The Multidisciplinary Solution to the Maintenance Contracts Management Problem

In the context in which more and more industrial companies choose to resort to outsourced maintenance services, through contracting with specialized third-party entities, there is a need to know how to manage all maintenance contracts that are either to be concluded, in existence or about to expire, in order to ensure the desired result. Since the diversity of maintenance services is large and maintenance plays an extremely important role in maintaining production lines within appropriate parameters, it is recommended to adopt a system that facilitates the management of maintenance contracts. The paper aims to propose a maintenance contracts management model, given the lack of such a tool. To this end, through an analysis of the specialized literature, contracts management models from related fields were identified, namely: the contracts performance model, the contracts maturity model, the smart contracts model and the contracts optimization model. These models were analyzed comparatively and in regard to the main management functions. Through the focus group research method, the dimensions extracted from the models identified in the literature were investigated in order to select the dimensions and sub-dimensions relevant to maintenance contracts management. In this way, the paper develops a maintenance contracts management model based on the following dimensions: start-up management, team, communication and relationships, execution, smart component, performance monitoring and reporting, integration and completion.