Scheduling preventive maintenance jobs

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This section outlines the usual sequence of events for scheduling preventive maintenance.

• Specify the preventive maintenance task (see Creating and Editing Tasks). This means drawing up step-by-step instructions describing everything that should be done in a particular preventive maintenance operation. The task description may include the materials to be used (such as replacement parts), the personnel normally assigned to the task, the time the task usually takes, and so on.
• Assign the task to one or more pieces of equipment or spaces (see Scheduling Units for Preventive Maintenance). For example, suppose that your company has a dozen forklift trucks, and the trucks require monthly preventive maintenance. You first specify the work that should be done in each monthly maintenance session (i.e. the task); then you assign that task to each of the forklift trucks. In this way, the same preventive maintenance work will be performed on each truck.
• Specify a schedule for each unit associated with the task (see Specifying Task Schedules). In our forklift truck example, the schedule you specify will say that the maintenance should be done every month.

  Tasks can be scheduled by date, by meter reading, or by a combination of both (for example, an oil change every three months or 3000 miles, whichever comes first). MainBoss also has facilities for seasonal scheduling (for example, inspecting air-conditioning equipment every month during summer, but not in winter).

• Tell MainBoss to create work orders for all tasks that should be scheduled in the near future (see Generating Preventive Maintenance Work Orders). For example, every Friday you might have MainBoss generate work orders for all preventive maintenance tasks that should take place in the upcoming week. These work orders can then be given to your personnel so they know what work they'll be doing every day and what each job entails.
• Use MainBoss's manpower scheduling facilities to view preventive maintenance tasks as they have been automatically scheduled (see Manpower Schedule Report). For example, you can get a day-by-day list of scheduled tasks for the next week or the next month.

  Projected manpower schedules do not include tasks that have been scheduled according to meter readings—there is no good way to predict exactly when a meter will reach a particular value. However, MainBoss will tell you when a meter reaches a value where preventive maintenance is required. (For more about how MainBoss handles meter readings, see Meters.)

• When you ask MainBoss to print outstanding work orders, it will print work orders for each scheduled PM task (as well as for corrective jobs). Printed work orders can then be given to the workers assigned to each job.
• When a preventive maintenance task is finished, the associated work order is closed in the same way as a corrective order. In the process, you can record labor costs, materials usage and other details associated with the job.

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