Preventive Maintenance FAQ

Work orders can be automatically generated at a specified time. For example, 5 days before the due date. The reminders can be created for manual generation through the Generate Work Orders feature. For time/date-based schedules, the work orders generated have a target completion date that matches due date listed on the Assets page. For meter/usage-based schedules, the work orders have a target completion date equal to the date they were generated.

On the Preventative Maintenance Automation page, there are options that allow you to indicate whether you want Maintenance Connection notify you when the preventive maintenance is due or to automatically generate the work orders. If you indicate that the work orders should be automatically generated, you can select the number of days before the due date to generate the work orders.

The Preventative Maintenance Schedule page provides an option that allows you to base the next scheduled maintenance on the completion of a work order. This allows you to define the period of time between maintenance cycles, ensuring that the next scheduled maintenance is determined after the previous maintenance is complete.

The Use the Work Order Completed Date when calculating the next schedule date option is only available where appropriate. For example, if a fixed date schedule is chosen (the first day of each month), this option is not enabled.

For meter-based schedules, a Use the Meter Reading at the work order completed date when calculating the next meter interval option is available. Selecting this option will calculate the next meter interval based on the meter reading at the time the work order was closed (not the reading when the work order was generated).

Multiple procedure schedules can be defined to run different procedures at different intervals. The schedule must be defined so that all procedures are run at intervals that are multiples of the recurrence specified on the Preventative Maintenance Schedule page. For this type of schedule, the recurrence for the most frequent procedure is defined on the Schedule page. On the Procedures page, multiple procedures are defined.

In the following example, multiple schedules are defined on a bi-weekly base schedule. The bi-weekly procedure would have an interval of 1. The remaining procedures would have intervals as defined as follows:

You may note that the Quarterly procedure is run at the interval of six, which would occur at twelve weeks. Even though a quarter is technically thirteen weeks, the procedure is set to run at twelve weeks as this is an even multiple. Similarly, the annual procedure is set to run at 48 weeks (24 x 2), rather than at 52.

If the procedures are not set at even multiples, unintended extra procedures will generate. For example, if the annual interval was set to 26, the quarterly procedure would run at 24 (6x4) and the annual procedure would run two weeks later, which is not the likely intent of the schedule.

Each preventive maintenance schedule must have at least one procedure defined. If you save a preventive maintenance schedule before defining a procedure, Maintenance Connection automatically assigns and attaches a default procedure that has same ID and name as the preventive maintenance schedule. You can then:

• Remove the default procedure and attach a new procedure.

• Modify the default procedure so it contains the required tasks.

Maintenance Connection allows you to define work days for your organization as a Preventive Maintenance Preference. If a work order is scheduled for generation on a day that is not a work day, the system generates the work order for the next available work day. For example, if you have a daily schedule defined, and your organization lists Saturday and Sunday as non-work days, the missed work orders will be generated on Monday in addition to the work order intended for Monday.

To create a schedule that only generates work orders Monday through Friday, you should create a weekly recurrence and indicate that it should recur each Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

Multiple procedure schedules can be defined to run different procedures at different intervals. To ensure that no extra procedures are run, all procedures should be defined at intervals that are multiples of each other.

Following is an example of a schedule that could cause an extra procedure to run:

• Base Procedure Bi Weekly : Interval 1 (at 2 weeks).

• Quarterly Procedure: Interval 6 (at 12 weeks: 6x2).

• Annual Procedure: Interval 26 (at 52 weeks: 26x2).

If this example, unintended extra procedures will run since all procedures are not run at intervals that are multiples of each other (that is, 26 is not a multiple of 6). With the annual interval set to 26, the quarterly procedure would run at 24 weeks (6x4) and the annual procedure would run at 26 weeks, two weeks later. This is not likely to be the intent of the schedule. Instead, with a bi-weekly base procedure, quarterly and annual procedures should be run at intervals of 6 and 24, even though this runs the procedures at 12 and 48 weeks, rather than 13 and 52 weeks.

See the section on Sample Preventive Maintenance Schedules for additional examples of multiple procedure schedules.

Common reasons why PM schedules might not generate as anticipated include:

• The SQL Server agent has stopped. If this has occurred, the SQL Server Agent must be started and set to auto-run.

• The job is not running successfully. Contact Tech Support to select the job, run it manually, and evaluate any other problems.

• The PM is not set up correctly. If you need assistance in fixing the PM setup, contact Accruent Support.