Available On: Starter, Professional and Business Plus
Preventive Maintenance (PM) Triggers help ensure your assets receive consistent, on-time care.
In this guide, you’ll learn how to set up a PM trigger in UpKeep—from entering key details to applying the right schedule for your maintenance strategy.
Whether you’re creating time-based, condition-based, or hybrid triggers, this article walks you through each option. You’ll also discover how to add multiple schedules to a single PM trigger for greater flexibility and control.
Additionally, meter-based triggers—which activate based on usage metrics like hours of operation or mileage—allow you to tailor maintenance plans to the actual performance of your equipment.
How to Create a PM Schedule
Navigate to your Preventive Maintenance Triggers Section
Select Create PM Button
Enter your PM Details
Trigger Title
Work Order Title
Work Order Details
Enter in your Schedules
Add in your Asset Records
Select Apply Schedule
Set your Assets, Locations
Set your Start Date
Set your assignees
Select Create PM
💡If you want to create a Work Order that runs Monday-Friday. Select a Weekly Schedule then select the days of the week
How to have Multiple Schedules Per PM Trigger
You can add additional schedules to your triggers even after the initial trigger has been created.
Select the Preventive Maintenance Tab
Select the trigger you want to add a schedule to
Select Add Asset
Select an existing schedule or add a new one
Add the records that will have this schedule
Save Changes
You now have added your additional schedule to your PM Trigger
Setting Up Meter-Based Scheduling
Preventive Maintenance tasks can also be scheduled based on asset usage metrics. For instance, you can:
Configure a meter-based schedule such as '5 hours of machine usage' or '100 miles traveled.'
Focus solely on usage metrics without combining them with time-based intervals.
This approach ensures maintenance tasks are closely aligned with actual equipment usage, optimizing efficiency and reducing unnecessary work.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What kind of schedules can I make?
UpKeep offers a variety of flexible frequency options when creating Preventive Maintenance schedules. You can set your Work Orders to repeat on:
Day(s) — e.g., every 10 days
Week(s) — e.g., every 2 weeks
Week(s) by days of the week — e.g., Mondays and Thursdays
Specific days of the month — e.g., the 1st, 15th, and 30th
Month(s) — e.g., every 3 months
Month(s) by days of the month — e.g., the 5th of every other month
Month(s) by position in the month — e.g., the First Monday of each month
Year(s) — e.g., once a year on January 1st
Can I choose when Work Orders are due?
Yes! You can set a specific time of day for each scheduled Work Order to be due. This gives you control over when tasks appear in your technicians’ dashboards and helps with planning workloads more efficiently.
Can I choose when Work Orders generate?
Absolutely. UpKeep allows you to define the creation cadence, which determines when a Work Order is created before it's due.
Your options include:
A set number of days, weeks, or months before the due date
A specific day of the week before it's due
A custom time of day for Work Order generation
Can I set up recurring PMs without an end date?
Yes, you can create ongoing schedules by leaving the "End Date" field blank when configuring PMs in UpKeep. This ensures work orders are perpetually generated without needing to reconfigure schedules periodically.
Why is a start date necessary for PM schedules?
All preventive maintenance schedules require a start date so that UpKeep knows when to begin triggering actions. If uncertain of the start date, set a tentative future date and adjust when ready.
What are the best practices for PM trigger configuration?
Keep Triggers Specific: Avoid combining different trigger types unless absolutely necessary.
Review and Adjust: Regularly evaluate whether PM schedules match actual asset usage.
Documentation: Maintain accurate records of adjustments to create accountability.
