Computer aided facility management system

A computer aided facility management system is often bought because the backlog feels out of control, and the useful first step is to find out whether it actually is. Enter the open work orders, the average hours each takes, the technicians available and their productive hours a week, and how many new work orders arrive each week. The sheet returns the hours sitting in the backlog, the team's weekly capacity, the hours of new work arriving, whether the backlog is growing or shrinking each week, the technicians needed just to hold it steady, and the number needed to hold it and clear it within a year. On the worked example the answer is uncomfortable and clear: 340 work orders at 2.5 hours is 850 hours, three technicians at 30 productive hours give 90 a week, 112.5 hours arrive, and the backlog grows by 22.5 hours every week. No amount of prioritising fixes that; it needs 3.75 technicians to stand still.

Growing or shrinking is the only question that matters first

If new work exceeds capacity, the backlog is not a scheduling problem and it will not respond to better software or a push. The sheet reports the weekly growth directly so the conversation starts in the right place.

Productive hours, not employed hours

Travel, briefing, parts collection and paperwork are real and they are not hours on the tools. Using employed hours makes capacity look about a third larger than it is, which is how a team that is under water looks merely disorganised.

Two different staffing answers

Holding the backlog steady takes 3.75 technicians on the worked example; holding it and clearing it inside a year takes 4.29. Those are different asks with different costs, and being explicit about which you are requesting makes it a decision rather than a plea.