Building a maintenance plan

The plan builder is where a maintenance plan is created and changed. Start it with New plan on the register, or Edit on a plan’s own screen.

How the builder works

The plan exists from the end of step one. Saving the first step creates the plan as a draft. Every later step saves its own part of the plan when you press its save button, so you can leave and come back without losing anything.
A draft generates nothing. Nothing is raised until the plan is activated at the last step, so a half-built plan is harmless.
The step list on the left shows where you are. A green tick means the step has something in it. A number in amber means you have passed the step without entering anything — hover it to see Nothing entered here yet. The later steps cannot be opened until step one has been saved.
Back returns to the previous step. Skip this step moves on without saving — fine for optional steps, since each step that you did save is already saved.
Errors appear at the top of the step, beside what caused them. A step that is short of something it needs says so beside its save button and stays disabled until you fix it.

The header shows the plan’s number and name once it exists, its status (with generates nothing yet until it is live), and Step N of M with the current step’s name.

Which steps a plan has

A plan whose work order type raises an inspection has six steps: Basic Information, Scope, Trigger, Scheduling, Preview and Activate. The inspection template is the whole checklist, so the task list, requirements and safety steps do not apply. A plan that raises work orders has up to twelve. Four of them depend on which modules your organisation uses, and are left out when the module is switched off:

Step	Shown when your organisation uses
Parts	Inventory
Tools	Tools
Skills	Workforce
Vendors	Vendors and contracts

Hiding a step does not delete what it held. If a module is switched off and on again, the plans that named those requirements still have them.

Permissions

To	You need
Save step one on a new plan	Create maintenance plans
Save any step on an existing plan	Edit maintenance plans
Save a section or checklist to the library	Add checklists to the library
Activate the plan	Activate maintenance plans and publish revisions

Step 1: Basic information

Basic information on a plan that raises an inspection

Field	What it means	Notes
Name	What a planner will recognise in a list of two hundred, such as Pump P-102 — quarterly service.	Required. Leading and trailing spaces are removed. Until it has a name the button says A plan needs a name before it can be saved.
Type	The work order type each round raises — preventive, lubrication, inspection and so on. This decides what the plan produces and which steps it has.	Defaults to Preventive. Only types marked Planned work and active are offered, because a plan raising an unplanned type would count every round as a breakdown in your reliability figures. When the plan names a site, only the types offered at that site are listed. Types are set up under work order settings; if none is marked as planned, the field says so.
Inspection	The inspection template each round raises.	Shown when the chosen type raises an inspection, and then required — without one the plan cannot be activated, because there would be nothing for a round to raise. Only active templates with a published version are offered, shown as name — vN, with (statutory) on statutory ones. Each round raises the template as it is published at that moment. Also shown, as optional, on an older plan that pairs a template with an ordinary type, so the pairing can be read and removed.
Estimated duration	Minutes one round takes.	A whole number above zero. Anything else — 1.5, zero — holds the save button, with The estimated duration is a whole number of minutes above zero, such as 90. Used by capacity planning; a plan without it does not appear there. For a plan that raises an inspection it is not asked — it is taken from the inspection, which carries its own estimate.
Site	Where the plan is filed.	Optional; Any site leaves it spanning sites. It decides who can see the plan and how the site switcher filters it — not what it covers. What the plan covers is the next step.
Description	What the plan is for, in your own words.	Optional. Shown at the top of the plan’s overview.

Create draft and continue (on a new plan) or Save and continue saves the step and moves on.

Step 2: Scope

The scope is what the plan covers. A round is raised for every asset (or place) it reaches. A plan is scoped one way, chosen first under Scope this plan by: Asset category, Asset, Location or Asset type. Only the section for that choice is shown, with how many you have selected.

Scope by	Section	What it means	Notes
Asset category	Asset categories	Tick a category to cover every asset in it and in every category beneath it, including assets added later.	Chosen from Choose asset categories, a dropdown that lists the categories as a tree, with branches you can fold, each with how many assets that branch holds. Ticking a category shows everything under it ticked too; the plan is given the category alone, which already covers them. Unticking a category beneath one you chose takes the parent out and leaves its other children ticked. When the plan is filed under a site, only categories that site uses are offered. Categories are managed under asset settings.
Asset	Named assets	Tick individual assets.	Use Filter assets to search by number or name. Each shows its category and site. Retired assets are not offered — the schedule never raises a round for one.
Location	Places	Rounds against a building or area rather than a machine — fire doors, emergency lighting, a housekeeping walk.	Choose a site, or an area at any level inside one, in Add a place and press Add. Remove takes one off. Naming a building covers every area in it.
Asset type	Asset types	Choose from Choose asset types to cover every asset of that type, whichever category it is filed under, including ones added later.	Each type shows how many assets it has. For a service that belongs to the kind of machine — every split unit, filters monthly — rather than to wherever such machines are filed.

A category or an asset type in scope is usually the better choice for a fleet: commission another pump of that type and it comes into scope without anyone remembering to add it. Changing the choice once something is selected asks first — “Scope by … instead? What is chosen under … comes out of this plan.” — with Switch and Cancel. A plan saved before scopes were chosen one way may hold more than one kind; the step then warns that saving keeps only the kind chosen. A plan with nothing in scope cannot be activated, and the step warns you.

Step 3: Trigger

A plan with a meter trigger and a calendar trigger

What makes this plan fall due. Press Add a trigger to add one (it starts as a calendar trigger every 90 days); the bin icon removes one. Without any trigger the plan can never fall due, so activation refuses it.

Fields on every trigger

Field	What it means	Notes
Combination	How several triggers combine: Any of them (or) — the plan falls due when the first fires, the usual choice — or All of them (and) — only when every one has fired.	Shown only when the plan has more than one trigger. Defaults to Any.
Kind	Calendar, Meter or runtime, Condition, or A date on the asset.	Changing the kind changes the fields below.
What this one is called	A name for the trigger, such as Quarterly service. It is how the plan and its rounds refer to it, and what a corrected import spreadsheet is matched on.	Shown when the plan has more than one trigger (a condition has its own name field). Optional, but each name must be different. The placeholder suggests one from the interval.

Calendar

Field	What it means	Notes
Every	The interval: a number and a unit — days, weeks, months, quarters or years.	Required. A whole number, one or more.
Counting from	The date the schedule is counted from.	Optional. Rounds fall on this date plus whole intervals. The picker offers no day before today, because a count started in the past would make rounds overdue that nobody was ever asked to do; a plan already saved with an earlier date keeps it.
The first round is on the counting date	Off: the count starts on the counting date and the first round is one interval later. On: the first round is on the counting date itself, so a plan counting from today is due today and raises its work order as soon as it is activated.	On for a trigger added with Add a trigger. The plan’s screen then says first round and the date, rather than from the date.
Count from completion rather than from the due date	Off: a fixed calendar that keeps its dates whatever happens. On: the next round is placed one interval after the last one was finished.	A plan nobody completes on time drifts either way; this decides which way.

Meter or runtime

Field	What it means	Notes
Meter type	The kind of meter to watch — running hours, cycles, kilometres. Not one meter: every asset in scope carrying a meter of this type is watched separately.	Required. Only meter types carried by assets already in scope are offered, each with how many meters it has in scope. If nothing in scope has a suitable meter, the step says so — widen the scope, or use a calendar trigger. Meter types are set up under asset settings.
Every	The interval in the meter’s own unit, such as 2000.	Required, above zero.

Condition

Field	What it means	Notes
Describe the condition	What the trigger is called on the plan and in the rounds it raises, such as Vibration above 7.1 mm/s.	The expression below is what decides; this is its name.
What makes it true	The rule itself, built from a field, an operator and a value. Several rules can be combined.	Fields offered: the latest reading of each meter type in scope, Health score (out of 100), Open work orders on this asset, and the asset’s own fields and custom fields. Operators include is, is not, is more than, is at least, is less than, is at most, is between, is one of, is none of, contains, starts with, matches the pattern, has a value, is empty, and date comparisons such as is within the last N days.

A condition is asked of the asset as it stands, and only on the rising edge: a round is raised when it becomes true, and not again until the last one is finished. Leave the rule empty and the plan saves but never falls due.

A date on the asset

For work that falls due on a date each asset carries for itself — its next calibration, its warranty expiry, an inspection certificate’s renewal — rather than on a calendar the plan chooses.

Field	What it means	Notes
Falls due on	Which of the asset’s dates the round follows.	Required. Offers the asset’s own date fields and any date or date-and-time custom fields your organisation has added to assets. If assets have no date fields, the step says “Assets have no date fields to choose from. Add a date custom field to assets first.”

Each asset in scope falls due on its own date. A round is raised the plan’s lead time before that date — or straight away when the date has already passed, dated when it really was due — and is due on the date itself, with the plan’s tolerance on top. There is one round per date: “once it is done, the next one is raised when somebody records the asset’s next date.” So recording a new calibration date on the asset is what schedules the next calibration. The date is checked whenever it is written — the asset saved, a custom field answered, an asset added to the plan, the plan activated — and regularly in between, so a date that time alone has brought inside the lead time is also picked up. Save and continue is held back, with the reason, while a calendar trigger has no whole-number interval, a meter trigger has no meter type, a meter interval is not above zero, or a date trigger does not say which date on the asset it falls due on.

Step 4: Tasks

The checklist step, built from library sections

The checklist a technician will work through, built from sections. A plan typically reads as “isolation, then the service, then the two things this site needs”, in the order the work happens.

Button	What it does
Add from the library	Opens the checklist library and copies a published checklist in as a section.
Add a section	Starts an empty section, labelled Typed here, for steps that belong to this plan alone.
Add a step here	Adds a step to the end of a section.
Save and continue	Saves the whole checklist and moves on.
Save the whole checklist to the library	Copies every section into the library as a new checklist. Needs Add checklists to the library.

Steps written before sections existed appear first, under a note; they still run first, and you can move them into a section to give them a heading and files.

Adding from the library

The dialog lists the library’s checklists with a search box and an Every category filter. Each shows its description, number of steps, total minutes and number of files. A checklist with nothing published yet cannot be chosen — publish it on the Checklist library screen first. The steps are copied onto the plan: editing them here never changes the library, and editing the library never changes this plan.

Each section

Field or control	What it means	Notes
Section heading	The heading the technician sees.
Library code and version	Shown on a section taken from the library.	If the library has since published a newer version, the section says On v1 — the library is on v2. If the steps are unchanged since they were copied, Take v2 brings them forward, keeping the section’s own heading, paragraph and files. If they have been edited here, they are this plan’s own and cannot be replaced automatically — remove the section and add the checklist again instead.
What a technician reads first	A paragraph shown above the steps, such as Assumes the set is isolated and locked off before the first step.	Optional.
Files for the whole section	The drawing or permit that applies to the whole round.	Travels onto every work order the plan raises.
Arrows	Move the section earlier or later.
Save icon	Save this section to the library.	Needs Add checklists to the library.
Bin icon	Remove the section and its steps.

Each step

Field	What it means	Notes
What to do	The line a technician reads standing at the asset, such as Check coupling alignment.	Required — the checklist will not save with a step that has none.
How it is done	The detail: the tolerance, the torque figure, what “acceptable” means.	Optional. Shown when the technician taps the step for help.
Kind of step	step, measurement, inspection, pass fail, meter reading, photo, signature, lubrication, cleaning, replacement or dropdown.	Decides what else the step asks for. A photo step requires a photograph and a signature step requires a signature by definition.
Minutes	How long the step takes.	Optional.
Minimum, Maximum, Unit	The acceptable range for a reading, and its unit.	Shown for measurement and meter reading. A reading outside the range fails the step. Give a minimum, a maximum or both: a reading with no limits can never pass or fail, so it could never raise the corrective job it is there for. The checklist will not save without one, and says which step — “Step 4 records a measurement but has no limits” — with “Give a minimum, a maximum, or both.” Zero counts as a limit. Units come from your organisation’s list and are offered by name.
The answers	The choices a dropdown step offers. Tick the ones that pass; tick Remark or Photo on an answer that should make the technician explain or photograph what they found.	Required for a dropdown. An answer not ticked as passing fails the step.
The technician may pick more than one	Off, they pick exactly one answer; on, they tick every answer that applies.	Dropdown only.
A failed step raises a corrective job	When the step fails, a corrective work order is raised automatically.	The difference between recording a problem and starting the fix.
Raised at	The priority of that corrective work order.	Shown when the option above is on. Defaults to The top of your scale.
Mandatory	The work order cannot be completed until this step is done — on the field app as well as here.
Requires a photo	A photograph must be taken as evidence.	Not shown on a photo step.
Requires a signature	The step must be signed off as well as ticked.	Not shown on a signature step.
Skill needed	The skill a technician needs for this step.	Defaults to Anyone. Shown when your organisation has skills set up.
Section	Moves the step into another section.	Shown when the checklist has more than one section.
Files for this step	The diagram or photograph that shows where to look.	Save the checklist first to attach files to a new step.

Arrows move a step earlier or later; the bin removes it.

Saving to the library

Save this section to the library and Save the whole checklist to the library both open a dialog with Name (for example Centrifugal pump — quarterly service) and Category (optional), which offers the categories your library’s checklists already use. Type a name that is not listed to start a new one (“New category …”), or leave it at No category. The steps and their files are copied into the library; this plan keeps its own copy and is not changed by later edits there.

Steps 5 to 8: Parts, tools, skills and vendors

These four steps build one list: the plan’s requirements, which become requirements on every work order the plan raises. They are what the readiness check looks at before somebody is sent, not a shopping list. A plan needs none of them to be valid. Each step has the same layout. The top section, Parts this plan needs (or tools, skills, vendors), lists what is chosen with a count. Add parts (or tools, skills, vendors) below lists what you can add, with a search box.

Field	What it means	Notes
(each item)	The part, tool, skill or vendor, with its number.	Click an item in the lower list to add it; the bin removes it. Parts show how many are available.
quantity	How many one round consumes or uses.	Parts and tools only. Defaults to 1.
blocks the job	Ticked: a shortage stops the job as not ready. Unticked: it only warns.	Ticked by default.

Step	Chooses from	Why it matters
Parts	Your part catalogue	Readiness warns before somebody is sent without the part, and reorder forecasts planned demand.
Tools	Your tool register	A tool that is out, unusable or out of calibration shows as a shortage on readiness.
Skills	Your organisation’s skills	Says who is qualified to do the round. A minimum level, where one is recorded, shows on the plan’s Skills tab.
Vendors	Your vendors	For rounds done by a contractor rather than in-house.

Step 9: Safety / Permit

Field	What it means	Notes
Requires a work permit	The work cannot start until a permit to work is issued.	Shown only when your organisation uses permits. Appears on readiness like any other requirement.
Requires a shutdown	The asset must be stopped, so the work needs planning around production.
Safety instructions	Read before the work starts: isolation, lock-off, hazards.	Optional. Copied onto each work order. If a permit is required but this is empty, the step warns you.
Work instructions	How the round is done, beyond the task list.	Optional. Copied onto each work order.

Step 10: Scheduling

Scheduling

Field	What it means	Notes
Lead time (days)	How far ahead the work order appears, so parts can be gathered. For an inspection plan, how far ahead the inspection appears, so it can be planned into somebody’s week.	Zero or more. With none, work appears on the due date.
Tolerance (days)	How late is still on time. Beyond this, PM compliance counts the round as missed. It is also the work order’s resolution deadline unless a resolution target is set.	Zero or more.
Response target (minutes)	How soon the work order should be started.	Work order plans only. Overrides the service level the priority would give.
Resolution target (minutes)	How soon the work order should be finished.	Work order plans only.
Raise the work order automatically	On (the default): each round becomes a job by itself, one lead time before it is due. Off: a planner raises each round by hand from Maintenance Due.	Work order plans only. Turn it off for plans gated on readiness or capacity.

Ownership & reminders

Two different questions: who does the work, and who is told about the schedule.

Field	What it means	Notes
Who does this work	The crew or technician each round is handed to. A crew holds the job and its lead puts a name on it.	Work order plans only. Offers the crews and technicians who can take this type of work at the plan’s site. Defaults to Nobody.
Or send it outside to	The vendor the work goes to when nobody in-house is named.	Work order plans only. Recorded either way, so whoever reassigns a round knows where it goes if it goes out.
Reminders go to	The person reminder emails are sent to.	A login, which is not the same as who does the work — most technicians have no account. Defaults to Nobody.
Reminders (days before due)	How many days before a round is due the reminder is sent.	One or more.
End date	The schedule stops by itself on this date.	Optional.

To stop a frequent round being done in the same visit as a less frequent one on the same asset — the monthly in the month the yearly service does it anyway — switch on Activity merge for the site. See How plans raise work.

Step 11: Preview

What this plan says summarises the plan before it goes live: Name, Type (the maintenance type by name, as the plans list shows it), Schedule (the frequency sentence, such as every quarter or every 2000 running hours), Scope (each entry by kind — Asset, Category, Asset type or Place — with its code and name, and the site where the entry is not itself the site; a place is given as its whole path from the site down; past eight entries the rest are summed up as “and N more”), Tasks and Parts, skills & permits — how many requirements the plan names (or Inspection and Raises for an inspection plan), Duration, Lead time, Work orders (raised automatically or raised by a planner), First due, and Tolerance with the date the first round is on time until. Below it, the builder checks the plan. This cannot be activated yet lists anything that stops activation:

Blocker	Fix it on
Nothing is in scope: no asset, asset type or place	Scope
No active trigger, so the plan can never fall due	Trigger
This plan raises inspections but names none, so it would generate nothing	Basic information
The plan lifecycle has no move from the current status to Active	Ask your administrator to check the plan state model

Worth knowing lists things that do not stop activation but a planner is usually glad to be asked about:

Warning	Means
No tasks, so generated work orders will have an empty checklist	Add steps on Tasks, unless the work order needs none.
No estimated duration, so this plan will not appear in capacity planning	Add a duration on Basic information (or on the inspection template).
A permit is required but no safety instructions are given	Add safety instructions on Safety / Permit.
Work orders (or inspections) generate automatically with no lead time, so they appear on the due date	Set a lead time on Scheduling if people need warning.

When there is nothing to flag, the step says Nothing to flag. The plan is ready to activate. Read it before activating — this is where a trigger that fires daily instead of monthly becomes obvious. Continue to activation moves on.

Step 12: Activate

Activating publishes version 1 of the plan and starts generating rounds. The version is a snapshot, so editing the plan later does not rewrite the history of work it has already raised. Any blockers are listed again, and Activate this plan stays disabled until they are fixed. Activating takes you back to the register. Once a plan is live this step says so — This plan is live. Version N is published, and its schedule has been built. — with the next due date, See the schedule (opens Maintenance Due) and Back to the register. What happens next is described in How plans raise work.

Editing a plan later

Edit on the plan reopens the builder at step one. Each step saves only when you press its save button.

Changes apply to rounds not yet raised. Work orders already raised keep what they were raised with.
The schedule follows your edits straight away, but the rounds raised from them still carry the old version number until somebody publishes a new version from the plan’s screen. See Publishing a new version.
Changing the type to one that raises an inspection (or back) changes which steps the plan has; the builder keeps you on a step that exists.

Parts, tools, skills and vendors are one list behind the scenes, and each of those steps saves the whole list. Make requirement changes in the builder rather than piecemeal elsewhere.