Book companion resource · Worksheet

PM Triage Worksheet

Letter & A4. Print-ready. Free, no email required.

Two pages. Days 7 through 14 of the PM Compliance Recovery install. Classify every overdue PM by asset criticality, rank it, and clear the A-class list before you install kitting.

Companion to: Fix the System, Chapter 15. Who uses it: the maintenance planner, maintenance supervisor, and reliability engineer, working together. When: Week 2 of the PM Compliance Recovery install. Re-run every quarter thereafter, or any time PM compliance drifts below 85% for two consecutive periods. Why this exists: you cannot fix a PM program whose backlog you do not understand. The triage worksheet forces you to look at every overdue PM, classify it, and make a decision. It is painful. It is non-negotiable. A plant that runs the install without doing the triage will get a compliance bump from the install moves alone, then regress when the un-triaged overdues start aging into emergencies.

Step 1 — Pull the overdue list

From the CMMS, export every PM that is currently past its due date. Include:

Work order number
Asset tag
Asset description
PM description (or PM template code)
Original due date
Days overdue (today minus original due date)
Assigned technician (if assigned)

If your CMMS cannot export this list, build it manually. The triage cannot proceed without it.

Step 2 — Classify each asset by criticality

For every asset on the list, assign A / B / C:

A — Critical. Loss of this asset stops production plant-wide, affects safety, affects regulatory compliance, or carries a replacement cost above $50K.
B — Important. Loss of this asset affects a production line or a support system but not the whole plant. Replacement cost between $10K and $50K.
C — Standard. Shop-floor tools, low-consequence equipment, duplicate capacity available, replacement cost under $10K.

If you do not already have a criticality classification for an asset, do it now. Do not guess. Ask the operations manager for each ambiguous case.

Step 3 — Fill the triage table

Group the list by criticality. Sort within each group by days overdue (most overdue first).

A-Class overdues (CRITICAL — these are the emergency-waiting-to-happen list)

WO #	Asset	PM Description	Days Overdue	Parts Issue?	Planner	Triage Decision	Target Clear Date

Triage Decision column options:

EXECUTE — clear within 14 days, no exceptions
ESCALATE — parts / resource blocker requiring plant-manager attention
RECLASSIFY — PM is not actually required on this asset (document why)

B-Class overdues

WO #	Asset	PM Description	Days Overdue	Parts Issue?	Planner	Triage Decision	Target Clear Date

Triage Decision column options:

EXECUTE — clear within 30 days
RESCHEDULE — move into the next cycle with a revised due date (only if the asset's condition supports the deferral)
RECLASSIFY — PM not required on this asset

C-Class overdues

WO #	Asset	PM Description	Days Overdue	Triage Decision	Target Clear Date

Triage Decision column options:

EXECUTE — clear within 60 days
RESCHEDULE — move into next cycle
RECLASSIFY — PM not required; remove from the PM template
ABSORB — C-class overdues on duplicate-capacity equipment can often be absorbed by operating the duplicate and scheduling the deferred asset into the next natural window

Step 4 — Tally and set the clear-list

Class	Execute	Reschedule
A		n/a
B	n/a
C	n/a

Commitment: A-class cleared by ________ (target: day 42 of install). B-class cleared by ________ (target: day 56 of install). C-class managed — on a trajectory toward zero, not necessarily zero.

Step 5 — Identify the root-cause buckets

Across the whole overdue list, count how many were blocked by each cause. This feeds the Day 14-21 interviews and the install plan.

Cause	Count
Parts unavailable or wrong part number on WO
PM displaced by break-in work
Labor not scheduled (tech assignment missing or reassigned)
Procedure unclear, missing, or known-wrong
Asset not accessible (production schedule conflict, lockout conflict, permit conflict)
Deferred by supervisor or planner decision (document why for each)
Unknown — no cause captured on the WO

The largest bucket is where the install plan concentrates. For most plants, the largest bucket is parts. If your largest bucket is something else, your install plan looks different from Ray's.

Step 6 — Sign-off

Role	Name	Signature	Date
Planner (lead)
Maintenance supervisor
Reliability engineer
Plant manager (sign-off on A-class clear commitment)

What to avoid

Reclassifying too aggressively. "We don't need that PM anymore" is sometimes true. It is usually a way to make the number go down without doing the work. Require a written justification for every RECLASSIFY decision on A- and B-class.
Mixing triage with install. The triage is diagnosis. The install starts after triage. Do not begin kitting discipline while the overdue list is still un-sorted.
Skipping the root-cause count (Step 5). The install plan is shaped by Step 5. A plant that skips it defaults to the textbook install sequence and discovers at day 60 that their biggest cause was something the sequence does not address.
Using the triage as a punitive exercise. The overdues are the system's failure, not a technician's failure. Keep the language structural, not personal.

End of worksheet. File with the install plan from Day 21-30.

↑ All Fix the System resources