What is maintenance history?
Maintenance history is the record of everything done to an asset — planned tasks, repairs, parts and certificates — held against the asset rather than against the date.
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<img src="https://facilityoptix.co.uk/glossary/maintenance-history/diagram.svg" alt="maintenance history — diagram from FacilityOptix" width="880" height="620" loading="lazy">
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<a href="https://facilityoptix.co.uk/glossary/maintenance-history">What is maintenance history?</a> — diagram by
<a href="https://facilityoptix.co.uk">FacilityOptix</a>
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</figure>Holding it against the asset is what makes it useful. A chronological log of jobs answers what happened last Tuesday; a history against an asset answers whether this pump keeps failing.
It is the evidence for several other things: the condition assessment, the life forecast, the warranty position, and whether a statutory duty has been met.
It survives contract changes only if it belongs to the client. History held in a contractor's own system leaves with them, which is a real loss at every retender.
In practice
An asset being considered for replacement.
The question is whether it has been reliable. The history is spread across two CAFM systems, a contractor's own records and a filing cabinet.
A history that cannot be assembled is a history that cannot inform a decision, so the decision gets made on impressions.
Continuity of records through contractor changes is worth more than any single contractor's reporting.
What goes wrong in practice
- Records held by job rather than by asset, so patterns are invisible.
- History held in the incumbent contractor's system and lost at handover.
- Parts fitted not recorded, so nobody knows what is actually in the asset.