The Professional Retail Store Maintenance Association (PRSM), the authority on retail, multi-site facilities management, recently surveyed the retail industry to better understand work order management practices also and their impact on retail store maintenance operations.

The PRSM Association Work Order Management Practices Benchmarking Report, completed in June, collected information from retailers and suppliers to understand how and which various work order metrics are captured and monitored regularly. The goal was to understand how metrics are used and identify potential benefits of industry standardization. Some key findings include:
 • 93 percent of retailers who use metrics gained from Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) to make decisions report improved vendor accountability and communications.
 • 82 percent of suppliers and 93 percent of retailers believe CMMS standards would benefit the industry.
 • Suppliers track IVR compliance rates, acceptance times, arrival and completion times, travel costs, customer complaints margins and net promoter scores.
 • 70 percent of suppliers use data insights to advise clients on ways to save money or time and more than half use data to drive down costs and evaluate technician performance.

More than one-half of multi-site retailers connect with their suppliers online through a third-party CMMS to manage work orders. One-fourth use an in-house CMMS, while 17 percent use a vendor/supplier, implemented CMMS. Seven percent of retailers still manage work orders manually using spreadsheets, emails, etc.

“Work order metrics can be used to drive down costs, identify efficiencies and set the stage for cross-functional analysis. Based upon this report we see opportunities to improve system integration, standardization and confidentiality as keys to the future in work order management,” said Patricia Dameron, Executive Director, PRSM Association.

Methodology: Approximately 37 percent of PRSM Association retail members participated in the survey. Results are representative of PRSM Association retail membership at a 95 percent confidence level and a 7.64 percent margin of error. Close to 10 percent of suppliers participated in the survey, resulting in a margin of error of 11 percent at a 95 percent confidence level. View more information about the report and the PRSM Association benchmarking program.

PRSM Association benchmarking for the retail industry was initiated in 2011 to provide facilities professionals with data and insight into many aspects of store maintenance. Industry surveys have provided valuable metrics on retail HVAC systems, janitorial products, fleet management, services and other topics. Future reports will focus on other key areas of retail facilities maintenance.