Hourly maintenance is based on the total reading of the device's, or Spot's, operating hours meter. A maintenance template creates either a task or an email notification when the maintenance threshold is reached. The same template can serve several devices, but each device's maintenance threshold is calculated from its own reading at the previous maintenance.
Check the prerequisites
The maintenance template is configured in the browser. You need permission to create hourly maintenance templates; editing and deleting them require the corresponding permissions. The Spot must have Hourly maintenance in use enabled, and its meter reading must be up to date. See enabling the operating hours feature and correcting the reading.
For each device, find out the total meter reading at the time of the previous maintenance. This is neither the time spent on the maintenance work nor the number of hours accumulated since the last maintenance. Do not use the current meter reading as the previous maintenance reading unless the maintenance was actually performed at that reading.
Set the maintenance interval and advance
- From the main menu, open Assets and content → Assets, devices, tools → Hourly maintenance templates.
- Select Create a new rule at the top of the page.
- Enter a Name for the template and a Maintenance interval (machine hours) greater than zero. Enter the maintenance interval in whole hours.
- If needed, enter Advance (before the machine hours are reached) in whole hours. A blank advance means zero. The advance must not be negative.
- Under Created when the rule is fulfilled, select either Task or Email notification. Each template uses one of these options.
The maintenance threshold is calculated as follows: total reading at the previous maintenance + maintenance interval − advance. A task or notification can also be created at exactly the threshold reading.
For example, previous maintenance at a reading of 1,000, a maintenance interval of 250 and an advance of 20 produce a notification threshold of 1,230. At a reading of 1,200, there are 30 hours until the notification. The actual 250-hour maintenance interval is reached at a reading of 1,250; the advance brings the notification forward by 20 hours.
The system does not require the advance to be smaller than the maintenance interval. An equal or greater advance brings the threshold to the previous maintenance reading or below it. This can cause a new task to be created immediately after the previous one is completed.
Select the task details or email notification
Maintenance task
Selecting Task opens the Task details section. You can select a Task template or leave it blank and enter the name of the work to be created in the Task name field. The maintenance template name and task name are separate details.
The selected task template must require operating hours to be recorded and must not have calendar-based recurrence. If the task needs work instructions or a form, configure them in the task template. See creating a task template.
In the same section, open Choose a responsible party. Select either one role or one or more users. The selection tabs are Attach for role, Attach for the users of role and Attach for users. Assigning a task to a role and assigning it to the users of that role are separate options.
Resourcing rows are automatically created for individual users and the users of a role using the service's default settings. They are not created for a role alone. The resourcing date is determined by the due date and the day offset in the default settings; the start time and duration come from the same default settings. If the settings have not been changed, resourcing is scheduled for 8–9 a.m. on the due date. Resourcing is a work plan, not a record of hours actually worked.
In How many days until the task's due date, enter a whole number of days greater than or equal to zero. The default is 0, which makes the due date the day the task is created. The number of days is counted from the moment the automatic task is created, not from when the maintenance template is saved or the maintenance is completed. The due date is saved as the beginning of that day.
Email notification
After selecting Email notification, select the notification for hourly maintenance in the Choose email notification field. You can create one using the Create new email notification button next to the field.
Check the notification's To addresses, Cc address and message language. The message is sent to the notification's addresses; the task's responsible party selection does not determine these recipients. The email option does not create a maintenance task. Sending takes place in the background, so the message does not arrive immediately when the reading is saved. See also configuring email notifications.
Attach Spots and save
- Open the Spots section of the form and select Add Spot.
- Select the device. Spots using the operating hours feature are available for selection.
- In the required Last value field, enter this device's total reading at the previous maintenance. The reading may include decimals and must be greater than or equal to zero.
- Add the other devices in the same way. The same Spot cannot be added to the same template twice.
- Save using the Create a new rule button at the bottom of the form.
Simply saving the template or changing the maintenance interval does not trigger a maintenance threshold check. The check runs in the background when a changed operating hours reading is saved or a maintenance task is completed. Saving the same last recorded reading again does not trigger the reading update check. Record only actual meter readings; see updating the operating hours meter reading.
Monitor the maintenance threshold and the next maintenance cycle
Expand the saved template's device rows using the expand icon to the left of the template name in the Name column of the maintenance template table. Check Last value, Hours to notification and Active maintenance tasks on each row.
Hours to notification is the maintenance threshold minus the Spot's current meter reading. It represents the difference between meter readings, not calendar time. Zero means the threshold has been reached, and a negative value means it has been exceeded. The calculation does not round the decimals in meter readings or limit a negative result to zero.
Normally, a new task is created only if there are no unfinished tasks for the same Spot and template combination. Tasks that are In review or On hold also prevent a new task from being created. A previously saved setting may allow additional tasks to be created despite unfinished tasks, but the current maintenance template form has no control for this setting. A single check does not create a separate task for each maintenance interval that has been passed.
Open the created task by selecting its name in the Active maintenance tasks column. If there are several tasks, open the list using the Multiple link. Check the task's Spot, work instructions, responsibilities, due date and resourcing. The machine hours reading at the time the task was created is also saved in the task.
The next threshold for task-based maintenance
Record the actual total meter reading at the time of maintenance in the maintenance task. On Android and iOS, enter it in the Machine Hours field in the task details. See marking a task as completed on mobile.
When the task finally moves to Completed, its machine hours reading becomes the new previous maintenance reading for this Spot's maintenance rule. Simply moving the task to review does not yet do this. For example, completion at a reading of 1,245 produces a next notification threshold of 1,475 with the same 250-hour maintenance interval and 20-hour advance.
If the Spot's current meter reading is already higher than the maintenance reading recorded in the task, the Spot's reading is not reduced. The starting reading for maintenance and the device's current total reading may therefore differ. Reopen the maintenance template table after completion and background processing, and check the new starting reading and remaining hours.
The next threshold for an email notification
Sending a notification does not update the previous maintenance reading. Once the threshold has been exceeded, a later changed meter reading may cause another notification for the same maintenance threshold.
Once maintenance based on the notification has been performed, open the device using the Spot link in the maintenance template table. On its Basic info tab, open the Machine hour based maintenance section. Double-click the Last value cell for the relevant notification rule, enter the total reading at maintenance and finish editing the cell. The change is saved separately through the cell edit. This manual editing is available for email notification rules; the reading for task-based maintenance is updated when the task is completed.
Reopen the details and verify that the reading was saved. Also check that the notification reached the correct recipient. Simply reading the email or changing the maintenance reading does not trigger a new maintenance threshold check.
Change the template or remove a rule association
Open the template for editing by selecting its name or the pencil icon on its row in the maintenance template table. Save changes using Update template. The maintenance interval, advance and settings for the task or notification to be created are shared by all Spots attached to the template. The details of a task that has already been created must be checked and, if necessary, changed separately in the task itself.
To detach a device, open the Spots section of the template form and select the trash icon on the saved device row. Confirming the removal saves it immediately; it does not wait for the form's Update template button. To delete the entire template, use the trash icon on the template row in the maintenance template table and confirm separately.
Detaching a device deletes the tasks for that association that are not Completed. Deleting the entire template does the same for all its associations. Tasks in review or on hold are also deleted. This deletes the tasks; it does not mark them as completed.
Deleting an unfinished task also removes its comments, attachments, form sections, resourcing, product rows, work hour entries and travel expenses other than personal travel expenses, among other data. This also affects reporting based on that data. Deleting a task linked to a contract is blocked, so always check the result of the deletion.
Completed tasks are retained, but their link to the deleted maintenance rule association is removed. The Spot's meter reading or reading history is not reset. After the change, check both the template's device rows and the task list.