Free text on the work order

Information technology has changed the way we work, but not the internal workings of our minds. Another 10 or 100 generations will pass before the human brain evolves the capacity to describe complex situations by selecting items from drop down lists.

What exactly is the purpose of free text on the work order? A work order, particularly a corrective work order, contains an assemblage of facts that we classify in two groups:

1. What I did, and
2. What I found.

“What I did” is often well explained in the free text comments given a tradesman’s pride in a job well done. “What I found” facts, on the other hand, are sparse, incidental, less detailed, and considered less relevant. From the reliability analyst’s point of view, however, we seize the significance of both. “What I did” represents failure mode life beginnings. “What I found” generally describes failure mode life endings either by Failure or by Suspension ^[1]. This perspective offers untapped possibilities to our efforts to achieve reliability from the analysis of data.

Once we recognize free text’s dual purpose (of describing observation as well as action) a number of desirable changes in organizational behavior will occur spontaneously:

1. The work order free text itself will become simpler, more structured, and easier for the reliability engineer to work with.
2. The RCM knowledge base, taking advantage of the free text on work orders, will document failure modes more accurately. In particular, the RCM Effects will contain more of the relevant details covering what can happen when the failure mode occurs.
3. Users will want to display the RCM knowledge record simultaneously with the work order, to ensure that the work order is truly an instance of the the RCM failure mode.
4. At the same time they will want to make sure that the referenced RCM knowledge accurately describes the current situation. If not they will provide suggestions, on the spot, in the free text commentary, for improvement in the light of the experience gained in the execution of the current work order.
5. Technicians, planners, and supervisors will tend to refer to the RCM knowledge base not only when closing work orders but also when planning them.
6. As the RCM knowledge base grows, particularly in detail and accuracy of the Effects, less free text will be required on the actual work order. Why repeat information that is already well described in the referenced RCM record?
7. The reliability engineer will more easily verify work orders and their RCM linkages,
8. He will make improvements in the knowledge base by adding new records and by updating the Effects as new information appears in the work order free text commentary.
9. He will generate more and better samples for analysis.

LRCM provides a “feedback” mechanism to maximize the value of work order free text.

© 2011 – 2014, Murray Wiseman. All rights reserved.

1. ^[1]the renewal of an Object Part or Failure mode for a reason other than Failure↩