WorkflowField Service & Work Management

Work Order Closeout Validation

Work order closeout validation that reads every closed job, photos included, before it reaches the asset's history

Clean asset history from every closed job, with the parts in the photos booked.

See one case, screen by screen ↓
target100%of closed jobs checked for failure mode, cause, action, time, parts, photos and readings before they reach the asset's history
estimated$262K/yrof parts put back on the right job and asset — 52,000 jobs × 5.8 % with a part seen but not booked × $87, Lumina's pilot inputs
typical$250–500per repeat dispatch avoided when a defect the crew wrote down is raised as follow-up work
demo6defectsfound in one night's crew notes and photos that nobody had raised — a cracked crossarm and a trip-risk boundary box lid among them
The problem

Why closed jobs leave asset history you can't plan from

When a crew closes a job from the van, what it leaves behind is the asset's history: what failed, why, what was done, which parts went in, how long it took and what else they saw. Most closeouts pass with “replaced fuse, supply restored”, a blank cause code, one person's hours, and a part that went into the asset from van stock but never onto the job. A planner who reviews 40 to 60 closeouts before planning the week cannot read every photo and timesheet, so most organisations sample and the rest pass unread.

The cost shows up later. A blank cause code is a failure the reliability engineer can't learn from: when the same failure is written five ways in five work orders, no query can group them, so there is no trustworthy Pareto or MTBF. Unbooked labour makes the next plan too short; unbooked parts understate job cost and leave stock drifting. And a defect written only in free text — “crossarm cracked, wants changing” — has no follow-up work order, so it comes back as an unplanned dispatch or the next outage.

demo412of 2,214closeouts in six weeks with the cause code blank — the gap that recurs most
demo128jobsin six weeks with a part seen in photos or notes but not booked — $11,170 put back on the right job
demo141defectsin six weeks written in the crew's notes or photos with no follow-up work raised
Where a planner's morning goes, in hoursestimated
By hand5.2 days
With the solution0.8 days
  • Reading notes and checking failure mode, cause and activity codes1.5 → 0.2 d
  • Looking at crew photos against the parts list1 → 0.1 d
  • Matching timesheets and van-stock issues to each job0.8 → 0.1 d
  • Chasing crews for missing hours, parts and readings1 → 0.3 d
  • Raising follow-up work from defects in the notes0.5 → 0.1 d
  • Accepting the clean jobs into asset history0.4 → 0.1 d

Estimated split for reviewing one night's 46 closeouts by hand and with the solution, in hours. Our estimate, not a measured result.

How it works

How a closed job moves

Six specialist agents read every closed job, photos included; the planner accepts or sends it back, the crew confirms.

What comes in
Completed job in46 jobs overnight · notes, photos, readings, timesheets, van stock
Agents at work
Closeout checkerrules by job type
Then
Photo reader
Notes reader and coder
Labour and materials reconciler
Then
Follow-up finder
Repeat failure watcher
A person decides
Maintenance planneraccepts or sends back
What comes out
Coded asset history
Gaps back to the crew
Follow-up work raised
One case, step by step

One night fault, from the van to clean asset history

At 02:14 on Monday 12 October 2026, 23 properties on Larch Lane, Ashcombe lose supply. Crew N-14 — Dylan Marsh, crew lead, and Owen Pryce, lineworker — find a blown L2 LV fuse at pole-mounted transformer PMT T-48211 on pole AS-2207, restore supply at 04:40 and close the job from the van at 05:10. Here is what happens next, screen by screen, in the working solution.

  1. 0107:05

    The morning opens on a checklist, not a list of jobs

    Tomás Reyes · Maintenance planner, Distribution North

    Forty-six jobs closed since 18:00 on Sunday across Distribution North and Water South, all checked by 07:05. Each is a row with six marks — codes, time, parts, photos, readings, follow-up — and a quality score, worst first. 29 are clean and ready to accept in one click; 17 have 21 gaps between them. The Larch Lane fuse job sits at the top, scoring 58.

    “46 closed since 18:00 Sun · 29 clean · 17 for you · 21 gaps”

  2. 02One click

    The crew's notes, read against the codes

    Notes reader and coder

    Dylan's note reads: “L2 LV fuse blown at PMT. Bird strike on LV mains span to pole AS-2208, remains at base. Replaced fuse, supply restored 04:40, all 23 on. Crossarm at the cutouts is cracked, wants changing.” Failure mode ELV-02 and activity REP-01 are coded; the cause is blank. The margin notes tie each sentence to a gap: the cause, a fuse-link not on the parts list, a defect not raised — and one that matches the fault record.

    “Cause is blank. The notes name a bird strike. Suggested cause EXT-03 External — wildlife contact.”

  3. 033.8 seconds

    Four photos, read like the planner would

    Photo reader

    Photo 1: the L2 fuse-link operated. Photo 2: a new fuse-link, its label “100A gG 415V” legible — not on the parts list. Photo 3: the crossarm at the cutouts with a crack about 40 cm long. Photo 4: 239.4 V L2–N after restoration. Van V-114 issued one LV fuse-link 100 A gG at 03:58; the job's parts list has only four cable ties.

    The photo reader never books a part. Below 0.85 confidence it asks rather than proposes.

  4. 04Planned vs actual

    Owen's hours were worked, not booked

    Labour and materials reconciler

    The timesheets show Dylan Marsh and Owen Pryce on the job from 02:40 to 06:10 — 3.5 hours each. Only Dylan's 3.5 hours are booked. Against a plan of 4.0 hours for a standard LV fuse job, 7.0 hours worked is 75 % over plan, outside the ±25 % tolerance, so Grace Okafor, the work management supervisor, sees it too. The closeout summary is already written: issue, diagnosis, action and parts.

    “Owen Pryce worked 3.5 h on this job and it is not booked.”

  5. 05Every step, timed

    How this job was checked

    Six agents

    The run trace shows each agent's work. The closeout checker applied the rules for Corrective · LV fuse operation in 0.4 s. The notes reader matched “bird strike on LV mains” to EXT-03 at 0.93 confidence. The follow-up finder found no open work on pole AS-2207 and drafted “Replace LV crossarm”, P3, 2 × 3.0 h. The repeat failure watcher found three LV fuse operations on T-48211 in seven months.

    “Score 58 / 100 · Tomás Reyes decides: accept, or send back with the gaps”

  6. 06The history

    The third fuse operation, and the first with a cause

    Repeat failure watcher

    T-48211 is a 200 kVA, 11 kV / 415 V transformer feeding 23 properties, installed in May 2011. Its L2 fuse operated on 14 March and 2 August too, both closed before closeouts were checked: no cause, no parts. Today's closeout is the first to give one — a bird strike on the span to AS-2208 — and the watcher suggests a wildlife guard on that span, fitted with the crossarm change, for Henrik Solberg, the reliability engineer.

    “Repeat failure · three LV fuse operations in 7 months”

  7. 07Three decisions

    A part proposed, a cause accepted, work raised

    Tomás Reyes · Maintenance planner

    Tomás adds the fuse-link for the crew to confirm: the line goes on the parts list as proposed, linked to photo 2 and the van V-114 issue. He accepts the suggested cause, EXT-03 External — wildlife contact. He approves the follow-up, and “Replace LV crossarm, pole AS-2207” is raised as WO 3318502, within 28 days.

    “Follow-up raised · WO 3318502 · Replace LV crossarm, pole AS-2207”

  8. 08Sent back

    Back to the crew with the exact gaps

    Tomás Reyes · Maintenance planner

    Two items go to Dylan Marsh, crew lead, in the crew app and by text: book Owen Pryce's hours, +3.5 h, and confirm the LV fuse-link 100 A gG used. Each item goes with its evidence — the photo, the timesheet line, the note.

    “When the crew replies the checks run again; nothing is booked until they confirm.”

  9. 0907:52

    Confirmed from the van

    Dylan Marsh · Crew lead, crew N-14

    On his phone Dylan sees the request from Tomás with the timesheet line for Owen's hours and photo 2 with the van issue. He taps Yes twice, and the job shows confirmed at 07:52. The checks run again on his reply and every gap on the job is closed.

    “4 jobs sent back in the last 24 hours · 3 confirmed · median reply 47 minutes”

  10. 10Clean history

    The part is on the job, the stock list goes to stores

    Labour and materials reconciler

    On planned vs actual, the fuse-link line now reads confirmed. Three more parts seen but not booked overnight are still open — a pair of 150 mm repair clamps, a spindle seal kit and four ABC connectors — making four lines and $412.80 with the fuse-link. The stock adjustment list goes to the Ashcombe and Fenwick stores. T-48211's history now reads: LV fuse operated · external — wildlife contact · replaced LV fuse-link 100 A gG · 7.0 h · follow-up WO 3318502 raised.

    An estimated $262,392 a year of parts put back on the right job and asset — Lumina's own pilot inputs.

Who it’s for

Built for everyone who touches a closed job.

The same night fault, seen by the five people who rely on its closeout — what their week looked like, and what it looks like now.

TR
Tomás ReyesMaintenance planner, Distribution North · Ashcombe depot
Maintenance planner
Before
Reviews 40–60 closeouts each morning before planning the week. “I can't plan next month from a history that says ‘fixed’.”
Now
Opens 46 jobs already checked, accepts the 29 clean ones in one click and works the 17 with gaps — each gap with its photo, note or timesheet line.
GO
Grace OkaforWork management supervisor, Distribution North
Work management supervisor
Before
Gets the exceptions: crews who keep closing thin, labour variances over tolerance. “Tell me which crew, which gap, and how often.”
Now
Sees clean-at-first-check by crew and depot, the gaps that recur and a six-week heatmap, and sends a crew a coaching note with their three most common gaps.
HS
Henrik SolbergReliability engineer, network assets
Reliability engineer
Before
Builds failure Paretos and the asset health index on cause codes that are often blank. “A blank cause code is a failure I can't learn from.”
Now
Gets repeat failures with the coded history behind them — three LV fuse operations on T-48211 in seven months, and the wildlife guard suggestion.
DM
Dylan MarshCrew lead, crew N-14 · lineworker
Crew lead
Before
Closes jobs from the van at 5 a.m. after a night fault, and the gap his crew leaves most often is a crew mate’s hours not booked.
Now
Gets the exact gap with its evidence on his phone and confirms it from the van. “Just tell me what's missing, I'll fix it from the van.”
AR
Aisha RahmanPlanner, Water South · Fenwick depot
Planner, Water South
Before
Plans valve, hydrant, main-repair and meter jobs. “Every main repair needs its pressure reading — or it didn't happen.”
Now
Sets what each water job type needs at closeout — pressure after a main repair, old and new reads on a meter exchange — and every closeout is checked against it.
Built on the engine

6 agents. Each with one job, and hard limits.

Six specialist agents read every closed job, photos included; the planner accepts or sends it back, the crew confirms.

Closeout checker

Applies the job type's closeout rules — failure mode, cause and activity codes, required photos and readings, timesheet match and parts against van stock — and scores every completed job.

  • Never accepts, closes or rejects a job — the planner decides
  • Rules come from the closeout rules, not the agent
Photo reader

Reads every crew photo: parts and their ratings from labels, before and after, visible damage, meter and gauge readings. Compares what was fitted with the parts list and proposes missing lines.

  • Never books a part or edits the parts list — it proposes for the crew to confirm
  • Every proposal points to its photo region
  • Below 0.85 confidence it asks rather than proposes
Notes reader and coder

Turns the crew's notes into a structured summary — issue, diagnosis, action, parts — and suggests failure mode, cause and activity codes from the code standard, citing the sentence each comes from.

  • Never writes a code to history without a person accepting it
  • Never invents a cause the notes do not support — it says so instead
Labour and materials reconciler

Matches timesheets, crew rosters and van-stock issues to the job, and compares planned with actual labour and materials against the tolerances.

  • Never changes a timesheet or a stock record
  • Tolerances come from the closeout rules
Follow-up finder

Finds defects in the notes and photos, checks for open work on the asset and drafts the follow-up work order with a priority and an estimate.

  • Never raises work without the planner's approval
Repeat failure watcher

Reads the asset's coded history and flags repeat failures — three operations in 12 months — to the reliability engineer.

  • Never changes a maintenance plan
Maintenance planner

Accepts or sends back; the crew confirms. The agents propose; a named person decides.

Ask in plain words

Ask about any closed job, in plain words

Ask about any closed job, gap, part or crew — or say what to add or send back. Nothing is written to a job until the planner or the crew confirms.

Why did the Larch Lane job score 58?

Three things are missing and one needs raising. Parts: photo 2 shows a new 100 A gG fuse-link and van V-114 issued one at 03:58, but the parts list has only cable ties. Time: Owen Pryce's 3.5 h is on the timesheet, not on the job. Cause: blank, though the notes say “bird strike on LV mains”. And the cracked crossarm in photo 3 has no work raised.

Add the 100 A fuse-link for the crew to confirm

Added 1 × LV fuse-link 100 A gG, $38.40, to WO 3318426, marked proposed — crew to confirm. It is linked to photo 2 and the van V-114 issue at 03:58. It goes to Dylan Marsh with the send-back; nothing is booked until he confirms.

Which transformers had three fuse operations this year?

Three, from the coded history. T-19033, Ferris Green: 4. T-48211, Larch Lane: 3 (14 Mar, 2 Aug, 12 Oct), and today's closeout is the first with a cause. T-52260, Brook Row: 3.

Accept the 29 clean jobs

Accepted 29 closeouts: 21 electricity, 8 water. Each passed all six checks, and its summary, codes, hours and parts are now in the asset history. One of them, pole AS-1940, carries a proposed follow-up for you to approve.

Every screen

The working solution, as it ships.

13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.

The closeout checklist46 jobs closed overnight, each checked for codes, time, parts, photos, readings and follow-up and scored, worst first — beside the selected job's photos and what was seen against what was booked.
The photo readerThe crew's photo of the crossarm, with the crack about 40 cm long boxed — a defect that was in the notes but not raised.
The job reviewThe crew's notes with each sentence tied to a gap, the photos read by the photo reader and the closeout checklist with its score.
Summary and planned vs actualIssue, diagnosis, action and parts written from the notes, photos and readings, with the suggested cause, and labour and materials planned, worked and booked.
How the job was checkedAll four photos read, and each agent's step with what it found and how long it took.
The asset's historyEvery job on transformer T-48211, newest first, the repeat failure flag and the asset's rating, feeder and customers.
Gaps to send backThe fuse-link proposed for the crew to confirm, the cause accepted, the follow-up raised as WO 3318502 and the two gaps left for the crew.
Send back to the crewThe exact gaps to the crew lead in the crew app and by text, each with its evidence.
Sent back to crewsEvery job sent back, its gaps and status, and what the crew sees in the van — confirmed at 07:52.
Follow-up workDefects the crews wrote down or photographed but did not raise, each with its sentence or photo, priority, estimate and any open work on the asset.
Planned vs actualParts seen in the job but not on it, with the stock adjustment list, the yearly estimate and its working, and labour against plan by job.
Closeout qualityJobs closed clean by day over six weeks, the gaps that recur, the send-back results and clean-at-first-check by crew.
Closeout rulesWhat each job type needs at closeout, the checks and tolerances, and who decides.
Governance

Built for clean asset history: evidenced, confirmed, on the record.

Every gap shows its evidenceEach finding points to what it came from — the box on the photo, the sentence in the notes, the timesheet line or the van-stock issue — and goes back to the crew with it.
The planner decides, the crew confirmsAgents propose; the maintenance planner accepts, sends back or approves follow-up work. Any part, hour or code an agent proposed is confirmed by the crew lead before it is booked.
Nothing booked by an agentThe agents never book a part, change a timesheet or stock record, close a job, raise a work order or change a maintenance plan. Nothing reaches the asset's history until the planner accepts the closeout.
The right exceptions to the right personLabour over tolerance and crews with repeat gaps go to the work management supervisor; repeat failures and cause code changes go to the reliability engineer.
Codes from your own standardSuggested codes come from Lumina failure codes v4, mapped to ISO 14224 failure mode, cause and activity, and each cites the sentence it came from. Every change to the closeout rules is saved as a new rule version.
Every step on the recordEach agent step, with its timing, and each human decision — who accepted, who sent back, who confirmed from the van, who approved the follow-up — is recorded on the job.
Configuration

Your closeout standard, not ours

What every job type needs before it is accepted, the tolerances, the code standard and who decides are rules the depot sets. Every change is a new rule version.

SettingDefaultChoose from
Required at closeout, by job typeCorrective · LV fuse operation: failure mode, cause, activity, before and after photos, phase voltages after restore, timesheet match, parts vs van stockSet per job type — water main repair needs pressure after repair; meter exchange needs old and new meter reads; pump fault needs running current
Labour against plan± 25 %± 15 % · ± 25 % · ± 40 % — over this, the job also goes to the supervisor
Materials against plan$50 or 20 %$25 or 10 % · $50 or 20 % · $100 or 30 % — value or share, whichever is larger
Part seen, not bookedPropose to the crewPropose to the crew · Hold the job until confirmed
Photo reader confidence0.850.75 · 0.85 · 0.95 — below this, the photo reader asks rather than proposes
Code standardLumina failure codes v4Lumina failure codes v4 · v3 (retired) — mapped to ISO 14224 failure mode, cause and activity
Remind the crewAfter 4 hoursAfter 2 hours · after 4 hours · next morning — if a send-back is not answered
Accept clean jobs automaticallyOffOff — the planner accepts them in one click · On above a score of 95
Connections

Works with the records a closed job already leaves

Completed work ordersjob type, asset, crew, failure mode, cause and activity codes, status
Crew notes and photosfree-text notes and before and after photos, sent from the crew app in the van
Timesheets and crew rosterswho worked on the job, from when to when
Van-stock issuesparts scanned out of each van, with the time
Planned labour and materialsstandard job estimates and planned parts
Failure code standardyour failure codes, mapped to ISO 14224 mode, cause and activity
What it changes

The difference, in numbers.

Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.

target
100%
of closed jobs checked for codes, time, parts, photos and readings
46 of 46 jobs
checked overnight
estimated
$262K/yr
of unbooked parts put back on the right job and asset
Unbooked today5.8% of jobs
With agentsseen and confirmed
typical
$250–500
per repeat dispatch avoided when a defect in the notes is raised

“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample data · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our arithmetic or estimate: $262K = 52,000 jobs a year × 5.8 % with a part seen but not booked × $87 average, the fictional Lumina pilot's inputs; the planner's-morning split is our estimate · “typical” = published figures: truck roll $250–$500 per dispatch, a conservative estimate (S&C Electric, cited by Ventavid). Context: IFS Closeout and Improvement Manager; Siemens Asset Essentials work order auto-summarization; ISO 14224 failure codes. Lumina Utilities and the people, crews, assets and work orders named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.

Questions

What work management teams ask us.

What is work order closeout validation?

It is the check a planner or supervisor does on a completed work order before it goes into the asset's history: are the failure mode, cause and activity coded, are the hours and parts booked, are the photos and readings there, and has every defect the crew saw been raised. Work Order Closeout Validation does that check on every closed job with six agents, and the planner accepts or sends back.

How does work order closeout automation work?

The moment a crew closes a job, the agents read its codes, notes, photos, readings, timesheets and van-stock issues against the rules for that job type. Each job becomes a row of six marks with a quality score. Clean jobs are accepted in one click; for the rest, the planner sees each gap with its evidence and sends it back to the crew, who confirm from the van.

Can it find parts that were used but not booked?

Yes. The photo reader reads part labels in the crew's photos and the reconciler matches van-stock issues to the job. In the sample case a new LV fuse-link 100 A gG was legible in photo 2 and issued from van V-114 at 03:58, but not on the parts list. The line is proposed for the crew to confirm; the agent never books it.

Does it work with ISO 14224 and our own failure codes?

Codes are suggested from your own code standard — in the working solution, Lumina failure codes v4, mapped to ISO 14224 failure mode, cause and activity. The notes reader cites the sentence behind every code, says so when the notes do not support a cause, and never writes a code to history without a person accepting it.

How does it raise follow-up work from technician notes?

The follow-up finder reads the notes and photos for defects, checks for open work on the asset and drafts the work order with a priority and an estimate. In one night it found six, from a cracked crossarm to a boundary box lid that was a trip risk. Nothing is raised until the planner approves it.

Is it built for electricity and water utilities?

Yes. The working solution checks electricity jobs — LV and HV faults, cable faults, inspections — and water jobs — main repairs, valves and hydrants, meter exchanges, pump faults — each with its own required codes, photos and readings, such as phase voltages after restore or pressure after a main repair.

Do planners and crews stay in control?

Yes. Agents propose and never book parts, change timesheets, close jobs or raise work on their own. The planner accepts, sends back and approves follow-up work; the crew lead confirms anything an agent proposed; labour over tolerance goes to the supervisor and repeat failures to the reliability engineer.

How long does it take to go live?

The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents — your closeout procedure, failure code standard, job types and a sample of completed work orders — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. We will walk you through it on your own closed jobs first.

See it on
your closed jobs.

We'll run Work Order Closeout Validation on a sample of your own completed work orders, photos and timesheets.