Forum Discussion
Formula Help
mathetes
Let's keep in mind the list of things for each condition is not infinite. There are only so many conditions/words that could be considered to be LHS worthy. Its like saying Broken can be said in only so many ways. Not Working, Out of Order, etc., you know what I mean. I am just to get the best read thru the work order report to catch as many possible LHS issues are stated. Keep in mind also that just because words may be in the comments that would lend to the belief that the work order may be considered to be an LHS work order, there is a good chance the work order is not as it is stated. Another words, miss Categorized or the use of words in the comments are not appropriate to the work order. Let's just say some people are not the greatest at explaining what is going on with their situation.
Carl_61 Carl: I don't know about JMB17 , but I can't help at all, beyond what I've already done, without seeing an example of what you're looking at. That is, seeing the actual Excel file. Not just an image; an actual Excel file. You should be able to attach a copy of it here, so long as it includes no proprietary or confidential info. If it does--e.g., names of residences, then delete those fields.
Even with that, though, I'm not all that confident that I could suggest something. As I said in my last posting, I think the very process that generates these needs to be adjusted so that there is less in the way of random entries. I would not be at all confident--NOT AT ALL--of any system using SEARCH or anything comparable to run through and look for key words. There are simply too many ways for it to get messed up. As you put it yourself, "Let's just say some people are not the greatest at explaining what is going on with their situation." So like it or not, you have to go through the list one-by-one to ensure you've not missed anything. In my opinion. (By the way, I live in a five-building apartment complex in Manhattan; for all I know, you could be describing exactly what happens here in our buildings.....except we don't report appliances to management, only HVAC stuff; we're on our own for our appliances)
JMB17 Thanks.... if you can do VBA, that's great. I've not done any macros or VBA in years...like to avoid them and use functions/formulas.
I like the idea of talking to the software vendor....anything that can be done "upstream" to reduce the need to catch things after-the-fact would be great.
I can add some vba code to my workbook to go through the report(s) and flag the matches, if that will help. Sorry I was away today - busy day.
You might consider also discussing it with the software vendor to see if they have any thoughts or might be willing to modify their software to address the LHS/NLHS situations.
Carl_61 I'm going to be away from home, away from my desktop, for a week beginning early tomorrow, probably unable to spend any time on this site. I apologize...
Perhaps JMB17 can give some time to you and your situation. I do still think that your best chances are in getting the earlier steps to be more defined....maybe giving at least the management office a few codes for the "Short Desc." field. Especially if they do the majority of entries--which may not be the case-- but IF it's the case, maybe that could at least be standardized, or maybe they could enter the LHS directly there for the ones they handle. And maybe residents could also be instructed to enter something specific IF conditions warrant being classified as Life/Health/Safety issues when they enter things through an app.
Carl -- it gives me some insight into the problem you're facing. And, frankly, it confirms my worst worries about coming up with any solution that can sort through those longer problem descriptions. Among other things, you're selecting as LHS some items -- "Spray inside and out" -- that I can't imagine picking up without also picking up all kinds of irrelevancies.
Some more questions:
- Where does the "Brief Desc." column get entered? Could IT be a spot that is subjected to some data validation in the originating system?
- These are all "Work Completed" items too, I notice. Are you doing this LHS/NLHS after the fact of work completion?
Here is a copy of a Work Order Report. The Columns in Yellow are the columns we are using to determine LHS issues. The column in green is my attempt to visually determine if it is LHS or NLHS. I manually inserted LHS and NLHS. If this gives you more insight you can then help me understand the table idea.
