How to Write PM Checklists for Hundreds of Machines With No Manuals

Writing a PM for every machine in a building is a large job, and it gets larger when half the machines have no manual. It does not have to mean hundreds of separate checklists. Write one checklist per category of equipment, and use it for every machine in that category.

One checklist per category covers every machine in that category.

Group the equipment by category

Sort the machines by what they do: pumps, air handlers, compressors, motors, and so on. Start from your asset list or a walk through the building, and put each machine in one category. A machine that fits no category gets a category of its own until you know more about it. If the list is a spreadsheet, you can fill FixAhead’s import template from it, and have each row checked before you import the file (asset management).

1. Add each category in the Library

Library is open to the Owner and Managers. Open Library, then Asset Categories, and press Add Categories. Type the category’s name in Asset Category, and press Add Category.

The Add Asset Category modal over the Asset Categories list. Its one field, Asset Category, holds Fitness Equipment, with Cancel and Add Category beneath it. — Add Asset Category, with the category's name entered.

Write one short checklist per category

Each category gets one generic checklist that describes the work for any machine in that group. Every step names three things:

The part, as it is named on the machine.
The check: what the technician looks at, listens for, or measures.
What to record: the reading, or the condition found.

Keep the checklist to the steps a technician can finish in one visit. Every machine in the category gets this checklist. Its location, make, and serial number go on the machine’s own record, not into a new checklist. FixAhead offers reusable procedure templates with task steps (work orders).

1. Add each procedure in the Library

Open Library, then Maintenance Procedures, and press Add Procedure. Name and describe the procedure, write each task on its own row, and check Mandatory Task? or Photo Required? where a task needs it.

The Add Procedure modal for Kitchen Exhaust Fan Inspection, with three task rows. Each row has a Mandatory Task? box and a Photo Required? box: the first and third tasks have both checked, and the second has only Mandatory Task? checked. — Add Procedure with three tasks, where the second has Mandatory Task? checked and Photo Required? clear.

2. Or import several procedures from a file

Press Import Procedures beside Add Procedure, then choose your file. It holds one row per task, and rows that share a procedureCode become one procedure.

The Bulk Import Maintenance Procedures modal with no file chosen: a Download Template box, a Select CSV or Excel file button, the Expected Columns from procedureCode to isPhotoRequired, and Import Maintenance Procedures dimmed. — Bulk Import Maintenance Procedures, before a file is chosen.

Tasks tab of a work order on a phone: each task of the checklist has a checkbox, and 0/3 tasks are done. — On Pro, the app shows the checklist task by task, for the technician to complete.

Get the manuals you can

Send the make, model, and serial number to the manufacturer and ask for the maintenance manual. Where a manual comes back, take its service intervals for the machines it covers, and add any step the category checklist is missing. Attach each manual to its machine’s record. FixAhead attaches PDFs to any asset (asset management). Documents and file attachments are on the Pro plan.

1. Attach the manual to its asset

Open the asset, and press Add Document in its Documents panel. Choose the Document Type, name the document, attach its PDF, and set an expiration date, then press Add Document.

The Add Document modal on the Dishwasher DW-01 asset page: Document Type set to User Manual, Document Name Dishwasher Manual, Dishwasher Manual.pdf uploaded, an expiration date, and Publicly Accessible switched off. — Add Document, with the manual attached as a PDF.

Ask the senior technicians which parts wear

Ask the technicians who have worked the equipment longest which parts wear first, which failures they see most, and what they check by hand. Add their answers to the matching category checklist.

Keep each checklist short, and refine it at every visit

A long procedure gets skimmed or skipped. Keep each one to the steps that matter for its category. At each PM visit, the technician notes any step that was unclear, missing, or never needed. Update the category checklist from those notes after the visit. FixAhead lets technicians mark a PM complete with notes from the field, once its required tasks are done (preventive maintenance).

The category checklist is refined at every PM visit.

Put the checklists on the schedules

Use the category names from the start as the tags. In FixAhead, you assign multiple assets per schedule using tags (preventive maintenance). Tag the machines in a category, and one schedule covers all of them. A new asset with the tag joins the schedule automatically (preventive maintenance). Procedures you reuse come with step-by-step checklists (preventive maintenance).

1. Add the tag in the Library

Open Library, then Asset Tags, and press Add Tags. Type the tag’s name, such as Pumps, and press Add Tag.

The Add Tag modal over the Asset Tags list: one field, Tag Name, holds Energy Monitoring, with Cancel and Add Tag beneath it. — Add Tag, with the tag's name entered.

2. Give each machine its tag

Put the tag’s name in the tags column of the machine’s row in the asset import file, with commas between several tags. The tag must already exist, or the import drops it.

Or open the asset, press Edit, and pick the tag in the tags field.

The Edit Asset modal for Lobby Exit Sign ES-01 with the tags list open: Back of House and Kitchen are unchecked, Essential Equipment and Guest-Facing are checked, and Add Tag sits beneath them. The two chosen tags show in the tags field below. — Edit Asset, with Essential Equipment and Guest-Facing chosen as tags.

3. Put the tag on a schedule

Open Library, then Preventive Maintenance, and press Add Preventive Maintenance. Name the schedule, choose Asset Tag under Assign for, pick the tag, and press Add Schedule to set how often it runs.

The Maintenance step of Add Preventive Maintenance, the first of its three steps. Assign for is set to Asset, with Asset Tag beside it, and the Add Schedule button sits at the foot. — Maintenance, step 1 of 3, with Assign for set to Asset. Asset Tag is the other choice.

One schedule covers every machine with the tag, and a new machine with the tag joins it.

Each asset category has its own custom fields (asset management). On the Pro plan, you get 9 custom field types per category.

Checklists on the Pro plan

Maintenance procedures and checklists are included in the Pro plan. Start with one category: write its checklist from the preventive maintenance checklist template, and tag its machines to one schedule.