The Recommended Method of Documenting Preventive Maintenance

The way I’d advise documenting preventive maintenance is with a CMMS or other form of work order management software, but the exact shape that takes may depend on your size, industry, and so forth. The ultimate goal is the same, though—keep a record of work that has been done, when it was completed, who did it, and what its results were.

Ways to document preventive maintenance

Of course, not everyone uses the same documentation methods. What a maintenance team uses often depends on what they’re most familiar with, and it may be affected by the company’s size and needs. Some methods you might see include:

• Paper notes
• Excel spreadsheets
• Computer databases
• Maintenance management software
• Carrying the data around in their heads

The last one on this list is only possible if you run a very small operation; it’s not really recommended. It’s too easy for data to get lost, and it’s not very accessible to others. The others, however, are more viable.

The recommended method for preventive maintenance documentation

Of the items listed above, maintenance management software like a CMMS is the most effective. It takes some time and effort to implement, but it streamlines the process considerably.

CMMS and PM Documentation

A CMMS makes it very easy to assign tickets to your technicians, receive PM reports on work completed for each asset, and store that data in one place. Modern systems make it easy to compile reports and view trends on each asset, helping you fine-tune your maintenance processes.

It has also been shown to increase your workflow efficiency by up to 15%, making your PM more efficient on top of easier to track.

How it works: Preventive Maintenance Documenting

Regardless of the system you use, the core of PM documentation is your work orders and PM reporting. The process goes something like this:

• A PM task is scheduled, and a work order is created to perform inspections, tune-ups, lubrication, etc.
• The work order is assigned to a technician.
• They go do the work prescribed in the work order.
• They file a report declaring the task complete.
• That report is put on file (hopefully).

Essentially, the documentation process tracks the reports of complete and incomplete work orders, and a lot of that burden falls on your technicians. While your maintenance supervisor or other higher-ups may be the ones to organize PM reports, your technicians are the ones who will create them in the first place.

Example of preventive maintenance documentation

To look at an example, take a hypothetical vacuum packing machine in a hypothetical food packing facility. Every week, the machine undergoes routine preventive maintenance, including checks on the oil level, sealing bars, gaskets, and so forth. As such, the maintenance planner uses a CMMS to generate a recurring PM work order each week with those items listed.

The maintenance supervisor assigns that work order to a technician every Wednesday, who goes and conducts the tasks prescribed. As they perform each task, they mark it complete on the work order. If something doesn’t check out, they mark it down and include any necessary notes.

Once everything is done, the work order is marked as complete and is filed away within the company’s CMMS (which can be instantaneous if it has mobile capabilities). The completion date and report are recorded by the software, and any follow-up tasks are handled by the planner.

In cases where the CMMS used isn’t available on a mobile device, the completed work order would be submitted to the supervisor, who logs everything into the system. Anything recorded on the work order should be entered in, making it available to the maintenance planner and manager whenever it’s needed.

Using work orders in PM documentation

As we can see from the above example, work order management is key to documenting PMs. As such, it’s important to make sure work orders are properly filled out and recorded.

The information recorded in work orders

Completed work orders give you a full view of each PM task. The information they provide to maintenance planners and managers include:

• A full description of the PM task
• The name of the department or individual who requested the work
• The technician who completed the task
• Where the task was completed
• The estimated completion date
• The actual completion date
• Additional notes, including reports on whether further maintenance work is needed

Each work order should be as complete as possible, particularly when it comes to the dates and reports/follow-up tasks. That information is essential to sound maintenance planning and improving equipment reliability.

Using the data on work orders

The work order data described above has numerous applications in maintenance planning and management. Some of these applications include:

Tracking PM schedule compliance

Know whether important tasks are completed on time.

Root cause analysis

A history of maintenance tasks performed on an asset help when diagnosing root causes of equipment failures.

Maintenance planning

Seeing how PMs coincide with an asset’s condition helps improve maintenance planning.

Tracking metrics and KPIs

The data found on work orders help when calculating metrics such as PMP (planned maintenance percentage) and maintenance costs.

Keeping work orders on file

Keeping work orders on file is simple when handled through an automated CMMS, but diligence is still required. If your maintenance team isn’t used to keeping track of maintenance work, you’ll need to train them on the processes involved in doing so. Points you might need to cover include:

• Filling out checklists on each PM work order.
• Completing each section of every work order assigned.
• Submitting work orders when they’re complete.
• Entering completed work orders into the CMMS (if it’s not handled automatically).

Part of the goal of your training is to get your team in the habit of recording work orders in your CMMS. Once that habit is in place, it should become an automatic part of your daily operations.

Tips for effective PM documentation

The process of documenting PMs is fairly straightforward in principle, but like any process, it can get a little messy when put into practice. These tips should help you get the most out of your PM documentation efforts.

Include checklists in work orders

Using checklists in your work orders is key to making sure you have a complete record of your preventive maintenance efforts. The ultimate PM checklist will have the following elements:

• Tasks grouped in a logical order
• Detailed, but concise, task descriptions
• Pictures and diagrams to help navigate each task
• The frequency for each task (daily, weekly, monthly, etc.)
• Time to complete each task
• Follow-up actions

Each of these items will not only make sure each task is completed correctly, but it will also help flesh out your records when the work order is filed away.

Train your maintenance team

Getting your team into the habit of filling out work orders and logging them into your system can take time. To help them get to that point, training should include:

• How to complete work orders
• How to log them into your system
• The work process needed to support a habit of documenting preventive maintenance
• The “why” behind PM documentation

Follow up

As you get your team in the habit of recording work orders as they’re completed, follow up with them on a regular basis. Without that follow-up, it will be easy for them to think that PM documentation isn’t actually a priority.

During follow-up training meetings, ask your team how the process of recording PMs is going, and see whether there might be any obstacles in your current workflow. This will give you the visibility you need to see where adjustments may be needed.

Tip: In addition, follow up on the data collected as well as the process of documenting it. Your maintenance planner will typically be the one to review data in your CMMS.

Use the data recorded

As you document PMs, you’ll start building up a powerful database that you can use in maintenance planning. That’s good, but you need to make sure you actually use it. Otherwise, your team may not see the point of recording all that data, and your system may fall apart.

Automate the process

Automating your PM documentation will ease the burden on your maintenance team and make it much more likely to be consistently implemented. A CMMS that’s designed to log work orders as they’re completed can be a game-changer for facilities that have historically handled PM documentation through spreadsheets or paper filing systems.

Conclusion

The best way to document preventive maintenance is by logging work orders into your CMMS. When those work orders are well-designed and regularly logged on a consistent basis by your team, you’ll start building up a powerful database that will help you plan future maintenance tasks and improve reliability.