A.C.: An electric current that periodically reverses direction and continuously changes in magnitude with time, as opposed to direct current (DC), which travels in only one direction.

AAR: Air-to-air recovery system.

AASHE: Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.

Accounting Procedure: The arrangement of all processes that discover, record, and summarize financial information to produce financial statements and reports as well as to provide internal control.

Accounts Receivable: Amount owed on an open account from private persons, firms, or corporations for goods and services furnished by an organization.

Accretion: The buildup of land along a beach or shore by deposits of waterborne or airborne sand, sediment, or other material.

Acquisition Adjustment: A premium paid for a physical asset over and above the original cost less depreciation.

Actuarial Analysis: An analysis that provides statistical failure data that determines the age-reliability characteristics of an asset or piece of equipment.

Adaptation/Renovation/Modernization: Any work done to alter an existing facility’s physical attributes or internal layout in order to make it more functional, adapt it for a new use, or ensure that it complies with current building codes. Includes improvement, addition, or expansion of facilities, and all costs incurred to meet shifting programmatic, technological, or regulatory requirements.

Add-On Work: Additional work added to a maintenance schedule after the scheduled cut-off time.

Adequate Facility/Structure/Space: A building, structure, or area that is adequate in reliability and completely capable of supporting its existing use without needing any modifications or repairs beyond already funded routine maintenance.

Adjust Factor: A process used to calculate the weekly multiplier. A task might be given an adjustment factor of 1.00 if it must be completed once every week. When the work is modified to be completed biweekly, the factor is changed to 0.50.

Adjustments: Minor repairs requiring the use of hand tools, no major parts, and a small amount of time.

Age-Reliability Characteristics: Standard failure patterns.

Agreement: A legally enforceable promise between two or among several persons.

Air-to-Air Recovery System (AAR): Allows the heat in the exhaust air to be used to heat the incoming ventilation air in winter. In summer the reverse happens, and the cool, dry exhaust air is used as a heat sink to absorb the heat and humidity from the incoming air.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): Requires public and private sector organizations to adhere to certain standards intended to remove barriers for persons with various types of disabilities.

Annual FM Report/Budget: Sometimes referred to as the budget or annual performance report. It is used to evaluate the operations and financial projections of facilities management.

Annual Maintenance Contract (AMC): A term used in the facilities management industry to describe the yearly contract between the FM company and its outside suppliers or subcontractors.

Application for Payment: Paperwork submitted to clients from contractors to receive payment for work done up to the current moment in the project timeline.

Applications Parts List (APL): A list of all parts that are essential to perform specific maintenance tasks.

Applications Programming Interface (API): An interface that allows unrelated software programs to communicate with one another.

Appraise: The process to determine a value estimate, especially one for a property.

Apprentice: A person who is learning a trade from a skilled employee.

Appropriation: A formal advance authorization of spending from defined resources that are available or anticipated to be available, with explicit constraints on the amount, use, and timing of the expenditure.

Approved Equal: Material, equipment, or a method that has been accepted by the client for use by the contractor and is considered an acceptable substitute for the material, equipment, or technique stated in the contract agreements.

Area Maintenance: The process for organizing maintenance operations in which the first-line maintenance leader is responsible for all maintenance tasks within a certain department, area, or location within the facility or facility complex.

Asphalt: A black substance mixed with small stones, sand, and similar aggregate that forms a hard surface when it dries and is commonly used as a surface for roads.

Asphalt Concrete: An asphalt and graded aggregate mixture frequently used as paving material over a prepared base; typically poured, shaped, and compacted while hot, though it can also be mixed and applied without heat. Also called blacktop.

Asset: Any resource that a business has invested in for long-term usage, requires close tracking, and has a monetary worth that can be calculated.

Asset Care: Also known as the maintenance process.

Asset Hierarchy: An organized index of all maintenance equipment, machines, and individual components and how they work together. The organized structure helps maintenance teams understand the relationship among assets.

Asset Lifecycle: The various stages involved in the management of an asset. It starts with the planning stages when the need for an asset is identified and continues through its useful life and eventual replacement or disposal.

Asset Management: The process of maintaining and tracking a company’s assets and effectively using those assets to gain value. Read full description.

Asset Management Standards (ISO 55000): The set of international standards for asset management. ISO 55001 defines the requirements for an integrated, effective management system for asset management. ISO 55002 provides guidance for the implementation of such a management system.

Asset Mapping: A comprehensive view of the data associated with each asset on a floor plan, schematic, site map, or any other image. Read full description.

Asset Performance Management (APM): The ability to capture and analyze historical and real-time operational and asset data to reduce costs and improve the reliability and availability of physical assets.

Asset Replacement Value: The value that is needed to replace the production capability of all combined assets in the facility.

Asset Reservation Requests: Gives users the ability to reserve assets or rooms for specific time frames.

Asset System: A process or system a company uses to manage all of its assets across the business.

Asset Tag: A unique number that identifies an asset or piece of equipment that an organization owns.

Asset Utilization: The amount of time that equipment is running.

Assets Register: A list of all the fixed assets and equipment that a facility has. It is typically tagged or numbered and audited.

Audit: Examination of documents, records, reports, systems, internal control, accounting and financial procedures, and other evidence to ascertain whether financial information is presented fairly in its entirety.

Autonomous Maintenance: Maintenance processes performed by operators, not dedicated technicians or management.

Availability: The duration of actual operation time that a particular asset or piece of equipment is being used for the intended task.

Available Hours: The total number of hours that an asset or piece of equipment is able to perform its specified functions.

Average Life: On average, how long an asset or piece of equipment will last before it fails. Also known as Mean Time Between Failures.

Backlog: A backup of work that needs to be completed.

Barcoding: An automatic data-capture technology that allows data to be collected rapidly and accurately from all aspects of a company’s operations, including manufacturing, inspection, transportation, and inventory elements.

Base Map: A map indicating the significant existing features of an area, such as streets, rivers, parks, and rail lines, that serves as the foundation for subsequent mapping and planning.

Benchmarking: A process of measuring the performance of a company’s products, services, or processes against those of another business considered to be the best in the industry.

Bid: A complete and properly signed proposal to do the work or designated portion thereof for the sums stipulated therein, supported with data called for by the bidding requirements.

Bill of Lading: A document issued by a carrier to a shipper, acknowledging that specified goods have been received on board as cargo for conveyance to a named place for delivery to the consignee. May not be used for hazardous or universal wastes.

Bill of Materials (BOM): A detailed list of parts, items, assemblies, and other materials required to create a product, as well as instructions required for gathering and using the required materials.

Blanket Purchase Order: A purchase arrangement in which a buyer contracts with a supplier to take delivery of an agreed-upon quantity of goods at a specified price over a set period of time.

Breakdown: Equipment that fails to operate is considered broken down and is unusable.

Breakdown Maintenance: Maintenance performed on equipment that has broken down and is no longer in operation.

Budget: An estimate of income and expenditure for a specific timeframe.

Building Automation System (BAS): Also known as a building management system (BMS), this serves as the central command post for a number of building systems, such as lighting, ventilation, heating and cooling, and electrical systems.

Building Commissioning: The process of ensuring that the owner’s functional needs are satisfied through the creation of a design intent agreement, review of construction documents, and verification through testing that all structural, mechanical, electrical, control, and environmental subsystems of a building are installed and will operate as designed.

Building Core and Service Area: The portion of a facility’s floor space that is required for its operation but is not intended for public use. This category includes lobbies, loading docks, utility tunnels, telephone and server rooms, mechanical and electrical rooms, restrooms, custodial rooms, and rooms used only for maintenance.

Building Envelope: The physical separator between the conditioned and unconditioned environment of a building, including resistance to air, water, heat, light, and noise transfer.

Building Information Modeling (BIM): Digital representations of actual physical locations or assets, utilized by a wide range of business and organization types including utility corporations, facilities management teams, and governmental bodies.

Calibrate: Verification of the accuracy of equipment and assurance of performance within tolerance.

Call-Out: When the client calls out the maintenance contractor or company during normal non-working hours to attend to a maintenance problem with a piece of equipment or another issue. Normally an emergency maintenance call.

Capital: Equipment with a useful life of longer than one year used in the production operations of a company. Enterprise assets necessitate asset control and depreciation under tax guidelines rather than being considered an expense.

Capital Expenditures (CAPEX): A one-time or ongoing expense that must be made for the replacement, improvement, or upgrade of assets.

Certified Maintenance & Reliability Professional (CMRP): A program designed for certifying the knowledge, skills, and abilities of maintenance, reliability, and physical asset management professionals.

Change Order: A document issued to the contractor for a change, deletion, or addition to the building’s design when reasons arise during construction to change that design.

Checklists: A form with a list of written tasks or procedures that a technician must follow to ensure that proper processes have been completed before a work order is closed out.

Clean Air Act (CAA): A set of federally enacted regulations under the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) controlling the amount of pollution to be tolerated from various sources.

Client Rep: The owner or client representative.

CMMS Industry Applications: CMMS can be used throughout any industry and is well suited to organizations that need to perform regular maintenance of equipment and assets and track inventories.

Code: Regulations that control all aspects of the building and maintenance process. Guidelines determine the materials used, the amount of materials, the safety of the structure, and similar factors.

Common Area Maintenance (CAM): The cost that businesses pay and share with tenants for the upkeep of all common or shared areas in a commercial building.

Compliance: To be in accordance with legislation, specification, and industry best practices.

Component: A part or element of an asset, usually removable in one piece and interchangeable with other standard components.

Computer-Aided Design (CAD): The use of a computer system to facilitate the design of any physical thing, be it a spare component for a motor, a custom house, or an entire office complex. Designs can be depicted in 2D or 3D.

Computer-Assisted Facilities Management (CAFM): A system that handles asset, space, movement, and maintenance management, making sure that spaces are configured to match organizational demands and that assets are tracked and maintained.

Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS): Software that stores data about the maintenance performed on equipment, machinery, and other assets. CMMS assists with the effective and efficient management of maintenance activities through the application of computer technology. Read full description.

Condition Monitoring: The process of monitoring a condition in machinery, such as vibration or temperature, in order to identify a significant change that is indicative of a developing fault.

Conditional Probability of Failure: The probability that a specific item, such as a piece of equipment, system, or material, will fail at a certain time interval.

Configuration: Specific parts or elements used to construct a machine.

Constant Air Volume (CAV): A kind of HVAC system that continuously disperses air at a set temperature. This kind of unit works best in a single temperature zone or a room with its own thermostat, such as a large conference room or warehouse.

Contingency: Alternative actions if the main action fails.

Contract Acceptance Sheet: A document completed by the appropriate contract supervisor and contractor showing approval and acknowledgment that the work has been completed.

Corrective Maintenance: Any maintenance task which is required to correct a failure that has occurred or is in the process of occurring.

Craftsperson: A skilled maintenance worker who has typically been formally trained in a particular craft or skill. Also known as a tradesperson or technician.

Criticality: The priority rank of a failure mode based on an analysis that identifies the asset’s potential risks that could impact operations.

Cycle-Count: An inventory process where counting and verification of stocked item quantities are continuously monitored based on a predetermined schedule or frequency.

Dashboard: A real-time visual performance representation of a process. Read full description.

Defect: A potential failure or other condition that will require maintenance attention at a future date, but is not currently preventing the equipment from functioning.

Deferred Maintenance: Postponement of maintenance repairs to infrastructure and assets that get delayed due to budget limitations and lack of funding.

Demand: Requests or orders for an item or service.

Design Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (DFMEA): A process used to recognize and evaluate potential system and product design failures.

Deterioration Rate: The pace at which an asset degrades over time under normal operating conditions.

Disaster Recovery Plans: Steps or instructions in writing that can be used to recover from a catastrophic event such as a fire or earthquake that affects how a firm uses a structure.

Discard Task: Replacing a specific part or component of a piece of equipment at regular time intervals, regardless of its performance quality.

Disposal Task: The removal and discarding of items or parts.

Document Management: Control of the lifecycle of documents and maintenance of regulatory compliance information. Read full description.

Downtime: The amount of time that equipment is not operating or out of service as a result of equipment failure.

Economic Life: The expected period of time that a business expects to be able to use an asset or piece of equipment before it becomes cheaper to replace the equipment rather than continue to maintain it.

Economic Order Quantity (EOQ): The ideal order quantity a company should purchase in order to minimize its inventory costs.

Emergency Maintenance: A type of reactive maintenance to help prevent a threat to lives, property, profitability, or viability, or to correct a failure that has a significant economic impact on an organization.

Employee Management & Time Tracking: Time tracking software that manages labor availability, work order time tracking, reporting, and costs on work orders. Read full description.

Engineering Work Order (EWO): A work order that enables an engineering investigation, engineering design activity, or engineering modification to an item of equipment.

Enterprise Asset Management (EAM): A type of maintenance software that collects and analyzes data for physical assets during all phases of the asset lifecycle, including the acquisition, maintenance, and disposal phases. Read full description.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP): A set of software applications that work together as a single unit or as an integrated suite to manage the financial, human resources, and order fulfillment aspects of a firm. SAP, Oracle, and PeopleSoft are examples.

Environmental Consequences: A failure that can have a potential impact on the environment.

Environmental Sustainability: The management of economic, environmental, and social obligations in order to achieve a targeted degree of sustainability performance.

Equipment Configuration: The process of sending information to a device that is used to adapt the equipment or software program to its environment.

Equipment Depreciation: A measurement of how much an asset or piece of equipment drops in value over a period of time.

Equipment Life: The life cycle stages of a piece of equipment. Understanding where each asset resides within the cycle helps avoid unplanned asset downtime.

Equipment Lifetime: The span of time over which the equipment is expected to fulfill its intended purpose.

Equipment Maintenance Strategies: The management and scheduling of routine maintenance tasks designed to ensure that an asset or piece of equipment continues to perform its intended functions.

Equipment Repair History: A detailed list of maintenance issues and costs for each asset or piece of equipment.

Equipment Use: A measurement of the use and performance of an asset or piece of equipment.

Equipment/Facility Resources: All of the equipment, facilities, and processes available for a company to perform efficiently.

Estimated Plant Replacement Value (PRV): The approximate cost to replace the existing assets with new assets to achieve the same production capability.

Estimating Index: The percentage of estimated labor hours required to complete a work order relative to the actual labor hours required to complete that work order.

Expected Useful Life: The useful lifetime of a construction system or component under typical working conditions.

Facility Condition Assessment: A physical audit of a facility and the fixed equipment inside and outside of it, with the final report giving an estimated life of the facility and the equipment.

Facility Condition Survey (FCA/S): The process of evaluating a facility’s state or condition in terms of its design, age, and similar factors. Typically it takes place at the beginning of an FM contract and on occasion throughout the duration of the contract or the asset’s life.

Facility Management: A discipline that encompasses multiple areas of practice to ensure functionality, comfort, safety, and efficiency of business environments. Read full description.

Facilities Maintenance Management System (FMMS): A set of processes required to ensure that the building systems perform as originally designed and constructed.

Fail-Safe: A design feature ensuring that when an asset or piece of equipment incurs a failure, nothing dangerous can happen.

Failure: Any event in which an asset or equipment cannot accomplish its intended purpose or task. It may also mean that the asset or equipment stopped functioning or is not meeting target expectations.

Failure Analysis: The process of collecting and analyzing data to determine the cause of a failure, with the objective of determining corrective actions.

Failure Cause: Defects in design, process, quality, or part application which are the underlying cause of a failure or which initiate a process that leads to failure.

Failure Code: A code that identifies the causes of equipment failure requiring corrective action. This code is entered against a work order in a CMMS, which lists the cause of failure.

Failure Consequences: The impact of a certain failure mode, primarily used in evaluating assets when using reliability-centered maintenance (RCM). Classifications can be hidden, safety, environmental, operational, or non-operational.

Failure Effect: Documents the consequence of the events that occur after a failure has occurred as a result of a specific failure code.

Failure Finding Interval (FFI): The frequency with which a failure-finding task is performed.

Failure Finding Task: A routine maintenance task, usually an inspection or testing task, designed to determine whether an asset or component has failed.

Failure Mode: A cause of a failure, or one possible way a system can fail.

Failure Modes and Effects Analysis: A method for determining equipment functions and functional failures, assessing the causes of failures and their effects, and prioritizing preventive maintenance tasks. This information is often used as the basis for preventive maintenance planning.

Failure Pattern: A description of how a failure is produced from a fault, identifying the components involved in the failure, the specific errors which allowed the failure to occur, and the effect of the failure on the system.

Failure Rate: The anticipated number of times that an asset or piece of equipment fails in a specific period of time.

Fault Tree Analysis (FTA): A graphical tool used to explore the causes of system-level failures.

FIFO/LIFO: Methods used in the cost of goods sold calculation. FIFO (First-In, First-Out) assumes the oldest products in a company’s inventory have been sold first and goes by those production costs. LIFO (Last-In, First-Out) assumes that the most recent products have been sold first and uses those costs instead.

Fill Rate: The percentage of orders that are shipped in full and on time and were met through currently available stock.

Fixed Asset: A long-term tangible asset or piece of equipment that a business owns and uses in its operations to generate income.

Fleet Management: Management of commercial vehicles. Read full description.

Floor Stock: The category of low-cost items that do not require inventory control.

Forward Scheduling: A scheduling approach in which businesses complete manufacturing their products as soon as possible before the due date.

Forward Workload: All backlog work, work that is due, or work predicted to become backlog work within a pre-specified future time frame.

Frictionless Workplace: An environment at work where duties, rules, guidelines, and structures do not require excessive effort, stress, or bottlenecks.

Function: The expectation of what an asset or piece of equipment should do, and the level of performance that the users of the equipment expect.

Functional Failure: The inability of an asset to fulfill one or more intended functions to an acceptable standard of performance set by the user.

Functional Test: A type of software testing that validates the software system against the functional requirements and specifications.

Gap Analysis: A technique for figuring out how to get from a current state to a desired future state. The term is frequently employed when estimating implementation costs.

General Contractors: A contractor that takes responsibility for the construction of a building. General contractors hire, monitor, and pay subcontractors who handle the work of various trades such as plumbing, electrical, and elevators.

Geocoding: A code representing the location of an object, such as an address, a census tract, or a postal code. Used to establish locations in GIS.

Geographic Information System (GIS): A system that provides a comprehensive view and the data associated with each asset on a floor plan, schematic, site map, or any other image. Read full description.

Go-Line: The location where mobile equipment which is available, but not being utilized, is parked.

Gross Area: The sum of floor areas within the outside faces of the exterior walls for all building levels which have floor surfaces.

Gross Lease: A lease in which all expenses related to maintaining the property are charged as part of the rental rather than separately. All running costs, taxes, and base-year maintenance incurred through ownership are typically covered by the landlord.

Gross Rent: The rental reserved or derived where all operating costs on the property, excluding cleaning and energy, are included in the rental.

Gross Rentable Area: A measure used for calculating tenancy areas in warehouses, industrial buildings, free-standing supermarkets, and showrooms.

Handhelds: Small mobile hand-held computing devices, having a display screen with a touch input or keyboard.

HAZOP: A hazard and operability analysis used to help identify equipment modifications and hazardous work conditions in order to avoid any significant safety or environmental incident as a result of equipment failure.

Hidden Failure: A failure that has already occurred and is not evident to the operating technician. Because it is hidden, no one would be aware until another failure occurs.

Hold for Disposition Stock: Material that is defective and held at a stock location waiting for removal, repair, or disposal.

Human-Centered Workplace Design: A design approach that focuses on the needs of the individual people working in the office.

HVAC: Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning.

Hybrid Workplace: A flexible structure that balances the day-to-day business performance and well-being of both on-site and remote employees with the agile, flexible needs of the business.

Idle Time: The period of time that an asset, piece of equipment, or employee is available but not doing anything productive.

Image Mapping: Enhanced interactive image mapping used to improve accuracy in tracking and mapping of assets and work orders. Read full description.

Indoor Air Quality (IAQ): The quality of air within a building. A number of things, such as gases or airborne particles, can have an impact on IAQ.

Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT): The interconnection of sensors, instruments, and other devices networked together with computers for industrial applications, including manufacturing and energy management.

Infant Mortality: The period of time early in an asset’s life when the failure rate is increasing after a few months of use.

Inherent Reliability: The level of reliability that is defined by the manufacturing design and process of equipment.

Inspection: Tasks that check the condition of equipment and determine what tools, materials, and labor are required to repair it.

Integrated Facilities Management (IFM): The process of operating property that consolidates outsourced tasks to as few vendors as possible. Tasks include maintenance, repairs, and general facility upkeep and improvements.

Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS): A set of five modules that collectively assist businesses in managing facility, maintenance, and real estate responsibilities: real estate and lease management, facilities management, maintenance management, capital project management, and environmental sustainability.

Interchangeable: Identical parts or components that have different configurations and numbers but can be substituted for another part without modification.

International Facility Management Association (IFMA): An international professional association for facility management specialists.

Interval-Based: Time-based preventive maintenance performed on equipment at defined intervals.

Inventory: A list of parts, tools, or materials, whether stocked or non-stocked, which can be replaced or installed when needed.

Inventory Accounting: The part of accounting dealing with tracking, assessing, and accounting for changes in inventoried assets.

Inventory Control: The process of maintaining and managing a company’s inventory levels.

Inventory Management: The process of tracking items from purchase through use. Read full description.

Inventory Turnover: The financial ratio showing how many times a company has sold and replaced inventory during a given period of time.

Inventory Value: The value of stocked inventory.

ISO 41001:2018: Standard guidelines for facility management published by the International Organization for Standardization.

Just-in-Time: An inventory management approach that reduces waste and increases efficiency by receiving inventory only as it is needed for production, not ahead of time.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Key measurements that enable performance against targets to be measured. Read full description.

Kitting: Organizing and assembling parts used in manufacturing products into bundles to deliver to the point of use.

Knuckle Buster: An adjustable wrench made of poor quality.

Lead Time: How long it takes to complete a process from beginning to end.

Leak Detection & Repair (LDAR): A work process designed to identify leaking equipment so that emissions can be reduced through repairs.

Lean Maintenance: An approach that helps identify and eliminate waste-related issues and deliver real bottom-line improvements when implemented and managed correctly.

Lean Manufacturing: Strategies to eliminate waste, optimize processes, cut costs, boost innovation, and reduce time to market.

Lean Six Sigma: A process improvement strategy designed to eliminate problems, remove waste and inefficiency, and improve working conditions to provide better customer satisfaction.

Lease Incentive: The discount or contribution offered to a lessee at the commencement of a lease and outside the lease terms.

Lease Management: The everyday tasks associated with operating a rented property.

Leaseback: A real estate transaction whereby one party sells the property to another who then leases it back to the original owner for the mutual advantage of each party.

Level of Repair Analysis (LORA): The process to determine if and when it is cost-effective to replace, repair, or discard an item.

Life Cycle: The process that manages the end-to-end stages of a company’s assets or equipment throughout its period of ownership, from acquisition through usage and finally removal.

Life Cycle Analysis (LCA): The methodology used to evaluate the environmental impact of a product through its life cycle, including the extraction and processing of raw materials, manufacturing, distribution, use, recycling, and final disposal.

Life Cycle Costing (LCC): The process of estimating how much money will be spent on an asset over the course of its useful life.

Lights Out Manufacturing: A manufacturing process where factories run a fully automated facility without any human intervention.

Lockout Tagout (LOTO): Safety practices and procedures that safeguard workers from hazardous energy releases. LOTO ensures that dangerous machines are properly shut off and are not able to unexpectedly release hazardous energy during maintenance activities.

Logistic Support Analysis (LSA): A methodology highlighting actions to define, analyze, and quantify logistics support requirements, and to influence design for supportability throughout the system lifecycle. Used to determine the cost-effectiveness of asset-based solutions.

Long-Term Lease: A lease agreement extending for 10 years or more.

Maintainability: The speed and ease with which any maintenance activity can be carried out to repair defects or determine the cause of a fault in a piece of equipment.

Maintenance: Any task carried out on an asset or piece of equipment to ensure that the asset continues to perform to its full capacity, or to repair the equipment.

Maintenance Backlog: A maintenance metric of required maintenance work that has not yet been completed.

Maintenance Dashboard: A real-time at-a-glance view of key performance indicators that are important to a particular function or business objective.

Maintenance Engineering: The discipline and prime responsibility of the qualified person to ensure that maintenance processes are effective, equipment is maintained, technical issues are investigated, and departmental budgets are maintained to achieve better maintainability, reliability, and availability of equipment.

Maintenance Inspection: The process of evaluating the condition of an asset or piece of equipment.

Maintenance Log: A detailed document that records all maintenance tasks that have been performed on an asset or piece of equipment.

Maintenance Planning: A defined process used to develop an action plan that includes all maintenance, repair, and construction work.

Maintenance Policy: A document, developed by the organization’s leadership team, articulating the target maintenance standard and formal commitment by the owners to that standard.

Maintenance Procedures: The checks, tests, inspections, or services that need to be performed on assets and equipment.

Maintenance Program: A document that describes the specific maintenance tasks and their frequency of completion necessary for the continued safe operation of the assets to which it applies.

Maintenance Remove and Replace: The removal and disposal of an existing item or component and the provision and installation of a new item or component in its place.

Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO): All the tasks and materials required to keep a company focused on its core mission, including tests and repairs as well as the supplies and equipment required to keep all the individual tasks, machines, and equipment operating.

Maintenance Schedule: The process of making sure that planned or routine maintenance is carried out.

Maintenance Shut-Down: A temporary closure of a building or department to perform maintenance.

Maintenance Strategy: A long-term plan covering all aspects of asset and equipment maintenance management to maximize equipment uptime and facility performance while balancing the associated resources and costs.

Maintenance Types: All necessary tasks for retaining an asset or piece of equipment in optimal condition.

• Condition Maintenance — Maintenance performed irregularly on an item that has failed to satisfy a predetermined condition standard.
• Corrective Maintenance (Reactive) — The actions performed, as a result of failure, to restore an item or asset to its optimal condition. Corrective maintenance may or may not be programmed.
• Deferred Maintenance (Type) — Maintenance that is due but which will be deferred because of a shortage of funds or unavailability of parts.
• Operational Maintenance — Maintenance carried out by a contractor during the course of an operational maintenance period specified in the contract.
• Periodic Maintenance (Type) — Planned routine maintenance of facilities, machinery, and equipment to ensure smooth operations and minimum breakdowns.
• Preventive Maintenance (Type) — The actions performed to retain an item or asset in its operational condition by providing systematic inspection, detection, and prevention of incipient failure.
• Predictive Maintenance (Type) — A type of condition-based maintenance where assets are monitored with sensor devices that provide data about the asset’s condition, used to predict when the asset will require maintenance.
• Prescriptive Maintenance (Type) — An asset maintenance strategy that uses machine technology to adjust operating conditions for desired outcomes, and to schedule and plan asset maintenance.
• Programmed Maintenance — Maintenance assigned to be carried out within a specific period, such as a budgeting period or during annual holidays.
• Routine Maintenance — Day-to-day maintenance activities such as replacement of light bulbs, cleaning of drains, and repairing leaks, which form part of the annual operating budget.
• Running Maintenance (Type) — Maintenance that can be carried out while the item continues in service.
• Shutdown Maintenance (Type) — Maintenance that can only be carried out when the item is taken out of service.
• Statutory Maintenance — Maintenance that must be carried out to meet statutory requirements.

Maintenance Troubleshooting: The process of identifying problems when the issue is not immediately obvious.

Major Vertical Penetrations: Structures with significant vertical penetrations, including stairs, elevator shafts, utility tunnels, flues, pipe shafts, vertical ducts, and their surrounding walls.

Materials Management: A method for planning, organizing, and controlling the activities that are related to the flow of materials in a company. Read full description.

Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF): A KPI that measures equipment reliability and the amount of time that elapses between one failure and the next.

Mean Time Between Repairs (MTBR): A KPI that defines the average time that equipment is operating between breakdowns or stoppages.

Mean Time to Repair (MTTR): A KPI that represents the average time required to troubleshoot and repair failed equipment and return it to normal operating conditions. MTTR gives organizations a more accurate analysis of how well their teams are responding to repairs and equipment problems.

Meter Readings: A CMMS capability that lets you track all meter readings without a person ever having to look at a dial. Read full description.

Metrics: The process of measuring performance and effectiveness. Often called key performance indicators (KPIs).

Mobile Maintenance Management: Capability that gives a maintenance team the ability to use mobile devices to access and manage applications from anywhere. Read full description.

Modification: For maintenance, all measures designed to improve product quality or speed.

Move Add Change (MAC): A process ensuring that businesses can manage and oversee the blending of their assets and personnel, with a proactive plan in place for relocations and movements during times of corporate transformation.

Multi-Use: A term used in reports to indicate buildings with two or more main functions, such as a single location housing both corporate headquarters and production or research facilities.

Net Operating Income (NOI): A formula used to evaluate the profitability of asset investments that provide revenue. NOI is the total revenue from the asset less any operational costs that are at least reasonably necessary.

No Scheduled Maintenance: A process in which corrective maintenance is the only maintenance performed, after the equipment has failed.

Non-Destructive Testing (NDT): Testing and inspection methods that allow inspectors to evaluate and collect data about a material, system, or component without permanently altering it.

Non-Operational Consequences: Consequences caused by a failure that might not directly affect the facility’s production, but still impacts the organization’s expenses.

Non-Repairable: Parts or components that are disposed of upon failure for technical or expense reasons.

Non-Routine Maintenance: Maintenance tasks that are not performed on a regular or pre-determined schedule.

Non-Stock Item: Parts or items that are not tracked or inventoried. Also known as spot buys.

Obsolescence: Decrease in value or use of an item that has been replaced by a higher-quality item.

Obsolete: Designation of an item for which there is no replacement.

Oil Analysis: Also called tribology analysis, the process of determining whether the oil system is clean and dry, whether the oil is fit for use, and whether wear is occurring inside the machine.

On-Condition Maintenance: An inspection or functional check that determines an item’s performance and may result in the disposal of an item before it fails in service.

On-Condition Task: An inspection process that is designed to detect potential failures.

On-Demand Facilities Management: The delivery of facilities management support and services in temporary and unusual circumstances.

On-Premise CMMS: Systems that require the software to be installed and configured on a company network, and that can only be accessed within the facility.

Operating Context: The external operational environment that influences asset operations.

Operating Expenditures (OPEX): Ongoing operations and maintenance expenditures.

Operating Hours: The period of time that a piece of equipment is actually operating.

Operation and Maintenance Manual: An in-depth document providing all the details necessary about a physical plant as well as individual pieces of equipment to help the maintenance staff keep everything running efficiently.

Operational Consequences: Failure effects that directly impact the production of the plant. These failures have a direct adverse impact on operational capability through lost production, increased production costs, poor product quality, or unsatisfactory customer service.

Operational Efficiency: A key metric that calculates overall equipment effectiveness.

Operations & Maintenance (O&M): The jobs or activities that take place in the field, considered the core of facilities management.

Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM): A term used to refer to the manufacturer or the manufacturer’s handbook for an operational asset, such as a generator or HVAC system.

Outsourcing: Hiring outside companies to complete work that the organization was doing in-house. Organizations have outsourced food service, housekeeping, and even the management of housing for a fee.

P-F Interval: The time between the initial potential failure condition and the time the actual asset or component has failed.

Part Numbers: Unique identifying numbers and letters that are assigned to each specific part configuration. Also called stock numbers or item numbers.

Percent Planned Work: A KPI that measures the total work in labor hours worked in a specific time period that has been planned in advance.

Periodic Maintenance: Maintenance activities performed on equipment based on set time intervals, repair history data, use, or elapsed time.

Physical Asset Management: Gaining maximum productivity and effectiveness from physical systems and equipment. Physical assets include production equipment, product stock, property, office furniture, and liquid funds.

Physical Plant: The main office whose purpose is to maintain buildings and systems and plan for future construction and renovation. Depending on organizational structure, the physical plant may be directly responsible for buildings and building systems, or buildings may have their own physical facilities unit.

Pick List: A document sent to warehouse pickers to fulfill a customer order.

Planned Maintenance (PM): Scheduled maintenance activities carried out according to a documented plan of tasks, skills, and resources. Read full description.

Planned Maintenance Optimization: A process for improving maintenance strategies based on existing preventive maintenance routines and available failure history.

Planned Maintenance Percentage (PMP): A percentage that documents the amount of maintenance time used toward planned maintenance tasks, measured against the total amount of maintenance hours in a given time period.

Plant Maintenance: A set of activities that are necessary to keep machinery, parts, and equipment in good operating condition to avoid production stoppage and loss.

Potential Failure: The point in the deterioration process at which it can be detected that a failure is occurring or is about to occur.

Precision Maintenance: Performing maintenance tasks so they are always done with consistency, accuracy, and in line with industry best practices.

Predictive Maintenance (PdM): A type of condition-based maintenance where assets and equipment are monitored with sensor devices that provide data about the asset’s condition, which is used to predict when the asset will require maintenance. Methods include vibration analysis, sonic testing, dye testing, infrared testing, thermal testing, and coolant analysis. Read full description.

Prescriptive Maintenance: An asset maintenance strategy that uses machine technology to adjust operating conditions for desired outcomes, and to schedule and plan asset maintenance.

Pressure Sensor: An instrument consisting of a pressure-sensitive element that senses and measures the actual pressure.

Preventive Maintenance (PM): Proactive maintenance that is regularly performed on a piece of equipment to lessen the likelihood of it failing. It is performed while the equipment is still in operation so that it does not break down unexpectedly. Read full description.

Primary Function: The major functionality required of an asset, building, or facility.

Prime Contractors: Contractors hired in addition to the general contractor by the owner of the building. The general contractor schedules work, but the prime contractor is paid by the owner.

Priority: The relative importance of a job in relation to other jobs and operational needs, and the time by which the job must be completed.

Proactive Maintenance: A maintenance strategy that includes planning corrective tasks that can prevent equipment failures.

Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA): A method used to estimate risk by computing real numbers to determine what can go wrong, how likely it is, and what the consequences are. PRA provides insights into the strengths and weaknesses of the design and operation of a plant.

Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA): Similar to probabilistic risk assessment, except focused solely on safety-related risks.

Process Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (PFMEA): An analytical tool used by businesses to locate and identify possible process failures.

Procurement: The process of acquiring people, services, supplies, facilities, materials, or equipment.

Production Efficiency: A level of production at which additional quantities cannot be produced without sacrificing the production of another product.

Project Evaluation & Review Technique (PERT) Chart: A graphical representation that breaks down the individual tasks of a project for analysis.

Protective Device: Devices and assets used to protect equipment, machinery, and components in order to reduce the consequences of equipment failure.

Provisioning: The process of determining the variations and quantities of repair parts, spares, special tools, and similar items that need to be put in stock to maintain equipment for specified periods of time.

Punch List: A list compiled at the end of a project that indicates the remaining items each contractor needs to complete, fix, or redo because the work does not meet the owner’s or architect’s approval.

Purchase Order: A document provided by a buyer to a seller that provides the details on products or services which the seller will provide.

Purchase Requisition: An authorized document used to purchase specific materials, parts, supplies, or equipment.

Quality Assurance (QA): The maintenance of a desired level of quality in a service or product, with a concentration on every stage of the process of delivery or production.

Quality Audit: The process for gathering objective evidence to determine whether audit criteria are being met.

Quality Control (QC): The process of maintaining standards in manufactured products by testing a sample of the output against the specification.

Quality Rate: A measure used in the calculation of overall equipment effectiveness, expressing the ratio between the yield produced and the total production quantity.

Ranking Index for Maintenance Expenditures (RIME): A maintenance priority method that combines a ranking of equipment or asset criticality with the repair work classification ranking to produce a priority index value.

Reaction Time / Response Time: The amount of time that elapses between receipt of an order and when it is responded to.

Reactive Maintenance: Repairing assets when equipment has already broken down, in order to restore the equipment to its normal operating condition. Also known as breakdown maintenance.

Ready Line: Used in relation to mobile equipment. Equipment that is available but not being used is considered parked on the ready line.

Real Estate Agility: A business model that lets real estate developers quickly adapt to change.

Real Estate Forecasting: The use of data to analyze real estate forecasts effectively and predict future real estate requirements.

Real Estate Projections: Projections that use growth and facility capacity data to project future occupancy rates.

Rebuild: Restoring an item to an acceptable condition in accordance with the original design.

Rebuild-Recondition: Complete dismantling and reconstruction of a product.

Redesign: A reliability-centered maintenance term meaning any one-off intervention to enhance the capability of an asset, job procedure, management system, or resource skills.

Redundancy: Duplicate parts that are joined functionally so that if one fails, the duplicate part will continue to function.

Refurbish: To clean, refine, recondition, and renovate parts to make them usable.

Regulatory Compliance Audit: A comprehensive review of an organization’s adherence to regulatory guidelines.

Reliability: The probability of an asset continuing to function as intended for a specific time period under specified conditions without failure.

Reliability Analysis: The process of identifying maintenance-significant assets and classifying them by the safety impact of a malfunction.

Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM): A process for determining the maintenance level needed for a company to operate effectively in terms of overall cost, production availability, spare parts, and other factors.

Reliability Engineering: A staff function whose prime responsibility is to ensure that maintenance processes are effective, that equipment is designed and modified to improve maintainability, that ongoing maintenance technical issues are investigated, and that the appropriate corrective actions and improvements are taken.

Reliability Performance Indicators (RPI): Key performance indicator metrics that relate to the measurement of asset reliability.

Remote Work: A virtual environment that allows personnel to perform tasks with coworkers from any location.

Renewable Energy: Energy that comes from a naturally renewable source.

Reorder Point (ROP): The minimum unit quantity a specific product reaches that triggers inventory replenishment.

Repair: Any task that restores an asset to an acceptable condition by the renewal, replacement, or mending of worn or damaged parts.

Repair Parts: Individual parts that are required for the maintenance or repair of equipment, systems, or spares.

Repairable Spare: Parts or items that are technically and economically repairable.

Replaceable Item: Equipment or an asset that is functionally interchangeable but physically different from the original part and requires an additional modification to make it work.

Reporting: CMMS tools that give the ability to assemble collected data and transform it into reports that are meaningful to an organization.

Request for Information (RFI): A document contractors use to ask architects and the project manager for further clarification on drawings or construction issues.

Request for Proposal (RFP): A document provided to vendors asking them to propose hardware and system software that will meet the requirements of a new system.

Restoration: Any activity that returns a pre-damaged asset that has not failed to a level of performance equal to or greater than that specified by its functions, but not greater than its original maximum capability.

Return on Assets (ROA): An indicator of how profitable a company is relative to its total assets. ROA gives a manager, investor, or analyst an idea of how efficient a company’s management is at using its assets to generate earnings.

Risk: The potential probability or threat of damage, injury, loss, or any other negative occurrence that may be avoided through preemptive action.

Root Cause Analysis: The process of discovering the root causes of problems in order to identify appropriate solutions.

Rotable: A term used in the maintenance of heavy mobile equipment for a component that, once failed, can be repeatedly restored to a working and serviceable condition.

Rough-In: Work done by contractors to get an area of a project ready for the permanent completion of a particular contractor’s work, such as electrical conduit installed before walls are finished.

Routine Maintenance Tasks: Tasks that are performed on a regular basis.

Run-to-Failure (RTF): A strategy in which assets are deliberately allowed to operate until they break down, at which point reactive maintenance is performed. There is no scheduled maintenance plan beyond replacement when the asset fails.

Running Maintenance: Maintenance that can be done while equipment is still operating.

SaaS: A way of delivering applications over the internet as a service. Instead of installing and maintaining software, users access it via the internet, avoiding complex software and hardware management.

Safety Consequences: A failure has safety consequences if it causes a loss of function or other damage that could hurt or kill someone.

Safety Stock: The level of additional stock maintained to mitigate the risk of stockouts caused by uncertainties in supply and demand.

Salvage: The saving or reuse of condemned, discarded, or abandoned materials, and of irreparable materials for reuse or scrapping.

Sandblasting: A technique used to clean or change the texture of a material. Sand is sprayed with high pressure on the item to obtain the necessary results. Water can be used in a similar manner. Sandblasting can remove stains, the effects of weathering, and paint.

Schedule Compliance: A KPI used to monitor and control maintenance. This metric measures the percentage of time that scheduled work orders are completed over a period of time.

Scheduled Discard Task: The replacement of specific parts or components of a piece of equipment at regular time intervals, regardless of the condition of the component at the time of its replacement.

Scheduled Maintenance: Pre-planned tasks performed on a maintenance schedule to keep assets in good operating condition.

Scheduled Operating Time: The percentage of time when an asset is scheduled to be in operation and is available to operate.

Scheduled Restoration Task: A maintenance task to completely overhaul a piece of machinery or equipment, performed on a predetermined schedule regardless of the condition of the equipment.

Scheduled Work Order: A work order that has been planned and included on a maintenance schedule.

Scoping: A planning process that outlines the breadth and details of the work and resources needed to get the job done.

Secondary Damage: Any additional damage to equipment above and beyond the initial failure mode.

Secondary Function: A reliability-centered maintenance term for functionality required of an asset that is usually not associated with the reason for acquiring the asset, but which the asset is now required to provide.

Security Audit: An audit of how the confidentiality, availability, and integrity of an organization’s information is assured.

Serial Number: Numbers or letters that uniquely identify an item.

Service Contract: A contract calling directly for a contractor’s time and effort rather than for a specific end product.

Service Level Agreement (SLA): A document specifying the level of service expected from a vendor, providing the metrics by which service is measured as well as remedies or penalties should agreed-on service levels not be achieved. It is a critical component of any technology vendor contract.

Service Request: Also known as a work request, this provides communication and management of services needed. Read full description.

Servicing: The replenishment of parts or consumables needed to keep an item in operating condition.

Shelf Life: The period of time during which an item can remain nonfunctioning in proper storage without significant deterioration.

Shop Stock: Items that are stored and accessible directly in the shop work area.

Shutdown: The period of time that equipment is out of service.

Shutdown Maintenance: Maintenance that can only be done while equipment is shut down.

Sick Building Syndrome (SBS): A situation in which the occupants of a building experience health issues or discomfort related to the time spent in the building.

Sign-Off: An approval that work has been successfully completed.

Signature Capture: A capability that allows different types of electronic sign-offs to be set up. Read full description.

Single Sign-On (SSO): An authentication method that allows users to log in with a single ID and password and have access to information for a specific timeframe without re-entering authentication factors. Read full description.

Single-Minute Exchange of Dies (SMED): A strategic process that allows teams to reduce the amount of time required to complete equipment changeovers.

Spare Parts Inventory: The strategic planning of having the right stock of critical parts available while keeping the cost of inventory parts and supplies at a minimum. Read full description.

Spot Buys: Unplanned purchases made up of small orders, often paid for immediately.

Standard Job: A work order stored in the CMMS that contains all the necessary information required to perform a maintenance task.

Standard Operating Procedures (SOP): A document that lays out the steps to do something in a clear and concise way. SOPs are used in almost every business function that requires a specific process.

Standby: Assets installed or available but not being used.

Standing Work Order: A work order that is left open with no end date, for the purpose of collecting labor hours, costs, or history for tasks for which it has been decided that individual work orders should not be closed.

Statistical Analysis: A mathematical science pertaining to the collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data.

Stock Items: Items that are carried in inventory.

Stock Keeping Unit (SKU): A warehouse inventory management term used to identify individual stocked items that are carried in inventory.

Stock Number: A number assigned by the stocking organization to each group of materials, which are then treated as identical within the supply system. Also called the part number, item number, or part identifier.

Stock-Out: An indication that all quantities of a part normally on hand are not presently available.

Stores Requisition: The authorized document provided by user departments approving the issuing of specific materials, parts, supplies, or equipment from the store or warehouse.

Strategic Facility Plan: A two- to five-year facility plan covering the complete portfolio of owned and leased space, based on the strategic goals of the company.

Strategic Facility Planning: The process by which a facility management organization envisions its future by linking its purpose to the strategy of the overall organization and then developing goals, objectives, and action plans to achieve that future.

Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA): A system used to monitor and control field devices at remote sites.

Supply: The process of procurement, storage, and distribution of materials.

Supply Chain Management: The centralized management of the flow of goods and services, including all processes that transform raw materials into the final product.

Support Equipment: Items necessary to maintain assets and systems operating under different environments, including special vehicles, power units, test equipment, and tools.

Terotechnology: The process that leverages management, engineering, and financial expertise to optimize installation, operation, and upkeep of assets and equipment.

Theory of Constraints: A process improvement methodology that highlights the importance of identifying what is holding back an objective in manufacturing and engaging a team to make the necessary changes.

Thermography: The process of monitoring the condition of equipment through the measurement and analysis of heat patterns.

Third-Party: A term used for an enterprise or company that gets its products manufactured by other manufacturing companies under its own brand name.

Throughput: A measurement of how much product a machine, line, unit, or plant produces within a given amount of time.

Throwaway Maintenance: Maintenance that is performed by discarding used parts rather than attempting to make repairs.

Time-Based Maintenance (Clock or Calendar Based): Routine maintenance tasks performed according to a timetable at a regular interval, regardless of the asset’s condition.

Tool Tracking: A process that allows operators to locate tools and see the hours a specific tool is available.

Total Asset Management: An integrated approach that incorporates reliability-centered maintenance, total productive maintenance, design for maintainability, design for reliability, value engineering, life cycle costing, probabilistic risk assessment, and other elements, with the final result being the optimum cost-benefit-risk asset solution to meet production requirements.

Total Cost of Ownership: The purchase price of an asset plus the costs of operation.

Total Productive Maintenance (TPM): A system of engaging employees at all levels of an organization to improve the efficiency and safety of production equipment.

Total Quality Management (TQM): A company-wide approach revolving around the principle that quality needs to be maintained in every aspect of a company’s operations.

Traceability: The ability to track every part and product throughout the manufacturing process, from when raw materials enter the factory to the minute the product is shipped.

Tradesperson: A skilled maintenance worker who has typically been formally trained through an apprenticeship program.

Tribology: The process of monitoring the condition, including wear, friction, and lubrication, of interacting surfaces in relative motion.

Triple Net Lease (NNN): A lease agreement in which the tenant agrees to pay their pro-rata share of all expenses associated with property maintenance, taxes, and insurance.

Troubleshooting: Identifying or isolating malfunctions of equipment and determining the corrective action required.

Turnaround Time: The time between a repairable item being removed from use and the time it is again available.

Turnover: A measurement of either the number of parts or the monetary value that evaluates how often a part is demanded versus the average number kept in inventory.

UL Standards: Underwriters Laboratories nationally recognized standards for safety.

Unique Identification (UID): Part of the compliance process requiring identification numbers established by the US Department of Defense.

Universal Maintenance Standards (UMS): Established procedures for performing various maintenance tasks such as cleaning, repairs, parts replacement, lubrication, and maintenance data collection.

Unplanned Maintenance: Maintenance done without planning or scheduling.

Unscheduled Maintenance: Maintenance work that has not been included on any approved maintenance schedule before its start.

Uptime: The duration in which a machine or production plant is actively in service and operating.

Usage-Based Maintenance: A type of meter-based preventive maintenance triggered by the actual utilization of the asset.

Useful Life: The maximum length of time over which an asset or piece of equipment will depreciate.

Utilization: The proportion of available time that an item of equipment is operating.

Validated Manufacturing: The process by which manufacturers document and prove that their production capabilities are consistently delivering quality products.

Value Engineering: A systematic approach to assessing and analyzing the user’s requirements of an asset and providing the necessary functions in a project at the lowest cost.

Value Stream: Identifies all the actions and steps that a product takes throughout a manufacturing process.

Variable Air Volume (VAV): An HVAC system that can create different airflows while maintaining a steady temperature. These systems are more prevalent in mid-sized and large structures with numerous thermal zones, such as individual offices.

Variables: The amount set aside in the SLA specifically for corrective maintenance, which requires the client’s or the client representative’s approval before the maintenance work is carried out.

Variance Analysis: An analysis of the causes for a difference between actual and planned behavior.

Vendor: An outside business used by the organization to obtain supplies and services, including furniture, maintenance, cleaning materials, equipment, raw materials, technology, and consulting.

Vendor Managed Inventory: An arrangement in which the buyer provides information to a vendor and the vendor takes responsibility for managing the inventory.

Vibration Analysis: The process of monitoring the condition of equipment and diagnosing faults through the measurement and analysis of vibration within that equipment.

Vibration Sensor: A device that measures the amount and frequency of vibration in a given machine, system, or piece of equipment.

Visitor Management: Any process that helps an organization keep track of the people that visit their location.

Visual Management: A form of communication used to give a snapshot of manufacturing operations.

Visual Quality Inspection: A method used in quality control that uses human vision, hearing, touch, and smell to identify quality defects throughout production.

Warehouse Automation: The software, hardware, people, and processes needed to automate warehouse tasks in order to increase efficiency and improve accuracy. Read full description.

Warehouse Logistics: All of the resources, processes, and programs required to keep assets and equipment moving in, around, and through a warehouse.

Warehouse Racking: The system of shelves, configurations, and location of the physical structure needed to store inventory.

Warranty: A guarantee from a manufacturer that an item will perform as specified for at least a specified time, or will be repaired or replaced at no cost to the user.

Waste: In manufacturing, anything that does not add value to a product, or cost without benefit.

Wear Out: The condition in which an asset is no longer in good condition due to deterioration from age, corrosion, temperature, or friction, which generally increases the failure rate of an asset over time.

Web-Based CMMS: CMMS software in which the client’s database is hosted on the vendor’s server and accessible via the internet.

Work Augmentation: A term used in manufacturing to describe improving how workers do their jobs.

Work Order: A formal document used by the maintenance function to manage maintenance tasks.

Work Order Management: A software system that helps facilities and maintenance managers effectively track and manage all work order tasks through a centralized system. Read full description.

Work Request: Also known as a service request, this provides communication and management of services needed. Read full description.

Workflow/Process Flow: A series of FM operations or actions that reduce bottlenecks and improve operational efficiency.

Workload: The number of labor hours needed to carry out a maintenance task, including all scheduled and unscheduled work and maintenance support of project work.

Workplace Safety: The process of ensuring the health and well-being of the workplace.

Wrench Time: A metric that shows how much time a maintenance technician spends with a tool in hand performing actual maintenance work. Wrench time does not include time spent getting tools and spare parts, reading the work order, traveling to the job location, breaks and idle time, giving instructions, or other non-maintenance tasks.

X-Ray Testing: A quality assurance testing method used in production to inspect and verify solder joints for accuracy and connectivity.

Yield: A KPI that measures the number of completed, non-defective units produced in a given amount of time.

Zero Defects: A philosophy that every process should be designed so that it is impossible to produce poor quality.

Zero Waste Manufacturing: An approach in which organizations aim to eliminate waste by reducing or reusing all the products and byproducts of their manufacturing and business operations.

Zone: A sub-area of a floor plan, referred to most frequently for heating and cooling.

Part of the eWorkOrders Learning Center