Repair request triage for maintenance approval

Use this workflow to turn incoming repair reports into a reviewed queue for maintenance approval. It is for property managers handling tenant reports across several properties, where the next decision is urgent action, routine work, or a landlord decision.

Do not use the model to make the final authorisation. Use it to organise the evidence, identify missing facts and prepare a consistent queue for the person who holds the approval authority.

1. Set the triage rules before reading reports

Write a one-page triage rule sheet for the portfolio. Do this once, then update it when your service standard, contractor arrangements or tenancy terms change. It prevents a report being labelled urgent simply because the message is forceful.

Use three categories:

Category	Put a report here when	Required next action
Urgent	The evidence suggests a current risk to people, serious property damage, loss of an essential service, or a condition covered by your emergency procedure	Start the emergency response process. Log the action, contact and time.
Routine	The issue needs repair but the available evidence does not indicate an immediate emergency	Obtain or confirm a scope, cost and access plan. Add it to the routine approval queue.
Landlord decision	The work may be discretionary, beyond the agreed repair responsibility, cosmetic, an improvement, or unclear from the records	Prepare options, evidence and a recommendation for the landlord or delegated approver.

Add the exact escalation contacts, spending authority and after-hours procedure used by your business. These are local policy decisions. Check the tenancy agreement and property records where responsibility is unclear, then send any legal or contractual interpretation to the qualified person in your organisation.

2. Build one case file for each repair report

Create a folder or case record using the property address, tenancy reference and report date. Keep source material separate from summaries so you can trace every conclusion back to evidence.

Collect these inputs before triage:

• The tenant's original report, including the date, time, location in the property and preferred contact method.
• The relevant tenancy details: occupants, access arrangements, repair clauses, known vulnerabilities recorded under your policy, and any prior reports for the same issue.
• Photographs or video, saved with the date received. Note when an image does not show scale, location or the condition clearly.
• Contractor notes, including the reported fault, proposed scope, availability, estimate, exclusions and whether the contractor saw the issue in person.
• Property history: recent inspections, previous invoices, warranties, planned works and open jobs.
• Your internal emergency and approval rules.

Name missing evidence plainly. For example: No photo of the leak source, contractor estimate excludes making good, or no record of previous boiler service attached.

3. Give the model a bounded triage task

Paste the triage rules first, followed by the case file. Tell the model that the source documents are the only evidence it may use. Ask it to quote or identify the source for each material fact.

Use this prompt structure, replacing the bracketed text:

You are preparing a maintenance triage record for a property manager.

Apply only these categories: Urgent, Routine, Landlord decision.
Do not decide legal responsibility. Do not invent missing facts.
If evidence may indicate immediate danger, state: ESCALATE NOW, and identify the evidence and missing confirmation.

For this case, return:
1. recommended category
2. one-sentence reason
3. facts from the tenant report
4. facts from photos or video, including visual uncertainty
5. facts from contractor notes
6. tenancy or property-history facts that affect the next step
7. missing information
8. proposed action and owner
9. approval needed, cost if supplied, and scope exclusions
10. a confidence flag: high, medium or low

Triage rules:
[PASTE YOUR RULE SHEET]

Case file:
[PASTE THE REPORT, RELEVANT TENANCY DETAILS, PHOTO NOTES, CONTRACTOR NOTES AND HISTORY]

Where attachment handling or structured output is relevant, check the current capability and implementation details in the xAI documentation overview. These details are version-dependent. If the system cannot reliably read an attachment, write a short factual photo note yourself rather than assuming the image was understood.

4. Check the result against the evidence

Read the original tenant report and contractor note beside the output. The model is useful for sorting, but it can merge separate dates, treat a proposed repair as completed work, or state certainty that the photographs do not support.

Check these points in order:

1. Confirm the property address, tenancy reference and room or asset match the case file.
2. Check whether the output separates what the tenant said from what the contractor observed.
3. Confirm that each claimed cost, availability date and scope item appears in a source document.
4. Look for words such as safe, resolved, tenant fault, landlord responsibility or no risk. Remove or escalate any statement not supported by your records or policy.
5. Compare the recommended category with the rule sheet. Record why you changed it, if you do.
6. Confirm that an urgent case shows both the immediate action and the follow-up approval, where one is needed.

5. Create the approval queue

Move checked cases into one queue, not separate email threads. Use one row per repair request. If a contractor has proposed several unrelated works, split them into separate approval items so the approver can accept one without accidentally approving all of them.

Include these fields:

• Case ID and property address
• Reported date and target response date
• Category: Urgent, Routine or Landlord decision
• Fault and location, in plain language
• Evidence summary and links to the case file
• Immediate action already taken
• Proposed scope, estimate and exclusions
• Recommended decision: approve, seek quote, inspect, decline, or refer
• Approval owner and spending authority check
• Tenant update due date
• Status: awaiting evidence, awaiting approval, authorised, scheduled, completed, or closed

For an urgent case, add the emergency action and the person who approved any follow-on work. For a landlord-decision case, present options such as repair, replacement, inspection or defer pending evidence. Do not present a recommendation as a settled decision.

6. Send a factual update and retain the record

Send the tenant a short update from the checked case record. State what has been logged, the next contact or visit, any access needed and when you will update them again. Do not promise a completion date unless the contractor has confirmed it.

Keep the source documents, triage output, your corrections, approval record and tenant communication together. This gives the next manager the context needed if the issue recurs.

When the workflow does not work

Pause the case rather than forcing it into a category when the report is vague, photos conflict with notes, the contractor has not inspected, or the tenancy record is incomplete. Mark the queue row awaiting evidence, request the specific missing item and set an owner and follow-up date.

If the model repeatedly misreads a type of report, shorten the input and strengthen the rule sheet with real internal examples that have been reviewed. If a case may involve immediate danger, follow your emergency process and escalate to the responsible person. Do not wait for a cleaner summary or a landlord reply before taking the action required by that process.