###### Abstract  
Maintenance management is assuming an increasingly important role and garnering increased attention in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). However, the difficulty of collecting data and processing information is evident in such contexts. In the current literature, few maintenance maturity models focus on the maintenance information management practices field. Moreover, though the existing models allow for assessing the maturity level, they do not indicate or assist in identifying and defining actions to reach the highest level. Furthermore, these models are not suitable for any type of organisation, as the assessment areas defined are quite generic (high level). For this reason, this paper proposes an innovative model for assessing the maturity level of maintenance management information practices in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The model provides the organisation with the strengths and weaknesses of their maintenance information management practices. The proposed model allows a clear measure of the maturity of the maintenance information management practices in smaller industrial contexts and provides a customised improvement programme. The model proposed supports small and medium companies to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their maintenance management information infrastructure. The maturity model developed, in addition to being an assessment tool, provides and supports knowledge on the behaviours and practices for achieving world-class results.  
industrial maintenance; maintenance management information systems (MMIS); Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) 20221292821292821292212922129221292212922129221221221221222122212221222122221  
adoption, and they need an up-to-date and well-managed database. Several surveys [3; 4] demonstrated the existence of various conditions and barriers to Maintenance Management Information System (MMIS) adoption in SME companies (maturity level of the maintenance department and human, organisational and economic factors). Other studies [1; 5; 6; 7; 8; 9] demonstrated the gap between the existing system functionalities and the SMEs' specific needs, causing an unsuccessful implementation of them. The existing maintenance maturity models [10; 11; 12; 13] focus on generic assessment areas formulated from the literature, as maintenance management processes key measures that do not vary in importance depending on the business context; the information management assessment area is also not always deeply and properly considered.  
_Research questions_: How is it possible to identify the status of the maintenance management practices and the level of the quality of the maintenance data collected and managed in an SME? How could it be improved with an effort appropriate to the company's expertise?  
_Objectives_: This paper provides an innovative Maintenance Maturity Model for Assessing Information management practices for Small and Medium Enterprises (M\({}^{3}\)AIN4 SME). The approach allows an understanding of the strength and weakness points regarding maintenance information management practices (methodological, managerial, organisational and technological capabilities of the maintenance department) and to consequently identify the improvement and innovation actions to undertake.  
The paper is organised as follow: Section 2 reports the literature results concerning the relationship between SMEs, Information Technology (IT) and maintenance, and different aspects of MMISs in the industrial organization; Section 2 also includes an overview of the maintenance maturity model in order to highlight the gaps and challenges and the novelty of the model proposed in this work. Section 3 describes the M\({}^{3}\)AIN4 SME model and all the steps performed to develop the model. Finally, the main conclusions and future developments are presented in Section 4.