Reason for outage, or RFO codes, are very beneficial because they help you quickly identify the cause of equipment problems without reading through numerous comments on closed work orders.

I suggest the following in developing your codes- run a work order history report, by equipment type. With the data from these work orders and your experience, make a list of the reasons why the equipment may fail, and then develop corresponding codes. You may need to abbreviate, as you only have 8 characters for the code. Make the codes as simple as possible. Explain them to your maintenance staff and post them in locations where work orders are written.

It may take a while for the codes to be used. Be patient- your effort will pay off!