Know-How

How does ticket management work for maintenance?

Picture of <div class="post-authorline"> <span class="author-name">Vanessa Carolin Schröder</span>, <span class="author-role">Online Marketing Manager</span>

Vanessa Carolin Schröder, Online Marketing Manager

What is ticket management in maintenance?

Ticket management refers to the entire process by which reports from production—primarily malfunctions, maintenance requests, and inspection requests—are recorded, prioritized, assigned to a responsible person in maintenance, and tracked until completion. It refers to a structured approach to handling incoming reports, regardless of whether it is organized analogously, in tabular form, or digitally.

It is important to distinguish this from related terms: ticket management is the overarching process. A ticket system is the tool used to digitally map this process. Reporting, on the other hand, tends to describe the informal, non-standardized preliminary stages of this process in many companies—in other words, exactly what a comprehensive maintenance ticket management system is intended to replace.

What are typical reasons for opening tickets?

Not every ticket results from an acute malfunction. In practice, three categories can be distinguished:

This distinction forms the basis for how tickets are later prioritized and assigned in ticket management.

What is a trouble ticket?

A trouble ticket is created when a system or production machine indicates a malfunction or has suffered an acute failure.

Example: Milling machine C-03 is displaying an error and has come to a standstill.

As part of reactive maintenance, speed is of the essence at this point. If a malfunction persists for too long, it can impact production. The faster the ticket is logged, the faster technicians can address the repair and get the equipment back up and running.

What is a maintenance ticket?

A maintenance ticket is linked to a maintenance schedule and is triggered as soon as scheduled maintenance is due and needs to be performed.

Example: The gears on milling machine C-03 need to be greased.

Unlike reactive maintenance, maintenance tasks performed as part of preventive maintenance have lead times and occur at regular, pre-scheduled intervals to prevent machine downtime and prevent wear and tear.

What is an inspection ticket?

An inspection ticket usually originates from the maintenance plan as well. However, this does not involve maintenance, but rather the performance of mandatory safety inspections.

Example: An inspection is performed on milling machine C-03 to verify that the servo motor is functioning properly.

Since inspections are also scheduled at regular intervals and planned in advance, they are included in the maintenance plan. From there, they are automatically triggered when due and forwarded to administration for prioritization and assignment to the maintenance teams.

What steps are involved in ticket management?

To ensure that the tickets created are properly processed and closed, they go through the maintenance ticket management system, where various employees and departments collaborate. A single ticket goes through several steps from the production employee, through the maintenance manager, to the maintenance technician or engineer, until it is closed:

Reporting & Logging – A malfunction, maintenance need, or inspection request is identified, reported, and documented with relevant information (machine, type, description)
Prioritization – Classification based on the urgency and criticality of the affected equipment
Assignment – The ticket is assigned manually or automatically to a responsible technician or team
Conversion to a Work Order – The ticket is converted into a specific task with a deadline, required resources, and a clear workflow
Processing – The task is carried out, and the status is continuously updated
Closure & Documentation – The ticket is closed; the result and procedure remain on record for traceability

A structured process is therefore essential to create a clear overview and to ensure tracking and documentation of all activities performed.

How does a ticketing system support ticket management?

When reports are recorded verbally, on slips of paper, or in a single, well-maintained Excel list, additional time is lost between the occurrence of a malfunction and the start of resolution—for example, due to follow-up questions or delays in forwarding the information to the responsible technician. When evaluating maintenance performance, this can have a direct impact on the Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) as well as on the Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE).

A ticketing system primarily transforms this ad hoc communication into a traceable process. Instead of a verbal or handwritten report, a digital record is created containing all relevant information—such as the machine, type of malfunction, priority, and description—which is not only centrally accessible from that moment on and trackable until resolution, but can also be individually customized to the reports that actually arise.

Core features of a ticketing system

Essentially, a ticketing system performs four tasks that are often neglected in traditional maintenance ticket management due to time constraints or a lack of technical integration:

Structured data entry using required fields combined with free-text fields, ensuring that each report not only contains the same relevant information but can also be expanded
Prioritization based on urgency or the criticality of the affected system
Assignment to the responsible technician or the appropriate team
Ticket tracking via status – e.g., open, in progress, completed

Digital data collection methods instead of phone calls and paper forms

A digital ticketing system primarily changes where and how a report is created. Instead of picking up the phone or walking to the nearest computer in the office, employees log malfunctions directly at the scene, for example using a maintenance app on their smartphone or scanning a QR code on the machine.

Recording all the details of a malfunction takes time that is often not available in the day-to-day work routine. As a result, important information that is crucial for assessing and properly resolving the malfunction may be missing. In such situations, creating tickets via voice input provides efficient support and streamlines the entire maintenance ticket management process.

The assignment of responsibilities also becomes clearer through the digital recording of tickets: After the ticket has been created by the production employee, maintenance management prioritizes it based on the detailed fault report and assigns it to the responsible technician, who processes the ticket and documents their work. In this way, everyone has access to the same up-to-date information without having to first pass on information verbally or inquire about urgency levels.

Ticket management as part of a CMMS as a comprehensive solution

Instead of treating maintenance ticket management as a standalone task, a CMMS for maintenance integrates it directly into the rest of the maintenance processes. There, a ticket is not an isolated data record, but is linked from the very beginning to the information that is crucial for its actual processing. This includes the affected asset, its history, and any work orders already in progress.

Why a standalone ticketing system isn't enough

A ticketing system solves the problem of recording information. However, it does not fully capture the entire process. After a report is filed, a work order is typically created, for which several details must be researched:

For maintenance and plant managers, this means: A ticket system alone provides transparency when reporting issues, but does not create an end-to-end process chain. A CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management System) closes exactly this gap.

From ticket to work order

Within a CMMS, a ticket can be converted directly into a work order without having to re-enter information. Priority, location, affected machine, and fault description are automatically carried over. Responsibilities and deadlines can be easily added. What would require a manual transfer to a second system in a separate ticketing solution is here a seamless process. From the initial report to the completion of the corrective action, everything is documented in a single system.

Ticket in the context of machine history

Another difference becomes apparent as soon as a ticket is created. It is directly linked to the affected asset and its history. Technicians can view past malfunctions, repairs performed, open work orders, and stored instructions for the machine without first having to search for this information in another system. This makes a noticeable difference: Recurring faults can be diagnosed more quickly, and decisions regarding repair or replacement are based on more reliable information. A ticketing system that isn’t integrated with the rest of the maintenance software is structurally incapable of providing this context.

Ticket management does not have to be done exclusively manually. If the CMMS can be integrated with predictive maintenance via IoT or condition monitoring systems, tickets can also be generated automatically as soon as a piece of equipment deviates from its normal operating state. The notification is then already available before an employee has to enter it manually.

How do you implement ticket management in maintenance?

The transition to structured ticket management doesn’t have to start as a major IT project. For most SMEs, a step-by-step approach is sufficient—one that first maps out the existing process before digitizing it:

Map the current process – Who currently reports what, through which channels, and where is information lost in the process?
Establish reporting channels – A standardized process for all reports, rather than using the phone, paper notes, and email in parallel.
Define prioritization criteria – Which issues require immediate action, and which can be scheduled?
Select the right system – A CMMS with an integrated ticketing system prevents future interface issues with work orders and asset data.
Involve the team – Acceptance grows when employees see the direct benefits, such as shorter response times or fewer follow-up questions.

By tackling these steps one after another, you not only digitize ticket management itself but also lay the foundation for building other maintenance processes—such as maintenance planning or spare parts management—on the same data foundation.

Conclusion: Ticket management in maintenance

Ticket management in maintenance determines how quickly a trouble ticket is resolved. A ticket system structures this process: Reports are digitally recorded, prioritized, and assigned in a traceable manner, rather than ending up in back-and-forth communication and information loss due to inefficient reporting channels such as phone calls and paper notes.

However, ticket management only realizes its full potential when it is not used in isolation but is integrated into a CMMS. It is only by linking it to work orders, machine history, and spare parts data that a single report becomes a basis for decision-making, preventing maintenance teams from having to maintain the same information multiple times across different systems.

FAQ – Frequently asked questions about ticket management in maintenance

What is the difference between ticket management and a ticketing system?

Ticket management is the overarching process used to record, prioritize, assign, and track reports—regardless of whether it is conducted analog or digitally. A ticketing system is the tool used to digitally map this process.

What steps does a ticket go through until it is closed?

A ticket typically goes through six steps: reporting and recording, prioritization, assignment, conversion into a work order, processing, and closure and documentation.

How are ticket management and work orders related?

After prioritization and assignment, a ticket is converted into a work order. In a CMMS, this happens without the need for re-entry, as the priority, location, machine, and fault description are automatically carried over.

How do you implement ticket management in a company?

Implementation occurs in stages: document the current process, establish reporting channels, define the prioritization logic, select a suitable system, and involve the team.

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