Preventive maintenance intervals: hours, miles, kilometres or calendar

Start with the manual

Take each interval from the manufacturer's manual for that machine, in the unit the manual uses. Where the manual gives different intervals for severe or unusual operating conditions, follow that guidance. There is no single right interval for every machine.

Choose the measure that matches the machine

• Hours: for machines with an hour meter.
• Miles or kilometres: for machines with an odometer. Use the unit the meter actually shows; don't convert just to make a list tidy.
• Calendar: for equipment without a meter, and for service the manual sets by time.

When the manual says "hours or months, whichever comes first"

Set up two schedules for that service, one by meter and one by calendar. Each schedule tracks its own due point.

When you do the service, record completion on both schedules. Completing one does not complete the other.

Keep readings current

A meter-based schedule is only as current as the last saved reading. How often to read meters depends on how much each machine runs. Choose a routine your crew will actually keep, and make saving the reading easy for whoever is with the machine.

What "service left" means (fictional example)

Whether 69 hours is days or weeks away depends on how much that machine runs. That is a judgement for your crew, not a fixed rule.

Record completion at the actual reading or date

Record the service at the actual meter reading or date it was done. The next interval counts from that actual reading or date, even when the work was done early or late.

In this fictional example, the service due at 1,750 hours was done at 1,768 hours, so the next one is due at 2,018 hours.

How FleetTend handles this

Schedules

• Each schedule belongs to one machine and one service item, and is either meter-based or calendar-based.
• A meter schedule uses the machine's own unit (hours, miles or kilometres). Calendar schedules are for any machine. A machine with no meter can only have calendar schedules.
• A calendar schedule that has never been completed shows as due now.

Seeing what is due

• Saving an hour, mile or kilometre reading updates how much service is left on that machine's meter schedules. Calendar schedules follow their dates.
• Service that is due soon or overdue appears in the app, including on the Overview.

Recording completion

• On a work order: complete the maintenance task linked to that schedule, and enter the completion date and the actual meter reading where required. This records completion for that linked schedule.
• From the Overview: "Mark done" records completion for that schedule directly.
• If the completion reading is higher than the machine's saved reading, the machine's reading is updated to match.
• Recording an older completion does not move a schedule backwards.

Closing the work order

• This is a separate step, after each task has been completed or explicitly skipped.
• Closing a work order does not, by itself, reset a machine's maintenance intervals.

Plans

• Free: up to 10 active maintenance schedules across the workspace. Adding another active schedule needs Shop, and nothing is deleted by a plan change.
• Shop: unlimited active maintenance schedules.