Skip to main content

Pause and Resume a Work Order

When a job stops mid-shift — parts on order, the customer needs to step out, a storm rolls in — pause the work order. The status moves to paused, your GPS is captured, and the office can see you're not idle. Resume when you're back; status returns to ongoing.

Before you start​

  • The work order is in ongoing status. You can only pause from ongoing. From pending, start it first.
  • You're the technician on the work order, or you have work_orders.supervise.

Pause a work order​

  1. Open the work order

    Select Work Orders in the top navigation bar, then select the Edit action for the work order in your list. The Status card on the right shows the blue Ongoing badge.

  2. Pause

    Select the dark grey Pause Work Order button in the Status card.

  3. Allow location access

    The button shows a spinner. Your browser prompts for location permission if it hasn't already. Select Allow. GPS lookup times out after 10 seconds; if it fails, the work order still pauses without coordinates.

  4. Wait for confirmation

    The page reloads. The Status card now shows the dark Paused badge.

Resume a work order​

  1. Open the work order

    Same path: Work Orders → Edit for the row you paused.

  2. Resume

    Select the blue Start Work Order button in the Status card. The button label is the same as starting from pending — TuffOps treats resume as another transition into ongoing.

  3. Allow location access

    Same prompt as before. Select Allow if you can. GPS is captured again on resume.

  4. Wait for confirmation

    The Status card flips back to the blue Ongoing badge. The next-step buttons (Pause, Complete) are available again.

What happens next​

  • A new entry appears in the History for each pause and each resume, with the user, timestamp, and GPS pin if captured. Office reviews via the History link on the Status card.
  • A Work order is now paused alert fires for users watching the alert feed (typically supervisors).
  • Items, photos, notes, and checklists remain editable while paused. Pausing is a status signal, not a lock.
  • The customer doesn't see a pause notification. If they need to know, message them directly.

Common situations​

SituationWhat to do
You're waiting on a part the office needs to orderPause. In the work order Notes, write what's needed and when. The office sees the pause in the alert feed and can act.
The customer asks you to come back tomorrowPause. When you arrive the next day, resume — both events are timestamped, so the office can see the gap.
You finished the work but want to step away before signingDon't pause. Submit for approval instead — the customer signs there, and the work order moves to waiting_approval.
Multiple jobs at one site, one of them is blockedPause only the blocked one. The others stay ongoing. Each work order has its own status.
You paused by mistakeResume right away. Both events are in History but the office sees them as a quick blip.

Troubleshooting​

You don't see the Pause Work Order button.

The work order isn't ongoing. Check the Status badge. If it's pending, start it first. If it's waiting_approval or later, the work order is past the point where pause makes sense — talk to a supervisor.

You don't see the Start Work Order button to resume.

The work order isn't paused. Check the Status badge. From paused, the Start Work Order transition is the resume. From any other status, the path is different.

The button stays on Getting location and never submits.

GPS is taking longer than the 10-second timeout. Reload the page. The status transition still posts on next attempt; the only thing GPS controls is whether coordinates land in the History entry.

You get This status transition is not allowed.

Two people opened the work order and another user changed the status. Reload the page to see the current state. If the work order is back in ongoing (someone else resumed it), no action needed.