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How to Track Maintenance Costs

xAssets Planned Maintenance User Guide
How To

How to Track Maintenance Costs

This page explains how to track and report on the costs of planned and ad hoc maintenance using work orders in xAssets. Maintenance costs are recorded on individual work orders and can be aggregated per asset, per service type, or across the entire organisation.

Prerequisites

  • The Planned Maintenance module must be enabled.
  • Work orders must exist -- either generated automatically from Service Plans or created manually.
  • If you want to track costs by supplier, supplier records must be set up in xAssets.

Step 1: Record Costs on Work Orders

As maintenance work is completed, record the costs on the work order:

  1. Open the work order from Maintenance > Work Orders > Outstanding Generated Work Orders, or navigate to the specific asset and open it from the Asset Editor's Maintenance section.
  2. Edit the work order to record costs:
    • Labour costs -- the cost of internal technician time.
    • Parts costs -- the cost of replacement parts and materials.
    • Supplier costs -- the cost of external contractor or service provider charges.
    • Total cost -- xAssets may calculate this automatically from the component costs, depending on your configuration.
  3. Add any relevant notes describing the work performed.
  4. Save the work order.

Tip: Record costs as the work progresses, not only when the work order is closed. This gives you real-time visibility into maintenance spending.

Step 2: Complete and Close Work Orders

When the maintenance work is finished:

  1. Update the work order status to Complete.
  2. Record any final costs, clock readings (for consumption-based assets), and completion notes.
  3. Close the work order to finalize the record.

Closed work orders remain in the system as a permanent maintenance history for the asset.

Step 3: View Maintenance Costs per Asset

To see the total maintenance costs for a specific asset:

  1. Open the asset in the Asset Editor.
  2. Navigate to the Maintenance section in the left menu.
  3. Review the list of work orders (both completed and outstanding).
  4. The total maintenance cost for the asset is the sum of costs across all its completed work orders.

Step 4: Report on Maintenance Costs Across Assets

To analyse maintenance costs across multiple assets, locations, or service types:

  1. Use the built-in maintenance queries or create custom queries that include cost fields from the work order table.
  2. Run the query and use grouping or summarisation to aggregate costs by:
    • Asset -- total cost per asset over a time period.
    • Category -- total cost per asset category (e.g., all HVAC units, all vehicles).
    • Location -- total cost per location.
    • Service Process -- total cost per type of service.
    • Supplier -- total cost per external service provider.
  3. Export the results to CSV or use the built-in charting features for visual analysis.

Step 5: Set Up a Maintenance Cost Dashboard (Optional)

For ongoing cost visibility, create a dashboard that displays key maintenance cost metrics:

  1. Navigate to Admin > Dashboards and create or edit a dashboard.
  2. Add KPI or chart widgets that query maintenance cost data.
  3. Consider including:
    • Total maintenance spend (current period vs. previous period).
    • Top 10 most expensive assets to maintain.
    • Cost breakdown by service type.
    • Outstanding work orders with estimated costs.

See the Dashboards reference for details on creating dashboard widgets.

Tips

  • Track costs consistently. Establish a standard process for recording costs on every work order. Incomplete cost data undermines reporting accuracy.
  • Separate labour from parts costs. This helps identify whether high maintenance costs are driven by expensive parts, excessive labour time, or both.
  • Review high-cost assets regularly. Assets with disproportionately high maintenance costs may be candidates for replacement rather than continued repair.
  • Use Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) analysis. Combine maintenance costs with acquisition costs, depreciation, and other lifecycle costs for a complete picture. See the Fixed Asset Management guide for TCO capabilities.