Preventive Maintenance Overview - PM

Preventive Maintenance Overview - PM

NEXGEN's Preventive Maintenance (PM) module is designed to facilitate the scheduling of work orders. With PMs, users can create one record that holds their maintenance requirements, including schedules, assets, resources, items, checklists, and attachments. PMs can be generated on a time or meter based schedule or fired manually and can be edited for changes in workflows. For more information, see below.

NEXGEN PM Structure

  1. Single PM (Unscheduled PM)
    1. Has no schedules associated with it
    2. Operates on a manual basis
  2. Parent PM
    1. Has at least one schedule associated with it
    2. Operates on a schedule basis
    3. Cannot be fired manually
  3. Child PM
    1. Tied to a Parent PM
    2. Intended to operate on a schedule basis (meter or date driven schedule)
    3. Can be fired manually if needed

NEXGEN PM Terminology

  1. Term

    Definition

    Asset

    A record in NEXGEN storing the details of a piece of physical property owned by an organization that requires maintenance.

    Checklist

    A list of standard operating procedures on a work order.

    Child PM

    A specific schedule (quarterly, monthly, etc.) according to which the PM will fire work orders. On the child PM, users can edit PM details, assets, schedule details, resources, items, subtasks, attachments, and comments for this individual PM. The child PM number is the parent PM number appended with a unique identifier. 

    Crew

    A group of people assigned to a work order.

    Item

    A part or supply used to perform maintenance on a work order.

    Items

    Formerly known as parts in our system. These are parts, materials, or supplies used on a work order.

    Lead

    Person responsible for executing work on service requests and work orders.

    Main Task

    The maintenance task performed on a work order (ie: Pump Maintenance).

    Parent PM

    A Record in NEXGEN that can contain one or more child PMs (schedules). At the parent PM level, users can edit assets, schedule prioritization, checklists, resources, and items for all associated child PMs.

    PM Name

    The name of the PM record. This is the billing code hyphenated with the system and asset/asset class.

    PM Number

    The unique identifier for the PM record. This is the billing code hyphenated with the unique identifier.

    Resource

    Person who completes work on a work order (ie: member of a crew).

    Schedule

    The frequency according to which the PM will fire a work order. There are two types of schedules in NEXGEN – date schedules and meter schedules.

    Supervisor

    Person responsible for assigning and closing work orders.

    User Defined Field (UDF)

    Custom field on a work order. Can be created for all work orders, work orders for a specific department/division, or work orders for a specific main task.

    WO Task

    The main task on a work order. This is how the work order is labeled.

    Work Order

    A record in NEXGEN describing the details of the maintenance performed on one or more assets. 

Why use a PM?

The Preventive Maintenance module allows for the scheduling of maintenance activities based on schedule or meter parameters. This allows an organization to ensure that baseline maintenance requirements are being met. Periodic maintenance checks also ensure that an organization is aware of their assets'  conditions and that they are within acceptable performance condition.

PM Schedule Types

The PM module allows users to configure any of the following schedule types:
  1. Daily – every n number of days
  2. Weekly – every n number of weeks on specific day(s)
  3. Monthly – every n number of months, quarterly, semi-annually on specific month(s) & day(s)
  4. Yearly – every n number of years
  5. Target Date – fire on a specific date every n number of years
  6. Sliding – exactly n number of days apart from when last PM WO closed
  7. Meter Interval – every n units
  8. Meter Target – when meter hits n units
  9. Linked – PMs linked in a chain; when 1st PM WO is closed, 2nd PM WO fires
  10. Unscheduled or Single PM - PMs that are manually fired by users
Depending on your scheduling needs, you may or may not want to use a certain schedule type. You might also want to consider when you want prescheduled PMs to fire. While multiple schedule types can be used to accommodate similar needs, you can choose one schedule type over another to fit your organizational structure. Below is a table of our different schedule types with examples of when each can be used.

Schedule Type
Example Use Case
Daily
  1. Fire alarms need to be tested every 100 days to ensure they are properly working
  2. Bathroom maintenance needs to happen every weekday.
Weekly
  1. Garbage route happens every Tuesday.
  2. Boiler needs to be checked every 2 weeks.
Monthly
  1. Street signs must be inspected on a quarterly basis for vandalism and ware.
  2. Eyewash stations are flushed on a monthly basis.
Yearly
  1. Elevator inspections for a building happen every 5 years.
  2. Equipment needs to be winterized every October.
  3. Backflow device testing must happen every year.
Target Date
  1. Flags have to be at half mast on specific days each year.
  2. Holiday banners and lights need to be posted across the city.
Sliding
  1. Turbidimeter needs to be calibrated every 45 days from previous calibration.
  2. Low risk assets are maintained every 30 days from previous closed WO.
Meter Interval
  1. Vehicle oil change needs to happen every 7,500 miles.
  2. Pump needs to be checked based on runtime interval.
Meter Target
  1. Refrigerator temperature reaches 49* and needs to be cleaned out.
  2. At 50,000 miles vehicles need a complete condition assessment.
Linked
  1. Pipe cleaning happens one zone after another.
  2. Maintenance for one building commences after the previous building is done.
Unscheduled
  1. A new key needs to be made for a room/building.
  2. A massive storm is due to hit and sand bags need to be distributed and prepared.

About Prior Days


Prior Days generates a work order early, giving planners lead time to prep resources. WO Date reflects this setting when used, but Estimated Start Date stays on schedule.
Alert
Note: Do not set Prior Days to a value greater than or equal to the Schedule.
    1. If the schedule is weekly and the Prior Days field is set to 7, the PM won't fire.
    2. If the schedule is daily and the prior day is 1, the PM won't fire.

Example of Prior Days Configuration

For a monthly PM that fires on the first with prior days set to 30, the firing schedule will look like this:
  1. 2026-01-02 10:43:00.000 
  2. 2026-01-30 10:43:00.000 
  3. 2026-03-02 10:43:00.000 
  4. 2026-04-01 10:43:00.000 
  5. 2026-05-02 10:43:00.000 
  6. 2026-06-01 10:43:00.000 
  7. 2026-07-02 10:43:00.000 
  8. 2026-08-02 10:43:00.000 
  9. 2026-09-01 10:43:00.000 
  10. 2026-10-02 10:43:00.000 
  11. 2026-11-01 10:43:00.000 
  12. 2026-12-02 10:43:00.000 
In this example, no PMs will fire in February because that month only has 28 or 29 days, and instead, January will have two PMs fired.

Unscheduled/Child PM Unique Fields

Each Unscheduled and Child PM record has a top zone that is not present on the Parent PM. The top zone contains different settings options that determine how the PM operates. These checkbox settings can only be modified at the Child PM level if the PM is scheduled.
  1. Active
    1. Check if the PM is currently being used. Inactive PMs will be hidden from view in the Preventive Maintenance module unless the "Show All" toggle is on. Inactive PMs should also have the "Scheduled" flag off to prevent accidental WO generation.
  2. Scheduled
    1. Check if you’d like the PM to fire based on the attached schedule.
  3. Safety Checks (Unplanned Outage, Planned Outage, LOTO, Safety)
    1. Check if you’d like the PM WO that fires to have these specific checks turned on. For LOTO and Safety, the WO will include a special note on top of the WO that states that one or more assets on the WO have Lock Out or Safety checks. The Unplanned and Planned Outage flags will not have a special note on the WO.
  4. Sequenced
    1. Only optional for PM WOs created based on a date based schedule (meter based schedules are sequenced by default). Check if you’d like your PM Work Orders to generate ONLY IF the previous PM WO in the schedule has been closed.
  5. One WO per Asset
    1. Check if you’d like your PM WOs to create one WO per asset when the PM fires. (ex. A PM with 100 assets will generate 100 PM WOs each with one asset when fired if this flag is checked)
  6. Do not Supersede
    1. Only applies for Child PMs attached to Parent PMs that have multiple schedules. Check if you’d like your Child PM to fire even if the Child PM is set to generate on the same day a different Child PM is generating. (By default, NEXGEN supersedes schedules, check to not supersede different Child schedules).

Basic PM Module Workflows



00:06 - How to View PMs 
01:22 - How to add a Schedule to a PM
02:36 - How to Edit PM Information
03:35 - How to Make a PM Inactive
04:07 - How to Create a New PM
05:38 - How to Manually Fire a PM
06:16 - How to View WOs a PM has Fired