1. Planning and forecasting the maintenance load: the planning and forecasting of maintenance load deals with two important aspects of maintenance. The first aspect is the emphasis on planning the maintenance load which is a result of a planned maintenance program. The second aspect deals with forecasting the maintenance load. The functions of planning and forecasting (predicting) maintenance load are prerequisites for effective maintenance control and are dealt with in detail in Chapters 8 and 11 in this book. However, in this chapter it is important to mention that the best way of predicting the maintenance requirements is to have a large portion of the maintenance load planned. This necessitates an effective planned maintenance program that ensures at least 80% of the maintenance load is planned and it's preferable to have 90% of the load planned. Unplanned maintenance work is a major factor in lack of control unlike planned maintenance work that reduces uncertainties in planning the required resources and coordination to accomplish the maintenance work and hence assists in effective maintenance control.