01
Understand
Who this role is and what they own.
Reports to
Planning Leader / Maintenance Manager
Key relationships
- Supervisor — approves the backlog they plan and consumes the packs
- Scheduler — receives Ready-to-Schedule work
- Storeperson and Buyer — materials reservations and kitting
Top accountabilities
- Screen incoming work orders; return sub-standard intake to the Supervisor
- Site-inspect non-routine work before planning it
- Build scope from the Standard Job Plan library first; grow the library from every job
Deep dive · phase-by-phase detail
P1Identify WorkOpen ↓Close ↑
The Planner is not the intake gate — the Supervisor is — but they are the immediate customer of it. Every vague or duplicate work request that slips past intake costs the Planner a day of chasing and produces a weaker pack. The test of 'done well' here is simple: work reaching the Planner already has the right asset, a real symptom and a defensible priority.
What this role does
- Sit in on the daily work-request review at least weekly so the Supervisor hears planning's voice, not just planning's complaints
- Feed repeat descriptions and suspected bad actors to the Reliability Engineer with the Work Order numbers, not just anecdotes
- Reject requests missing equipment tag, symptom or evidence back to the Supervisor with a one-line reason, not a rewrite
- Route MOC, capital and shutdown-scope items out of the routine backlog on sight, before any planning effort is spent
- Screen the previous 24 h of new Work Orders in the CMMS every morning; use a saved filter, not memory
- Tag rejected requests with a standard reason code so the coaching data exists at the end of the quarter
Good looks like
- ≥ 95% of Work Orders reaching the Planner have a valid equipment tag and a real symptom description
- Rejection rate at the Planner is < 5% and trending down — intake is catching issues, not the Planner
- Repeat descriptions on the same asset are surfaced within one week to Reliability
Bad looks like
- Planner becomes the de-facto intake filter — the daily WR meeting has failed
- 'Pump broken' with no tag or symptom accepted into planning to keep the peace
- Duplicate Work Orders planned twice because no one screened the intake
P2Plan WorkOpen ↓Close ↑
This is the Planner's home phase. They own the pack end-to-end — scope, materials, labour, tools, safety, documents — so a competent tradesperson can pick it up cold and execute it safely and to standard. The single test of a good pack is that execution never has to leave the job to find information.
What this role does
- Walk down every non-routine job with the responsible Supervisor or trade before touching the pack
- Engage the Storeperson early on long-lead parts; engage Reliability on any repair vs replace call
- Build scope from the Standard Job Plan library first; capture new Standard Job Plans from novel jobs before the pack is closed
- Estimate labour and duration honestly against actuals, not padded and not aspirational
- Assemble the safety pack in full: JSA, isolation list, permits, drawings, torque specs, hold points
- Reserve exact part numbers against the Work Order in the CMMS — never free-text 'sundries' or 'as required'
- Attach drawings, ISOs and reference documents to the Work Order so they travel with the pack on mobile
Good looks like
- ≥ 80% of routine work executed from an Standard Job Plan; Standard Job Plan coverage is measured and trending up
- Planning estimate accuracy within ±20% of actual hours on repeat jobs
- Materials-on-site-at-start ≥ 95% for scheduled work
- Pack rework rate (packs returned by Supervisor before start) < 5%
Bad looks like
- Desk planning on unfamiliar scope — 'I'll ask the crew when they're on site'
- Free-text 'sundries' or 'as required' quantities in the BOM
- Planner also acting as Scheduler — neither role gets done well
- Estimates padded to hide poor pack quality — the schedule capacity model becomes fiction
P3Schedule WorkOpen ↓Close ↑
The Planner is a supplier to the Scheduler. Their job in this phase is to defend the definition of Ready-to-Schedule — no pack enters the candidate list that cannot genuinely start on the day. Half-ready work on the schedule is the single biggest killer of weekly compliance.
What this role does
- Attend the weekly scheduling meeting; be the one who says 'no, that's not ready' when it isn't
- Negotiate materials arrival dates directly with the Buyer for at-risk packs, don't leave it to email
- Walk the Ready-to-Schedule list Thursday afternoon and withdraw anything that has slipped since release
- Confirm materials, kitting and permits for every pack going onto next week's schedule
- Set Work Orders to Ready-to-Schedule in the CMMS only when the checklist (materials / permits / labour / documents) is fully green
Good looks like
- Candidate list only holds work that can genuinely start on the day
- Day-of failures caused by pack readiness < 5% of scheduled hours
- Schedule compliance sustainably > 85% because the input is real
Bad looks like
- 'It'll be here by Tuesday' packs on the schedule — day-of failures spike
- Ready-to-Schedule status set on hope, not on the checklist
- Planner leaves the meeting silent while known-broken packs get scheduled
P4Execute & RecordOpen ↓Close ↑
Execution is the live test of the pack. Every crew that opens a Planner's pack is either proving it works or writing next quarter's improvement list — and the Planner has to be close enough to hear it. This phase is where the Standard Job Plan library either gets better or gets stale.
What this role does
- Walk one live job per week at a hold point, with the Supervisor, and listen more than talk
- Debrief with the crew the same day on any pack that had a mid-job issue
- Capture feedback on the Work Order itself, not in your notebook — what was missing, what was over-scoped, what took longer
- Turn recurring feedback into concrete Standard Job Plan and BOM updates within the week, not the quarter
- Update the Standard Job Plan master in the library and re-attach it to the Work Order template so the next cycle inherits the fix
- Flag jobs where actual duration or materials diverged > 20% from plan for variance review in Phase 5
Good looks like
- Standard Job Plans get measurably better each cycle — the same job never re-fails the same way
- ≥ 50% of active Standard Job Plans updated within the last 12 months from real execution feedback
- Crews raise feedback because they trust it will land — not to vent
Bad looks like
- Feedback lives in the Supervisor's head — the library never improves
- Planner disappears once the pack is released — no execution presence, no learning loop
- Updates to the Standard Job Plan made on the Work Order copy only — the master template never changes
P5Close-out & AnalysisOpen ↓Close ↑
The Planner consumes the variance data to sharpen future estimates and scope. They do not close work orders on behalf of the crew — that erases accountability and corrupts history. Variance analysis is where the planning function earns its keep beyond building packs.
What this role does
- Take the weekly variance report to the Scheduler and Supervisor as a fact-based conversation, not a scorecard
- Reconcile planned vs actual labour, duration and materials every week
- Adjust Standard Job Plan estimates on repeat jobs with > 20% variance; document why the change was made and when
- Do not set Technically Complete on behalf of the crew — that is the Supervisor's quality gate
- Run a saved variance report in the CMMS weekly; log estimate revisions with a change reason
Good looks like
- Estimate accuracy trends to ±20% within two cycles on any repeat job
- The scheduling capacity model is trusted because the estimates feeding it are honest
- Every Standard Job Plan change carries a dated reason — future Planners can see why
Bad looks like
- Planner closes Work Orders to clear the queue — accountability and history are lost
- Variance data reviewed monthly at best — estimates never converge
- Standard Job Plan estimates edited silently — no audit trail of what changed or why
P6Metrics & Continuous ImprovementOpen ↓Close ↑
The continuous improvement loop dies at this phase if the Planner doesn't pick it up. Reliability decides what should change; the Planner is the person who makes the change real in the CMMS. If FMEA and RCM outputs never become PM and Standard Job Plan updates, none of the analysis matters.
What this role does
- Sit in on bad-actor reviews and FMEA / RCM workshops; bring the planning perspective on constructability, materials and duration
- Publish a monthly 'CI actions landed' list to Reliability so they see the loop closing
- Convert every approved strategy change into a concrete PM / Standard Job Plan change ticket with a real close date
- Retire superseded PMs and Standard Job Plans so the library stays trustworthy — deletions matter as much as additions
- Implement PM frequency and task changes in the CMMS; update the Standard Job Plan master and re-link affected Work Order templates
- Track a simple 'CI actions closed / open / overdue' metric on the planning KPI pack
Good looks like
- 100% of approved CI actions have a Planner-owned change ticket with a close date
- Superseded PMs are retired within a month of the strategy decision
- The PM / Standard Job Plan library reflects the current reliability strategy — nothing older than a stated review cycle
Bad looks like
- Strategy decisions never make it into the CMMS — the loop stays open forever
- Old PMs left active alongside their replacements — crews execute both and trust neither
- CI actions land on the Planner's backlog with no due date and no visibility
Good looks like
- ≥ 95% of Work Orders reaching the Planner have a valid equipment tag and a real symptom description
- Rejection rate at the Planner is < 5% and trending down — intake is catching issues, not the Planner
- Repeat descriptions on the same asset are surfaced within one week to Reliability
Bad looks like
- Planner becomes the de-facto intake filter — the daily WR meeting has failed
- 'Pump broken' with no tag or symptom accepted into planning to keep the peace
- Duplicate Work Orders planned twice because no one screened the intake
02
Learn
Courses, guides and reading to build the capability.
Academy modules
Structured pathway
Process guides
Phase deep-dives
Read & download
Free PDF guides
Competencies
Trade background plus planning training (Palmer's principles or equivalent)Strong CMMS proficiency — job planning, materials, Standard Job Plan libraryReading drawings, P&IDs and equipment manualsDiscipline to protect the +4-week horizon from reactive work
03
Implement
Tools you run daily, weekly, monthly.
Cadenced checklists
Tick items as you go. Progress is saved in your browser — reset any time.
Daily
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Weekly
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Monthly
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Quarterly
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Yearly
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04
Improve
Measure how you're doing and where to sharpen next.
Run an audit
KPIs to own
% work planned before scheduleStandard Job Plan library coverageEstimate accuracyMaterials on-site at startPack rework rate
If you see this, fix it
- Planning from the desk — no site inspection on non-routine work
- Free-text 'sundries' materials instead of reserved part numbers
- Also acting as Scheduler — neither role gets done well
- Closing work orders on behalf of the crew — accountability lost