The work flow system is the information system for the maintenance organization. Without the dedication to record all of the maintenance activities on a work order, the organization does not have the data to perform any meaningful analysis on its policies and practices, or more importantly on the equipment it is responsible for maintaining. In addition, without a work flow system, it is impossible to plan and schedule maintenance activities.

There have been many analogies for work flow systems over the years, but the most applicable one is the customer order for a product. This order is transferred to internal company documents, where the labor, materials and equipment resources are all planned and scheduled. Without the production planning and scheduling department, trying to fill multiple customer orders with changing priorities would be chaotic. The same process occurs when attempting to plan, schedule, and ultimately control maintenance activities. Without the control document (work order), the maintenance activities quickly devolve to chaos.

The following indicators monitor the work flow system. A second set of indicators monitors the subsequent planning and scheduling activities.