Backlog Management is an effective way for Planner/Schedulers to organize, quantify and define the non-emergency workload at the site. Some of the benefits of an effective Backlog Management include:
- No duplicate work orders.
- Less confusion in Planning and Execution of work.
- Improved prioritization and resource allocation, ensuring that the important work gets moved to the top and doesn't get buried among the low priorities.
There are 5 Characteristics of Work that must be taken into consideration when determining your backlog:
1. What status is the work in: NEW, IN PLANNING, In PROGRESS, OR READY FOR EXECUTION?
The Task Status IN PROGRESS is work that is not complete yet, so there is a chance that work could get rescheduled.
1.1. Within some Task Statuses, there are Task Status Reasons that can be used. For Example, IN PLANNING has Task Status Reasons of Kitted, Waiting on Materials, Waiting on Production, Waiting on Services, Scheduling Complete, and Planning Complete. IN PROGRESS contains the Task Status Reasons of Carryover and Rework Required (among others).
2. What is the priority? As assessed by Maintenance, by the Production or by the Customer? What is the Task/Work Order priority?
3. What resources are needed? Any special skills like Mechanical or Electrical? Does the work have to be performed by a certain Shift or with a specific Crew?
4. How long has the ticket been in? The age of the work is used to make decisions on cancellations or changes in priority.
5. How long will it take to complete the work? This helps to estimate labor requirements.
There are two types of Backlog: Ready Backlog and Total Backlog
1. Ready Backlog = Open Work Orders that have been fully planned.
- As a best practice, you should have 2-4 weeks of available work including your PMs.
- Keep in mind that the PM generator runs 28 days in advance, so at any time, you should be able to see at least one month's worth of MPRO activity, plus anything that has been Planned in the Reactive and Other Work Order Types.
2. Total Backlog = ALL Open Work Orders.
As a best practice, you should have 4-6 weeks of available work.
What is the formula for determining the correct amount of backlog?
# of Techs x Scheduled Hours x # of Weeks
Ready Backlog: 10 Tech x 40 hours/week x 2-4 Weeks = 800-1600 Hours of Ready Backlog
Total Backlog: 10 Techs x 40 hours/week x 4-6 weeks = 1600-2400 Hours of Total Backlog