This article provides steps on how to create a PM Template. These are used to generate preventive maintenance Work Orders.Apr 23, 2026Article
InformationTitleCreate a PMContentContentPMs are used to generate preventive maintenance work orders based on a predefined recurring frequency. To create a PM, do the following: Select Work (from the sidebar menu).Select PMs.Select +New.Fill in the required fields and any optional fields.Select Save when done. Once you have saved the PM, you can use the Help articles for scheduling PMs ("Scheduling a Calendar Based PM" and "Creating a Meter Based PM"). Once the schedule has been set up, the PM will generate Work Orders based on your desired schedule. General PM ID: PM IDs must be entered in manually, and cannot be automatically generated by MVP.Description: This is a text field that will allow you to enter a description of what the PM, and any subsequent Work Orders will entail. Craft Hours: Estimated Craft Hours can be used to schedule work based on the type of craft that is required to complete the work, without having to schedule specific users under the Estimated Labor Cost section. Estimated Craft Hours can be added to the PM, which will then transfer to any Work Order Generated from this PM. An example could be that a specific Work Order would likely take 2 hours of a mechanic's time, and 1 hour of an electrician's time to complete, you would schedule 2 Estimated craft hours for the craft "Mechanic", and 1 hour for the craft "Electrician".Estimated Craft hours can be used in reporting, and filtering in MVP. Notes: This text field can be used to display Note Templates, or Asset Notes, along with any other notes on the Work Order that would not be considered a comment, or part of the Work Order Description. Type: Work Order Types allow users to categorize, or define Work Orders based on the type of work that is being done. We suggest creating a type for "PM" to easily help filter PM Work Orders via reports. Priority: This field is the same as Work Priority, which are used as a way to organize work according to its importance. Expense Class: Expense Classes are used for organizing and categorizing Work Orders. Many times they are used as a way to create Work Type sub-types. For example, you may have a Work Type called PM, and an Expense Class called Sanitation. Using the two of these would allow you to track your Sanitation-specific PMs. Generate as Work Group: This check box will allow the PM to generate all scheduled Work Orders into a Work Group. If this box is checked, all Assets scheduled in the Calendar section will automatically be set up with the same scheduling frequency, pattern, and next due date.Skills: Skills can be categorized as certifications as they indicate if a worker is certified to perform certain tasks. For certain PMs, a Skill can be listed to show that the skill is required to perform the work. Welding could be an example of a skill that would be required to complete a Work Order. This can also help determine which workers can be assigned to said PM and subsequent Work Orders. WO Status: Using this drop-down, you can determine what the status will be set to when any Work Order is generated from the PM. Ready - When a Work Order is ready for the next step in the workflow process, this is the most common status. Setting a PM to this status will prevent any generated Work Orders from being generated with Scheduled start/finish dates.Scheduled - When a work order has scheduled dates. Setting a PM to the WO Status of Scheduled will result in any generated Work Order having Scheduled start and finish dates listed.In Process - When a work order is currently being worked on. Hold - When a work order or work request is on hold and work is not being done. This can be done manually or via Action > Hold. WO Sub-Status: The Work Order Sub Status allows you to set a secondary status which can provide additional details on the status of the Work Order. Assigned To: The Assigned To field will list a user who is specifically assigned to the Work Order(s) generated from the PM. This field can be used to filter Work Orders and PMs in Reports, and in the Work Order List using an advanced search/filter. You can "assign" multiple users to PM Work Orders using the following article: Estimated Costs on PM In-Service: When creating or editing a PM, there is a check box for "In Service" that can be used to determine when/if a PM will generate a Work Order for an Asset. The "In Service" box will need to match between the Asset, and the PM in order for a Work Order to generate (The box would need to either be checked on both the Asset and PM, or unchecked on both the Asset and the PM).Tools: Tool records are used to represent Tools used by your employees. They are different from Parts in that when Parts are used they are considered to be consumed, whereas a Tool can be used over and over again. Additionally, each Tool record is unique, for example, if you have 10 ladders, you would create 10 individual Tool records for each one. Adding a Tool here will list it as an estimated Tool on the Work Order as a way to notify techs that a specific tool will most likely be required to complete work on the Work Order. Custom Fields MVP Supports the creation of Custom Fields for any of our Asset Classes (Location, Equipment, Repairable Spare, System), Purchase Orders, Purchase Requests, Work Orders, and Work Requests. These can only be created by your local administrators. Scheduling Creating a Calendar-Based PMCreating Meter-Based PMs Instructions Instructions are attached to PMs, which will then be attached to any subsequent Work Orders in order to provide users with a list of tasks or steps to follow when completing the work. Costs Estimated Part and Labor Costs can be added to a PM so that they carry over to the Work Orders and so that users can determine the necessary requirements to complete a PM. Adding Estimated Labor to a PM will cause Work Orders to generate with Scheduled Start/Finish Dates. Meters The Meters section of the PM will auto-populate with any Meters that are linked to the Asset(s) that is scheduled on the PM via the Calendar Scheduling section.If the Asset(s) that the PM is scheduled for does NOT have any Meters created on the Asset Record, then no meters will be/can be added to this section. Attachments Attachments can be added to records for users to reference. They can be of any type, although only image (JPG, PNG) files will print off. URL NameCreate-a-PM-Preventive-Maintenance