Electronic maintenance systems have seen rapid advancement in recent years and are currently gaining increasing attention in global business and industry. At this point the question many people are asking is: Why use a computerised system for maintenance management, and what are the benefits?

Rather than seeing electronic systems as a revolutionary change in the way the maintenance process is carried out, a more accurate perspective is that computerised maintenance management is more of an evolution in methodology, and a good system will support and streamline the current process rather than replace it with a new one.

The last thing any maintenance manager wants is for workers to switch onto auto pilot and become complacent, which can easily occur with repetitive maintenance administrative tasks that need to be completed quickly. The result can be simply careless paperwork and in the worst case scenario a major accident. Therefore the optimum situation is one in which it’s possible to complete the repetitive paperwork aspect of the maintenance process in a minimal amount of time without compromising data accuracy and ultimately - safety. This is where an electronic system comes in, and in fact a good system will also strengthen the maintenance process with cross checks which guide users through the correct sequence of procedures and tasks. The result is that more time can be spent on high value activities with an improvement in control over maintenance issues.

Practical Issues

Speed of Use: Even the most functionally rich system, if tediously slow, will result in operators finding ways of bypassing the system. After all, a good system is about providing information in order to give more time to the consideration of the maintenance issues, Risk Assessment and precautions relating to the tasks at hand, not just to act as an executive safeguard to litigation. The measure should be at least equal if not quicker than manual methods.

Natural Use: Systems designed for rocket scientists are only good for rocket scientists. This does not mean that a bit of training is not required, but it does mean that the system should provide an intuitive and consistent interface.  The simulation of paper methods with data enhancing reflect natural processing rather than separate element screens. We call this WYSIWYG “what you see is what you get”.