How to Create an Equipment Issue | Latner Software Documentation

Equipment Issues let you log a defect against a machine the moment someone spots it, so the problem is recorded against the equipment itself rather than lost in a phone call or a note on a job sheet.

Overview

Machines break in small ways long before they break in big ways. A worn tyre, a slow hydraulic leak, a beacon that no longer flashes - none of them stop the machine today, but all of them need to be seen by whoever schedules the next service. An Equipment Issue is how you park that observation on the machine's record until someone deals with it.

An issue belongs to the equipment, not to the work order or inspection it was noticed on, so it stays visible no matter which job it came from.
Every issue has a status of Open, Resolved or Rejected. New issues always start as Open.
The only thing you must enter to raise one is a description of the problem.
You can attach one or more photos to an issue so the next person can see what you saw.
Closing an issue means either resolving it or rejecting it, and both require resolution notes.
Open issues are collected on the Work Order Daybook, so the workshop can work through them as a queue.

Before You Begin

Equipment Issues need no system setting turned on, but they are gated by a single permission.

Requirement	Where to Find It
Create Equipment Issue permission	Security › Configuration › Permission Groups, then the Option module
A serialized equipment record	Equipment › Equipment

The Create Equipment Issue permission in a permission group - one toggle covers raising, editing, photographing and closing issues

The Create Equipment Issue permission does more than its name suggests. It also controls editing an issue, uploading photos to it, and resolving or rejecting it. A user without it can still see issues on the equipment record, but on a mobile device the Equipment Issues section is hidden altogether.

Creating an Equipment Issue

The most direct route is from the machine's own record.

Step 1 - Open the equipment record

Go to Equipment › Equipment and open the machine, then choose Options › Add Equipment Issue.

Add Equipment Issue sits in the Options menu on the equipment record, below Add Service Schedule

Add Equipment Issue only appears for equipment with a Type of Serialized. Bulk equipment is tracked by quantity rather than as individual machines, so there is nothing for an issue to attach to.

Step 2 - Describe the issue

The Create Equipment Issue dialog has one field.

Issue Description - what is wrong with the machine. Write it for the mechanic who will pick it up cold, not for yourself: what the fault is, where it is and how you noticed it.

The Create Equipment Issue dialog - a description is all that is required, so make it specific

Step 3 - Save

Click Save. Latner confirms with Equipment Issue Created and drops you back on the equipment record with the Issues tab already selected.

The new row shows a status of Open, the date it was raised and your name as Created By. The tab opens with the Outstanding quick filter switched on, so you are looking at open issues only - clear it to see everything the machine has ever had raised against it.

The Issues tab on the equipment record - the Outstanding quick filter is on by default and hides anything already closed

Other Ways to Raise an Issue

Most issues are spotted while someone is already working on the machine, so you can raise one without leaving the job.

From a work order

On a work order, choose Options › Create Equipment Issue. You get the same single-field dialog. The option appears while the work order is Open or Pending Approval and has equipment on it - a manual work order with no machine attached has nothing to raise an issue against.

Create Equipment Issue on a work order - handy when a mechanic finds a second fault while working on the first

Work orders and inspections both carry an Outstanding Issues tab. It lists every open issue for that machine, not only the ones raised from that job, which is exactly what you want when you are deciding how much to do while the machine is in front of you.

On a mobile device

This is where most issues actually get raised. Open a work order or an inspection on your phone and scroll to Outstanding Equipment Issues.

If the machine already has open issues, a work order warns you as soon as you open it, before you have started work.

The warning shown when a mobile work order is opened on a machine that already has open issues

The section lists each open issue with its date and description, and gives you a picture icon for photos and a tick icon to close it off.

The Outstanding Equipment Issues section on a mobile work order - the two icons on each line are photos and resolve

Tap Add and the same Create Equipment Issue form slides up from the bottom of the screen.

Raising an issue from a phone - the form is a drawer rather than a dialog, but the field is the same

The mobile equipment screen has Create Equipment Issue in its menu too, for when you are standing at the machine rather than working a job on it.

Adding Photos to an Issue

A photo saves an argument later. On the Issues tab, tick the issue's row - three icons appear above the table.

Selecting an issue reveals its actions - resolve, upload a photo, and edit the description

Click the picture icon to open Upload Equipment Issue Photo. The issue's description is shown at the top so you know which one you are attaching to, and you fill in:

Photo Description - what the photo shows.
Add Photo - drag the file in or click to browse. Photos must be JPG, JPEG or PNG.

Upload Equipment Issue Photo - one photo per upload, so repeat it for each angle you need

Photos are numbered in the order you add them and are listed underneath the issue. Click the arrow at the left of the row to expand it.

Expanding an issue row lists its photos, each one a link that opens the image

Resolving or Rejecting an Issue

Select the issue's row and click the tick icon to open Action Equipment Issue.

Status - Resolved if the fault was fixed, Rejected if it was not a fault after all or will not be actioned. Resolved is preselected.
Issue - the original description, shown read-only so you cannot rewrite history while closing it.
Resolution Notes - required. Latner will not let you save without them.

Action Equipment Issue - Resolution Notes are mandatory whether you resolve or reject

On save the issue is stamped with Date Actioned and Actioned By, and it drops out of every outstanding list.

A closed issue keeps its resolution notes alongside who actioned it and when

An issue cannot be put back to Open once it has been actioned, and issues cannot be deleted. If you closed one by mistake, run Resolve Equipment Issue again to correct the status and notes, or raise a fresh issue describing the fault that is still there.

Where Issues Show Up

Once raised, an issue appears in several places:

The Issues tab on the equipment record, filtered to outstanding issues by default.
The Outstanding Issues tab on any work order or inspection for that machine.
The Outstanding Equipment Issues tab on the Work Order Daybook, which is the workshop's working queue of every machine with an open issue.

The Daybook tab opens filtered to My Branch, so you see the machines sitting in your own yard. Clear the filter to see the whole business. Double-click any row to jump straight to that machine's Issues tab.

The Work Order Daybook's Outstanding Equipment Issues tab - the queue the workshop works through, filtered to your branch

FAQs

Add Equipment Issue isn't in the Options menu on my equipment record. Why?

Two things hide it. The first is the Create Equipment Issue permission - ask an administrator to enable it for your permission group under Security › Configuration › Permission Groups. The second is the equipment's Type: the option is only offered for Serialized equipment, because bulk equipment is counted rather than tracked machine by machine.

Can I delete an equipment issue I raised by mistake?

No. Issues are a permanent record of what was reported against a machine. Close it with a status of Rejected and use the resolution notes to say it was raised in error - that leaves a clearer trail than a deletion would.

I resolved an issue but the fault is still there. Can I reopen it?

Not to Open - the status dropdown only offers Resolved and Rejected. You can run Resolve Equipment Issue again to update the notes, but if there is still work to do the better move is to raise a new issue describing what remains. The workshop's outstanding queue only counts open issues, so a fresh one is what actually puts the machine back in front of someone.

Does raising an issue create a work order?

No. An issue is a report, not a job. Nothing is scheduled, nobody is allocated and the machine's service status does not change. Someone still has to look at the Outstanding Equipment Issues tab in the Work Order Daybook and decide what work to raise. If the fault stops the machine working, create a work order as well.

Why does the Outstanding Issues tab on my work order show issues I didn't raise?

That tab is filtered by the machine, not by the job. It deliberately shows every open issue for the equipment on the work order, whoever raised it and wherever they raised it, so a mechanic with the machine in front of them can see the full picture before they put the covers back on.

I got a pop-up about outstanding issues when I opened a work order on my phone. What is it telling me?

That the machine you are about to work on already has issues nobody has closed. It is a prompt, not a block - tap OK and scroll to Outstanding Equipment Issues to read them. Often the fault you were sent out for and the one already logged are the same job.

Can I add more than one photo to an issue?

Yes, one at a time. Run Upload Equipment Issue Photo again for each photo and give each its own description. They are numbered in the order you add them and all appear under the issue when you expand its row.

Watch the Demo

Prefer to watch it? Step through the same flow here.