I’ve posted this here before; for us, Asset Essentials from Brightly is just what we need for our small team of half a dozen maintenance workers and dozen custodial staff.
It allows us to create regular, reactive work orders and assign them to single or multiple workers, and also gives us the ability to set custom PM’s and auto generate a work order on the date of the PM.
For example, I set up a PM to change water fountain filters at Location A, every six months, starting on the 1st day of the sixth month, at 8:00 am, starting on January 1st, and assigned to employee X. So now, every January and June 1st at 8:00, bam, this specific employee gets a work order to change these filters. I’ve also added a task list, which tells them what exactly to do (bring 6 Elkay 513000c water filters, a bucket, a rag, and a Torx 20 bit. Turn off power with breaker #23 in panel LP1 in 2nd floor custodial closet, turn off water from tagged domestic cold water supply valve in wet wall between 2nd floor men’s and woman’s bathroom, use the Torx 20 bit to remove the cover plate, remove old filter and place in bucket, install new filter, turn water back on, turn breaker back on, run water for 1 minute, wipe down fountain, log change on filter change out sheet.)
You can also add in any safety documentation that might be relevant as well, so you can tell the employee to refer to their IAQ training or chainsaw safety inservice review paperwork or Forklift operation manual, etc.
Not gonna lie, it’s a lot of initial legwork, but once you get it all done, it’s a great way to know that your assets are being taken care of properly on a schedule you can set, your employees are given the proper set of instructions to complete a task in a timely manner that’s fair to everyone, the pertinent safety refresher to keep them safe, and a documented file of what’s been done.
The other nice thing is you can make your PM’s location based (6 fountains at Location A, one work order generates for all 6, they’re all the same fountain type) or asset based (6 fountains; asset tag numbers: 01, 02, etc., 6 work orders generated, one for each asset, the fountains are different and have separate procedures).
You can tie photos, images, hyperlinks, etc. to the PM’s, add multiple employees to them, and kinda get as deep or as simple as you want with the process.
We use them for oil changes for trucks, to take readings on boiler makeup water meters, to check for frost heaved parking block pins after cold snaps, ice machine cleanings, just a plethora of different routine maintenance work, really helps to ‘set it and forget it’ and let me focus on the reactive maintenance that pops up daily.
Even for the custodial side of the equation, it’s a great way to make sure your staff isn’t forgetting to add water to floor drains or check & add water to machine batteries, etc.
Definitely gives you the tools to expand from simple work order assignment to a broader (and more time efficient) way of handling maintenance.
PM me if you have any questions, and good luck!