A preventive maintenance schedule (or a schedule of similar activities, as discussed in the intro) is generated based on a collection of PM groups. Each PM group defines
This document will discuss how to navigate already defined PM groups, how to create and modify them, and how to disable the groups that are no longer relevant.
The "Manage Groups" view provides access to the configured PM groups, as well as the controls to create new and modify the existing ones. The view is available to users with the "PM Group - View" and "PM Group - Create" or "PM Group - Edit" permissions under at least one of the contracts. In other words, a view is intended to be used by the individuals responsible for managing PM schedules under their respective contracts.
The Manage Groups view relies on a typical layout with a filtering panel on the left and the content area configured as a grid. The most common filtering options available for the Manage Groups view are described below:
Filter | Usage Notes |
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Contract | Each PM group is associated with a contract. If you have access to PM groups definitions for multiple contracts, you can use the "Contract" filter to limit the view to the groups associated with a particular contract. |
Status | Use this filter to narrow down the view by status:
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Recurrence Type | If an instance has a large number of PM groups, this option is useful to separate items by frequency, e.g. daily, weekly, monthly, and so on. |
Location | Use this filter to view the PM group(s) whose scope includes at least one system element associated with a particular location (or one of the selected locations) or its sub-locations. |
System | Use this filter to view the PM group(s) whose scope includes at least one system element that belongs to a particular system. |
In addition to the filter options included in the filter panel, you can use the Quick Search control in the top right corner of the Manage Groups view to filter the list by PM group name.
The "Manage Groups" view (Main Menu -> PM, Inspections -> Manage Groups) allows the users with sufficient privileges to create new PM groups and to edit the existing ones:
The following sections offer detailed instructions for configuring the key elements of the PM group definitions that include:
While the procedures for creating a new PM group and for modifying the existing one are very similar, the latter may be subject to additional restrictions. Such restrictions are included in the notes below and highlighted.
The PM Group Name is an alphanumeric identifier of the PM Group, which will appear everywhere the PM group is displayed, i.e. on the PM schedule, individual cases and work tickets, and work history records.
From the system perspective, the only restriction that applies is that the PM group Name must be unique within the contract, which the PM is associated with.
From the operational standpoint, it is a good idea to establish a naming convention for PM groups to make it easier for the InfraLink administrators and users to navigate the PM schedule. It is common to include references to the contract, location, system and/or system element type being maintained, and frequency in the PM group name.
The PM Group Description is a free text field. In most cases, it is used to capture the notes describing the purpose and, perhaps, specific scheduling and/or work consideration that apply to the PM. For example, a PM defined for equipment installed in spaces with restricted access may say "All items on this PM are in the restricted areas and access needs to be coordinated ahead of time."
Any work tracked in InfraLink, including PMs and similar activities, must be associated with a contract, which, in turn, drives the workflow, access privileges, and what equipment the work may be related to. As such, a PM group must be associated with a contract, and the contract association defined for the PM group will also apply to all cases and work tickets, if defined, generated based on the PM group definition.
Additionally, associating a PM group with a contract has the following implications:
When creating or editing a PM group, the contract selections will be limited to those items for which you have the "Contract - View" and "PM Group - Create" permissions.
If you change contract selection after you already made selections on the "Scope" tab, all scope definitions will be cleared and will have to be re-created. |
To prevent discrepancies, InfraLink will not allow changing the contract selection for an active PM group. If you need to make changes to such PM group, first change the status to "Inactive" and save the change. Then, start editing the PM group again and modify the contract selections. Change the status back to "Active" after all configuration changes have been completed. |
The status of the PM group determines whether or not the PM generator will process the PM group definition and generate or update the corresponding PM occurrences (represented by cases in InfraLink). The status also determines whether or not changes to the schedule and scope components of the PM group are allowed.
InfraLink supports the following PM group status options:
In general, the PM schedule defines when the work is required to be completed. The InfraLink PM generator will create a PM case for each due date calculated based on the schedule defined by the PM group. This is best explained using an example.
For example, if PM group is defined for work to be completed every 2 weeks by Thursday starting on March 4, 2016, the InfraLink PM generator will generate a PM case with the due date of March 4, 2016, another PM case with the due date of March 18, 2016, yet another PM case with the due date of April 1, 2016, and so on.
Additional schedule-related settings included in the PM group define when the schedule becomes effective, when it stops being effective, how far in advance the PM occurrences will be generated by the InfraLink PM generator, and, finally, how much time the project team will be given to complete each PM.
The following table discusses each of the applicable configuration settings in greater detail:
Setting | Description |
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Schedule work <N> intervals in advance | In order to assign work to technicians and manage the team's workload, you want the PM cases for the specific occurrences to be generated. At the same time, you don't want to generate cases for the PM occurrences that are too far in the future, as they may likely change and will only clutter the views in the system. This configuration setting allows you to control how far in advance the PM cases will be generated. For example, if the PM group is defined as weekly, and this setting is set to 2 (i.e. "Schedule work 2 intervals in advance"), then each time the InfraLink PM generator runs, it will make sure the PM cases are generated for the next two weeks. |
Schedule Type | This setting defines the recurrence pattern:
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Schedule Details | After the schedule type is selected, InfraLink will allow you to specify the frequency and to further refine when the PM completion will be due. Specifically,
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Schedule Range | This section contains a few additional parameters that define how the work is scheduled and when it will be expected to be performed.
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To prevent discrepancies, InfraLink will not allow changing the schedule of an active PM group. If you need to make changes to such PM group's schedule, first change the status to "Inactive" and save the change. Then start the Edit function again and modify the schedule settings. Change the status back to "Active" after all schedule configuration changes have been completed. |
As the name suggests, the "scope" section defines the work required to be performed. That is accomplished by
InfraLink provides two options for specifying the system elements to be included in the scope of the PM group:
You cannot combine the two definition methods for the same PM group. However, either method will allow you to define a PM group, which includes system elements of different types and located at different locations. You will also be able to select different work forms representing the procedures to be performed on the different system elements included in the PM group.
The subsequent sections provide additional details on each of these options.
Please note that you have to select the contract for the PM group in order to be able to specify its scope. The contract, once selected, will determine what system elements, locations, and work forms you can select to define the scope of the work. |
If you modify the scope of a previously activated PM group, the PM generator will apply the changes to the cases associated with future PM occurrences, i.e. cases whose due date is greater than the current date when the changes are made. All past PM occurrences (i.e. occurrences whose due dates already passed) will remain unchanged. In other words, changes are not applied retroactively. |
The most efficient way to define a PM group's scope is to do so by specifying one or multiple system element type(s) and one or multiple location(s) as follows:
When a system element type is added to the PM group scope, you will need to select the work form to be used for the system elements of the selected type;
In order to select a work form, the work form must be associated with the selected system element type and with the contract, for which the PM group is being created. If the selection options do not include the form(s) you're looking for, check the work form definitions and make sure they include necessary system element type and contract associations. |
When a group is defined by selecting the system element location(s) and type(s), the PM generator will automatically add all active (not disabled) system elements whose type and location match the criteria to the created PM case. In other words, a system element will be added to the case if
Use this PM group scope definition method to ensure that newly installed system elements are automatically added to the PM schedule. Since the PM generator relies on the type and location as the criteria when processing the groups, you will not need to add newly installed system elements to the respective PM groups manually.
When the PM group's scope cannot be defined simply by specifying the system element type(s) and location(s), you will need to select individual system elements to be included in the PM, as follows:
Select one or multiple system elements by clicking on "Select SE(s)..." and using the standard system element selector
The system element selector will include only the system elements associated with the contract, for which the PM group is being defined. |
When a system element is added to the PM group scope, you will need to select the work form to be used for the system elements. (Note, the form will be selected automatically if there's only one form defined for the type of the selected system element);
In order to select a work form, the work form must be associated with the type of the selected system element and with the contract, for which the PM group is being created. If the selection options do not include the form(s) you're looking for, check the work form definitions and make sure they include necessary system element type and contract associations. |
If you already have the list of system elements to be included in the scope of a PM group you are configuring, you may save time by uploading a file with the list instead of selecting system elements one by one. The feature is available by clicking on the "Upload System Elements" button located next to the "Select SE(s)..." button.
To define the PM group scope, you need to prepare the file in a comma-separated values (CSV) format. The first line of the file should include column names and the rest of the lines should include the system elements to be added to the PM group scope, as discussed below:
Column Name | Description |
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Device_ID | Required. Specify the system element name, exactly as it is shown in InfraLink. The upload function uses the name to find the system element to be added to the PM group. |
Location | Optional. Specify the location path, e.g. "/Area 1/Building 2/Room 123". If the location is specified, the InfraLink will look for the system element with the name matching that specified in the Device_ID column and with the location matching the specified one. Note, the location path is added to the path specified as the "Base Location" on the file upload form. For instance, if the Base Location is specified as "USA / VA" and the system element location included in the file is specified as "Sterling/LG4/300", InfraLink will look for system elements located at "USA / VA / Sterling / LG4 / 300". |
Form_Name | Optional. You can use the column to specify the work form to be used for the particular system element. The specified form name must match that stored in InfraLink. Note, if there's only one work form defined for the particular type of system element, you do not need to specify the form name in the file, as it will be selected automatically. |
If the PM group is no longer needed and the PM generator should not schedule work based on the group's definitions, you can change the group status to "Inactive", as described in the "Defining PM Group" section above. Inactive PM groups are not processed by the PM Generator.