Completion Approvals and Photo Evidence

Two gates on completion

Most work orders close when the technician says they are done. Two rules interrupt that: one asks for evidence, one for a manager. Both exist so the completion record can be trusted months later as the basis for a warranty claim or a capital decision.

Photo evidence

High and emergency priority work orders need at least one photo attached before they can be completed. Try to close one without an image and the app refuses, naming the reason. Lower priorities have no photo requirement. Take the photo before you pack up; coming back for a picture is the most avoidable trip in maintenance. Any image satisfies the rule, but a photo of the finished work is worth more than one of the label.

Completion approval

Separately, a completion can be held for a manager's sign-off. Three things trigger it:

1. 01The work order was already escalated, or its SLA was breached.
2. 02Actual cost came in more than 1.2 times the estimated cost.
3. 03Labor ran more than 1.5 times the estimated duration.

When any of these fires, the work order moves to pending completion approval, holding the technician's resolution, costs, and hours until someone decides. A job with no estimate cannot trip rules 2 or 3; estimates are what make the cost gate work at all.

Approving or rejecting

An admin reviews the held completion and either approves or rejects, with an optional note.

• Approve: the held completion is applied. The work order completes as the technician recorded it, and the requester gets the completion email.
• Reject: the work order stays open, marked as rejected, with the reason recorded. The technician revisits the job and completes it again.

Put the reason in the note; it is the only thing the technician sees. If two managers open the same approval at once, the second sees the first decision rather than applying it twice.

Making the gates work for you

• Estimate cost and duration on anything non-trivial. Without them the cost and labor gates never fire.
• Treat a rejection as a conversation. A note that says "no" teaches nobody anything.
• Do not fight the photo rule by downgrading priority. You lose the SLA and the routing along with the photo.
• Watch what keeps tripping approval. A trade consistently twice over estimate has an estimating problem.

The full closing routine is in completing work orders. Priority and SLA behavior is in create and close work orders well, and cost review in labor tracking.