Why Improve Your Maintenance Processes

Improving your maintenance request process can transform everyday operations. Small changes to the process can have big impact, creating efficiencies and opening opportunities for improvement.

Improved visibility over works

Improving visibility over current works can create opportunities for improvement such as:

·     Fewer requests going missing

·     Reduced risk of duplicating work

·     More efficient work prioritisation

·     Ease of responding to request follow ups

Fewer requests going missing

Improved visibility over requests allows the team to see what requests have been received. This is in contrast to using email or other manual channels, where requests can be lost to individual inboxes or simply forgotten about before they become a work order.

Lower likelihood of duplicating work

When requests are received through multiple channels, there is scope for work to be done twice, wasting money and time for the facilities team and contractors. Through improving visibility, the team can see when a request has been received, and duplicate requests can be easily managed.

More efficient work prioritisation

When using multiple channels for maintenance requests, it can be that the louder the requester, the higher the work lands in the priority list. Working within a purely reactive mindset can also result in a habit of “last in, first served” as team members respond to requests as they come in, rather than properly triaging.

When visibility is improved, facilities managers and their team can more efficiently look at what work needs to be addressed. Having this centralised view allows work to be appropriately prioritised and assigned across the team and contractors.

Easy to respond to follow up emails

Facilities teams often find themselves frustrated by spending significant amounts of time each week responding to follow up emails from requesters. Responding to these requests often takes longer than it needs to, as team members have to follow up across the team to find the request and get a status update.

With improved visibility, team members can quickly see what requests are in progress and check their status. Having quick and easy access to that information means responding to follow up emails becomes a job that can be done in seconds.

Building better relationships

The request process is the primary point of interaction between the facilities team and facilities users. The better that interaction, the more opportunity there is to build better relationships with internal stakeholders and contractors.  

Rethinking the request process can help to build better relationships with facilities users by supporting:

·     An easier process for logging a request

·     Increased confidence that the request will be actioned

·     An improved feedback loop

Simplified request process

Limiting maintenance requests to a single channel allows for visibility over incoming, open, and completed requests. With a clear view of what work is in progress it becomes possible to effectively prioritise and allocate work.

For facilities users, this reduces confusion and anxiety around the request process, creating confidence their request has gone to the right place and is being actioned.

The easier it is for facilities users to submit requests in-situ, the more likely they’ll submit a request. Providing templates for facilities users helps to take the guesswork out of the request process, and ensures the facilities team receive improved, standardised requests.

If facilities users can simply snap a photo on their mobile phone and add it into a simple form directly from their mobile, they’re more likely to submit requests as needs arise.

Improved confidence in the request process

A lack of visibility for the requester can compound the problem of email “ping pong”. Unsure whether their request has been received, and without clear expectations of when to expect a resolution, requesters often feel compelled to follow up.  

Improving the request process can help build the confidence of requesters by better managing their expectations.

Improved feedback loop

Often, facilities teams can feel like they only ever get feedback from requesters in the form of complaints or demands. Introducing an active feedback loop via a simple feedback questionnaire can help teams to gain critical insights into the performance of the team and contractors.

Without an active feedback loop, facilities teams are likely to only receive feedback when expectations have not been met. This perpetuates negativity through the interactions of the facilities team and facilities users.

Creating an active feedback loop is an important part of the request process, allowing facilities teams to evaluate satisfaction more accurately.

When using a manual maintenance request process, the only way for the team to gain feedback is to manually prompt requesters for feedback, usually over email. Usually, these emails are unstructured, which makes it difficult to aggregate and analyse feedback.