Information on Work Orders
Residence Life Facilities handles all tasks associated with the maintenance and repair for campus apartments/townhouses, residence halls and other facilities under the department umbrella. All work orders are taken seriously, with safety and health issues receiving the highest priority. It is the responsibility of any student/resident, who notices a needed maintenance or repair work item, to complete a work order or to inform their respective Resident Assistant (RA) or Resident Director (RD). Work orders submitted any time after 3:00pm on Friday or during the weekend (Saturday and Sunday) will be processed the following Monday. Work will be completed as soon as possible, but will be prioritized based on a campus-wide rationale, then sorted according to its urgency, type of repair, and date received.
As work orders are submitted on a daily basis, we are constantly prioritizing and re-prioritizing items needing our attention. Furthermore, there is a limited number of staff within the department available to respond. This may cause a delay in our ability to respond to your specifically reported issue as quickly as we like. The standard response time for a typical work order item is three (3) to five (5) working days.
There are some facility issues which may be beyond the current scope of our trained, unionized personnel. In these situations, work is deferred to one of our partnered independent contractor agencies. Any delays in completion are directly associated with the scope of work and their ability to secure the needed materials in a timely manner. For “project” work requiring multiple trades and multiple days of attention, students will be notified in advance, when possible, of this necessary work to be completed.
Please alert your roommate(s)/apartment mates of a work order you have submitted.
What to Do
When you are experiencing a mechanical problem or facility related problem within your residency, the first means of informing Housing of your issue is through a Work Order (MaxPanda). A Work Order is a request for work to be done in your residency. Your request is then reviewed for approval. Once approved, your request is officially considered a Work Order and is assigned to the appropriate technician (carpenter, plumber, repair, or electrician) who will address the problem. You can find the on-line submittal process from the UIS Residence Life website under the Facilities and Operations link. Once you have submitted a Work Order Request, you will only receive a “Thank You” confirmation from the website. No additional contact will be generated by the system. There are times when you may receive an email communication from the Assistant Director of Residence Life – Facilities providing you additional information on your request, seeking additional information regarding your request or providing you instructions on how to resolve your problem without waiting for facilities staff to handle the matter for you.
Emergency Services and Call Outs
Emergency Service Requests refer to repairs that are necessary to either eliminate a clear threat to life or safety or to prevent extensive building damage. (Please refer to the UIS Residence Life Community Handbook regarding emergency work orders.)
In case of an emergency, during normal business hours, contact the Residence Life Office at 206-6190. After hours, call the Resident Assistant On Call (RAOC). You can contact the RAOC through the Police non-emergency number at (217) 206-6690.
If it’s determined that your maintenance problem cannot wait until the next day, a member of our facilities team will be contacted to respond as soon as possible.
If it is discovered that repairs are necessary due to carelessness and/or neglect, a charge for the overtime labor (a minimum of 4-hours) and materials may be assessed.
What Happens When a Request is Made
Work Orders are prioritized based on the urgency of the situation. Some items will require a greater amount of attention, thus taking more time. When this happens, a delay in your request may occur. Keep in mind, an item you may consider urgent or an emergency, may not necessarily be so.
Submitting Multiple Work Orders
Submitting multiple Work Orders will not speed up your request. On the contrary, it will slow down the efforts of the facilities staff by creating additional administrative work. When you submit more than one work order in short period of time, we have no way of knowing if the problem has escalated to something more severe or if there is a communication error on the part of the occupants in the residency. This causes us to research the problem further wasting time hunting for a problem which may have already been reported or recently resolved. Please alert your roommate(s)/apartment mates of a work order you have submitted.
Multiple Problems in Your Residency
Not all items inside your residency will be handled by one person during a single visit. Plumbers do not handle electrical work and carpenters do not handle plumbing issues. Please complete an individual work order for each problem in your residence.
Submitting Solutions/Recommendations
When you submit a work order, simply describe the problem as accurately as possible. If the drop down menu does not list your specific issue, provide a detailed description of the problem in the box provided. You do not list information on how to solve the problem or an opinion of what you think is needed to correct the issue. Our trained staff will know what to do once they arrive and investigate the issue. It is important you provide accurate details so facilities staff will know how to respond. Some examples of how to describe a problem are listed below:
Good – “The toilet in upstairs bathroom is not flushing when you use the handle. Handle appears to be broken.”
Not So Good – “The toilet is broken”
Good – “Window is leaking cold air after I’ve closed and secured it.”
Not So Good – “Window is broken.”
Good – “Front door deadbolt lock is not working properly. I cannot lock the door from the outside.”
Not So Good – “The lock is busted and won’t work.”
Good – “Blinds do not open or close with plastic rod.”
Not So Good – “Blinds are all broken.”