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

• What system elements the work needs to be performed on;
• What form (procedure) should be used for each system element;
• When the work is due to be completed; and
• How frequently it should be repeated. 

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.

Browsing Defined PM Groups

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.

Filtering Options

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:

Quick Search

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.

Defining a New PM Group

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 "New Group" control, which initiates creation of a new PM group, is available to all users who have the "PM Group - Create" permission under at least one of the contracts.
• The "Edit" control, which initiates modification of an existing PM group, becomes available when a PM group is selected, provided that the user has the "PM Group - Edit" permission under the contract, with which the selected PM group is associated.

The following sections offer detailed instructions for configuring the key elements of the PM group definitions that include:

• PM Group Name and Description
• PM Group Contract
• PM Group Status
• PM Schedule Definitions
• PM Scope

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.

Specifying PM Group Name and Description

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."

Selecting PM Group Contract

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:

• Only the system elements associated with the selected contract may be included in the scope of the PM;
• Only the forms available under the selected contract can be chosen when defining the scope.

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.

PM Group Status

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:

• Draft. When you first create a PM group, it will be saved as "Draft". Any settings can be modified while the PM group is in the draft status.
• Active. When the PM group is fully defined, its status needs to be changed to "Active". The PM generator processes Active PM groups and generates PM cases based on their definitions.
• Inactive. Inactive PM groups are not processed by the PM generator. As such, a PM group's status should be changed to "Inactive" when the PM group is no longer relevant (i.e. the corresponding work no longer needs to be performed). Additionally, you may be required to temporarily change the PM group status to inactive to modify some of its configuration settings.
  

Setting PM Schedule

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:

Specifying Scope

As the name suggests, the "scope" section defines the work required to be performed. That is accomplished by

• Specifying the system elements, that the work is to be performed on, and
• Specifying the work form, which defines the work to be completed for each system element.

InfraLink provides two options for specifying the system elements to be included in the scope of the PM group:

1. Specifying the system element type and location, so that system elements can be selected automatically. This option is practical when the system element selection is easily defined by location and type (e.g. camera). The main benefit of this option is that new system elements installed during the course of the project will be automatically added to the PM, as long as they meet the specified criteria (location and type).
2. Select individual system elements. This option is practical, when the system elements need to be selected based on a somewhat complex criteria (e.g. all items of a particular kind mounted at a particular height and requiring certain equipment to complete the work). The drawback of this option, however, is that InfraLink will not automatically pick up new items that may be installed and need to be covered by the PM.

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.

Specifying PM Scope by Selecting the System Element Location(s) and Type(s)

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:

• Select "By system element type and location" in the "Specify how system elements will be selected..." drop-down at the top of the "Scope" section;
• Select one or multiple system element types by clicking on "Select SE Type(s)..." and using the standard system element type selector;

• 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.
• Select one or multiple location(s) by clicking on "Select Location..." and using the standard location selector;

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

• The system element record is not marked as "Deleted"; and
• The type of the system element is one of the types selected in the PM group scope; and
• The location of the system element is one of the locations selected in the PM group scope or is a sub-location of one of the locations selected in the PM group scope.

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.

Specifying PM Scope by Selecting Individual System Elements

Manually Selecting System Elements

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 "List of System Elements" in the "Specify how system elements will be selected..." drop-down at the top of the "Scope" section;

• 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.

Uploading a List of System Elements

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:

Removing a PM Group From the Schedule

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.