Maintenance backlog

Maintenance backlog is made up of work that needs to be completed for safety reasons and
to avoid further asset breakdown (e.g. an oil change for your truck is scheduled for every 5000
miles). When the odometer reading hits 5000 miles and the work is due this task will sit in your
maintenance backlog until it is complete. The longer it sits there, the more precarious it can
become.

Over and under-resourcing labour

While some level of maintenance backlog is acceptable and unavoidable, the appropriate level
of maintenance backlog should be determined in relation to each business need. Maintenance
requires labour and an over resourced crew will have a small maintenance backlog while a
under resourced crew will have a large maintenance backlog that is growing all the time. The
ideal scenario is a maintenance backlog that is stable and controllable, even if the facility was
hit with a record number of emergency breakdowns. Maintaining a balance between resource
allocation and the costs associated with maintenance is essential.

How much is too much maintenance backlog?

Maintenance backlog can be determined for the entire maintenance operation or by the asset.
Businesses find that the context and level of risk associated with each particular asset
determines the level of backlog acceptable. Low risk assets tolerate longer maintenance
backlogs while high risk assets tolerate shorter maintenance backlogs.
Maintenance backlog for higher risk assets

Maintenance backlog for higher risk assets can put a healthy business in a dicey situation.
Notable risks include equipment failures, non-compliance with mandatory fire safety
requirements and statutory safety legislation, costs to remove and replace assets, production
losses, and warranties that do not hold up in court.

Fiix combats maintenance backlog

It is diffiult to measure or control maintenance backlog without a computerized maintenance

management system like Fiix. A CMMS helps maintenance managers get a grip on what work
needs to be done, and when by giving them full visibility on backlog or its breakdown. In the
report (right), the supervisor can see how old the work is. The maintenance manager can also
use the maintenance backlog data in the CMMS to determine if they are over or under
resourced. Should they get everyone in on the weekend to close out some older jobs? By using
a CMMS, like Fiix, to track work that is due, businesses can control maintenance backlog and
increase their assets availability and reliability.
 Why Backlogs Are Important for Effective Maintenance
Managing a work order backlog is not the most exciting of maintenance tasks, but without a
complete and up-to-date backlog, important work will be forgotten. Indeed, good backlog
management is a prerequisite for effective planning and scheduling.
Defining a Backlog

"Backlog" means different things to different people. There are two common definitions. The
first and most common is that a "backlog" is a list of all work that has been approved and will
eventually get done. This is the correct definition. It is sometimes measured in trades-hours,
but it is better measured in weeks, calculated as the time it would take to complete all the
current work in the backlog with the resources that could be applied to this work. This may or
may not include PM work.
The second definition is that a "backlog" is just those work orders that have passed their
"required by" date. This definition should not be used because it is not logical. Most
maintenance departments have a reasonably fixed number of tradespeople who perform work
from work orders generated more or less at random.
When a work order is initiated, the date on which the work will be completed depends on its
importance relative to the work already in the backlog, which is known, and also the work
orders that will be generated in the future, which are unknown. The result is that any "required
by" date assigned when a work order is initiated will be just a wild guess and usually wrong.
Assigning a "required by" date should be limited to those few work orders that have a genuine
deadline. Otherwise, these dates will be in conflict with the objective of always working on
those jobs that have the greatest value at any time.
In this article, the first backlog definition will be used. Within this backlog of work orders that
have been approved but not yet started, there are sub-groups. These include the "planning
backlog," which can be defined as all work orders on which any commitment such as purchasing
has been made, and the "ready-to-schedule backlog,” which is made up of those work orders
for which all materials and other resources are available so work could start at any time.
Backlog Filtering

Combining all approved work orders into a single backlog can be overwhelming. Instead, it
should be filtered into logical components. The following filters are recommended:
Shutdown Work and Non-Shutdown Work
Shutdown work must obviously stay in the backlog until the appropriate shutdown is
scheduled, which may be a year or more. Leaving this inactive work in the backlog complicates
the management of ongoing non-shutdown work, so it should be hidden until the time comes
to prepare for the shutdown, when it will be managed on its own. Of course, the preparation
work for shutdowns is very important and should be prioritized along with all other non-
shutdown work. Separating shutdown and non-shutdown work is also necessary for efficient
shutdown planning.
Mechanical and Electrical Work
This also would include work for all other categories of maintenance resources, such as area
maintenance crews. Remember, the backlog for a maintenance crew should be limited to the
work for that crew and must include references to the support required from other crews.
Preventive Maintenance and Corrective Maintenance Work
Preventive maintenance work should be pre-planned and pre-scheduled. The instructions for
inspections and other routines should be on file and included in preventive maintenance (PM)
work orders. The work should be automatically scheduled by the maintenance computer
system. Of course, PM work and corrective maintenance require the same limited trades
resources and need to be scheduled together, but for the purposes of backlog management,
they can be separated. Backlogs are more easily managed if PM work is hidden until the time
comes for it to be scheduled.
PM work should be set up in the maintenance computer system so there is a steady workload
scheduled for each work day. This allows the manpower assigned to PMs to be constant and
considered "untouchable" for corrective maintenance. This way, the scheduling of both
preventive and corrective maintenance is simplified.
Backlog Cleanliness

Considerable discipline is needed to limit work in the backlog to just those jobs that will be
completed in the near future. Backlogs should never contain completed jobs, duplicated work
orders or low-priority work that no one ever intends to do.
An important part of the discipline for maintaining a clean backlog is to close work orders (or
change the status to "physically complete") as soon as the work is done, which should be the
same day for non-shutdown work and within a few days for major shutdown work.
The function of maintaining a clean backlog should be included in the job description for a
designated maintenance position. It is one non-planning function that is appropriate to assign
to a planner. It does not take much time, and the planner is in position to know the status of all
work orders in the area.
Backlog Size

There is an optimum size for a non-shutdown work order backlog. If a backlog is too small, it
will be difficult to keep tradespeople on priority work. Break-in and unplanned work will
increase, and productivity will fall.
If the backlog is too large, a lot of material may be tied up and the backlog will be difficult to
control. There will be a loss of confidence that work will be done, and "emotional emergencies"
will be encouraged. It can even become easier to submit a new work order than to try to find an
existing work order in a large backlog. A large backlog is of little help for work scheduling.
Ideally, the backlog should be of such a size that key maintenance and operations personnel,
including the area maintenance supervisor, the operations coordinator and the planner, have a
good enough "feel" for what's in the backlog to be able to immediately recognize duplicate
work requests.
For a typical 24/7 continuous-process operation, a good starting objective would be to have a
"total backlog" of about four weeks, a "planning backlog" of about two to four weeks and a
"ready-to-schedule" backlog of one to two weeks.
Note that a "ready-to-schedule" backlog of one to two weeks implies that all the material for
this work should be staged somewhere onsite and be ready for use. This kind of materials
management has great benefits but will be successful only if a large percentage of the work on
the schedule is executed according to that schedule.
Adding Work to the Backlog

Any work added to the backlog should receive some scrutiny from the area decision-makers. A
good process is for the area maintenance supervisor and the operations coordinator to review
all new work requests each morning. One important function in this step is to decide whether
the request is for a "small job" that can be completed immediately and does not justify being
planned or scheduled. Allowing anyone to add work to the backlog without review guarantees
that it will become disorganized and of little value.
Backlog Management Software

Ideally, your maintenance management system should be used for backlog control, but
unfortunately many systems have very weak functionality in this area. Managing a backlog is all
about sorting and filtering lists of work. These lists will contain columns for equipment and
work identification, scheduling notes, priorities, resources, status, etc. From my observations,
there are few, if any, maintenance computer systems that are better at managing work lists
than a good spreadsheet. In fact, many organizations cannot effectively manipulate work lists
without first downloading them from their maintenance computer system to Excel.
Most maintenance computer systems are excellent at recording maintenance costs against
work orders, and should always be employed for this purpose. However, if using them to
manage work lists is cumbersome, a well-designed and well-managed spreadsheet process that
is integrated with the maintenance computer database should be used.
Backlogs can be easily maintained and kept up to date by utilizing your site's server to manage
and share work lists with secured templates and disciplined management.
In conclusion, managers must pay close and frequent attention to backlogs to ensure they are
"clean," the estimated times are realistic and that they stay close to the optimum size.
Maintenance Work Backlog Management: A Start in Managing
Maintenance Well
This article, by guest writer David Finch, a senior maintenance manager, is on maintenance
backlog management and how to control your maintenance backlog

Abstract
Maintenance Work Backlog Management: a Start in Managing Maintenance! A maintenance
manager can commence a maintenance improvement programme by simply creating
opportunities for individuals and groups to make high performance contributions. One way to
do this is to manage the Maintenance Backlog.

There are numerous definitions of Backlog. The definition I use is “planned maintenance work
waiting to be scheduled”. Note: We only schedule 1 week at a time, therefore it’s the bucket of
future work. However, if there is a high load of preventive maintenance about to occur then it
is important to know about this work for planning purposes.

Others refer to Backlog as the work not completed by the due date. Personally, I use priorities,
but not ‘due dates’ for corrective work. I believe that people raising work requests can rarely
understand the planning processes required to be implemented to turn a request into an order.

It is important that whatever the definition used, be sure that everyone in the organisation
knows the meaning. The caveat is, it is incumbent on the Planner to ensure that once work
requests are authorised planning goes ahead to convert the work request to a work order. It
has been known for planners to delay their planning activities so that performance indicators
on Backlog look good.

Deferred Maintenance is usually high-cost work that must be postponed as a result of

inadequate planning, lack of opportunity and/or funding. Examples include roof replacement,
HVAC system replacement and window replacement. Deferred maintenance adds to the
backlog of maintenance and repairs, but is not included in the backlog calculations. It tends to
be specific to the public sector.
The key aspects of successful backlog management are:

 Setting objectives
 Setting/agreeing priorities
 Establishing the organisation’s responsibilities and relationships
 Implementing the processes to met the objectives
 Measuring the performance
 Reviewing the performance, and
 Auditing the process

This framework for managerial action will produce a formal management system for the control
of maintenance backlog, and is an essential component in managing maintenance.

The details of managing backlog involves:

1. Managing work requests.

2. Developing work orders, job preparation and repair procedures.
3. Work scheduling.
4. Job execution and follow up of work in progress

1. The first step in managing the backlog requires that the work be properly identified and
prioritised by maintenance and operations together.

A rigorous examination of the work requested needs to be carried out. This will remove
duplicate work, finished work, unwanted work and modifications (modifications need to go
through the ‘management of change’ process, modifications need engineering and fiscal
approval, a modification is not maintenance work) out of the list.

2. Planning maintenance, including, looking at resources, estimates and parts (how to do the
job!). It is the development of a detailed programme to achieve an end.

 It is the advanced preparation of a specific job

 It ensures the task is performed in an efficient and effective manner
 It ensures that all necessary logistics have been coordinated for the job execution phase
to take place at a future date
 It is the process of detailed analysis that determines and describes the work to be
performed, the sequence of associated tasks, methods to be used for their
performance, and the required resources, including:
o skills,
o crew size,
o man hours,
o parts,
o materials,
o special tools and equipment
  An estimate of the total cost
 identification of safety precautions
 required permits
 communication requirements
 reference documents – vendor manuals, drawings, wiring diagrams etc

Co-ordination

 Encompasses the logistical efforts of assembling all necessary resources so that the job
is ready to be scheduled.
 Interfaces with:
o Purchasing
o Stores
o Operations
o Engineering
o Maintenance
 Reviewing all jobs ready to be executed and decides on priority.

Planners need to know how to estimate the work. A good planner is a good estimator!

Repair procedures save time when executing corrective work. Do you have any?

3. Scheduling (when to do the job!)

 Is the process whereby the labour, resources and support equipment are allocated /
appointed to specific jobs at a fixed time (often when operations can make any
associated equipment / system available).
 The schedule represents when the organisation expects the task to be carried out, and
when the resources are available.

4. Job execution and follow up of work in progress.

Is the right maintenance work being completed at the right time with the right resources?

Managing Backlog involves getting the planning and scheduling right.

To help the planning process it is normal to run with approximately 2 man weeks of Backlog per
technician. If you are constantly below that figure then you could be over-manned. If the
Backlog climbs to 4 man weeks then consider overtime working or bringing on additional
resources.

Trending the Backlog aids management decision making. There are several different ways to
measure Backlog. These are:
  Measuring Total Backlog
 Discipline Backlog (Backlog be mechanical, electrical, instrument discipline etc.)
 PM Backlog (the PM not completed in the month it was due), and
 Safety-critical Backlog

All are excellent performance indicators and give you an overall picture where work is building
up, scarce, or critical, allowing you to manage maintenance operations.