Maintenance plans are part of the standard operating procedures. They allow all maintenance to be planned in advance and should include a complete list of components. They define the frequency and scope of preventative maintenance and are generally derived from the recommendations provided by the suppliers or manufacturers. A good plan should document every maintenance task and procedure in your data centre with clear goals and objectives.
By creating a plan, it allows these processes to be carried out under controlled circumstances where risks can be taken into account and mitigating actions can be put in place to reduce their impact. Although this may seem to distract from your daily responsibilities, a strong, articulated plan can actually refine your operational processes.
Well managed maintenance processes can extend the lifespan of components and, in certain cases, may enhance the performance of them as well. This can improve the availability of a particular service component and collecting performance data during maintenance allows a predictive approach to resolving problems using trends in the data. This can improve the overall reliability of both the component and the service by identifying problems before they occur.
It is important to remember that the data centre works as an integrated whole rather than segregated equipment pieces and it is also important to develop relationships with 3rd parties to ensure that the highest standards are applied and that any lessons learn can be used to improve the maintenance processes.
In a down economy, it is easy to put off maintenance but this can be a mistake which costs you more than money.