A work request template is the form an operator, a nurse, a housekeeper or a line lead fills in to tell maintenance that something needs doing. It is deliberately shorter than a work order: it asks what is wrong and where, and it stops there. The misspelt searches, maintence request and maintance request, are the same form typed in a hurry, which is a fair description of how most requests arrive. This page says what a work request form template asks, how a request becomes a work order, and who decides the priority, which is the question that decides whether the queue is manageable.
What the request asks
Who is asking and how to reach them. Which asset or where, from the register or a location. What is wrong, in the requester's words. Whether the asset is stopped or running badly, which is the one fact the supervisor needs for triage. A photo, on a phone form. Date and time. That is all; a request that asks the requester for a priority, a cause or a part number gets guesses, and the guesses become the queue.
From request to work order
The supervisor reads the request, checks the asset on the register, sets the type and the priority from the consequence of that asset being down, and either raises a work order and assigns it or declines the request with a reason. The request stays linked to the work order so the requester can see what happened. On a CMMS the request form is a page anyone can use without a licence; on paper it is a pad by the line and a tray on the supervisor's desk.
Who decides the priority
The supervisor, from the consequence: safety first, then a stopped line, then a degraded one, then everything else, against the schedule already in hand. Requester-set priorities are all high, because every requester's problem is the one in front of them. A queue where the supervisor sets priority daily is manageable; one where requests arrive pre-prioritised is a list of urgencies with no order.
What the request template is for
Getting the problem into the record early, from the person who saw it, with the asset named. Requests that arrive by shouting across a shop floor or by a message at shift end lose the asset, the time and often the problem. A simple form, on a phone or a pad, that takes a minute to fill is the difference between a maintenance team that knows what is wrong and one that finds out at the breakdown. The work order template worksheet on this site has the request fields at the top for a team that uses one sheet for both.
Questions people ask about work request template
Should operators raise work orders directly?
Requests, yes. Work orders, no: the supervisor sets type and priority, and a work order raised by a requester is a request with a priority the supervisor has to correct.
What if requests pile up?
Then the supervisor's daily triage is not happening, or the team is behind its equipment. Read the queue daily, decline what should be declined, and the pile is the reactive share, which the schedule is meant to shrink.
Can a work request be anonymous?
It can be, but a request with no name cannot be asked what was meant. Ask for a name and make the form short enough that giving it costs nothing.