series of commonly asked COVID19 questions, and have those answers populated in the Work Order for your Tradesperson's safety. Victorian Chintaro users who have Department owned houses MUST complete the questions and populate the answers on the DFFH templates provided. *The DFFH Template that includes the COVID19 fields is attached to the bottom of this solution*.
Clicking the COVID19 button will show the questions:
Tick the box if the tenant's answer is yes, and leave unticked if the answer is no.
The merge fields that relate to each tick box are numbered are contained in the Maint.txt file, and correspond to the question number, for example:
Question 1 in Chintaro has a merge field of <<COVID1>>
Question 2 in Chintaro has a merge field of <<COVID2>> , etc.
If you require assistance with setting up your work order template, please contact support@chintaro.com.au
Step 4: Send the Maintenance Task to a Tradesperson
Once you have entered the General Information, Instruction Fields and Dates for the Maintenance Task, you will select the Action to take to send the Work Order to the Tradesperson:
From the Action section, you have 3 options:
- Send the Work Order to a New Word Document, where the Work Order will open in Microsoft Word allowing you to view and edit the document before saving or printing, or
- Email the Work Order directly to the Tradesperson’s default Email address listed, or
- Send the Work Order straight to the Printer.
Select the option you wish to take by ticking the relevant box. Click Send Work Order To
Requesting a Quotation for a Maintenance Task
If you are requesting a quotation for a Maintenance Task, click 
in the Action section and the Send Work Order To button will displays as 
Click Send Quote Request To
The Microsoft Word templates that are used to create the Work Order and the Request for Quote are similar, except the request clearly states that this is a Request for Quote, and says ‘Please Provide a Written Quote’ instead of ‘Works Requested’.
Maintenance Task Additional Functions
The Maintenance Task has a number of functions at the top of the screen:
| Function | Description |
| SMS Tradesperson | Used to SMS a Tradesperson directly from the Maintenance Task. |
| SMS Tenant | Used to SMS a Tenant directly from the Maintenance Task. |
| Completion/Forecast | Used when a task needs to be completed. Click here for Property Maintenance: Completing a Maintenance Task |
| Task Details | The default view of the screen |
| Add New Task | Used to add a new Maintenance Task to the system. |
| Update | Used if you are entering information in to a Maintenance Task, and you want to save the changes you have made. |
Preference to add 2 other emails CC'd to every Work Order Sent
Chintaro has Preference fields where you can enter up to 2 other email addresses to be CC'd as a default on every Work Order that you send out.
To add up to 2 other email addresses to be CC'd on each Work Order, from the Home Screen, click System Maintenance> Preferences> Maintenance:
Go down to the Work Order Email CC (1) and Work Order CC (2) fields. Clicking in this field will give you a clue about what the field does:
Enter a valid email address(or addresses) in Work Order Email fields:
The CC'd email addresses will not appear on the Work Order, but will be copied in to each emailed Work Order.
Sending a Default SMS to the Tenant advising date Maintenance should be completed by
If you have SMS capabilities set up, you are able to send an default SMS to Tenant from a Work Order. The default message will appear if there is a Tenant on in the 'Copy Tenant Details' section, along with a Scheduled Completion Date in the Completion Details section:
To edit the text message in the Work Order SMS Tenant pop up, from the Home Screen, click System Maintenance> Preferences> Maintenance. Go to the Work Order SMS text field:
Edit this field to include what you would like the default SMS to say, but leave the <<WODate>> as a placeholder for the Work Order Scheduled Completion Date.
When you have finished editing this field, press 'Exit' to save.
Sending a default Work Order SMS to a Tenant
Once you have edited the default text in the Work Order SMS Text preference, open the Maintenance Task you would like to send your Tenant an SMS about.
If you have a Tenant's name and mobile phone number in the 'Copy Tenant Details' section of the Maintenance Task, along with a 'Scheduled Completion Date' in the Completion Details> Scheduled Completion Date field, when you click 'SMS Tenant' the default message will appear:
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