← Equipment management glossary
Also called: maintenance history, equipment service record.
Two identical machines, bought the same day. One had been rebuilt twice and the other had not. The maintenance file was kept by model, so as far as the file was concerned they were the same machine.
A history kept at model level averages away exactly the differences you need. Everything useful depends on it being attached to the individual item.
What to record per event
Date
When the work was done, not when it was invoiced.
What was done
The work itself, and whether the underlying fault is resolved or merely worked around.
Who did it
In-house or a named supplier, which is who you go back to.
Cost
Without it you have a maintenance diary. With it you have the basis for a replacement decision.
the field most often skippedParts fitted
Plus the invoice or report attached, which is what a warranty claim asks for.
If the work followed a fault report, link the two — the sequence from symptom to resolution is more informative than either end alone.
Per item, not per model
Two identical machines bought on the same day diverge immediately, because one gets used harder, transported more roughly or operated less carefully. A history kept at model level averages away exactly the differences you need.
Everything useful in a service history depends on it being attached to the individual item — which in turn depends on that item having a unique identifier that survives its whole life.
Three decisions it enables
Repair or replace. An item whose cumulative repair spend is approaching replacement cost is arguing for itself, and the argument is only available if the spend was recorded per item.
Warranty and recourse. Manufacturers and insurers ask for evidence that prescribed servicing was carried out. Missing records routinely cost more than the servicing would have.
Resale. Documented maintenance raises what used equipment fetches, for the same reason it does with cars.
What goes wrong without it
Without a per-item service history, repair-or-replace decisions are made on impressions, warranty claims fail for lack of evidence, and the same recurring fault is fixed repeatedly without anyone noticing the pattern.
How Itefy handles it
Itefy keeps maintenance, repairs, issues and events on the item with costs and attached documents, so the whole history is on the record rather than in a folder. Read more.