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Wake County describes Maximo work‑order process, priorities and planned real‑time feedback
Summary
Maintenance staff outlined how the district uses the Maximo asset and work‑order system to manage 57,000 assets and thousands of preventive and corrective work orders, described a 1–5 priority scale and said the district is developing real‑time feedback and customer surveys.
Wake County Schools maintenance leadership presented the district’s facilities work‑order life cycle, its asset inventory and reporting practices to the board on June 18, describing the Maximo computerized maintenance management system the district has used since 2002.
Senior Director of Maintenance Operations Nate Slavic told the board that Maximo tracks more than 57,000 assets across more than 200 facilities and that the system processes preventive, routine and corrective maintenance items in order to provide historical records, support preventive work and prioritize emergency responses. Slavic said the system helps route requests, coordinate scheduling and record technician time, materials used and actions taken.
Staff described three work‑order types: preventive maintenance (scheduled tasks such as filter changes), routine maintenance (recurring but not time‑critical tasks) and corrective maintenance (repairs for broken equipment and compliance items flagged during inspections). The district also uses a five‑point priority scale: Priority 5 for immediate safety/operational emergencies; Priority 4 for issues that can escalate quickly; Priority 3 for general maintenance; Priority 2 for non‑hazardous corrective work that does not interfere with instruction; and Priority 1 for aesthetic improvements.
Slavic described the system’s life cycle: requests enter through an online service request dashboard, by phone to customer service (24/7 coverage), or by maintenance staff, then orders are reviewed, triaged and assigned to regional supervisors and planning teams who schedule work based on urgency, aging metrics, proximity and available labor hours. Field technicians record hours, materials and actions in Maximo; if conditions differ they escalate work to specialized shops or contractors.
Communication tools staff detailed include automated confirmation emails at request submission and a completion notice when a work order is closed, weekly maintenance plans shared with site contacts, monthly open‑service‑request summaries emailed to principals, monthly scored customer service inspections and an annual facility fact sheet summarizing work‑order volume and comparative statistics. Slavic said the department is developing real‑time feedback for emergency orders and customer satisfaction surveys to measure user experience.
Board members asked about manual triage versus automation, how granular the district tracks preventive tasks, how the volume of recorded work orders is calculated (including many preventive tasks), and analytics to detect repair patterns and staffing efficiencies. Slavic said much of the triage work is manual at present, regional supervisors review and assign work for their clusters, and the department is exploring key performance indicators and analytics while balancing staff workload and data quality.
Board members raised concerns about backlog, closed or canceled work orders that reconcile to older tickets, and communication to schools about completed work; maintenance staff said they will pursue training for schools and regional staff on how work orders are recorded and how automated messages should be interpreted so schools better understand status changes. Staff also acknowledged that preventive maintenance adds significant volume — the district logs many small tasks (for example, filter changes or individual asset inspections) that together contribute to a large annual total of tracked work activity.
Ending: The maintenance team said Maximo underpins its preventive and corrective operations and that planned enhancements — real‑time emergency updates and customer surveys — aim to improve transparency and customer satisfaction.
