Today’s tip will give you a description of each task schedule type (floating, fixed, and duplicates) and tell you when each is most appropriate. The Schedule Type field is best explained with an example. Let’s say that you have a monthly PM that is due next on September 1. In our example, the PM WO is generated on time, completed on September 20 and closed on October 5. Here is how the PM’s next due date would be calculated differently according to each schedule type.
Floating – The next WO will be schedule for October 20, one month after the completion date. IMPORTANT NOTE: Even though the next due date is calculated based on the completion date, it will not actually be updated until the WO is closed. That’s because until then, you could technically still make changes to the completion date. So don’t forget to close your WOs in a timely manner.
Fixed – The next WO will be scheduled for November 1. WOs for this PM will always be scheduled for the first of each month, but October will be skipped because there was still an open WO.
Duplicates – A WO will be scheduled for September 1 and October 1, regardless of the fact that you’ll have multiple WOs open at the same time.
So when is the best time to use each type?
Floating schedules are most appropriate for fairly frequent PMs (think 3M or less) that you would not like to repeat too soon after completion of the previous iteration. Think of oil inspections. If it took you two and a half months to finally get around to a quarterly inspection… well, shame on you, but that doesn’t mean that you want to repeat it just two weeks later.
Fixed schedules are most appropriate for less frequent PMs, especially those that are associated with a specific date or season of the year. Setting these as fixed will keep them from floating to a later date each time they occur.
Duplicate schedules are most appropriate for anything that is controlled by regulation and might be audited. Also for safety PMs (personal or asset safety), where you cannot risk skipping an iteration because you were unaware of an existing, open WO.
Final tip: for all types except duplicates, don’t procrastinate closing your WOs – it might cause you to miss important PM work orders.
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