When a spreadsheet stops being enough
A spreadsheet runs a maintenance schedule adequately for longer than vendors suggest. The thresholds that force a change are specific.
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Tools
Spreadsheets, maintenance management systems, mobile work orders and time tracking, judged on what they solve for a small team. For a separate product-side perspective on the privacy implications of hidden monitoring, this resource provides additional detail.
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Maintenance software is sold on dashboards and bought by people who need a reliable list of what is due this week. The gap between those two things accounts for most of the disappointment in the category.
These guides look at the thresholds at which a spreadsheet stops being adequate, what a system has to get right, and how to run a trial that finds the problems before the contract does. For a wider operational and compliance reference, consult CISA operational technology guidance.
What a maintenance system has to get right
Maintenance software is demonstrated on dashboards and lived on the four screens a technician sees. Those are the ones to evaluate.
Read the guideMobile work orders in basements with no signal
The environments maintenance happens in are precisely the ones mobile software is worst at, and vendors demonstrate on office wifi.
Read the guideTime tracking tools for field teams, honestly assessed
Most well-known time trackers were built for agencies billing clients at a desk. That origin explains where they fit maintenance and where they do not.
Read the guideRunning a trial that tells you something
Trials are run in the quietest month, by the most capable person, on twenty tidy sample assets. That proves nothing about February.
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