Work Orders (WOs)

Provides an overview of the workflow for Work Orders (WOs)

Table of contents

  1. Overview
  2. Steps
    1. Creating a Work Order
    2. Editing a Work Order
    3. Adding Records to a Work Order
      1. Adding Collections to a Work Order
      2. Adding Containers to a Work Order
      3. Adding Items to a Work Order
        1. Adding an Single Item to a Work Order
        2. Adding Multiple Items to a Work Order
      4. Adding Captures to a Work Order
    4. Removing Records from a Work Order
    5. Deleting a Work Order
    6. Updating the Status of a Work Order
  3. See Also

For best practices and workflows for work orders not covered on this page, contact Digital Imaging Services (DIS) 🔒.

Overview

  • A Work Order (WO) is a list in the Metadata Management System (MMS) of capture records ready to be connected with digital assets
    • Work orders typically function as a list of material to be digitized by DIS, but they may also be used for importing assets digitized by external vendors or collaborators
    • Work orders are accessible in MMS at metadata.nypl.org/work_orders 🔒
    • Work orders are necessary for both internal and vendor digitization
    • Work orders names often correspond to Public Orders (POs), Exhibitions, or ongoing digitization projects
    • When the status of a work order is updated to Completed, the associated capture records are added to a queue for the system to update their status from Not Captured Yet to Captured
      • If you notice that a capture record has an asset visible in the Thumbnail column of the Capture inventory tab of an item but still has the status Not Captured Yet, see Troubleshooting Issues
  • Depending on the relevant digitization workflow, work orders may be created by members of:

Steps

Creating a Work Order

New work orders can also be created when adding records to a work order.

  1. Navigate to Work orders 🔒
  2. Click Create new order at the bottom of the page
  3. Enter the metadata for the work order
    1. Only Name is required
    2. Consult with DIS on values (if any) for Priority, Photographer, and Due date
    3. All fields are editable after the work order is created, see Editing a Work Order
  4. Click Create
    1. A confirmation message will be displayed: Work order created, now you can search items and add them to it.
  5. Proceed with adding records to the work order

Editing a Work Order

These steps cover editing a work order’s metadata including Name, Due date, Photographer, Priority, and Status. See corresponding documentation to add or remove records from a work order.

  1. Locate the work order in MMS and navigate to the Edit pop-up
    1. From Work Orders 🔒 or work order search results:
      1. Click Edit in the Actions column
    2. From a work order:
      1. Click Edit under the title of the work order
    3. From a record on an active work order:
      1. Click On a Work Order, Awaiting Digitization
      2. Click Edit under the title of the work order
    4. From a record on a completed work order:
      1. Click See Work Order History
      2. Locate the work order in the list
      3. Click Edit in the Actions column
  2. Edit the work order’s metadata fields as needed
  3. Click Save

Adding Records to a Work Order

  1. Before adding records to a work order, determine which record type(s) should be added:
    1. Consult with DIS to determine their preference (if any)
    2. Add the most specific record appropriate
      1. This is typically the lowest record in the hierarchy where everything contained or associated with the record will be digitized, e.g. item > container or container > collection
      2. Do not add a collection or container to a work order unless every item and capture record will be digitized for that work order
      3. Add the collection or container record to a work order only if every item and capture within it will be digitized as this is more efficient than adding every item record
    3. For large collections, create multiple work orders where each contains a subset of the records
      1. Work orders may be slow to load or not load at all if they are too large
  2. Confirm the records you wish to add to a work order are not already on other active work orders
    1. An On a Work Order, Awaiting Digitization button will display instead of a button to add the record to a work order
    2. Consult with DIS to either:
      1. Ask DIS to update the Status of the work order to Completed
      2. Remove the record from the active work order
  3. Proceed with next steps based on the record type:
    1. Collection
    2. Container
    3. Item
    4. Capture

Adding Collections to a Work Order

The Add Collection to Work Order button may be replaced by an error message on large collections ( Item too large to add to a work order directly. Please choose a subset of available items or contact admin.). Instead, create multiple work orders where each contains a subset of the records (see adding records to a work order).

  1. Navigate to any tab of the collection you would like to add to a work order
  2. Below the title and UUID of the item record, click Add Collection to Work Order
  3. If your work order already exists:
    1. Under Add to an existing order, use the search work order name field to look up the work order by its Name or ID
      1. Existing work orders can be found at metadata.nypl.org/work_orders 🔒
    2. If you wish to add only a sub-range of items in the collection, specify the Start: and End:
    3. Click Add records to order
  4. If you need to create a new work order:
    1. Under Or create and add to new order, use the field to the right of Or add to new order … to enter the new work order’s Name
    2. If you wish to add only a sub-range of items in the collection, specify the Start: and End:
    3. Click Create order and add object
  5. Navigate to Work orders 🔒 to locate and review your work order

Adding Containers to a Work Order

  1. Navigate to any tab of the container you would like to add to a work order
  2. Below the title and UUID of the item record, click Add Container to Work Order 
  3. If your work order already exists:
    1. Under Add to an existing order, use the search work order name field to look up the work order by its Name or ID
      1. Existing work orders can be found at metadata.nypl.org/work_orders 🔒
    2. If you wish to add only a sub-range of items in the container, specify the Start: and End:
    3. Click Add records to order
  4. If you need to create a new work order:
    1. Under Or create and add to new order, use the field to the right of Or add to new order … to enter the new work order’s Name
    2. If you wish to add only a sub-range of items in the container, specify the Start: and End:
    3. Click Create order and add object
  5. Navigate to Work orders 🔒 to locate and review your work order

Adding Items to a Work Order

Adding an Single Item to a Work Order
  1. Navigate to any tab of the collection you would like to add to a work order
  2. Below the title and UUID of the item record, click Add Item to Work Order 
  3. If your work order already exists:
    1. Under Add to an existing order, use the search work order name field to look up the work order by its Name or ID
      1. Existing work orders can be found at metadata.nypl.org/work_orders 🔒
    2. If you wish to add only a sub-range of captures attached to the item, specify the Start: and End:
    3. Click Add records to order
  4. If you need to create a new work order:
    1. Under Or create and add to new order, use the field to the right of Or add to new order … to enter the new work order’s Name
    2. If you wish to add only a sub-range of captures attached to the item, specify the Start: and End:
    3. Click Create order and add object
  5. Navigate to Work orders 🔒 to locate and review your work order
Adding Multiple Items to a Work Order
  1. Navigate to the Overview tab of the collection or container where the item(s) you would like to add to a work order are located
  2. In the table that lists items below the overview (and containers, if any), locate the item(s) you would like to add to a work order
  3. In the ☐ (checkbox) column of the items’ rows, select all the items you would like to add to a work order
    1. Click checkbox at the top of the column to select all the item records visible on the current page
      1. You can adjust the number of items visible on the current page by selecting a different number of items to display next to Per page:
      2. To add more items to a work order than can be visible per page, perform this action on multiple pages
  4. Open the Bulk actions on selected items: dropdown menu above the item records
  5. Select Add to Work Order and click Go
  6. In the The following record(s) will be added to a work order pop-up:
    1. Verify the capture records listed are accurate
    2. If your work order already exists:
      1. Under Please select a work order, use the search work order name field to look up the work order by its Name or ID
        1. Existing work orders can be found at metadata.nypl.org/work_orders 🔒
      2. Click Add to order
    3. If you need to create a new work order:
      1. Under Or you can create a new work order, enter the new work order’s Name
      2. Click Create order and add object
  7. You will be redirected to the work order where a confirmation message will be displayed: All records added to workorder.
    1. If you were not redirected, navigate to Work orders 🔒 to locate the work order
    2. Review your work order

Adding Captures to a Work Order

  1. Navigate to the Capture inventory tab of the item where the capture(s) you would like to add is located
  2. Locate the capture(s) you would like to add to a work order
  3. In the ☐ (checkbox) column of the captures’ rows, select the capture(s) you would like to add to the work order
    1. You can adjust the number of captures visible on the current page by selecting a different number of captures to display next to Per page:
    2. To add more items to a work order than can be visible per page, perform this action on multiple pages
    3. If you are adding every capture associated with an item to a work order, consider whether it would be more appropriate to add the item itself to the work order
  4. Open the Actions on checked captures: dropdown menu above the captures
  5. Select Add to work order and click Go
  6. In the The following record(s) will be added to a work order pop-up:
    1. Verify the capture records listed are accurate
    2. If your work order already exists:
      1. Under Please select a work order, use the search work order name field to look up the work order by its Name or ID
        1. Existing work orders can be found at metadata.nypl.org/work_orders 🔒
      2. Click Add to order
    3. If you need to create a new work order:
      1. Under Or you can create a new work order, enter the new work order’s Name
      2. Click Create order and add object
  7. You will be redirected to the work order where a confirmation message will be displayed: All records added to workorder.
    1. If you were not redirected, navigate to Work orders 🔒 to locate the work order
    2. Review your work order

Removing Records from a Work Order

Only the exact record that was added to a work order may be removed from a work order. For example, if a collection record was added to a work order, only the collection record may be removed from the work order; container or item records that are part of the collection cannot be removed.

  1. From an work order page:
    1. Locate the record in the list
    2. Click Remove in the Actions column
      1. A confirmation message will be displayed: Record removed from order.
  2. From a record:
    1. Click Remove from Current Work Order below the title and UUID of the record
      1. A confirmation message will be displayed: Record removed from current work order

Deleting a Work Order

Work orders can only be deleted if they are in Draft status, see Updating the Status of a Work Order.

  1. From Work Orders 🔒, work order search results, or All Associated Orders for a record:
    1. Click Destroy in the Actions column
  2. From a work order:
    1. Click Destroy under the title of the work order

Updating the Status of a Work Order

For DIS Staff

Work order statuses should only be updated by DIS staff.

  1. Navigate to the work order
  2. Click Update under Status in the upper right corner of the work order
  3. Select a status from the Update status: dropdown menu:
    1. Draft
    2. Submitted
    3. Completed
  4. Click Update

See Also