Work Request

A Work Request is a request that asks an agent to perform a task.

Context:
- It can (typically) be submitted, in maintenance management, by someone outside the team that will do the work, such as a member of staff, an operator, a manager or a customer.
- It can be reviewed before any work is authorized: the reviewer can act on it, defer it or decline it.
- It can be a proposal rather than an authorization, so work does not begin until it is approved.
- It can lead, once approved, to a work order that authorizes and assigns the work.
- It can be sent between software agents as well as between people, as when one Aget asks another to perform work it is authorized to do.
- ...
Example(s):
- A maintenance work request, such as a request from a member of staff that work be performed on a broken machine.
- Analysis Requests, which initiate an analysis task.
- Aget Work Requests, which one Aget sends to another.
- ...
Counter-Example(s):
- A Work Order, which authorizes and assigns work rather than asking for it.
- A factual question, which asks for an existing answer rather than for a task to be performed.
- A Commissive Speech Act, such as a promise to do the work, which commits the speaker rather than asking anyone else to act.
- ...
See: Request, Work Order, Task.

References

UpKeep. (2025). What's the difference between a maintenance work request and a work order?. Last updated 2025-12-22; retrieved 2026-10-15; archived snapshot of 2026-01-14. Supports the submitters and the path to a work order: "A work request is submitted by your staff or customers to request that work be performed on an asset."; "When work requests are submitted and approved, work orders are created."

Joško Ivankov. (2023). Work Order vs Work Request – Everything You Need To Know. WorkTrek blog, 2023-08-27. Retrieved 2026-10-15; archived snapshot of 2026-06-07. Supports the approval step: "Technically, management can approve or deny this request."; "Once submitted and approved, a work request becomes a work order."

Tractian. Work Request. Glossary entry. Retrieved 2026-10-15; archived snapshot of 2026-06-12. Supports the definition and the review outcomes: "a formal submission made by any employee asking the maintenance team to perform a task"; "It is a proposal, not an authorization."; the team decides "whether to act on it, defer it, or decline it".