Applies to: Maximo 7.6, MAS 8, and MAS 9
What you are seeing
A compliance number that was steady drops, sometimes sharply, often between one reporting period and the next, with no obvious change in how hard the crew is working.
What is actually happening
Work through these in order. The first two catch most cases.
Someone changed the definition. The single most common cause of a sudden drop is not the work, it is the report. A changed compliance window, a tightened on-time rule, or a filter someone adjusted will move the number without anything happening on the floor. Rule this out first.
A backlog wave came due. If a large group of PMs all came due in the same period and the crew could not get to them, compliance drops for a real reason. Check whether the volume of due work spiked.
Availability or parts. Compliance often drops because the people or the parts were not there. Low craft availability, a key crew out, or a run of stockouts will stall PM completion even when everyone is trying. The way to prove this rather than guess is to track labor and craft availability and stockouts as their own KPIs in KPI Manager, turn on their history, and lay them next to your compliance trend. If the dip lines up with low availability or a stockout spike, you have found your cause and your evidence in one move.
A segment fell behind. A single site, craft, or shift can drag the whole number down. Break the drop out by segment before you conclude the program slipped everywhere.
How to fix it
Compare this period's report definition and window to last period's. Confirm nothing changed. Check whether due-work volume spiked. Pull craft availability and stockout history and overlay it on the compliance dip. Segment the number by site and craft to localize the drop.
Confirm how any waiting statuses are handled in the compliance report. That includes the standard Waiting on Approval, Waiting on Material, Waiting on Plant Condition, and Waiting to be Scheduled, plus any custom Awaiting Access or Awaiting Permit statuses your site added. A wave of work parked in a waiting status can read as a drop, or hide one, depending on how the report counts those statuses and the internal value each one maps to.
What to check after
Once you know the cause, say it plainly in the report. "Compliance fell four points because two craftspeople were out and a stockout held up six PMs" is a far better answer than a number with no story.
Watch out for
A drop that is really a definition change dressed up as a performance problem. If you chase crews over a number that moved because someone edited a report, you lose trust and fix nothing.
This fixes the immediate investigation. If you are building or rebuilding a compliance program that does not produce these surprises, the Maximo KPI Guide to PM Compliance covers the full process from window definition through KPI Manager setup, segmentation, and the drilldown from aggregate to root cause.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did my PM compliance suddenly drop?
Work through four causes in order. Someone changed the report definition or compliance window. A large group of PMs all came due in the same period. Craft availability dropped or stockouts stalled completions. Or a single site, craft, or shift fell behind and dragged the whole number down. The first two catch most cases.
How do I tell a real compliance drop from a report change?
Compare this period's report definition and compliance window to last period's. If the window was tightened, a filter was changed, or the on-time rule was adjusted, the number moved because the report changed, not because the work changed. Rule this out first before investigating the floor.
Can low labor availability or stockouts lower PM compliance?
Yes. Track craft availability and stockouts as their own KPIs in KPI Manager, turn on their history, and overlay them on the compliance trend. If the compliance dip lines up with low availability or a stockout spike, you have found both your cause and your evidence in one move.
Do waiting or Awaiting statuses affect PM compliance reporting?
They can. Work orders parked in waiting statuses (Waiting on Material, Waiting on Approval, Waiting on Plant Condition, and any custom Awaiting statuses your site added) may read as incomplete or be excluded depending on how the report counts those statuses and what internal value each one maps to. A wave of work in waiting status can show as a drop or hide one.
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