Manage work orders
Work orders are requests for off-site work. Users with the appropriate roles create the work orders and provide the necessary information needed for the work order tasks. Then other users qualify those work orders and create the tasks necessary to complete the work order.
Creating work orders
If you have the wm_initiator or wm_initiator_qualifier role, you can create work orders. You can create entirely new work orders, or you can create a work order from another record.
Work orders can be created from these other record types: case, incident, change, problem, or project task. They can also be created from another existing work order. For each record, you can create only one work order.
-
Work orders created from another existing work order
If the scope of an existing work order changes during the execution phase, you can create another work order from it. Analyze whether the scope change can be managed by adding additional tasks instead of creating another work order.
When you create a work order from an existing work order, the following information is copied from the original work order:
- Work order record reference (in the Initiated from field)
- Affected CI
- Caller
- Location
- Priority
- Short description
- Description Because some information is copied from the original record, an existing work order can be used as a template to create new work orders.
-
Work orders created from an incident, problem, change, or project task record
If an incident, problem, change record, or project task must be assigned to an off-site agent and tracked, you can create a work order from it. Some information from the original record is copied automatically into the new work order.
|
Record type |
Fields copied to the work order |
|---|---|
|
Incident |
|
|
Case |
|
|
Problem |
|
|
Change |
|
|
Project taskNote: Before work orders can be created from project tasks, Field Service Management must be integrated with Project Portfolio Management |
|
Example: AC Not Cooling – Repair
A customer contacts support to report an AC unit is not cooling. A CSM agent creates a work order from the case. The qualifier validates the work order and routes it to the dispatch queue, where it is ready for a dispatcher to assign to a technician.
| Step | Actor | Action |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Customer | Reports need for repair |
| 2 | System | Creates case in CSM |
| 3 | CSM agent | Creates work order from case |
| 4 | Qualifier | Validates work order and routes to dispatch queue |
---
title: Manage work orders
description: Work orders are requests for off-site work. Users with the appropriate roles create the work orders and provide the necessary information needed for the work order tasks. Then other users qualify those work orders and create the tasks necessary to complete the work order.
locale: en-US
canonical_url: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/field-service-management/work-order-management/c\_ManageWorkOrders.html
release: australia
product: Work Order Management
classification: work-order-management
topic_type: concept
last_updated: "2026-09-10"
reading_time_minutes: 3
breadcrumb: [Prepare work orders, Use, Field Service Management]
---
# Manage work orders
Work orders are requests for off-site work. Users with the appropriate roles create the work orders and provide the necessary information needed for the work order tasks. Then other users qualify those work orders and create the tasks necessary to complete the work order.
## Creating work orders
If you have the wm\_initiator or wm\_initiator\_qualifier role, you can create work orders. You can create entirely new work orders, or you can create a work order from another record.
Work orders can be created from these other record types: case, incident, change, problem, or project task. They can also be created from another existing work order. For each record, you can create only one work order.
- **Work orders created from another existing work order**
If the scope of an existing work order changes during the execution phase, you can create another work order from it. Analyze whether the scope change can be managed by adding additional tasks instead of creating another work order.
When you create a work order from an existing work order, the following information is copied from the original work order:
- Work order record reference \(in the **Initiated from** field\)
- Affected CI
- Caller
- Location
- Priority
- Short description
- Description
Because some information is copied from the original record, an existing work order can be used as a template to create new work orders.
- **Work orders created from an incident, problem, change, or project task record**
If an incident, problem, change record, or project task must be assigned to an off-site agent and tracked, you can create a work order from it. Some information from the original record is copied automatically into the new work order.
<table id="table_b5b_2nk_2r"><thead><tr><th>
Record type
</th><th>
Fields copied to the work order
</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>
Incident
</td><td>
- Incident record reference \(in the **Initiated from** field\)
- Caller
- Location
- Priority
- Short description
- Description
For more information, see [Integration with Incident Management](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/field-service-management/field-service-integrations/incident-for-fsm.md).
</td></tr><tr><td>
Case
</td><td>
- Account
- Contact
- Affected CI
- Location
- Asset
</td></tr><tr><td>
Problem
</td><td>
- Problem record reference \(in the **Initiated from** field\)
- Affected CI
- Priority
- Short description
- Description
</td></tr><tr><td>
Change
</td><td>
- Change record reference \(in the **Initiated from** field\)
- Affected CI
- Priority
- Short description
- Description
For more information, see [Integration with Change Management](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/field-service-management/field-service-integrations/change-for-fsm.md).
</td></tr><tr><td>
Project task**Note:** Before work orders can be created from project tasks, Field Service Management must be integrated with Project Portfolio Management
</td><td>
- Short Description
- Location
These work order fields are synchronized with the project task
- State
- Scheduled start
- Estimated end
For more information about the synchronized fields, see [Integration with Project Portfolio Management](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/field-service-management/field-service-integrations/project-management-integration.md).
</td></tr></tbody>
</table> Work orders can be filtered based on different attributes, such as qualification group, location, initiated from, priority, state, and so on. This help to create a group of similar work orders.
## Example: AC Not Cooling – Repair
A customer contacts support to report an AC unit is not cooling. A CSM agent creates a work order from the case. The qualifier validates the work order and routes it to the dispatch queue, where it is ready for a dispatcher to assign to a technician.
|Step|Actor|Action|
|----|-----|------|
|1|Customer|Reports need for repair|
|2|System|Creates case in CSM|
|3|CSM agent|Creates work order from case|
|4|Qualifier|Validates work order and routes to dispatch queue|
| title | Manage work orders |
| description | Work orders are requests for off-site work. Users with the appropriate roles create the work orders and provide the necessary information needed for the work order tasks. Then other users qualify those work orders and create the tasks necessary to complete the work order. |
| locale | en-US |
| canonical_url | https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/field-service-management/work-order-management/c\_ManageWorkOrders.html |
| release | australia |
| product | Work Order Management |
| classification | work-order-management |
| topic_type | concept |
| last_updated | 2026-09-10 |
| reading_time_minutes | 3 |
| breadcrumb | Prepare work ordersUseField Service Management |