Request Topics & Classes

Every request is classified by Topic and Class. The topic is the broad subject area; the class is the specific kind of issue within it. Together they answer the question what is this request about — separately from its status, which answers where has it got to.

Both are fixed reference data, identical for every OMC. That is deliberate: because the values do not vary from one development to the next, request volumes can be compared across the whole portfolio, and a class that is consuming disproportionate time in one OMC stands out against the rest.

Topics

There are seven topics. They are deliberately few — a topic exists to narrow a long class list down to a handful when someone is raising a request, and to give reporting a small number of buckets that mean something to a director reading a management report.

Topic	What it covers
Building	The physical structure and common areas, and anything within them needing attention.
Equipment	Installed plant and machinery serviced under contract and inspected periodically.
Services	The ongoing services that keep the development maintained, clean and running day to day.
Access & Security	Getting in and out of the development, and keeping residents and the property safe.
Service Charges & Payments	What an owner owes or has paid, and the financial position of the OMC.
Administration	The OMC’s records, rules and obligations, and how the development is governed.
Something Else	Requests belonging to no other topic, or not yet classified.

New requests default to Something Else until they are triaged.

Classes

Every class belongs to exactly one topic, so choosing the topic first narrows the class list to the relevant few. The class is what actually drives the reporting — how much of our workload is drains? — so it is worth setting correctly at triage even on a request that will be closed the same day.

Classes are intentionally broad. The preference is always to widen the meaning of an existing class rather than add a new one, because a taxonomy that grows without limit stops being comparable over time.

Building

Class	What it covers
Plumbing & Leaks	Leaks, burst pipes and water ingress affecting the common areas or more than one unit, and shared pipework.
Drains	Blocked, damaged or overflowing shared drains, gullies, soil stacks and surface-water drainage.
Electrical & Lighting	Faults in the communal electrical supply, distribution boards, and corridor, stairwell and external lighting.
Roofing & Gutters	Roof leaks, damaged slates or flashing, and blocked or broken gutters, downpipes and fascias.
Windows & Glazing	Broken or failed glazing and communal windows, rooflights and glass in shared entrances and stairwells.
Balconies	Structural or safety concerns with balconies, terraces, railings and balustrades in the common areas.
General Maintenance	Minor repairs and general upkeep of the communal fabric that does not fall under a more specific class.
Inside My Home	An issue inside a private unit. The OMC manages common areas only, so these are logged for triage and referred back to the owner.

Equipment

Class	What it covers
Lifts	Lift breakdowns, entrapments, unusual noise, and servicing or inspection of passenger and goods lifts.
Heating & Ventilation	Communal heating plant, boilers, pumps and mechanical ventilation serving the shared spaces.
Water Pumps	Booster and circulation pumps, pressure vessels and communal water storage tanks.
Fire Alarms & Safety	Fire alarm panels, detectors, extinguishers, dry risers and other fire safety equipment, and their servicing.
Emergency Lighting	Emergency and escape-route lighting that is faulty, failing its test or due for inspection.

Services

Class	What it covers
Grounds & Gardens	Landscaping, lawns, planting, weeding and seasonal upkeep of the shared grounds.
Trees	Tree inspections, pruning, removal of dangerous limbs and management of protected trees on common land.
Internal Cleaning	Cleaning of communal halls, stairs, lifts, bin stores and other shared internal areas.
External Cleaning	Window cleaning, power washing, litter picking and cleaning of paths, car parks and other external common areas.
Waste & Recycling	Bin collections, overflowing or missing bins, bulky waste and upkeep of the communal refuse area.
Pest Control	Infestations of rodents, insects, birds or other pests in the shared areas and communal service ducts.
Parking & Car Park	Communal parking areas, line markings, barriers, visitor bays and misuse of parking spaces.
Caretaker	Requests for the on-site caretaker or concierge, and issues with caretaking cover or duties.
Site Visit / Inspection (internal)	A scheduled site visit or condition inspection carried out by the managing agent.

Access & Security

Class	What it covers
Doors, Gates & Intercoms	Faults with communal entrance doors, automatic gates, barriers and intercom or door-entry systems.
Fobs, Keys & Access Codes	Requests for, or problems with, fobs, keys and access codes for gates, entrance doors and shared facilities.
CCTV & Security	Communal CCTV faults, footage requests and general security of the development’s shared areas.
Noise & Antisocial Behaviour	Reports of noise nuisance or antisocial behaviour affecting residents in the common areas.
Suspicious Activity	Reports of suspicious people or activity around the development that do not need an emergency response.
Unauthorised Entry	Trespass, tailgating through gates or doors, and unauthorised use of the shared facilities.
Criminal Activity & Damage	Break-ins, theft, vandalism or malicious damage to common-area property; serious matters should also be reported to the Gardaí.

Service Charges & Payments

Class	What it covers
Service Charge Query	An owner’s question about their service charge account, statement, arrears or how a charge was worked out.
Payments & Receipts	Payments made or not showing, receipts, refunds, and setting up or changing a payment arrangement.
Accounts & Budgets	Questions about the OMC’s budget, annual accounts, sinking fund or overall financial position.

Administration

Class	What it covers
Change of Owner	Notifying a sale or transfer of a unit so ownership records, statements and access can be updated.
My Contact Details	Adding or correcting an owner’s or resident’s name, address, phone, email or contact preferences.
House Rules & Complaints	Questions about the development’s house rules, and formal complaints about breaches or about the management service.
MUD Replies	Requests for the pre-sale MUD Act information pack and replies to solicitors’ pre-contract enquiries.
Company Secretarial	Member registers, AGM and EGM arrangements, board changes and CRO filings for the OMC.
Insurance	Block insurance queries, policy documents, premium apportionment and reporting an insurance claim.
Legal	Legal advice, disputes, enforcement of covenants and instructing solicitors on the OMC’s behalf.
Debt Collection	Recovery of service charge arrears, referral to debt collectors and related legal action.
Contracts & Suppliers	Appointing, reviewing or ending maintenance contracts, and issues with a supplier’s performance.

Something Else

Class	What it covers
Something Else	A request that does not fit any other topic.
Unclassified (internal)	The default for new and imported requests that have not yet been triaged and classified.

Two classes worth explaining

Inside My Home

The system manages the common areas and shared services of a development, never the interior of an individual unit. The Inside My Home class exists so a request of that kind can still be logged, acknowledged and counted — but the normal outcome is a courteous referral back to the owner rather than work being carried out. It sits last in the Building list for that reason: it is a referral, not work the OMC carries out.

Site Visit / Inspection and Unclassified are marked internal. They are agent-facing housekeeping values rather than something an owner would choose when raising a request — the first records a visit the agent scheduled themselves, the second is simply the starting state of a request nobody has triaged yet.

Where classification is set

Topic and class can be set when the request is raised, and changed at any time afterwards from the Details panel on the request — the same panel that holds priority, source and billing. See Service Requests for the full set of fields, and Request Analysis for the reporting these values feed.

Triage is where the value is

A request that stays Something Else / Unclassified still gets done — but it contributes nothing to the picture of where the workload actually goes. Setting the topic and class takes a few seconds at triage and is what makes the analysis worth reading at the end of the quarter.