Preventive Maintenance: How to Start with CMMS Software

By P-Soft Expert Team October 15, 2026 10 min read

To start preventive maintenance in a factory, first build a register of every machine, identify the critical ones, write a periodic service plan for each, and open and close every repair or service job with a work order. Preventive maintenance software (a CMMS) keeps these four things in one place so services are not forgotten and each machine’s history is not lost.

In many factories, maintenance means a technician who shows up with a toolbox once a machine has stopped. That works while there are only a few machines. As the shop floor grows, though, sudden stoppages wreck the production schedule, the spare part is missing from the store exactly when it is needed, and nobody knows for sure how many times a press or a lathe broke down last year, or why. This guide shows step by step how to move from that situation to planned maintenance.

What Is Preventive Maintenance and How Is It Different from Run-to-Failure?

There are three main approaches to equipment maintenance, and most factories use a mix of them:

Corrective (run-to-failure) maintenance: the machine is left alone while it runs and repaired after it breaks. For cheap, non-critical equipment this is sometimes sensible.
Preventive maintenance: services are carried out before failure, based on calendar time or usage, such as oil changes, belt inspections or periodic re-tightening.
Condition-based maintenance: service decisions are based on signs such as vibration, temperature or unusual noise. This usually needs monitoring tools and more expertise.

For a factory just getting started, preventive maintenance is a sensible entry point: it needs no special tools and depends above all on disciplined recording and follow-up.

Step 1: Build an Equipment Register

Without a complete list of equipment, no plan can be carried out. For every machine, record at least:

A unique code and name, and its location on the shop floor
Manufacturer, model and year of installation
The manufacturer’s manual and the services it recommends
Frequently used consumables and spare parts
The person responsible for maintenance and the main operators

Keep the coding simple and stable, for example the first letter of the production line plus a sequence number. A code that changes every few months breaks a machine’s history into pieces.

Step 2: Rank Your Critical Machines

Not every machine deserves a detailed service plan. Ask yourself: if this machine stops for a day, what happens? Is there a backup? Does its failure create a safety risk? Can its parts be found quickly? Based on the answers, put machines into three groups:

Group A: bottlenecks and machines with no backup; a full service plan and regular inspections.
Group B: important machines that do have a backup; the manufacturer’s main services.
Group C: low-importance equipment; run-to-failure is enough.

Starting with a handful of Group A machines is far more successful than trying to cover the whole shop floor in the first week.

Step 3: Write a Preventive Maintenance Schedule

A preventive maintenance plan tells you, for each machine, what to do, how often, and with which checklist. The example below is for a hypothetical hydraulic press and only shows the structure; take real values from the manufacturer’s manual and the experience of your own technicians:

Interval	Service task (hypothetical)	Done by
Daily	Check oil level and leaks, clean around the machine	Operator
Weekly	Inspect hoses and fittings, test the two-hand safety control	Technician
Monthly	Inspect filters, re-tighten main connections	Technician
Yearly	Change oil and filter as the manufacturer recommends, general overhaul check	Maintenance team

Two points to remember: hand simple daily tasks to the operator so technicians stay available for specialist work, and for machines whose usage varies, define the interval by running hours or output count, not just by date.

Step 4: Open and Close Every Job with a Work Order

The work order is the core document of maintenance, whether for a planned service or an emergency repair. A complete work order contains:

The machine, the type of job (periodic service or repair) and a description of the request
Priority and required date
The responsible technician
Parts and consumables drawn from the store
A description of the work done, with start and finish times
Sign-off on closing the job by a supervisor or operator

The golden rule is simple: no work without a work order, and no work order closed without a description of the work. That rule builds the history on which bigger decisions, such as replacing or rebuilding a machine, are later based.

Step 5: Log Breakdowns Accurately

Even the best preventive plan will not eliminate every breakdown. The real value of logging failures lies in later analysis. For every stoppage, write down when the machine stopped and restarted, what the symptom was, what the technician believed the root cause to be, and what action was taken. Once a few months of history accumulate, patterns reveal themselves. A bearing that keeps failing earlier than expected may have a lubrication or alignment problem rather than a part-quality problem.

Spare Parts: The Missing Link in Most Maintenance Programs

A service plan whose parts are not in stock stays on paper. Set a minimum stock level for the critical parts of each Group A machine, and always tie part withdrawals to a work order so you know which machine each part was used on. When the warehouse and maintenance share one system, a technician’s parts request follows the same approval and issue path as any other request, and real-time stock is visible.

Maintenance KPIs: How to Measure Your Program

A few common indicators help you see whether the maintenance program is working. Set the numeric target for each one yourself, based on where your factory is today:

Mean time between failures (MTBF): the higher it is, the more stable the machine.
Mean time to repair (MTTR): shows how quickly the maintenance team and parts supply respond.
On-time service completion: the share of scheduled services in the period that were done on time.
Maintenance backlog: the number of open work orders that are past their due date.
Planned vs emergency work ratio: as preventive maintenance takes hold, the share of emergency work should gradually fall.

An indicator means nothing without accurate data, so before worrying about the numbers, make sure every stoppage and every service is actually recorded.

Coordinating Maintenance with the Production Schedule

The biggest obstacle to carrying out services is usually production itself: the shop-floor supervisor will not release a machine for service because there is a rush order. The answer is to build services for bottleneck machines into the production plan in advance and place them in windows when the machine has no scheduled work. When the planner and the maintenance lead look at one shared picture of each machine’s busy and idle time, that tug-of-war shrinks considerably. Inspection results are a useful clue as well: a rise in out-of-tolerance parts on one machine is sometimes a sign it needs servicing. We cover that connection in our guide to production quality control.

CMMS Software: Spreadsheet, Standalone System or Integrated ERP?

A spreadsheet is not bad for starting with ten machines, but it has no automatic reminders, does not talk to the warehouse, and history scatters as files change. A standalone CMMS solves those problems but creates a new island: parts live in one system, the production plan in another. In a factory ERP, maintenance sits next to the warehouse, purchasing and planning.

One example is Data, P-Soft’s manufacturing ERP. Its Pro plan includes the machine register, repair work orders and preventive maintenance planning, and a technician’s parts request from the warehouse is recorded with approval from the direct manager and an issue slip. The Elite plan adds a view of each machine’s busy and idle time, which helps find the right window for a service. Role dashboards and overdue-work reports are included in all plans. Data is not a sensor-based condition monitoring tool; everything works from what users record. It is installed on the factory’s own server (see on-premise ERP), and its interface is in Persian. For a fuller view of its features, see the factory management software page.

Common Mistakes When Setting Up a Maintenance System

Defining service plans for every machine on day one, then abandoning them in month two
Copying the manufacturer’s manual blindly, ignoring real operating conditions
Closing work orders with “repaired”, which adds nothing to the history
Keeping the spare-parts store separate from the maintenance plan
Leaving operators out, even though they are the first to notice signs of failure

Frequently Asked Questions

Which machines should preventive maintenance start with?

Bottleneck machines with no backup: the ones whose stoppage halts the whole line.

What is a CMMS?

A computerized maintenance management system: software for recording equipment, service plans, work orders and repair history.

Should service intervals be based on dates or usage?

For machines with steady usage, dates are enough; if usage varies, running hours or output count is more accurate.

Which Data plan includes maintenance?

The machine register, repair work orders and preventive maintenance are available from the Pro plan; Elite adds a view of each machine’s busy and idle time.

Does Data monitor machine condition with sensors?

No. Maintenance in Data is based on users recording machines, plans and work orders.

To see a maintenance work order travel from request to close-out alongside the warehouse and production, explore Data manufacturing ERP and request a demo.