--- title: "Self-assessment: how digital is your maintenance? | attendo" description: "Fifteen questions to find out how digital your maintenance operation really is: work orders, preventive plans, KPIs and tools, and what each answer tells you." url: "https://attendo.me/en/blog/maintenance-digitalization-self-assessment" lang: "en" --- # Self-assessment: how digital is your maintenance operation? Fifteen questions and five minutes to see where your maintenance operation stands on work orders, preventive plans, KPIs and tools, and where to start. You do not need any software to answer them. - By the attendo team - Published September 27, 2026 - 4 min read **In this article** 1. How to use it 2. Part 1. Work orders 3. Part 2. Preventive maintenance 4. Part 3. KPIs 5. Part 4. Tools 6. How to read the result 7. Three mistakes when taking it ## How to use it Answer with data from the last quarter, not with your impression. If you cannot check an answer in under ten minutes, count it as “no.” That missing data point is already a result. Do it with two people: whoever runs maintenance and whoever handles billing. They often give different answers to the same question, and that gap says a lot too. ## Part 1. Work orders 1. **How are work orders filled in today?** On paper, in a spreadsheet, in a homegrown app or in management software. If several coexist, note the most common one. 2. **On average, how many days pass between the job and the work order reaching the office?** More than two days usually means late invoicing and hours written down from memory. 3. **What share of work orders arrives incomplete?** Missing parts, hours, signature, or unreadable. If you do not know, count one week’s worth. 4. **Do you collect the customer’s signature and photos of the job?** Without them, any dispute about what was done is lost. ## Part 2. Preventive maintenance 5. **Is there a formal preventive plan, with a date and an owner for each inspection?** An intention is not a plan. 6. **What share of the plan gets done on time?** And the key question: do you know it or estimate it? If you estimate it, the answer is “we do not know.” 7. **What is the split between corrective and preventive work, in hours?** If corrective work rises every quarter, the plan is falling apart. 8. **Does a finding from an inspection become a work order with a date?** If it stays as a note, it is lost. ## Part 3. KPIs 9. **Do you calculate MTBF or MTTR for any equipment?** And if so, on a complete history? 10. **Do you know the maintenance cost per asset, including parts?** Without it, repair-or-replace is decided by gut feeling. 11. **Do you know the profitability of each customer or contract?** If you service third-party equipment, this is the question with the most surprises. ## Part 4. Tools 12. **How many different programs are involved between the service request and the invoice?** Every jump between programs is data typed twice. 13. **Have you tried to switch tools and given up?** If so, write down why. It is the first thing to solve next time. 14. **Can technicians work without coverage?** Basements, rooftops and walk-in coolers have no signal. 15. **What is the main barrier to going digital?** Budget, time, pushback from the team or nobody to lead it. The answer decides where to start. ## How to read the result Count the answers you can back with verified data and that do not point to a problem. | Score | What it means | Where to start | | --- | --- | --- | | 0 to 5 | The operation runs on people’s memory. | The work order: it should arrive the same day, complete and signed. | | 6 to 10 | There are records, but they are not used to decide. | The preventive plan and the corrective-to-preventive ratio. | | 11 to 15 | The data exists and gets used. | Cost per asset and profitability by customer. | Question 6 is usually the most revealing. If you do not know what share of your plan gets done, you already know where to start: [how to build a plan that gets done](https://attendo.me/en/blog/preventive-maintenance-plan-that-sticks). ## Three mistakes when taking it - **Answering with what should happen.** The test only works if it describes what actually happens. - **Trying to fix everything at once.** Pick one part and work on it for a quarter. - **Starting with the tool.** First decide which data you want to have. Then pick the program that gives it to you. Take the test again in six months with the same people. The comparison will tell you more than the first result. Last updated: September 27, 2026 Downloadable guide · Checklist Business software implementation checklist What you want done before, during and after switching business software, in lists you can tick off: the data to prepare, how to migrate without duplicates, how to train each role and what to measure in the first weeks. [Download the free guide](https://attendo.me/en/guides/software-implementation-checklist) ## How attendo handles it attendo brings the pieces of this test together in one place. Work orders are closed in the app with photos and a signature, even without coverage. Preventive plans create their own work orders, and maintenance KPIs stay up to date. - [attendo CMMS](https://attendo.me/en/cmms) - [attendo Field Service](https://attendo.me/en/field-service) - [attendo ROI](https://attendo.me/en/calculators/roi) ## More on maintenance ### The five maintenance KPIs that actually matter There are lists of thirty maintenance KPIs out there, and almost nobody uses thirty. These are five that change decisions, each with its trap, plus the ones you can usually drop. 4 min read Field service ### How to go digital with work orders without your team pushing back The problem with paper work orders is not the paper. It is that they arrive late, incomplete and without evidence, and nothing gets billed until they do. Many projects to digitize them fail, almost always for the same five reasons. 4 min read ### How to build a preventive maintenance plan that actually gets done The hard part of preventive maintenance is not designing the plan. It is keeping it alive past the first few months. When a plan is abandoned, it is rarely for lack of will. It was usually sized wrong from day one. 5 min read [All blog articles](https://attendo.me/en/blog) ## Shall we look at it with your operation? Tell us how you work today and we will show you attendo with your own data. If it is not a fit, we will say so. - With your operation, not a generic demo - A real person from our team replies - No cold calls afterwards Would you rather talk first? - Phone [+34 910 053 530](tel:+34910053530) - Email [sales@attendo.me](mailto:sales@attendo.me) - Monday to Thursday 9:30 AM to 6:30 PM and Friday 9:30 AM to 2:30 PM (Spain time)