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Question:
How do I get started with preventative maintenance?
Answer:
One of the major features of ExpressMaintenance is the process of
managing preventative maintenance tasks. ExpressMaintenance allows
you to setup certain maintenance tasks (services) that are to be
periodically performed on your equipment. You can then use a
powerful service overview screen to view all services due and have the
program instantly create work orders. When work orders are
completed, services are then rescheduled based on the setup period and
interval. You can even have ExpressMaintenance perform the service
overview query every time you open the program and flash to notify you
services are due.
The following is a step by step explanation of setting up preventative
maintenance items and creating work orders in ExpressMaintenance.
Note
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Always
make sure you have the latest release of ExpressMaintenance by
checking the
Updates Page of our website.
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The
following is a diagram of the overall maintenance process and flow
within ExpressMaintenance.
Setting
Up Services
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Click
on Administration / Services to access the Services
setup screen of ExpressMaintenance. In this screen, you can
enter all of the services that may be performed on Units
(equipment). As you enter services, you can assign a category
to the service such as Repair, Cleaning, Inspection, etc. You
can define your own categories under Administration /
Codes / Categories. For more information on setting up codes,
see the Codes Setup Tech
Bulletin.
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When
entering Services in the Services setup screen, you can also define
the Period and Interval that is most common for the Service.
For example, a particular service might most often be performed
every Five (Interval) Months (Period). When the service is
applied to the Unit, you can change the Period and Interval to meet
the needs of the equipment.
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Note
that you can always return to the Services setup screen and add new
services as needed.
Assigning
Services To Units
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Click
on Maintenance / Units to view the Units (equipment)
screen. You can use the Next and Previous buttons or the
Search button to locate the desired Unit.
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Once
the desired unit is located or entered, click on the "Scheduled Services
(PMs)" tab in the center portion of the screen.
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Click
the Insert button for the Scheduled Services and insert a service
item record. You will select the service from the pick list
and assign the Period and Interval information. You will also
want to enter the Last Date Performed and the Scheduled
Date.
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Once
you have entered the services that apply to the particular units,
you are ready to review scheduled services and create work orders.
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You can also enter specific notes or
procedure checklists for the service and that unit by clicking on
the Service Notes button.
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You can also specify required parts
for the service by clicking on the Service Parts button.
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You
can also inherit / copy service from another unit to the current
unit. See
Helpful Hint at the end of this bulletin.
Viewing Services / Creating
Work Orders
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Click
on Maintenance / Service Overview to access the Service
Overview screen and view all services that are due. Enter the
date range and other parameters for the desired services and click
the "Search" button. All services that are scheduled
within the date range will be displayed.
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The
services that are due are listed and grouped by Unit. You can
select certain services for generating work orders or you can click
the "Select All" button to select all services. You can also print a report of
services due by clicking the "Print List" button.
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Once
you have selected the desired services for creating work orders,
click the "Create Work Orders" button. You will be
prompted for an Employee Name (optional) and Scheduled Date
(required). Enter this information and then click the
"Ok" button. Work Orders will be created for all
selected services. A separate work order will be created for
each Unit.
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Once
Work Orders are created, you will be prompted to Print the Work
Orders.
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Finally,
you can view the work orders data by clicking on the Work Orders
tab. A query will be automatically performed of the newly
created work orders. You can make further edits to the work
orders at that time. You can also scroll through the new work
orders by using the Next and Previous buttons of the Data Navigator
bar.
Note: ExpressMaintenance
includes a flag notification method that automatically queries the
services due and notifies the applicable users if services are due.
For more details on service due notification, please see the
Service
Notification Tech Bulletin.
Viewing
Work Orders
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The
most convenient way to view work orders is the Work Order Overview
screen. Click on Maintenance / Work Order Overview
and perform a search to see all Scheduled Work Orders for the range
of dates desired. Once work orders are displayed in the grid,
you can double click on a work order to see the Work Order data
entry tab and make edits.
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Another
way of viewing work orders is to click on Maintenance /
Work Orders and then click on the "Search" button to
search for the work order.
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Finally,
you can also click on Navigate / Maintenance / Reports and print the
"Work Orders - Scheduled" report.
Manual Work
Orders - Breakdowns
Often it is
necessary to create work orders for matters other that preventative
maintenance. For example, you might need to create a work order
for the repair of equipment that has been damaged or is a breakdown.
You can quickly enter a work order directly in the work order screen.
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Click on
Maintenance / Work Orders to open the work order screen.
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Click the Insert
button to insert a new record.
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Complete the upper
portion of the work order screen by selecting the unit, employee,
etc.
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In the services
section of the work order screen, click the insert button and select the
service that is to be completed / performed on the equipment.
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Post the record and
print the work order.
Completing
Work Orders
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To
complete a work order, use option one or two above to locate the
desired work order.
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Once
the desired work order is displayed in the work order screen, you
can complete the work order by completing the data entry
fields. To complete a work order, you must enter a Completion
Date and click the Complete checkbox on each service in the Services
Performed section. You can also click the "Complete Entire
Work Order" button to automatically complete the entire work order
with one click.
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You
may also want to enter the labor time on each service and any parts
used.
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Once
all completion data is entered for the Work Order, click the Post
button at the top of the screen. Total costs will be
calculated. Most importantly, each services will be updated in
the Units screen.
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When
the work order is posted with completion data, the service items
will be written to the Units Service History. In addition, the
service items will be updated and re-scheduled in the Units
Scheduled Services screen.
Once services are assigned to Units, ExpressMaintenance
makes tracking the PMs and generating work orders easy.
Note: For more
information on how ExpressMaintenance re-schedules PMs, see the tech
bulletin on PM Scheduling.
Also for information on how to limit the parts and services displayed in
the work order screen to those of the same category of the Unit, see the
tech bulletin on limiting
selection lists.
Helpful
Hint
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When
entering services for each Unit, there is a way to save time if you
have multiple units of the same type and similar
services.
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Enter the
PM Services for a particular unit and complete all informattion.
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When
entering a new unit, click on the Services (PMs) tab.
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Click on
the Apply Standard Services button and a dialog will appear listing
all units of the same type as the unit on the screen.
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Select
the desired unit from which you will inherit / copy the services.
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Click the
OK button and the program will copy all of the services from the
source unit to the new destination unit.
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