Work orders move through different stages: created, assigned, in progress, completed. Every plant uses different terminology and priorities. Work status colors in Antero let you customize both the names and visual appearance of each status so your team immediately recognizes where each work order stands without reading fine print.
Why customize work status?
Default status names like “Open” or “Scheduled” might not match how your team talks about work. One plant’s “In Progress” is another’s “Assigned to Crew.” One supervisor wants urgent work highlighted in red; another prefers yellow for attention-needed items. Work status colors give you control over both the language and the visual coding so Antero feels like your system, not generic software.
How to customize work status names and colors
Go to the Antero logo (or File in older versions) and select Database Administration > Setup Tools > Worklist Setup > Work Status. You’ll see a list of all available work statuses in your system. Select the status you want to modify and click Edit Selected. Change the Status Name field to whatever terminology your team uses. Click the Color dropdown to choose from preset colors or click More Colors to access the full color picker. Click Save when done.
Common work status customizations
Most plants customize their work status colors to create a visual hierarchy. Scheduled preventive maintenance might be red so it stands out on the calendar as a non-negotiable priority. Reactive work orders might be blue to differentiate them from PM work. Completed work could be green for quick confirmation at a glance. Work in review (awaiting supervisor approval) might be yellow or orange to flag items that need attention before closure.
Use color coding on the calendar view
The real power of work status colors shows up in the calendar view. When you display a month of work orders, each one appears as a colored block based on its status. If all your scheduled PM work is red and all reactive work is blue, you can scan the calendar and immediately see the balance between preventive and reactive maintenance without reading individual work order details. Supervisors planning weekly workloads can spot patterns: too much reactive work clustering on Tuesdays might mean you need to redistribute scheduled PM to other days.
Match colors to urgency or priority
Some plants tie work status colors to urgency instead of work type. Emergency work gets red. High-priority work gets orange. Routine work gets yellow. Low-priority work gets green. When the work management screen loads, operators see a color-coded list that instantly communicates what needs attention first. No need to check priority fields or read descriptions—the color tells the story.
Keep colors consistent across shifts
Once you set work status colors, they apply systemwide for all users. Day shift and night shift see the same colors. This consistency is critical when handing off work between shifts or when multiple supervisors coordinate across departments. Everyone speaks the same visual language, which reduces confusion and speeds up communication during shift briefings or morning meetings.
Avoid too many status options
While Antero allows extensive customization, resist the urge to create 15 different work statuses with 15 different colors. Too many options create decision fatigue and slow down workflows. Most plants work best with 4-7 statuses: Open, Scheduled, In Progress, Review, Completed, On Hold, Cancelled. Each gets a distinct color, and the team learns the system quickly. If you have more nuanced needs, consider using other fields like priority or work type instead of multiplying statuses.
Test with your team
After changing work status colors, ask a few operators and supervisors to open the work management screen or calendar and give feedback. Do the colors make sense? Can they quickly distinguish scheduled from reactive work? Does the color choice match their intuition (red = urgent, green = done)? Adjust based on their input before rolling out to the full team.
Why this small change matters
Color is processed faster than text by the human brain. When an operator opens Antero to check today’s work orders, work status colors let them triage the list in seconds instead of reading every line. When a supervisor reviews the weekly calendar, the color pattern reveals workload distribution at a glance. Customization turns Antero from a generic database into a tool that speaks your plant’s language visually and verbally.
Next Steps: Customize Antero for your maintenance workflow →
