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Backlog Management
Fundamentals of Maintenance Planning Series

By Daryl Mather

Few tools are as useful to managing the maintenance workload and effectiveness as the
Maintenance Backlog. In many companies today management of the maintenance
backlog has been neglected. As a result they are generally drowning in their own data. A
poorly managed system has a dramatic effect on the entire delivery of maintenance
services.

Although the situation may appear random and chaotic, there are several common
symptoms of poor backlog management. From my observations of various maintenance
demanding industries, these may include:

 Many duplicate works orders. This is one of the main issues causing waste in
this area. Particularly if undiscovered they can result in wasted resources
investigating already completed tasks. There are also the effects of re-
ordering un-required materials and additional planning effort.
 Non-standardized free text entries. Affecting future analysis and continuous
improvement. This can also lead to confusion in planning and execution of
works.
 No indication of forward resource requirements. Giving only best guess
indications as to the true manning levels required.
 Poor coding of work orders (No business rules to guide these) Affecting the
future analysis and continuous improvement function. This can contribute to
important works being buried among the work order listing.
 Little focus on priorities, many un-prioritized work orders. This results in
corrective actions on the whim either the supervisor, or section manager. As
there is nothing substantial to use as a guide, or give a rating relevant to
other backlog works.
 Many tasks not kept in the backlog system. Maintained in lists external to
the corporate system. Faith in the backlog system, and the maintenance
delivery systems in general, are eroded.
 Un-required works passing through the work order system, resulting in
unnecessary expenditure.
As well as all of these issues, an accurately managed backlog is the precursor to
effective planning and scheduling systems, which is a key driver of labor productivity.

Gaining control of the maintenance backlog is initially a difficult task. Requiring a great
deal of effort and process development. Keeping it under control is the product of
correctly targeted systems applied in a disciplined manner by skilled planners,
supervisors and all involved in the work order process.

A correctly maintained backlog system will provide many benefits to the organisation.
The system has control over the quality of tasks to be performed, quality of data used in
this execution and the quality of data returning to the system or files for future analysis
or improvement. Maintenance cannot move past the reactive stage without a firm control
over this area.

Work Order Life Cycles

A clear-cut work order life cycle needs firstly to be developed. This needs to cover the
full life of a works order from its inception to its later roles in analysis. Points for quality
reviews need to be established for both data integrity control, as well as suitability for
execution.

Once the system for this has been established, the process needs to be clearly
communicated to all involved in it. Particular emphasis is needed on the role that the
individual holds and any relationships to others in the process.

The following example of a work order life cycle is a process I have seen used or adapted
many times, each with an almost immediate effect. However this system needs to be
developed with the goals of each specific corporation in mind. Differences in creation
criteria, forward activity forecasting, and standardization levels for free text as well as
methods for controlling work orders are common areas of difference.

Creation:

As the foundation of all the system, specific focus can assist greatly here. Setting of
criteria for what constitutes a works order.

Daily reviews by authorizer / planner for conformance to business standards and rules.
E.g. Classification, Priority, clarity of text, sufficiency of detail for further works. This can
best be accomplished by a request system, using the planner to code and manage the
work order details. The request system does need to contain a strong measure of
specific data however.

Integration of the daily work request / work order reports into the morning operations
meetings.
  Review of Breakdown works orders
 Discussion as to other higher priority ones.
 Backlog Life

It is advisable to always have at least one weeks planned works ahead. Although the PM
schedules can generally be planned/scheduled out way in advance there is generally not
enough for 100% capacity scheduling of labor hours for more than three - five weeks
And with weekly scheduling regimes, and opportune windows, this is a good minimum
level.

During this life the work order needs to pass through various controls and processes:

 Planning
 Resourcing and $cost estimating
 Priority reviews
 Age by priority reviews
 Scheduling of “Planned” works only
 Execution and Data capture processes.
 Execution and planning analysis and exception reporting
 Reliability reporting

All of these are vital steps that need to be explored and organized to create an efficient
system. Planning needs to be to a certain level of information, parts to be within a
certain period, documentation prepared, the work executed in a safe and timely fashion
and the data needs to be of high quality for reviewing the system.

By applying controls, accurate processes and of course role-specific training in these

areas the backlog becomes a more efficient tools for use reducing waste of labor hours,
parts resources and planning time. Other areas of course need to be focused on but this
will provide the base for later improvements.

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