Maintenance · Daily operations · 8 min read

Set up preventive maintenance plans and generate jobs

Create calendar and meter plans, generate the jobs that fall due, and see how the next due date moves.

Before you begin

• The assets exist. A meter plan needs a meter of the chosen type on each asset: see Meters and condition alerts.
• Creating or switching a plan needs maintenance.plan.edit. Generating jobs needs maintenance.workorder.create.

Create a plan

1. Open Maintenance > Planning > Preventive Maintenance.
2. Click New Plan.
3. Type the Plan Name, for example Quarterly chiller service. It is numbered MP-00001.
4. Choose the Maintenance Type (default Preventive).
5. Choose the Trigger: Time, Meter, Runtime, Distance, Cycles, Usage or Whichever Comes First.
6. For time triggers, set Every and the unit (Days, Weeks, Months, Years), for example 3 Months. The interval must be more than 0: 'Say how often: every how many days, weeks, months or years.' When a month is shorter, the date falls on its last day: 31 January plus 1 month is 28 or 29 February.
7. Set First Due. If empty, it is today plus the interval.
8. For meter triggers, choose the Meter Type and the meter Every, for example 500.
9. Set Lead Time (days), default 7: a calendar job is generated this many days before it is due.
10. Enter Estimated Labor Hours, Default Team and Default Technician.
11. Choose an Inspection Checklist if each job should also get an inspection.
12. Add the Assets, at least one.
13. Type the Checklist, one task per line.
14. Click Create.

Some plan details (priority, default parts, instructions) cannot be set on the screen yet.

Generate the due jobs

1. Open Planning > Preventive Maintenance. The card Due in the next 30 days shows plan, asset, due date, meter (current / due) and the work order if any.
2. Click Generate Due Work Orders.

Example: a plan is due on 15 October with a 7-day lead time. On 8 October, generation creates one job per asset: issue equals the plan name, planned start 15 October 08:00, planned finish start plus the estimated hours (1 hour if 0). With a default technician the job is Assigned, otherwise Scheduled. Each checklist line becomes a task, and the job keeps a snapshot of the plan.

Pressing the button again gives 'Nothing is due.' while a job from that plan is open for the asset.

Jobs from a plan skip the work-order approval setting: they go straight to Scheduled or Assigned.

Meter plans

Example: a plan every 500 hours on Operating Hours, meter at 12,000 h, so the next due meter is 12,500. A reading of 12,400 creates nothing, and the Due list shows 12,400 / 12,500 h. A reading of 12,510 creates the job at once. When the job is completed with a reading of 12,520, the next due meter is 13,020.

With Whichever Comes First, either side can create the job, and completing it moves both on.

Move the next date

The next due date counts from the real completion, not the planned date. A plan every 3 months due 15 October and completed 20 October is next due 20 January.

Other buttons on the plan record: Generate Next Now creates the next job even if not due. Deactivate and Activate switch the plan off or on. A plan on a Disposed or Inactive asset creates nothing for it.

Other plan lists

• Planning > Meter-Based Plans shows only meter-triggered plans.
• Planning > Condition-Based Plans shows Condition Based and Predictive plans plus the condition rules.
• Planning > Maintenance Calendar shows jobs, forecast due dates, inspections, calibrations, warranty ends, vendor visits and contract expiries on Day, Week or Month views. A range over six months is refused: 'Choose a range of up to six months.'

Good to know

• Changing a plan affects only new jobs. Jobs already generated keep the tasks they were made with.
• Plans cannot be edited on screen after creation, except Activate and Deactivate.
• The Preventive Due tile counts plans due within the Due Soon window. Deactivated plans may still be counted.