How to Set Up Preventive Maintenance in UniAsset

How to set up preventive maintenance

A preventive maintenance rule (PM rule) says how often something should be serviced. UniAsset then tracks when it is next due, warns you ahead of time, and raises a work order when it falls overdue.

When to use this

Use a PM rule for any maintenance that repeats on a schedule — a quarterly filter change, a six-month HVAC service, an annual calibration, a monthly safety check.

Use it for work you want the system to chase. For one-off work you are doing now, create a work order instead.

Requirements

• Available on: Orbit, Odyssey, Cosmos
• Roles: Owner, Admin, Manager

Steps

You can attach a rule to a single asset, or to a whole category.

Attach a rule to one asset

1. Go to Dashboard → Assets (Individual) and open the asset.
2. Find the Preventive Maintenance section.
3. Click Add PM Rule.
4. Fill in the fields:

1. Save.

Attach a rule to a whole category

1. Go to Dashboard → Categories and open the category.
2. Add a PM rule the same way.

A category rule governs every asset in that category, including assets added later. A new pump filed under "Pumps" inherits the pump service schedule without anyone remembering to attach it.

Tip Category rules are the ones worth setting up first. One rule on "Fire Extinguishers" covers every extinguisher you will ever add.

What happens next

PM rule → next due date computed → warning window → overdue → work order raised

1. UniAsset computes the next due date from the last completed maintenance.
2. Inside the warning window you get a due soon notification.
3. Once the date passes the rule is overdue and raises an escalated notification.
4. An overdue rule raises a preventive work order automatically, carrying the rule's checklist template if one is set.
5. Completing that work order writes a service record, which resets the rule's next due date.

PM status is shown directly on assets and asset lists, so you can see maintenance posture without opening a report. You can also review everything due at Dashboard → Upcoming.

Common mistakes

Setting the warning window too short. A seven-day warning on work that needs a vendor booked three weeks out is a warning that arrives too late to act on.

Creating the same rule on every asset individually when they all share a category. Put it on the category once.

Setting intervals from the manual without checking reality. If the manufacturer says quarterly but your usage is light, you are buying services you do not need. Start from the manual, then adjust using your own service history.

Expecting a rule to complete itself. A rule raises the work order. Someone still has to do the work and close the order — that is what resets the schedule.

Troubleshooting

Maintenance Schedules is locked in the sidebar. Preventive maintenance needs Orbit or above. See Plans and capabilities.

My rule isn't raising a work order. The rule raises one when it goes overdue, not when it enters the warning window. Check the next due date on the rule.

The next due date isn't moving after we did the work. The date resets when a service record exists for the work. If the work was done outside UniAsset, record a service record for it.

A new asset isn't picking up the schedule. Category rules apply to assets in that category. Check the asset's category is set.

I want a schedule based on hours run or distance, not dates. UniAsset schedules preventive maintenance on time intervals — days, months, or years. Usage-based intervals are not available.

Related articles

• Setting up preventive maintenance work orders
• How to create a work order
• Checklist templates
• Overdue maintenance
• How to record a service record
• PM schedule design