Frustrated by your CMMS work order or PM system? Annoyed that you have to login and remember how to use the software that’s completely overkill for simple tasks? Sick of getting hung up managing and closing tickets? You are not alone.

Does this scenario sound familiar?

Go find a computer. Sign into your CMMS. Open a ticket. Assign it. Set the status. Print it out. Do the work. Go back to computer. Close ticket. Sign out.

That may make sense for big projects, but that’s a lot of steps for routine, straightforward work. Too many.

Unnecessary steps create more opportunities to get tripped up in the process, make you less efficient, and are simply frustrating. But you also recognize that it’s important for work to be documented, so you suck it up and deal with it.

Fortunately, there is a better way. You can ease the frustration of a system that is too complex and time consuming without a total rewrite of your maintenance program, but first, you have to determine what really belongs in your CMMS and what doesn’t.

Are you clogging up your work order system?

Work orders are for unplanned, unrepeated work, often tracked with job codes, hours, and various data. They are great for tracking one time tasks. Something broken need fixing? Make a work order. Installing complicated equipment? Make a work order.

On the other hand, some facility teams use work orders to schedule general maintenance or PMs. If you do, this could be part of your problem.

What’s the difference? Well, if you are regularly scheduling the same work order at a similar interval, you may just have a maintenance task on your hands, best handled as part of your normal rounds routine.

What about PMs?

Your CMMS probably has a PM module, they are effectively just work orders with a different name, and probably more complicated than they need to be. Many PMs simply don’t require that level of complexity.

Do all your PMs take multiple people or departments to complete? Multiple days? What about LOTO, job codes, materials tracking? If so, then yes it belongs in your CMMS PM program. If not, it’s probably routine maintenance and should be much easier to complete. You need a more appropriate tool.

In other cases routine maintenance has been added to PMs modules for ‘convenience,’ but it actually complicates the requirements for completing those tasks. Mixing simple routine tasks with more complicated PM protocols slows down the whole job.

How to handle Routine Maintenance

Basically, perfectly good CMMS systems are crammed full of routine maintenance that is inappropriate for the software. Before too long, PMs and work orders are piling up. Next thing you know, you’re playing catch up. It’s a tough cycle to break.

Inspections, taking meter readings, collecting data, and performing quick procedures like blowing down a boiler or rotating pumps are regular but extremely important routine maintenance tasks. They need to be recorded quickly and easily. They don’t belong in a work order or PM module of your CMMS. Get it out of there, put it somewhere useful!

Routine maintenance tasks belong in a system built specifically for them – like LogCheck – that’s truly optimized for routine maintenance, not a sub-module or afterthought.

Why consider a digital logbook like LogCheck?

It’s easy to think that adding another system is just one more thing to deal with. But moving routine maintenance tasks to LogCheck makes getting work done far simpler:

• You won’t need to stop and find a computer to know the status of your tasks.

• Paper isn’t required. No printing, no losing sheets. Simple.

• There is no complex interface to understand and get tripped up on. You need software that won’t slow you down.

• As a true mobile application specifically for managing routine tasks, it is incredibly easy to use.

• Removing routine tasks cleans up your work orders and PMs, increasing the value of  those systems and improving metrics.

• With the time you can save on routine maintenance, LogCheck pays for itself and more.

But isn’t implementing software a pain?

Implementation is a piece of cake with LogCheck. Work with a personal setup specialist to create a list of what you want to transfer into a digital logbook,and it will be ready to test in as little as a couple of days.

Ready to stop drowning in work orders for routine maintenance tasks? Put them where they really belong. 

Try LogCheck today!

It’s easy to see the benefit of digital records. What used to be recorded on paper or on a mental checklist becomes powerful data instantly available to your team.