Overview
Preventative maintenance (PM) is an essential part of running any facility. It helps ensure that your equipment is always in the best possible condition and minimizes lengthy downtime due to unforeseen breakdowns.
Creating PM templates in Limble automates scheduling, making it easy and seamless for technicians to complete preventative maintenance tasks.
In this article, we’ll teach you how to create a PM template by creating a sample template using basic instructions and subinstructions.
Table of Contents
Create & Name Your PM Template
To create a PM template, go to Locations > Select Your Location > PMs.
On the Manage PMs page, select “New PM Template.”
In the new pop-up, create a name for your PM template. We recommend using a descriptive name so you and your team can quickly identify the task that needs to be completed, and which asset is associated with the task.
Next, you’ll need to choose the template you want to create. If you already have a PM template you’d like to use to create another one, you can select “Copy from an Existing Template.” Otherwise, make sure “Blank Template” is selected.
Once you have named your template, click “Create.”
Assign an Asset
Before adding instructions, you’ll want to assign an asset to the PM template. Linking the asset allows you to track performance metrics and track any associated work on the asset.
To do this, find the Asset column and click “+.”
Click on the desired asset, then choose “Select.”
(Note: as a best practice, we do not recommend assigning more than one asset to a PM. If multiple assets are associated with a single PM, each task will need to be completed before the next batch of PMs is able to generate, which could lead to a bottleneck or delay in your routine maintenance.)
From here, your PM template will be ready to customize.
Add PM Instructions
To add instructions and customize your PM template, click on the PM name under the PM Name column to open the Edit PM Template screen.
From the new pop-up, you’ll want to create a description of your task. We recommend writing something brief but descriptive enough that the technician knows what to expect.
Next, you’ll want to add instructions. Instructions are the steps or actions necessary for the technician to complete the PM.
Click “Add Instruction.”
There are several basic and advanced instruction types to choose from to complete a PM.
(Note: you can also create instruction set templates that can be imported into multiple PMs, saving you setup time!)
For this example, we want the technician to:
Instruction 1 – Inspect the oven to make sure the racks are not bent or dented
Instruction 2 – Test to make sure all of the buttons are functioning properly
Instruction 3 – Grease the bottom bearing
Instruction 1 - Inspect the oven to make sure the racks are not bent or dented
First, we’ll create a check box instruction. Do this by clicking the instruction and then clicking “Add.”
Once it generates, we’ll change the instructions in the text box for the technician to inspect the machine for any broken or bent oven racks.
Next, we’ll add subinstructions to fix any bent or broken racks that were found. Subinstructions are actions or tasks embedded within an instruction to add more specificity or a breakdown of steps within an instruction.
To do this, select the “+” under the instruction.
(Note: make sure to continue to choose the + icon directly under the instruction you want to create a subinstruction for. Every subinstruction you create will have one, so your subinstructions can have infinite subinstructions!)
Next, we’ll use the option list instruction type to ask the technician if there were any oven racks that needed to be fixed and create additional instructions based on their answer.
Under the option list, we’ll add “Yes” and “No” options using the “+” button.
Under the “yes” instruction, we’ll add a subinstruction to ask which racks needed to be replaced and how many. To do this, we’ll click “+.”
From the new pop-up, select the text box instruction.
The instruction should look like this:
Finally, we’ll add a check box subinstruction to confirm that the technician replaced or fixed any broken or bent racks. Repeat the same steps to add as above.
It will look like this:
You can also upload documents or images to help your technicians have access to needed manuals or instructional documents.
To add an instructional image, choose the camera icon. To add an instructional document, choose the paper icon.
In this example, we’ll include the asset’s manual. Once the paper icon is chosen, upload the document from your local files.
A link to the file will generate.
Now that we’ve added the instruction manual and added the necessary steps for the first instruction, we’ll move on to the next.
Instruction 2 - Test to make sure all of the buttons are functioning properly
Next, we’ll add an instruction for the technician to test all external buttons.
If your additional instructions follow a similar structure, you can duplicate the instructions by selecting the duplicate icon. In this example, we’ll duplicate the first instruction.
Since we’ll include the same logic as we did for the first instruction, we’ll just need to swap out the text to instruct the technician to test the buttons and what the technician should do if any buttons are not functioning.
(Note: unplanned work can often spawn from PMs like this one. You can start a work order directly from a PM using the start work order instruction type.)
Instruction 3 - Grease the bottom bearing
Finally, we’ll add instructions to grease the bottom bearing. Since this is not a subinstruction of the others, we’ll click “Add Instruction” to add another check box instruction to ask the technician to confirm that they completed the instruction.
It should look like this:
Associate Parts
Associating parts with your PMs is a great way to track the usage of your equipment and also prepare your technicians to gather the necessary equipment to complete the PM.
(Note: you can also associate tools with tasks and allow your technicians to check them in and out to keep track of where tools are being used.)
From the Edit PM Template screen, select “Add Part.”
From the new pop-up, select the part you’d like to associate. In this example, we’ll select oven racks.
In the text box, enter the number of parts you will use for the PM. For this example, we will predict that our technician will need one oven rack.
(Note: Limble also allows you to consume fractions of parts. This is beneficial for things that won’t be used all in one task, such as cleaners, lubricants, and other consumables.)
Set Up a PM Schedule
After you’ve set up your instructions, and associated parts, you’ll want to set up a schedule for your PMs to generate.
On the Manage PMs page, find the desired PM template, go to the Schedules column, and click on the calendar icon.
Limble allows you to choose between a variety of schedule recurrence options to meet your unique needs.
In this example, this is a monthly PM that we’ll schedule for every first Monday of the month.
You’ll also need to choose a desired start date. Find the date picker next to “Starts on” and select a start date.
If you want your PM to end after a certain period of time, click on the date picker next to “until” and select an end date.
(Note: by default, your PM will “start on” the current date and not have an end date. The PM will generate based on the schedule you have set.
For example, if you create a PM in your account on a Wednesday and schedule it to occur weekly on Tuesdays, the PM will generate for the following Tuesday.)
In this example, we’ll schedule the PM to “start on” the current date and not have an end date. Once you’ve chosen your desired schedule, click “Save.”
(Note: depending on when you add a schedule to your PM template, you may be brought to another pop-up screen to add additional schedule changes. If you have nothing else to edit, click “X” to exit the set recurrence pop-up.)
Assign a User or Team
The final part of setting up your PM template is assigning a user or team to the task. Task assignments saves you the hassle of manually assigning the task each time it spawns.
On the Manage PMs page, find the desired PM template, go to the Assigned To column, and click “Unassigned.”
From the new pop-up, select the desired team or user you’d like assigned to the task.
Selecting a team is helpful if more than one person can or should be necessary to accomplish the task. Doing this will assign the PM to all individuals on the team
Selecting a user will assign the task to one individual.
In this example, we’ll assign this task to Lee Mobile and click “Select” to save our changes.
Preview Your PM
You can preview your PM at any time to see how your instruction logic will look.
From the Manage PMs page, select your desired PM by clicking on its name under the PM Name column.
In the Edit PM Template pop-up, select “Preview.”
Now you can test out the instructions and instruction logic to see how the task will look depending on what the technician enters.
If you need to make any changes to your PM, you can get back to the edit screen by clicking “Build This Task.”
If you’re satisfied with how everything looks, click anywhere outside of the pop-up to exit.
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Still don’t see what you’re looking for? Check out our YouTube channel for more tips and tricks! You can also reach out to us anytime at support@limblecmms.com.