Maintenance Planning, Scheduling and Control

In many maintenance organisations planning means typing work orders and scheduling means reacting to the loudest request. Jobs reach the field without clear scope, parts are ordered after the job starts, operations release equipment late, and the weekly schedule is abandoned by Tuesday. Planners are pulled into expediting and breakdowns, so the planning function never builds the job library and history that would make the next job easier.

This programme follows one piece of work from the moment it is identified to the moment it is closed and analysed. It covers work identification and prioritisation, job planning and estimating, materials and kitting, weekly and daily scheduling with operations, execution and control, and the measures that show whether planning is working. It also shows how reliability, maintenance and MRO materials management depend on each other.

Built on recognised practice. The programme references EN 13306 maintenance terminology, EN 15341 maintenance key performance indicators, the best practice metrics published by the Society for Maintenance and Reliability Professionals (SMRP), the ISO 55000 asset management series and widely used planning and scheduling principles, such as separating planning from execution and scheduling from forecast labour capacity.

Decisions this programme improves. Which jobs to plan in detail and which to leave to the craft; how to set priority fairly; how much work to load into the weekly schedule; when a job is ready to schedule; which parts to stock and which to order per job; and how to respond when the schedule breaks.

How it is delivered. Twenty hours across five sessions, built around one running case: a plant maintenance team with a large backlog and low schedule compliance. Participants write job plans, build kits and bills of materials, load a weekly schedule against available hours, run a daily coordination meeting and analyse the week's results. Exercises use spreadsheet and CMMS-style templates.

In-house option. For organisations, the programme can be tailored to your own CMMS, work order process and backlog data, and delivered to planners, supervisors, stores and operations staff together so that the new process is agreed by everyone who has to follow it.

Who Should Attend

Maintenance planners and schedulers , including those new to the role

Maintenance supervisors and managers responsible for work execution

Plant engineers and operations coordinators who agree schedules with maintenance

Production and operations supervisors and managers

Storeroom, materials and purchasing staff supporting maintenance

Objectives

Explain how work management, reliability and MRO materials management are connected

Screen and prioritise work requests using an agreed priority system

Write job plans with scope, steps, crafts, hours, tools, parts, permits and safety requirements

Estimate job durations and build a reusable job plan library

Organise parts reservation, kitting and staging so work starts with everything ready

Build a weekly schedule loaded to available labour hours and agreed with operations

Run daily coordination to handle breakdowns without abandoning the schedule

Manage backlog size and ready backlog to keep workload balanced

Close out work orders with history that supports reliability analysis

Measure planning and scheduling performance and act on the results

Course Outline

Why Planning Matters: Work Management, Reliability and MRO

The cost of unplanned work and technician delays
Principles of planning and scheduling and the planner's role
How work management, reliability and materials management interact
Roles of planners, schedulers, supervisors, stores and operations
Work order types and the work management cycle

Identifying and Planning the Work

Work request quality and screening
Priority systems and emergency work rules
Job scoping and field visits
Job plans: steps, crafts, hours, tools, permits and safety
Estimating methods and the job plan library
Planning for preventive and condition-based maintenance tasks

Materials Readiness: Spare Parts, Kitting and Inventory Control

Bills of materials and parts identification
Stock and non-stock items, reservations and lead times
Kitting, staging and delivery to the job
Spare parts criticality and stocking decisions
Inventory control, cycle counts and obsolete stock
Working with purchasing and suppliers on MRO items

Scheduling and Controlling the Work

Labour capacity forecasting and schedule loading
Weekly scheduling meetings and agreement with operations
Daily scheduling and coordination
Handling breaks-in work and schedule changes
Backlog management and ready backlog
Planning shutdowns and larger jobs: scope freeze and critical path basics

Measuring and Improving Planning Performance

Work order close-out and feedback to planners
Schedule compliance, PM compliance, planned work percentage and backlog weeks
Wrench time and sources of delay
Using CMMS data, mobile work orders and dashboards
Continuous improvement of the planning process
Action plan: improving planning and scheduling in your department

Competencies

Work request screening and prioritisation

Job planning and estimating

Job plan library development

Parts reservation, kitting and staging

Spare parts and MRO inventory control

Weekly and daily maintenance scheduling

Backlog management

Work order close-out and history capture

Planning and scheduling performance measurement

Live Online

Access Elite Academy’s complete training portfolio live online. Organizations, distributed teams and professionals can join scheduled interactive sessions or request any program to be delivered online, subject to scheduling and delivery requirements. Elite Academy’s Live Online Training provides access to our complete portfolio of professional programs without linking availability to a physical destination. Organizations, multi-location teams and individual professionals can join scheduled instructor-led sessions or request any program from the Elite Academy portfolio for live online delivery, subject to scheduling and delivery requirements. The format preserves real-time interaction, expert guidance and practical learning while removing the need to travel. Browse the current Live Online schedule below or request your preferred program and dates.