Preventive Maintenance Jobs

Preventive Maintenance Jobs

Preventive Maintenance Jobs allows you to automatically create notifications, work order, trouble tickets or send emails on a one-time or recurring schedule.  A preventive maintenance job can include anything that occurs on a one-time or recurring basis such as switch maintenance, database maintenance, facilities maintenance, etc.

Understanding the General – Preventive Maintenance Jobs Screen

There are four panes of information within the General – Preventive Maintenance Jobs screen. They are General, Email, Order Template, and Schedule.

General Pane

The General Pane displays basic job information such as job type, description and the action that CAIRS will perform.  There are three actions that CAIRS can perform: start an order or trouble ticket, send an email or do both.

Email Pane

The email pane displays the contacts that will receive the email from CAIRS.

Order Template Pane

This pane displays all the information that will be transferred to the order or trouble ticket when created.

Schedule Pane

There are four tabs within this pane.  The Schedule tab display the times and days the job will occur.  The Process Log tab displays the job name as well as the status of the job. The Created Records tab displays the order, troubles or emails that have been created for the job.  The Components tab displays any devices that have been associated to the job.  You can double click on any record to view the complete information.

Preventive Maintenance Job Types

Before you can start to create your jobs, you will need to create the types.  The types can be what sort of maintenance you are performing such as switch maintenance, facilities maintenance, etc.

Managing a Job Type

  1. Click the Orders/Troubles menu.
  2. In the Navigation pane, click Preventive Maintenance Jobs.
  3. You have two alternatives for Manage Preventive Maintenance Job Types:
    • On the toolbar directly above the Navigation pane, click the Manage Preventive Maintenance Job Types button.
    • Within the Action pane, click the Manage Preventive Maintenance Job Types link.
  1. With either option, the Manage Preventive Maintenance Job Types window opens.

Adding

  1. In the Manage Preventive Maintenance Job Types * list pane, click the top row, marked with an asterisk (*) to add a new record.
  2. Type the new job type name this can be such things as update, maintenance, etc.
  3. To add another job, click the Save button and repeat steps 4 and 5, as necessary.

Modifying

  1. Click the field to modify and type the new information.

Deleting

  1. There are two ways to select the job type to delete:
    • Right-click the record selector box (located just left of the name) and click Delete.
    • Highlight the name in the list and within the Actions ribbon group click the Delete
  1. Once you click Delete, a message box opens verifying that you really want to delete the type. Click Yes within the box to continue or No to cancel the operation.
  2. Once selected, CAIRS.net draws a line through the type allowing you to delete multiple types at the same time.
  3. If you do not want to delete the type, right-click the record and click Undelete.
  4. Once you select Undelete, a message box opens verifying that you really want to keep the type. Click Yes within the box to continue or No to cancel the operation.
  5. Within the Actions ribbon group, click Save (to save and stay) or click Save & Close (to save and exit).

Adding a Job

Each preventive maintenance job is associated to an action.  The action determines what CAIRS will do automatically.  You can create and order or trouble, send email or do both.  We will first create the basic job information and then we will discuss the specifics for each action.

After you have created the basic job information, you can create the schedule of when the order is to be created or the email sent.

Creating the Basic Job Information

  1. Click the Orders/Troubles menu.
  2. In the Navigation pane, click Preventive Maintenance Jobs.
  3. There are two ways to create a new job:
    • Within the toolbar directly above the Navigation pane, click the drop-down arrow next to New. Select Preventive Maintenance Job.
    • Within the Actions pane, click the Add New General Task link.
  1. With either option the General – Preventive Maintenance Job window opens. We will start with the General pane, complete the following fields, required fields are marked with an asterisk (*):
    • Preventive Maintenance Job Name – type in the name of the job
    • Preventive Maintenance Job Type * – click on the dropdown arrow to access a list of the job types you created, from the list click on the type to associate to the job. The type appears in the field.
    • Preventive Maintenance Job Description – type in the description of the job. The information within this field will transfer over to the order or trouble once created.
    • Start Order or Trouble – click the box to insert a checkmark to have this job start and order or trouble ticket. If selected the fields within the Order Template need to be completed.
    • Send Email for the Job – click the box to insert a checkmark to have the job automatically send an email to the people listed in the Email pane
    • Show Notification for Job – click the box to insert a checkmark to notify users of a job, when users open CAIRS they will be notified that the job is occurring.
  1. You can use one or more of the checkboxes for each job, simply click the box and complete the appropriate pane.
  2. Once you have completed these fields it is a good idea to save your information before you continue. Within the Actions ribbon group, click on the Save button. In the next few sections we will break out each action and the information you need to complete for the job.

 

Start Order or Trouble

If you have selected the Start Order or Trouble action, your next step is to complete the fields within the Order Information pane.  The fields that you complete within this pane transfer over to the work order or trouble ticket upon completion.

  1. Within the Order Template pane, complete the following information, required fields are marked with an asterisk (*):
    • Site * – click on the dropdown arrow to access a list of the sites, there are two columns of information. The first column displays the site that you are assigning to the order.  The second column displays the path of the site, this includes all parents.  Find the site within the list and click to add the site name to the field.
    • Work Flow Name * – click on the dropdown arrow to access a list of work flows, from the list find the work flow to associate to the job. Click on the work flow name to associate it to the order/trouble.
    • Work Order Category – click the drop-down arrow to access a list of the work order categories created, from the list click on the work order category.
    • Building Name – click on the dropdown arrow to access a list of the buildings created in your database, from the list click on the building name to associate to the order/trouble
    • Switch Name – click on the dropdown arrow to access a list of the switches created in your database, from the list click on the switch to associate to the order/trouble
    • Organization Name – click the drop-down arrow to access a list and from the list, click on the name of the organization to associate to the order/trouble. The organization drop-down list displays the bottom-most organization first. After the ~~ the complete path to the selected organization displays. Each level of the organizational tree is separated by a >. Once you select an organization, the complete path populates within the field.
    • Subscriber Name – click the drop-down arrow to access a list and from the list, click on the name of the subscriber to associate with the order/trouble
    • Account Number – click the drop-down arrow to access a list and from the list click the account number to associate to the order/trouble. The list of accounts displays not only the account number but also the account type, one-time, recurring or call charges and organization
    • TCO – click the drop-down arrow to access a list of the TCO Groups within your database, from the list click on the group to associate to the order/trouble.
    • Days to Due Date – type in the number of days until the job is due for completion
    • Contact Name – type in the contact name
    • Contact Phone – type in the contact phone number
    • Order Trouble Misc 1 – 30 – use these fields to enter in any additional information regarding the order/trouble.
  1. Once you have completed these fields it is a good idea to save your information before you continue. Within the Actions ribbon group, click on the Save button.

Send Email

If you have selected the email option, you will complete the information within the Email pane.  When the email is sent the description from the General pane is the email body and the preventive maintenance job name is the subject.

  1. Within the Email pane complete the following fields for each person that you want to receive the emails, required fields are marked with an asterisk (*):
    • Contact Name * – type in the name of the person receiving the email
    • Email Address * – type in the email address of the person receiving the email
    • Contact Primary Number – type in the telephone number
    • Contact Alternate Number – type in the alternate telephone number, such as a cell phone
    • Preventive Maintenance Job Email Misc 1 – 5 – use these fields for any additional information about the recipient that you want to track
  1. Once you have completed these fields it is a good idea to save your information before you continue. Within the Actions ribbon group, click on the Save button.

History

  1. Click the Orders/Troubles menu.
  2. In the Navigation pane, click Preventive Maintenance Jobs.
  3. Depending on the amount of records you have within your database, the list may not readily populate. To populate the list, perform one of the following actions:
    • Within the search box, type any portion of the record and then click the magnifying glass.
    • Click the Show All
  1. The Preventive Maintenance Jobs list open, displaying all existing jobs. Double-click the job to view.
  2. The Preventive Maintenance Job window opens.
  3. Within the Show ribbon group, click the History The following read only information displays for each action performed on the job:
    • Action Name* – describes the completed action. For example, Add, Update, etc.
    • Custom Field Name – displays the field name of the modified information
    • Old Value – displays the old information
    • New Value – displays the new information
    • User Name – displays the username of the person who completed the changes
    • Last Name/ First Name – displays the first and last name of the user who completed the action.
    • Activity Date* – displays the date the action was completed.
    • Source* – lists the computer’s IP address.
    • Work Order Number – displays the work order number for the order completed to make the changes, if applicable.
  1. Alternatively, you can click on the lower portion of the History button to access a menu, from the menu select Old History. The screen changes to display a list of all action taken on the job, to view more detail double click on the record.

A window opens with a more detailed description of the action.

  1. Within the Action ribbon group, click the Close button to return to the job.

Deleting a Job

  1. Click the Orders/Troubles menu.
  2. In the Navigation pane, click Preventive Maintenance Jobs.
  3. Depending on the amount of records you have within your database, the list may not readily populate. To populate the list, perform one of the following actions:
    • Within the search box, type any portion of the record and then click the magnifying glass.
    • Click the Show All
  1. The Preventive Maintenance Jobs list open, displaying all existing jobs. Within the list find the job to delete, there are two ways to delete a job:
    • Highlight the job within the list and click on the Delete Preventive Maintenance Job link within the Actions pane.
    • Double click on the job to open the record, within the Actions ribbon group, click on the Delete button
  1. With either option, once you click delete a message box opens verifying that you really want to delete the job. Click Yes within the box to continue or No to cancel the operation.

The Schedule

There are two options when creating the schedule for your jobs. Within the Schedule ribbon group are two buttons the Manage Schedule and Create Schedule button.  The Create Schedule button allows you to create the dates and times of when the job is to occur.  Once the schedule is created you can use the Manage Schedule button to make any necessary changes.

The schedule pane lists all the dates and times of when the job is to occur.  You can create schedule entries here, however it is much easier to use the Create Schedule button.

Creating the Schedule

There are several options available when you create the schedule.  When you click on the Create Schedule button, the Recurring Schedule popup opens.  There are three sections of information that you need to determine for each occurrence.

Start Time

Within this section you will determine when the order or trouble ticket is to be created or the email sent.  Click on the dropdown arrow to access a list of times, scroll to the appropriate time and click on the time to insert it into the field.  Alternatively, you can click on the field and type in the time, you must keep the formatting the same.

Recurrence Pattern

There are four options within the recurrence pattern section.  Within each pattern the right side of the section changes to allows you to determine the different settings.

Daily

With this option you can determine how often the job occurs on a daily basis.  The default is for the job to occur daily, however you can change that to occur every 2, 3, 4 etc. days.  Within the right side of the section, click on the option button next to the first Every, then type in the number of days between each occurrence in the text box.

Weekly

With this option you can determine how many weeks between each occurrence of the job.  The default is for the job to occur every week on Friday.  To change this type in the number of weeks between each occurrence in the text box and select the day of the week the job occurs on.

Monthly

With this option you can determine how many months between each occurrence of the job. The default is that the job occurs on the first day of every month.  To change this type in the day that the job occurs each month and how many months in between.

Alternately you can determine what day of each month the job occurs on, for example, the second Saturday of every month.  The default is to occur on the first Sunday of every month.  To change click on the first dropdown arrow and select either first, second, third, fourth or last.  Then click on the next dropdown box and select what day of the week, Sunday – Saturday.  Last you can have it occur every month or type in the appropriate number into the field.

Yearly

With this option, the job will occur on a yearly basis.  You determine how many years between each occurrence and what month and date of the job.  The default is for the job to occur every year on the first Sunday of May.  To change this, first determine the number of years between each occurrence.  Then select what month and date the job is to occur on.

If you don’t want to choose a specific date, you can select the last option to have the job occur on a day in any month, the default option is to have the job occur on the first Sunday of every May.  Click on each dropdown arrow to make the appropriate selections.

Recurrence Range

The final step is to determine for how long the jobs will occur.  You will determine the start and end date.  The start text box default to the current date, to change that you either click on the small up and down just to the right of the date, this will advance you one more forward or backward.  To change the date completely click on the dropdown arrow to access a calendar, click on the date to add to the field.  To change the month and year click the right or left arrow and once at the appropriate month and year, click the number to select the date. The date populates in the box.

Once you have completed the schedule click on the Ok button to continue.  Each occurrence of the job now appears in the Schedule pane.

Deleting a Scheduled Occurrence

Once an occurrence appears within the Schedule pane, you can delete it.  Right click on the record selector box just to the left of the Scheduled Start Time to access a menu.  From the menu select Delete, a message box appears verifying that you really want to delete the occurrence.  Click Ok to continue or no to cancel the operation.

Process Log

The Process Log displays when each occurrence of the job was started and what the status of that occurrence.

Created Records

The Created Records pane provides information on what types of records have been created from the Preventive Maintenance Job (orders or troubles) the name of the record, and the date and time it was created.  From this pane, double-click a created record to open that record.  For example, if 5 work orders have been created by this Preventive Maintenance Job, any of those orders can be opened from this pane.