What is warranty and O&M information?
Warranty and O&M information is the manufacturer's and installer's documentation for an asset — operating instructions, maintenance requirements and the terms under which it is guaranteed.
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<img src="https://facilityoptix.co.uk/glossary/warranty/diagram.svg" alt="warranty and O&M information — diagram from FacilityOptix" width="880" height="620" loading="lazy">
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<a href="https://facilityoptix.co.uk/glossary/warranty">What is warranty and O&M information?</a> — diagram by
<a href="https://facilityoptix.co.uk">FacilityOptix</a>
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</figure>Warranties are frequently conditional on maintenance being carried out to a stated regime by an approved party. Maintaining an asset well but differently can void the cover it came with.
The documentation also states the manufacturer's maintenance requirements, which is one input to the PPM schedule alongside SFG20 and the statutory duties.
It arrives at handover in bulk and is rarely read, which is why the first anyone looks at it is usually when something has failed and the warranty position matters.
In practice
A failure six months after handover.
The FM team fixes it quickly, which is their instinct and their job. The repair invalidates a warranty nobody had been told existed.
O&M information and warranty terms arrive at handover and are frequently never read until they have already been breached.
Knowing what is under warranty is a maintenance decision, not a legal one.
What goes wrong in practice
- Maintenance carried out by a party the warranty does not accept.
- O&M information stored unindexed, so nobody can find the relevant volume.
- Warranty expiry dates untracked, so claims are made after they lapse.