Work Management in CMMS: A Simple Guide for Maintenance Teams

If you’ve spent time in industrial maintenance whether it’s in a plywood mill, a mine, or on a workover rig you know one truth: unplanned work can be chaotic. When something breaks unexpectedly, you’re looking for parts, calling in extra help, and fighting the clock while production breathes down your neck, wondering when you’ll be done. Compare that to a well-planned job, where everything you need is ready, risks are managed, and the work is done efficiently. That’s the power of effective work management and a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS).

A CMMS isn’t mandatory, but it’s a powerful tool for implementing work management—if used correctly. It’s not a fix-all, but when used properly, a CMMS can add significant value to your organization.

What does “work management” mean in a CMMS? It’s more than just creating work orders. It’s the entire process of managing maintenance work from start to finish in an organized, efficient, and data-driven way. When properly utilized, it improves reliability, safety, and helps control costs across your organization.

In this article, we’ll break down what work management is, why it matters, and how the process works from identification to continuous improvement, using insights from heavy industry and manufacturing along the way.

What is Work Management in CMMS?

Work management within a CMMS is the process of planning, scheduling, executing, and closing out maintenance activities in a controlled and systematic way. It ensures the right work is completed at the optimal time, with the necessary resources, and with complete documentation for future reference.

Think of it as the orchestration of maintenance work. Instead of reacting to failures as they happen, work management orchestrates all maintenance activity—from preventive tasks to emergency repairs—reducing downtime and increasing efficiency.

Many people think that a CMMS is just about generating work orders. That’s a small part of it. The real power is in the process behind those work orders: how they are identified, planned, prioritized, scheduled, and tracked all the way to completion.

The Six Stages of Work Management

1. Identification
Every maintenance job starts with identifying a need. This could come from:
- An operator noticing a problem on the line
- A preventive maintenance (PM) schedule triggering a task
- Condition monitoring data showing early warning signs
- An inspection or safety audit finding an issue

In a CMMS, this is where the work order request is created. The better the details captured at this stage, the easier planning becomes later. For example, instead of “Motor bad,” a good work request might read “Dryer #1 – Circulation fan #4 – Motor showing vibration above alarm levels.” That’s something a planner can act on and work with.

In mining, we often relied on operators to catch problems early because if the jaw crusher failed unexpectedly, production could be down for an entire shift. The same principle applies in a plywood mill: catching issues early keeps production running.  

2. Planning
Planning answers the question: What will it take to do the job?
- Steps to complete the job (instructions, diagrams, lockout/tagout requirements).
- Parts and materials required
- Tools and equipment required
- Skills or certifications necessary (e.g., welding, electrical)
- Estimated time & manpower to complete

This is where job plans come in. A CMMS lets you store these plans so the next time the same job comes up, you’re not reinventing the wheel.

During my experience in mining, lacking a spare bearing or the appropriate puller often resulted in extended downtime or the need for improvised solutions to resume operations. Preparing these items in advance of a planned shutdown helps minimize delays. In a recently scheduled plywood dryer maintenance shutdown, all necessary equipment was organized beforehand, allowing the team to complete the tasks within the designated timeframe due to thorough preparation.

3. Scheduling
Scheduling takes planned work and fits it into the available resources and production windows. You prioritize based on:
- Asset criticality (what’s most important to production and safety)
- Urgency of the work
- Labor availability (Manpower and skills)
- Production schedules

A CMMS helps you build weekly schedules that balance preventive maintenance with corrective work. This is where you shift from reactive firefighting to proactive maintenance.

4. Work Execution
This is where the wrench meets the bolt, and the technicians perform the work. A CMMS supports execution by:
- Assigning jobs to the right people
- Providing access to job plans, safety procedures, and asset history
- Tracking actual labor hours, parts used, and any notes on the job

The key here is efficiency and accuracy. If technicians have clear instructions and everything they need before they start, the job goes faster and safer.

5. Completion & Closeout
Once the job is done, the details need to be documented:
- What work was performed
- How long it took (actual vs. estimated)
- Parts and materials used
- Failure codes and reason codes (What & Why?)

This data goes back into the CMMS for analysis. Skipping this step is like throwing away valuable lessons learned. Your CMMS holds critical data, but failure and reason codes are especially valuable for identifying trends and eliminating chronic issues.

6. Review & Continuous Improvement
Finally, work management isn’t complete without review. CMMS data allows you to track:
- Planned vs. unplanned work ratio
- Schedule compliance (did we do what we said we would do?)
- Mean Time to Repair (were we efficient doing the job?)
- Backlog size

This feedback loop helps identify patterns. Perhaps a certain asset needs frequent repairs. Or maybe you find jobs that always take twice as long as planned. Continuous improvement comes from analyzing the data and adjusting your process. Most of the time there is room for improvement, you just have to do the work!

Planned vs. Unplanned Work: The Big Difference

Planned work means you know the scope, have the parts and tools ready, and technicians have instructions before they start. Unplanned work means you’re in crisis mode, trying to figure everything out on the fly.

Here’s the difference in impact:
- Cost: Emergency work costs 3–5 times more than planned work due to overtime, expedited shipping, and production losses.
- Safety: Rushed jobs are higher-risk jobs.
- Downtime: Waiting on parts, manpower, or doing a work around burns valuable production hours.

Whether an unplanned crusher failure in a mining operation, or a motor burn out on a barker in a sawmill, unexpected maintenance can result in a day of lost production. Planned work through the CMMS helps prevent these scenarios.  

Why Work Management Matters

Good work management enhances the probability for:
- Improving asset reliability
- Reducing unplanned downtime
- Controlling maintenance costs
- Enhancing safety compliance
- Providing data for better decisions

In short, it can move maintenance teams from being reactive firefighters to strategic planners. 

Common Challenges—and How to Overcome Them

- Culture shift: Moving from reactive to proactive requires buy in. Start with small wins, like planning one high-impact job and showing the results.
- Data discipline: If technicians skip entering details, your CMMS becomes useless. Make it easy for them with the right tools and good training.
- Backlog management: Don’t let work requests pile up. Prioritize based on criticality and risk.

Work management isn’t just a process, it’s the foundation for a reliable, efficient, and safe operation. Whether you’re running a plywood mill, a gold mine, or an oilfield company, the principles are the same: Identify work early, plan it well, schedule smart, execute safely, and learn from the results.

Start small, especially if you are a small team. Take one area of your maintenance program and apply these steps. Over time, you’ll see fewer surprises, less chaos, and a more predictable operation. “Do the work”, and you'll see measurable improvements in reliability and efficiency. The time and effort you put in will reflect what you get out of these tools.